There's no better way to skip some early-spring blues in Britain (come to think of it any-season blues), than to jet off down to Brazil for some hot weather and great birds. So, April 3 found me stepping off a plane in Rio de Janeiro and back into (just about) my favourite city in the world. Most of my trip was unfortunately work, though I did find some time for the beach (há moloque), and to go to Emas and Serra da Canastra National Parks for a week. The latter, a trip that Jeremy Minns, Arthur Grosset and myself had been planning awhile, proved a real success. We enjoyed a superb few days in Emas, despite the near-total lack of vocalization activity (Jeremy and I scarcely turned our tape-recorders on the whole trip), with between 10 and 15 White-winged Nightjars (surely the ultimate nightjar) being the assured highlight. But, over 75 Cock-tailed Tyrants in a day, Collared Crescentchest, a Maned Wolf around the park headquarters one evening, three near-tame Bare-faced Curassows, several Yellow-faced Parrots, Large-billed Antwren, Tawny-bellied Seedeater and a ton of other nice cerrado birds all testified to a good time for all.

We diverted from our route back to São Paulo to visit Serra da Canastra National Park. Birdsong was still virtually non-existent, but we enjoyed some stunning views of five Brazilian Mergansers, a couple of cooperative Ochre-breasted Pipits (in the nearby Serra da Babilônia), Brasilia Tapaculo, Golden-capped Parakeet and many of the other species that make this park such a great place to visit.

It looked bad for finding a Red-billed Curassow, due to all that rain during our last week in Espirito Santo. However, after a succession of all too brief sightings, our perseverance was rewarded, literally at the final moment, when having hacked our way through a blocked trail, there was a male and female curassow walking sedately on the trail, accompanied by a single recently hatched chick. Prolonged scope views were enjoyed by all. My joke that behind the wall of vegetation that had confronted us was a curassow El Dorado appeared near-prophetic.

Prior to this a frustrating two days waiting for the van's alternator to be fixed in a rural backwater in western Minas Gerais drove even the normally indefatigable Eduardo's patience to the limit (mine had long since been lost). By the time we were once again on the road I was even less than usually hopeful about finding the ultra-shy Brazilian Merganser. With only one day possible in Serra da Canastra I did not consider my pessimism unfounded, but in the end it all came good. Once again we enjoyed stunning looks at both Giant Anteater and Maned Wolf, while we found three mergansers with near ease, as well as Golden-capped Parakeet, Brasilia Tapaculo, a wealth of Cock-tailed Tyrants (a perennial group favourite), a heard-only Ocellated Crake (the second park record), that most bizarre furnariid the Firewood-gatherer, Greater Rhea and a host of other interesting grassland species. Unfortunately our attempts to repeat the success of our January trip by rounding the day off with a Sickle-winged Nightjar were all to naught.

Sandwiched between these two mini-dramas were all the usual great sightings that always make southeast Brazil such a great place to bird. A profusion of antbirds and others at Itatiaia, including a Tawny-browed Owl at its daytime roost, the very rare Black-hooded Antwren near Ubatuba, killer looks at all those great grassland species, including several Bearded Tachuri, around Itirapina, Three-toed Jacamars on the outskirts of Belo Horizonte, Cipo Canastero, Gray-backed Tachuri, Hyacinth Visorbearer and others in the Serra do Cipo, a half-dozen Cherry-throated Tanagers at Pindobas, reasonable studies of a potentially new species of flycatcher in the same region, a handful of Swallow-tailed Cotingas at two sites, a heard-only (tape-recorded) Shrike-like Cotinga in a new area we scouted in western Espirito Santo, and Plumbeous Antvireo and Restinga Antwren on our last two days in the field. We finished with a group total of 74 endemics, and 50 globally threatened and near-threatened species in our three weeks. As always, I have to thank Eduardo, for his great humour and company throughout, Ana Cristina Venturini and Pedro Rogerio de Paz, for helping to make the final leg of our trip such a success (despite the floods!), and some great participants---Frank Bills, Sharon Bostick, Ron Hoff, Pearl Jordan, Dolly Ann Myers, and Gary and Nellie Simpson---for making the trip that much more enjoyable. The trip report has been placed on the website.

The autumn 2001 trip will be lead by Juan Mazar Barnett, with whom I have spent much time in Brazil in the last few years, and will be a few days longer to permit an exploration of the middle reaches of the rio Saõ Francisco and the wealth of little-known and threatened birds that occur in this region. The price will be $3200. Early booking is advisable, as we had to disappoint several people for the autumn 2000 trip. For further details see the page under future trips.

Guy Kirwan

By Guy Kirwan

If you've been to the time-honoured classic South American birding destinations-- Ecuador, Venezuela and Peru, and maybe even sampled Argentina or Colombia (via the recent highly successful Ornifolks visit)--there's still a place you have to go: south- east Brazil. Endemic-rich magical birding with those groups you really go to South America to see, like flashy antbirds and cotingas, being well represented, pristine forests, generally good accommodations, excellent food (if you're seeking to shed some pounds don't head for south-east Brazil until you've spent a couple of months in Nepal!), and great Latin music (OK, we didn't have enough time for the latter).

Ornifolks' inaugural trip to south-east Brazil covered much of the Atlantic forest region, from Santa Catarina in the south to northern Bahia, in the course of six weeks. The participants were GMF, MAE, Joel Abramson, Marianne Barrowman, Brian Beers, Ken Cole, Travis MacClendon, Howie Nielsen, and Don Rathbun. In all, we covered over 10,000 km and saw approximately 600 species, including over 100 Brazil-only endemics (some the result of pending splits), many other taxa endemic to the Atlantic Forest region, and over 60 threatened or near-threatened species (as defined by BirdLife International).

The highlights were many, but the unquestionable highpoint of the trip for most was unforgettable close and prolonged views of the recently rediscovered Cherry-throated Tanager: a total of five birds were seen, including a pair nestbuilding. Two other undescribed nests were also found during the tour: those of Kaempfer's Tody-tyrant and Caatinga Nighthawk. Among many rare, localized, fantastic and occasionally enigmatic endemics, the following stand out: meltdown long-as-you-like looks at displaying Red-billed Currasows at Linhares CVRD reserve, a single Sao Francisco Sparrow taped-in by MAE with Ash-throated Casiornis and Great Xenops nearby, up to four pairs of Black-hooded Antwren, both berryeaters and Buff-throated Purpletuft, a family party of Acrobatornis fonsecai (Pink-legged Graveteiro) in central coastal Bahia, eight Lear's Macaws perched in one tree, a feast of quality Hemitriccus (including Eye-ringed Tody-tyrant and Fork-tailed Pygmy-tyrant; surely there's others out there, apart from me, who reckon a day without a flycatcher conundrum sucks?), a host of rare parrots including Red-browed Amazon, Golden-capped Parakeet and Golden-tailed Parrotlet, and those delicious Myrmeciza's: White-bibbed and Squamate Antbirds.

Among more regular fare (it seems a shame to describe it in such mundane terms, but ....), special mention can be given to Slaty Bristlefront, Spotted Bamboowren, White-breasted Tapaculo, White-bearded, Giant and a host of other antshrikes, Russet-winged Spadebill, Red-shouldered Spinetail, White-browed Guan, a male Long-trained Nightjar, eight species of tinamou seen during the trip (others were heard), and the list just goes on. Five leader highlights were those up-close and personal encounters with the roosting Solitary Tinamou we spotlighted and photographed at Linhares, the Spot-backed Antshrike I taped-in at Boa Nova, not one but four Brazilian Mergansers which provided perfect looks at Canastra, the Giant Snipe we flushed twice at Itirapina for unparalleled daylight views (Howie, I still owe you that beer), and all those displaying male Cock-tailed Tyrants, and other cerrado specialities, at Canastra and Itirapina.

There were some misses, but experience garnered during this tour and since (Brian Beers and I made a highly successful post-tour sweep of areas adjacent to Rio), should help iron things out for future trips. We'll not be offering another south-east Brazil trip until 2000 and future itineraries are likely to be a little different, but those who can't wait until then can contact me via GMF or MAE in the interim.

Finally, thanks to all the participants and especially Eduardo, our driver, who played a big part in the success of the trip. Long will he remember this trip, and all those dirty and treacherous roads!

GMK

Download the entire trip report as PDF

See the species on the cassette