Tropical Birding - Trip Report BRAZIL: Atlantic Forest Highlights – July 2019 www.tropicalbirding.com +1-409-515-9110 [email protected]p.1 A Tropical Birding Set Departure BIRDING TOUR (www.shorturl.at/cpq89) Brazil: Atlantic Forest Highlights 13-20 July, 2019 Report and photos by ANDRES VASQUEZ N., the guide for this tour One of the great things about this tour is the extremely pleasant combination of “good-old-fashion” forest birding with incredibly active and diverse feeders. This Festive Coquette (picture above) is one of the birds that we basically manage to enjoy only thanks to the feeders at Folhia Seca near Ubatuba; this incredibly ornate species is otherwise hard to pick up in the canopy of tall tropical forest due to its tiny size and fairly non-contrasting colors.
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Report and photos by ANDRES VASQUEZ N., the guide for this tour
One of the great things about this tour is the extremely pleasant combination of “good-old-fashion” forest birding with incredibly active and diverse feeders. This Festive Coquette (picture above) is one of the birds that we basically manage to enjoy only thanks to the feeders at Folhia Seca near Ubatuba; this incredibly ornate species is otherwise hard to pick up in the canopy of tall tropical
forest due to its tiny size and fairly non-contrasting colors.
INTRODUCTION: The Atlantic Forest of Southeast Brazil is a very well-known Endemic Bird Area (EBA) of the World thanks not only to its richness, in terms of endemic species but also thanks to the fact that most of those endemic birds are absolutely spectacular. This makes that this region of the globe is in the bucket list of any birdwatcher that wants to fill his/her list with A TON of brightly colorful endemic birds. Now, this area is vast and in order to cover it all we have to drive considerably long distances in over three weeks of birding (which we do in our comprehensive SE Brazil tour, see here: www.shorturl.at/isuCN) BUT FORTUNATELY for the birders that do not have all this long time off we created this shorter trip, The Atlantic Forest Highlights tour, which very well represents “in a nutshell” the greatness of this region since it includes most of the very nicest-looking birds of the whole EBA.
The Brazilian endemic Golden-chevroned Tanager is a looker that visits feeders both in highlands and in lowlands.
We designed this tour to cover both highlands and lowlands of the Atlantic forest by spending 3 nights in each zone based out of two great hotels. With this we cover all the altitudinal gradation of bird species in the area and this means a great variety of potential birds. This also means the trip is logistically very comfortable without sacrificing great birding since the hotspots are either very close or they are right within. Cutting to the chase, amongst the most memorable birds of the tour we had Black-billed Scythebill, Green-crowned Plovercrest, Red-necked, Green-headed, Gilt-edged, Brassy-breasted, Brazilian, Black-goggled, and Golden-chevroned Tanagers, Mantled and White-necked Hawk (both perched closely), Half-collared Sparrow, Araucaria Tit-Spinetail,
Itatiaia Spinetail, Streamer-tailed Tyrant, Curl-crested Jay, Robust, Blond-crested, and White Woodpeckers, Saw-billed Hermit (among the 4 species of hermits we saw), Shear-tailed Gray-Tyrant, Frilled and Festive Coquettes, White-eared Puffbird, Tawny-browed Owl, 19 species of antbirds out of which Scaled Antbird and Black-hooded Antwren were the favorites of the group.
A pair of Streamer-tailed Tyrants did great displays in front of us on the first day.
NARRATIVE: This tour starts and ends in the huge metropolis of Sao Paulo with a night in the outskirts of this monster city on arrival day and directly at the airport on the last day of the tour since most international flights leave late in the evening so it is the best expenditure of time you can have. As mentioned above, the tour can be divided in two main parts, highlands and lowlands plus the travel time in between which does not produce a lot of birds but for sure a few interesting ones.
THE LOWLANDS: We start the tour with a longish drive between Sao Paulo and the coastal town of
Ubatuba. There were a couple planned stops on the way though that produced some great birds. Leaving the hotel just before dawn we arrived in perfect time to an area that holds very nice wetlands located right next to the smaller city of Mogi das Cruzes. Here we found as highlights White-faced Whistling-Duck, Silver Teal, Blackish Rail, Gray-cowled Wood-Rail, Brazilian Teal and a few passerines and other smaller birds White-eyed and Plain Parakeets (photo below) on the border of the wetlands like Wing-banded Hornero, Streamer-tailed Tyrant, Crested Black-Tyrant, Masked Yellowthroat, Masked Water-Tyrant, and Unicolored Blackbirds to name a few.
We then moved to another spot looking for a very localized species only found in a few reed beds on this region called Parana Antwren (aka Sao Paulo Marsh-Antwren). We gave it a good try but for most of the participants this bird remained hidden, only a couple managed quick views. This spot however produced a fair number of cool birds like Rufous-capped and Spix’s Spinetails, Orange-eyed Thornbird, White-spotted Woodpecker, White-barred Piculet, Chestnut-vented Conebill, the first of many Sayaca and Brazilian Tanagers, as well as a pair of Orange-headed Tanagers and a few other more common birds.
One of the entertaining sightings we had on the first day was this Burrowing Owl.
We had lunch in a local restaurant and continued our drive that still had a few hours to go. The traffic was quite bad when we approached the coast since a lot of locals were going to the beach for what was going to be the last of the warm days of the season. This delayed us a bit but we did manage to squeeze in about 45mins of nice birding before reaching our hotel. During this very rewarding time we soon got a couple of the most wanted birds for some participants in the shape of Red-necked and Green-headed Tanagers which came in flocks to feed right in front of our eyes at eye-level in a fruiting tree. We also got Scaled and Ferruginous Antbirds, Sombre Hummingbird, Gray-hooded Attila, Gray-headed Tody-Flycatcher and Saw-billed Hermit. It was a great end to our first day.
The next day we went back to the area we had just birded last on the previous day but of course now we did have time to go much deeper on this beautifully forested road called Estrada da Folhia Seca. We in fact visited this spot three times during our stay in the area of Ubatuba. One of the first birds that we found here was in fact the most wanted target for one of the participants that was chasing bird families (he needed a Tapaculo) and it came in the shape of this Slaty Bristlefront (photo above). Some of the birds that we saw on our repeated visits to the area included Blond-crested Woodpecker, a female Bare-throated Bellbird, White-necked Hawk, Green-backed Trogon, Rufous-capped Motmot, Black-cheeked Gnateater, White-throated Spadebill, Long-tailed Tyrant, Rufous-capped Antthrush, White-shouldered Fire-eye, Spot-breasted and Plain Antvireos, Unicolored, Streak-capped and Rufous-winged Antwrens, to name a few.
A very special spot within this area of Folha Seca is the gardens of Jonas’s house. Jonas is a local Brazilian that out of pure love for birds maintains a large set of fruit and hummingbird feeders in his patio. He welcomes people asking for no contribution of any kind, just good behavior and respect towards nature. It is a very good deal of course for us given the rich diversity of birds in his feeders. I always, however, buy at the market several pounds of sugar and a good amount of bananas to bring along as donation. In terms of hummingbirds his feeders are the very best spot to find Festive Coquette (photo below), Saw-billed Hermit, and White-chinned Sapphire. Apart from those, there were many Violet-capped Woodnymphs and Brazilian Rubies; we also saw Glittering-throated and Versicolored Emeralds but those were not as common. Other species of hummingbirds that we saw in lowlands but away from Jonas’s feeders were the tiny Reddish Hermit, the spectacular Swallow-tailed Hummingbird, and the dullest of the Brazilian endemics, Sombre Hummingbird. These last two we had at a local restaurant in front of the beach located just west of Ubatuba.
This gorgeous Festive Coquette (above) is likely to be split; it is isolated from the other subspecies in northern South America.
In terms of passerines, the fruit feeders attracted a great deal of birds, of which the favorite for many was Red-necked Tanager, but not too far behind in rank were the Green-headed and Brazilian Tanagers. Other birds that come in to feast are Ruby-crowned Tanager and Chestnut-bellied and Violaceous Euphonias. At times, when Jonas brings a new set of fruit, the tanagers go nuts and at certain point probably 70 individuals of these six species swarm like bees around the feeders; it is spectacular! We visited a couple other great locations in the lowlands near Ubatuba. One of those is the famous Fazenda Angelim located just east of the main city. This area is the best spot around for the skulking Spotted Bamboowren, a type of tapaculo that is subtly beautiful and quite different looking from the typical member of that family. We had good views but not all managed to get the whole bird in their bins. This spot is also well known for another specialty, the tiny Buff-throated Purpletuft which played hard to find but we did managed scope views of a distant individual.
A couple other specialties found here were Black-cheeked Gnateater (photo above), Ochre-rumped Antbird, Rough-legged Tyrannulet, Tufted Antshrike, Yellow Tyrannulet, White-eyed Foliage-gleaner, and a White-necked Hawk that was perched on a log on the ground eating a snake; this was the favorite sighting of the day.
The last of the lowland birding hotspots that we visited on this tour is the famed Sertão de Mambucaba (AKA Perequê) just north of Paraty. This is the only spot for an ultra-localized species of antbird called Black-hooded Antwren (photo below) which was our main target on that visit. In fact it was basically the first bird that we heard and saw upon arrival to this location. I have to mention that it was not easy to see this bird initially but later in the morning a gorgeous male gave us great views.
The first couple hours of birding in Perequê were simply superb. We had several great looking birds that showed up one after the other. It started with a family of Yellow-fronted Woodpeckers and at the same time the colorful Channel-billed Toucan, then a stubborn Spot-billed Toucanet that finally came close, afterwards a pair of Robust Woodpeckers gave us a show and finally a very short view of a male Frilled Coquette that came to feed on some flowers at eye level but a badly-timed and annoying motorbike scared it off almost as soon as we located the bird. Other birds that we found during that morning included the normally difficult to see Lemon-chested Greenlet, Squamate Antbird, White-bearded Manakin, Whiskered and Sepia-capped Flycatchers, Sao Paulo and Bay-ringed Tyrannulets, Riverbank Warbler, and the great Rufous-headed Tanager among the 7 species of tanagers we found that morning.
THE HIGHLANDS: The other half of the tour was spent at high elevations in the mountains of Itatiaia
National Park in the state of Rio de Janeiro. For this we used the beautiful Hotel do Ypê as our base for three nights. With this we managed to explore the lower parts of the park as well as the middle areas near the hotel, namely the trail called Trilha Dos 3 Picos, and finally we visited the upper areas of the park along the Algulhas Negras road. The hotel itself is a world class birding hotspot thanks in part to the busy feeders placed just outside the restaurant. In the fruit feeder we found birds like Black-goggled, Olive-green, Golden-chevroned, Ruby-crowned, Brazilian, and Green-headed Tanagers, Red-rumped Caciques, Blue Dacnis, Chestnut-bellied Euphonia (photo below), Dusky-legged Guan, and Maroon-bellied Parakeets. Sometimes these feeders attract one of the great birds of the area, the unique Saffron Toucanet, but we were very unlucky with this one during our visit and despite our effort we failed to get one.
In terms of the hummingbird feeders that the hotel also places outside the restaurant, the main species that we found here were Black Jacobin, Brazilian Ruby, White-throated Hummingbird, and Violet-capped Woodnymph. Also we saw a Black-eared Fairy, rare for this location, which visited the feeders very briefly, but then a couple of us found a spot where it was hanging out behind one of the lower cabins.
The forest that surrounds the hotel is pristine and very rich given that the hotel is located inside the park. The bamboo dominated forest holds a lot of species and can be accessed along the trails and roads of the park. This way we found a large amount skulking species like Star-throated Antwren, Variable Antshrike, Ochre-faced Tody-Flycatcher, Orange-eyed Thornbird, Drab-breasted Pygmy-Tyrant, the neat Black-billed Scythebill, Sharp-billed Treehunter, and White-collared Foliage-gleaner among the shy birds that we managed to call out. Apart from those we also found a good bunch that are in different strata of the forest like Rufous-capped Motmot, Surucua Trogon, Dusky-throated and Scale-throated Hermits, Red-breasted Toucan, White-necked and Yellow-legged Thrushes, Pin-tailed Manakin, Magpie Tanager, and a very cooperative Gray-hooded Flycatcher.
One of the various tanagers visiting the feeders was this Black-goggled Tanger (above)
The grounds of the hotel are also home to a ton of other birds that do not come to feeders. This was the case for several Blue-winged Macaws that flew over the hotel various times and Slaty-breasted Wood-Rails that came into the open near the parking lot. Also three species of tyrant flycatchers hung around the hotel grounds catching insects: Blue-billed and Velvety Black-Tyrants in the gardens and Masked Water Tyrant near the swimming pool. By night the impressive Tawny-browed Owl hooted and flew around near the cabins and on two nights we saw this great species.
The lower portions of the park brought a few different species that we would not see elsewhere. Probably the one that the participants enjoyed the most was the Brazilian endemic Half-collared Sparrow that we found one afternoon quite close to dusk. This says a lot about what a beautiful sparrow it is, when other birds in the area were Brassy-breasted and Gilt-edged Tanagers. These two species of tanagers were very common down the hill and various times we encountered flocks with over 10 individuals of each.
Red-breasted Toucans (above) were seen in the middle and lower elevations of the park
On one of the two full days that we had in Itatiaia we departed very early from the hotel to visit the upper portions of the park in an area called Algulhas Negras; in order to get there we must exit the park though the lower entrance gate, then take the expressway for one exit, then head back up along another road that skirts the state of Minas Gerais. Right at the border of the state there is a road that enters the park again but in a higher area where the avifauna is different. The many “specials” present here are very nice, so despite the chilly weather we enjoyed that morning a lot. Among the cool birds we found here I can mention the highly desired Green-crowned Plovercrest, Rufous-backed Antvireo, Mouse-colored Tapaculo, Araucaria Tit-Spinetail (which was a trip favorite for some), Itatiaia Spinetail, Serra do Mar Tyrannulet, Greenish Tyrannulet, Buff-throated and Bay-chested Warbling-Finches, Thick-billed Saltator, Rufous-tailed Antbird, and Shear-tailed Gray Tyrant.
On the way back from the Algulhas Negras road to Hotel do Ype, we stopped to bird a well know area called the Snipe Valley which is a deforested valley at the base of the Itatiaia Mountains which through the years has become home to species more typical of the savanna habitats of the interior of Brazil. Since these species are adapted to open habitats they thrive in agricultural areas like this.
Curl-crested Jays (above) were seen along the disturbed habitat at the base of the mountains together with a family of White
Woodpeckers that flew nearby
Here we boosted the list significantly in a matter of just half an hour of birding. First we found White-vented Violetear, followed by Tawny-headed Swallow, White-eared Puffbird, Yellow-rumped Marshbird, Streamer-tailed Tyrant, Rufous-fronted Thornbird, Whistling Heron, Campo Flicker, Yellow-bellied Elaenia, Chopi Blackbird, and Savanna Hawk; the latter we had seen distantly before (together with White-rumped Monjita in similar habitats) but this time we had better views. We moved to the end of the road to turn the car around and when we were about to head out back to the hotel we found the last of the lifers for the day in the shape of Burnished-buff and Hooded Tanagers, Sapphire-spangled Emerald and the large Planalto Hermit.
We had another morning around the middle elevations of the Itatiaia NP and we spent it walking again the main forested road. Right at the waterfalls above the hotel one of the participants that decided to explore the trails deeper than the rest of the group found a Sharp-tailed Streamcreeper. The rest of us picked up a few other birds, including the Black-billed Scythebill mentioned previously, and also Lesser and Scaled Woodcreepers, White-bearded Manakin, and one common and widely distributed bird that we had only heard repeatedly before, Rufous-breasted Peppershrike, among a bunch that we had seen already in the area. The time had come to wrap the trip up; we had a long drive ahead of us towards the Guarulhos international airport where the tour finished. To break the long drive we took a short detour into some well-known rice fields to see if we could find some new birds but, on the one hand the area in general was dry and rice fields were not in good shape, and on the other hand we were quite short of time and sort of in a hurry to get to the airport. We picked up as new birds only Black-necked Stilt, Guira Cuckoos, and Amazon Kingfisher.
The group posing for a photo with the breathtaking coastline of Brazil in the background during an above average “pit stop”
The last stop at a gas station before reaching the airport gave us a last surprise: a Toco Toucan flew right above us letting us see well its majestic bright orange bill that was shining with the yellow afternoon sun. This was the last lifer we found and a perfect ending for a superb tour.
FINAL CHECKLIST: A total of 280 species OF BIRDS were recorded on the tour; 44 of those are Endemics to Brazil. Out of the total, 258 were SEEN by at least one participant on the tour (almost every bird was seen by all), 21 were Heard Only (H) and only 1 species was seen only by the Tour Leader (L). In terms of MAMMALS, we found 6 species of mammals of which a Tayra was the highlight. See the detailed list for this trip below.
279 H Black-throated Grosbeak Saltator fuliginosus
OLD WORLD SPARROWS PASSERIDAE
280
House Sparrow (I) Passer domesticus
MAMMALS
1 L Brazilian Common Opossum Didelphis aurita
2
Black-horned Capuchin Cebus nigritus
3
Capybara Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris
4
Brazilian Squirrel Sciurus aestuans
5
Nutria (Coypu) Myocastor coypus
6
Tayra Eira barbara
This list follows Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2018. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2018.