Northeast Brazil - Part 5

Ruby-topaz Hummingbird

In case you missed it:

Northeast Brazil Part 1

Northeast Brazil Part 2

Northeast Brazil Part 3

Northeast Brazil Part 4

eBird Trip Report

Day 16 and 17 - Boa Nova. We traveled a long way toward the coast the day before, now setting up in the Boa Nova area - the transition between dry Caatinga and the Atlantic Rainforest. This general vicinity has historically recorded well over 400 species of birds. With a national park and other protected areas nearby, it is quite special. 

First up was a morning at Lajedo dos Beija-flores, a private reserve with beautiful landscaping and feeders in a small area surrounded by native habitat. It was amazing. Ciro had to pretty much drag us away for lunch hours later. In addition to 11 species of hummingbirds, there were fruit and seed eating birds coming in. And to top it all off, a few mealworms may have sacrificed their lives so we could get amazing views of several antbird species, including the extremely rare and endangered Slender Antbird. As for hummingbirds, the Ruby-topaz was by far the star of the show. What an amazing set of colors on that one. 

The gardens were surrounded by native forest

Slender Antbird pair

Slender Antbird male

Silvery-cheeked Antshrike

Hook-billed Hermit, a rare endemic

Swallow-tailed Hummingbird

Burnished-buff Tanager

The ubiquitous Bananaquit

Black Jacobin

Cactus Parakeet

Stripe-breasted Starthroat

Stripe-breasted Starthroat

Ruby-topaz Hummingbird

Ruby-topaz Hummingbird

Ruby-topaz Hummingbird

Ruby-topaz Hummingbird

Ruby-topaz Hummingbird

Ruby-topaz Hummingbird

Ruby-topaz Hummingbird

Ruby-topaz Hummingbird

Ruby-topaz Hummingbird

Ruby-topaz Hummingbird

How about some Ruby-topaz video? I know you'll love it. Just wait until the light hit him just right. You might need sunglasses. 😎  

Email subscribers to the blog, click this link to see the YouTube video. 

When you visit a rainforest, even during the "dry" part of the year, wetness can still fall from the sky. And rain it did, for the rest of the afternoon and into the evening. Ciro said we got a month worth of normal rain that day. We did get out to the National Park for a couple of hours the first afternoon, and managed to get some great birds, even with the rain. But photography was out of the question. 

The birds are used to it, but us desert rats got a little soggy...

The next morning started clear and looked good. But unfortunately some of the dirt roads we needed to travel had flooded and turned to clay soup. Not passable for our vehicles. But we did get to a few places and racked up a good number of birds. Ciro said after all was done that we only missed a bird or two of the endemics, and could easily get them on a return trip to the south coast of Brazil. That's already in the future plans. 

We hiked to up a ridge to a remnant old growth forest patch in the early afternoon, then went back to the national park for another shot at the trail from the day before, and found a bunch more birds - and no rain!

Lots of really cool bromeliads in this old growth forest

Look at the size of this bug!

Its a Harlequin Beetle

Boa Nova, "Bird Paradise." 

Rufous-headed Tanager

Chestnut-crowned Becard

Channel-billed Toucan

Three-toed Jacamar

Fulvous-crowned Scrub-Tyrant

White-crested Tyrannulet

Buff-throated Purpletuft

A species we've tried for in several South American countries, and finally got it. Sharp-tailed Streamcreeper. They are tough to see, buried in deep stream gullies with lots of vegetation. 

Day 18 - Boa Nova to Itacaré.  A travel day but with less driving and lots of stops at great birding areas for many new birds. On this day alone we saw 50 new trip birds and 24 of those were life birds for me and Susan. We ended the day on the Atlantic coast in the small town of Itacaré. This is cacao (chocolate) growing country, so many of our group were very happy. 

Ciro took us to a native forest remnant adjoining a cattle ranch that he discovered recently.
So many new birds in such a short time...

A couple of hours walking around Serra do Conduru State Park added many more

Burrowing Owl

Minute Hermit

Endangered and difficult to find and see - Scalloped Antbird

Maroon-faced Parakeet

Yellow-fronted Woodpecker

Green-headed Tanager

This one got guide Ciro quite excited, a species he rarely sees and never before this well. It's a Yellow-faced Siskin. Sure looks a lot like our Lesser Goldfinch. 

Great-billed Hermit

Red-headed Manakin

Day 19 - Itacaré to Serra Bonita Reserve. In the morning we headed a little north of Itacaré to bird several different habitats. Many good birds were seen, with the highlight being the range restricted and endangered Bahia Tapaculo. It's sad to keep talking about these extremely rare birds, but that's the state of the world we live in. The Tapaculo was thought to be extinct in the 1990s, but a few locations have been found deep in remnant forests. Tapaculos in general live in mature old growth forest and are extremely shy and retiring. Surveying populations is difficult, but it is thought there are around 250-500 individuals of this Tapaculo remaining, likely far less. If the total number of eBird sightings of 125 (including our 6 in November) is any indication, this is one very rare bird. But with Ciro's expert knowledge of territories and habitat, he found us one that was seen pretty well - for a mouse sized bird that lives deep in the very dark forest. 

Another great bird found that morning was Kinglet Manakin. It's a tricky manakin, unlike others of the genus these birds aren't tied year round to a territory. They follow preferred food sources (ripe berries of specific plants) and wander about. Susan's sharp eyes spotted this one.

Morning birding north of Itacaré

Crawling through the forest for the Bahia Tapculo

Golden-spangled Piculet

Kinglet Manakin

Bahia Tapaculo

We had lunch in a lovely roadside restaurant - with feeders and birds! At least until a troop of Wied's Marmosets completely took over... 🙂

Many photos were taken

The rest of the day was spent getting up a mountain in a vintage 4WD vehicle. But that's a story for another day. One more post and we'll wrap this up.