Field Guides Tour Report Nowhere but Northeast Brazil II 2019 Feb 19, 2019 to Mar 8, 2019 Marcelo Barreiros For our tour description, itinerary, past triplists, dates, fees, and more, please VISIT OUR TOUR PAGE. We saw so many endemics and special birds on the tour! One of these was the beautiful Gray-breasted Parakeet that we saw on the road to the Remanso hotel. Photo by participant Holger Teichmann. Northeast Brazil is the driest and hottest part of the country and was no different at this time. Luckily, we had a dry day to go to the Murici Reserve, with its difficult path. This fragment is a refuge for some of the most endangered species in the world, such as the Alagoas Antwren. We tried for this little bird all day and, unfortunately, no response. We met some students and they told us they did not hear the bird for seven days. However, we had some looks at a male White-winged Cotinga, three nice Lettered Aracari and fantastic visions of a Scalloped Antbird. The next few days were also good, with some special birds such as the Orange-bellied Antwren, Willis's Antbird, the beautiful Seven-colored Tanager, many Long-tailed Woodnymph, Amethyst Woodstar, and many more in the Frei Caneca and Pedra D'Anta. During our visit to the beautiful beach of Tamandaré, we had one of the most spectacular encounters of the tour, a pair of one of the rarest of the rare in the world, White-collared Kite, flew over our heads, giving us a fantastic look. Later, before leaving the state of Pernambuco, we saw a single Pinto Spinetail. The state of Ceará was also great, starting with great views in Guarapiranga, such as Ochraceous Piculet, Ceará Gnateater, Buff-Breasted Tody-tyrant and the great star of that place, the colorful Gray-breasted Parakeet. It's great to see how much easier it is to see this bird today, thanks to the intense efforts to save it. After that, we had our first contact with the caatinga habitat, endemic to Brazil and full of great birds and landscapes. On the way to the Chapada do Araripe, we made a beautiful stop in Quixadá, we had a great lunch at Pedra dos Ventos hotel and enjoyed some great birds like Pygmy Nightjar, Puffbird-backed and Pearl Kite. And we arrived at the beautiful Chapada do Araripe, with its humid forest in the foothills, where the Araripe Manakin made its home. About 400 pairs were left in a small portion of the area. In the hills, the birds of the Caatinga were there, Great Xenops, Silvery-cheeked Antshrike, White-browed Antpitta and other friendly ones. After that, another two very productive days in Petrolina, the border between Ceará and Bahia, and it was time to visit one of the best birds of the tour, the majestic Indigo (Lear's) Macaw. These sandstone cliffs are fantastic and give us a perfect contrast to the blue birds that fly in front of it. Also, we had great looks at Blue-crowned Parakeet and Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle. Before we went to the Chapada Diamantina area, we stopped to see the rare Pectoral Antwren. It was Field Guides Birding Tours • www.fieldguides.com • 800-728-4953 1 magical to be back to the Chapada Diamantina and all its great birds and landscapes. We had fantastic visuals of all the targets like Sincorá Antwren, Diamantina Tapaculo, Hooded Visorbearer and others. Before the beginning of the Bahia Extension, we went to Pelourinho, the oldest part of Salvador, capital of Bahia, with our friend and great guide Conor O'Sullivan where we saw many historical buildings and had a great dinner. It was almost a whole day by car to get to Boa Nova, our first stop for the extension. We always have Josafá as our local guide at Boa Nova because this guy knows all the birds and the best places for birdwatching. This area has a very rare forest, called "mata de cipó", a forest that is a transitional between the Caatinga and the Atlantic Forest, where Slender Antbird and Narrow-billed Antwren lives, both seen extremely well. We also had the opportunity to see great endemics of the Atlantic Forest like Fork-tailed Pygmy-Tyrant, Bahia Spinetail, Crescent-chested Puffbird, Bahia Tyrannulet and more. The last great place was the Estação Veracel, a private reserve near Porto Seguro, the first area in which the Portuguese arrived in Brazil more than 500 years ago. This was our best chance to see the rare Banded Cotinga that we saw last morning! In addition, we had other large birds such as a female Racket-tailed Coquette, Ochre-marked Parakeet, Hook-billed Hermit, Band-tailed Antwren and more. Abraços! Marcelo Barreiros KEYS FOR THIS LIST One of the following keys may be shown in brackets for individual species as appropriate: * = heard only, I = introduced, E = endemic, N = nesting, a = austral migrant, b = boreal migrant BIRDS Tinamidae (Tinamous) LITTLE TINAMOU (Crypturellus soui) [*] YELLOW­LEGGED TINAMOU (Crypturellus noctivagus) [E*] VARIEGATED TINAMOU (Crypturellus variegatus) [*] SMALL­BILLED TINAMOU (Crypturellus parvirostris) – Heard a few times at Caatinga habitat. [*] SPOTTED NOTHURA (Nothura maculosa) – A single bird heard near Mucugê. [*] Anatidae (Ducks, Geese, and Waterfowl) WHITE­FACED WHISTLING­DUCK (Dendrocygna viduata) BRAZILIAN TEAL (Amazonetta brasiliensis) Cracidae (Guans, Chachalacas, and Curassows) EAST BRAZILIAN CHACHALACA (Ortalis araucuan) – Nice looks on the way to Mucugê, Chapada Diamantina. RUSTY­MARGINED GUAN (Penelope superciliaris) – Two birds seen walking on Remanso Hotel entrance road, later in the afternoon. Podicipedidae (Grebes) LEAST GREBE (Tachybaptus dominicus) Columbidae (Pigeons and Doves) ROCK PIGEON (Columba livia) SCALED PIGEON (Patagioenas speciosa) – Beautiful pigeon seen in the scope at Murici Reserve. PICAZURO PIGEON (Patagioenas picazuro) PLUMBEOUS PIGEON (Patagioenas plumbea) PLAIN­BREASTED GROUND­DOVE (Columbina minuta) RUDDY GROUND­DOVE (Columbina talpacoti) SCALED DOVE (Columbina squammata) PICUI GROUND­DOVE (Columbina picui) BLUE GROUND­DOVE (Claravis pretiosa) – Great looks near Lençóis. WHITE­TIPPED DOVE (Leptotila verreauxi) [*] GRAY­FRONTED DOVE (Leptotila rufaxilla) [*] EARED DOVE (Zenaida auriculata) Cuculidae (Cuckoos) GUIRA CUCKOO (Guira guira) GREATER ANI (Crotophaga major) SMOOTH­BILLED ANI (Crotophaga ani) STRIPED CUCKOO (Tapera naevia) – Seen once on the way to Catu. SQUIRREL CUCKOO (Piaya cayana) DARK­BILLED CUCKOO (Coccyzus melacoryphus) – Nice looking Cuckoo seen a couple of times. PEARLY­BREASTED CUCKOO (Coccyzus euleri) [*] Caprimulgidae (Nightjars and Allies) LEAST NIGHTHAWK (Chordeiles pusillus) – Great looks near Petrolina. Field Guides Birding Tours • www.fieldguides.com • 800-728-4953 2 SHORT­TAILED NIGHTHAWK (NATTERERI) (Lurocalis semitorquatus nattereri) PYGMY NIGHTJAR (Nyctipolus hirundinaceus) – Fantastic Nightjar seen at Pedra dos Ventos Hotel. [E] COMMON PAURAQUE (Nyctidromus albicollis) SCISSOR­TAILED NIGHTJAR (Hydropsalis torquata) [*] RUFOUS NIGHTJAR (Antrostomus rufus) – Seen briefly at Chapada do Araripe. Nyctibiidae (Potoos) COMMON POTOO (Nyctibius griseus) – An adult seen at Chapada do Araripe and later, at Estação Veracel, a young bird seen nicely where its parent was a month before. Apodidae (Swifts) SICK'S SWIFT (Chaetura meridionalis) GRAY­RUMPED SWIFT (Chaetura cinereiventris) FORK­TAILED PALM­SWIFT (Tachornis squamata) Trochilidae (Hummingbirds) BLACK JACOBIN (Florisuga fusca) [E] HOOK­BILLED HERMIT (Glaucis dohrnii) – EX ­ Yes! One of the targets for the extension, seen very well at Estação Veracel. [E] RUFOUS­BREASTED HERMIT (Glaucis hirsutus) – Another nice hummer seen a few times during the tour. BROAD­TIPPED HERMIT (Anopetia gounellei) – Great bird and great looks near Palmeiras on our last morning at Chapada Diamantina. [E] REDDISH HERMIT (Phaethornis ruber) PLANALTO HERMIT (Phaethornis pretrei) HOODED VISORBEARER (Augastes lumachella) – It's always a pleasure to see this bird and even better because the Chapada Diamantina is one of the most beautiful places in the country, full of great landscapes and wildlife. [E] BROWN VIOLETEAR (Colibri delphinae greenewalti) – Another nice bird seen well at Chapada Diamantina area. [E] WHITE­VENTED VIOLETEAR (Colibri serrirostris) BLACK­EARED FAIRY (Heliothryx auritus) – Beautiful hummer seen a few times during the tour. RUBY­TOPAZ HUMMINGBIRD (Chrysolampis mosquitus) – Fantastic hummer! We've had the privilege to see it a few times during this tour, males, females and immatures seen very well. BLACK­THROATED MANGO (Anthracothorax nigricollis) RACKET­TAILED COQUETTE (Discosura longicaudus) – EX ­ Tiny little hummingbird, usually seen in the canopy. We saw a female, perched for a few seconds at Estação Veracel. STRIPE­BREASTED STARTHROAT (Heliomaster squamosus) – An adult male seen very well near Canudos. [E] AMETHYST WOODSTAR (Calliphlox amethystina) – Male and female seen, on the feeders at Pedra D'Anta private reserve. GLITTERING­BELLIED EMERALD (Chlorostilbon lucidus) BLUE­CHINNED SAPPHIRE (Chlorestes notata) SWALLOW­TAILED HUMMINGBIRD (Eupetomena macroura) FORK­TAILED WOODNYMPH (Thalurania furcata) LONG­TAILED WOODNYMPH (Thalurania watertonii) – Great looks at the feeders of Pedra D'Anta Reserve. That new hummer garden is fantastic! [E] VIOLET­CAPPED WOODNYMPH (Thalurania glaucopis) – EX ­ SOMBRE HUMMINGBIRD (Aphantochroa cirrochloris) [E] VERSICOLORED EMERALD (Amazilia versicolor) GLITTERING­THROATED EMERALD (Amazilia fimbriata) SAPPHIRE­SPANGLED EMERALD (Amazilia lactea) RUFOUS­THROATED SAPPHIRE (Hylocharis sapphirina) WHITE­CHINNED SAPPHIRE (Hylocharis cyanus) Rallidae (Rails, Gallinules, and Coots) BLACKISH RAIL (Pardirallus nigricans) – A pair