Brazil I & II Trip Report
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North Eastern Brazil I & II Trip Report 20th October to 15th November 2013 Araripe Manakin by Forrest Rowland Trip report compiled by Tour leaderForrest Rowland NE Brazil I tour Top 10 birds as voted by participants: 1. Lear’s Macaw 2. Araripe Manakin 3. Jandaya Parakeet Trip Report - RBT NE Brazil I & II 2013 2 4. Fringe-backed Fire-eye 5. Great Xenops 6. Seven-coloured Tanager 7. Ash-throated Crake 8. Stripe-backed Antbird 9. Scarlet-throated Tanager 10. Blue-winged Macaw NE Brazil II tour Top 10 as voted by participants: 1. Ochre-rumped Antbird 2. Giant Snipe 3. Ruby-topaz Hummingbird (Ruby Topaz) 4. Hooded Visorbearer 5. Slender Antbird 6. Collared Crescentchest 7. White-collared Foliage-Gleaner 8. White-eared Puffbird 9. Masked Duck 10. Pygmy Nightjar NE Brazil is finally gaining the notoriety it deserves among wildlife enthusiasts, nature lovers, and, of course, birders! The variety of habitats that its vast borders encompass, hosting more than 600 bird species (including over 100 endemics), range from lush coastal rainforests, to xerophytic desert-like scrub in the north, across the vast cerrado full of microhabitats both known as well as entirely unexplored. This incredible diversity, combined with emerging infrastructure, a burgeoning economy paying more attention to eco-tourism, and a vibrant, dynamic culture makes NE Brazil one of the planet’s most unique and rewarding destinations to explore. The various destinations we visited on these tours allowed us time in all of these diverse habitat types – and some in the Lear’s Macaws by Forrest Rowland most spectacular fashion! Our List Totals of 501 birds and 15 species of mammals (including such specials as Lear’s Macaw, Araripe Manakin, Bahia Tapaculo, and Pink-legged Graveteiro) reflect not only how diverse the region is, but just how rich it can be from day to day. NE Brazil I Our tour started out in the isolated Serra do Baturite, south of Fortaleza. This fascinating area, with a mix of dry forest, cloud forest, and Guianan Shield affinities was a great place to begin! With a moderate bird list of some 200 species in the region (but many being endemic to just this area), this was a perfect introduction to some of the commoner habitats and species we’d be seeing over the Trip Report - RBT NE Brazil I & II 2013 3 next few weeks, as well as an introduction to some intense target-birding for such exciting endemics as Ceara Gnateater, Grey-breasted Parakeet, and Ochraceous Piculet, three species found nowhere else on Earth! Gould’s Toucanet, Black-tailed Myiobius, Yellow-chevroned Parakeet, Rufous-sided Crake, and many other fine species dazzled us during our drives and walks through the lovely, quaint, tourist areas around Guaramiranga. From here we headed south to perhaps the finest birding area in the far Northeast of Brazil – Chapada do Araripe National Park. Four-star lodging with access to all three important habitat types made this one of the most enjoyable birding experiences of the tour. Birding the dry forest netted us fabulous birds including White-browed Guan, Tawny Piculet, Caatinga Antwren, Ochre-cheeked and Red- shouldered Spinetails, and the incomparable Great Xenops! An afternoon in the more wooded areas of the Chapada brought us within a few meters of Ash- throated Casiornis and Pale-bellied Tyrant-Manakin, as well as crippling views of a pair of White-browed Antpittas! However, the star of the visit, Araripe Manakin, was one of the birding highlights of the tour and, undoubtedly, one of the highlights of any birder’s lifetime! This inexplicable brilliant bird put on a wonderful show for us; and, to make the experience even more meaningful, we spent some time at the main office of the Araripe Project, where we learned all about the bird, the region, and what is Jandaya Parakeet by Forrest Rowland being done (as well as what can be done) to help protect this spectacular creature. From Crato we then continued south out of Ceara into Bahia, and to perhaps the most anticipated destination of this tour. The area around Canudos hosts the entire world’s population of Lear’s (Indigo) Macaw. Once down to 41 individuals, efforts of local Brazilian agencies, combined with the dedication of a few ranching families nearby, have brought this species back from the brink of extinction to a total population, now, of over 1000 individuals. One fine, brisk, morning we were treated to the sight of dozens of these iconic, gorgeous, birds leaving their cave roosts for daily feeding grounds. Dawn over this stunning, Martian, landscape was made perfect with the spectacle of these charismatic parrots. Lesser Wagtail-Tyrants displaying, King Vulture soaring low overhead, Ultramarine Grosbeaks nest-building, Blue-winged Macaws coming to roost, Tawny Piculet by Forrest Rowland and one occasion with Spotted Piculets Trip Report - RBT NE Brazil I & II 2013 4 and Broad-tipped Hermits on either side of us vying for our attention, made these two days simply amazing! An evening with Scarlet-throated Tanagers, White-throated Seedeaters, and Campo Troupials feeding on agaves 10 meters away preceded a male Scissor-tailed Nightjar swooping at us from all sides – all deserve very honourable mention, as well! Heading east from Canudos we drove the long haul to Alagoas and Pernambuco for the most difficult part of the tour (stopping en route for magnificent views of Pectoral Antwren). This part of Northeast Brazil is the most mentally challenging, as both guides and participants are faced with the destruction that has rendered the once vast expanses of Atlantic Rainforests, home to numerous endemic species, into a sea of sugar cane and cow pastures. The only technicality saving these species (though at least two have very likely gone extinct since 2011: Alagoas Foliage-Gleaner and Ultramarine Grosbeak by Forrest Rowland Pernambuco Pygmy Owl) is a Brazilian law restricting deforestation on grades and mountaintops steeper than 45-degrees, solely to avoid erosion of “viable” lands below. These tiny forest fragments that we bird in the area are all part of private holdings dedicated to cane production, obligated to mitigate erosion by preserving the highest hilltops. We did our best to find, and enjoy, what is left of these special places and the wonderful birds they protect. Our days in Unioa do Palmares and Tamandare began early, and some of the distances to reach the forests (Murici and Jaqueira) were far and very, very rough, but we had wonderful success! Jandaya Parakeet, Golden-tailed Parrotlet, Long-tailed Woodnymph, Alagoas and Orange-bellied Antwrens, Willis’s and Scalloped Antbird, Black-cheeked Gnateater, Alagoas Tyrannulet, Smoky-fronted Tody-Flycatcher, Black-headed Berryeater, Bearded Bellbird, Seven- colored Tanager, and Forbes’s Blackbird all topped the list of the numerous special birds of these sites. Also right up there was a fine afternoon at the beach, some delicious seafood, and an evening spectacle of 5 Ash-throated Crakes flying back and forth across the marsh at our feet! The final site of this first tour was the area of Sergipe state around Estancia. The incredibly range-restricted Fringe- backed Fire-eye was the main reason for our time in this area. And, after searching up and down our prime spot only to come up empty and running out of time, some online research and ingenuity proved fruitful as we coaxed an incredibly cooperative pair of these Scarlet-throated Tanagers by Forrest Rowland unique antbirds out of the brush into Trip Report - RBT NE Brazil I & II 2013 5 fine, full views!!! “Fringe” certainly does not do this bird justice. Red-shouldered Macaw, Golden- capped Parakeet, Pernambuco Foliage-Gleaner, and great views of Crimson-crested Woodpeckers and Aplomado Falcons were additional, welcome, sights, to end this spectacular tour with. NE Brazil II Hooded Visorbearer by Forrest Rowland Bahia state is, quite simply, mind-boggling. Beautiful beach towns surrounded by coastal rainforest, cloud forest shrouding spiky peaks, and the spectacular vistas and complex habitats for the Chapada Diamantina make Bahia state the most diverse, possibly even alluring state, in the entire country! Our comprehensive tour of all the best of Bahia began in the lush forests and beautiful beaches of Itacare, where our local guide, Leo Patrial, introduced us to all the great birding sites in town, as well as the best restaurant (his!). This was our first taste of truly rich, untouched Atlantic forest, as most of the forests in the far Northeast (Alagoas/Pernambuco) are affected remnants. Bare-throated Bellbirds sang loudly as we racked up an impressive first day’s list of over 100 species!!! Striated Softtail, Band-tailed, Bahia, and Streak-capped Antwrens, Cinereous Antshrike, Scaled Antbird, Hangnest Tody-Tyrant, Grey- crowned Flatbill, White-winged Cotinga, Whiskered Myiobius, Eastern Striped, Blue-backed, White-crowned, and Red-headed Manakins, Brazilian, White-bellied (Turquoise), Silvery-breasted (Opal-rumped), and Yellow-backed Tanagers, and many more turned up for us. Just wow!! On our way out of Itacare, we made a crucial stop for the Critically Endangered Bahia Tapaculo…which showed wonderfully! We also enjoyed great views of Silvery-flanked Antwrens, White-fronted Nunbirds, scope-willing views of Plain-winged Woodcreeper, White-eyed Foliage- Trip Report - RBT NE Brazil I & II 2013 6 Gleaner, Chestnut-backed Antbird, and Dubois’s Seedeaters, all of which put in appearances at the site, though one of the best finds of the morning for the participants were 4 Masked Ducks! For a bird that appears on nearly every tour checklist in Latin America, very seldom is it ever ticked… Serra Bonita, our next destination, was one of the most impressive, humbling experiences of this author’s birding career.