Brazil : 11th of August to 28th of August 2007

SUMMARY

Gallery of bird pictures: non passerines
Gallery of bird pictures: passerines

Gallery of the other animals

Gallery of landscapes of Brazil

Detail list of birds and animals saw day after day (more than 430 species!)

Few flowers and bromeliace of Brazil

The first objective of our trip was to go to the Pantanal for at least one week. Then we had the choice between the Amazonian Forest ( Alta Foresta area) or the Atlantic Forest with all its endemic birds. Finaly we chosed Boute Expedition, partially because they answered faster to our requests and because they had two trips planned in accordance with our date of holidays: first week in the Atlantic Forest, Second week in the Pantanal. We added one day before for a short visit of São Paulo and few days at the end of the trip. For this last part, our first idea was to hire a car and to visit Emas NP. But it is more than 600 km from Cuiabà and I finallly found on Boute Expedition website a place call the "Jardim da Amazônia" in the southern part of the Amazonian Forest at only 300km. We chose this last place and it was a really good choice to finish our trip. Boute organised all the transport and made all the reservation for us.

During the first week we were 7 with an English couple who lives in Slovakia (Clare and Sean) and 3 other people from Canada (Ian, Joan, Ann). For the second week, Clare and Sean continued for Intervalles NP and the 3 Canadian went to the Pantanal with us.

Date Morning Afternoon

11August 2007 We arrived early in the morning at São Paulo airport. we got the minibus for the Best Western Panamby hotel. We decided to rest a little bit before a visit of the town.

We asked for a guid to the hotel. He came at 2 pm with a driver and we had a nice tour of the main site of the town. We finished in a nice park in the center of the town. A very little list of bird at the end but with some lifers however like Rufous Hornero (Furnarius rufus) and Rufous-collared Sparrow (Zonotrichia capensis).

In the evening we met our guid Giuliano.

12August 2007 We waited until 1pm before all people of the group join us. A visit of the garden of the hotel allowed us to see a Orange-headed Tanager (Thlypopsis sordida) and several common birds like the Rufous Hornero (Furnarius rufus). We drove to Itatiaia where we arrived around 5pm. Our first stopped were in the park on a lookout where we saw a few new species. We stayed in Itatiaia Park Hotel (formerly Hotel Simon)

13August 2007 After the breakfast at 6am, we started birding around the hotel. Some feeders attracted a lot of different Tanagers. Others species were visible too in the trees. In the middle of the morning, we walked to the Swimming pool and then on the Tres Picos trail. After lunch we took other trails. We finished the day in the garden of a small house with some feeders which allow to see several hummingbirds.

14August 2007

This day were dedicated to the higher part of the Park. We spent first a few time around the feeders which attracted some black-capped Capuchin (Cebus apella)!

We left the park and took the road to Agulhas. A stop in an open area gave us some very interresting species like White-tailed Hawk (Buteo albicaudatus), Yellow-rumped Marshbird...Higher, we turned to the right on a track and made another stop immediately and we saw our unique Plovercrest (Stephanoxis lalandi). During the day we alternate walk and drive on this small and beautifull road.

In the afternoon we reach the level of the Araucaria trees and we found Itatiaia Thistletail (Oreophylax moreirae), Araucaria Tit-Spinetail (Leptasthenura setaria) and other interresting species.

Before coming back to the hotel, we stopped at Donati Hotel to try to call and see the Tawny-browed Owl. After few second an Owl came and we had all a very good view of it.

15August 2007

We looked for birds around the hotel and the swimming pool until 10am. Then we left the park for Ubatuba with a detour by Perequê for the Black-hooded Antwren (Formicivora erythronotos), a species rediscovered only in 1987.

In the first village just after the exit of the park, we stopped near a marshy area with the hope to see the Streamer-tailed Tyrant (Gubernetes yetapa) but without success. The place were in any case very good with several new species like Rufous-sided Crake (Laterallus melanophaius), Chestnut-capped Blackbird (Agelaius ruficapillus), Masked Yellowthroat (Geothlypis aequinoctialis) and South American Snipe (Gallinago paraguaiae)...

After 4 hours drive if only one stop on a very beautifull lookout on the ocean to search birds we arrived at Perequê near Angra dos Reis. The forest near the village is very nice and productive.

We arrived in the evening in our hotel: Ubatuba Palace in the center of the town. Not a dreaming place but well situated for the next days.

16August 2007

We spent the morning in Fazenda Angelim.

We came back to Ubatuba for lunch. Then we did a quick visit to the beach and came back to the hotel for a rest.

In the afternoon we went to Jonas's home at Folha Seca. It's an incredible place for Hummingbirds and Tanager. The owner fed the feeders until 4 time a day!

17August 2007 We returned to Jonas's home in the morning. We walked in this areea and we were lucky to find a Three-toed Sloth too. In the afternoon we went to a park near Ubatuba on the coast where we saw some new species like Gray-hooded Attila and Semipalmated Sandpipers.

18August 2007

This morning we came again Fazenda Angelim with even more sucess than the first day. We tried hard and finally saw very well Spotted Bamboowren.

Later in the morning we went to Fazenda Capricornio where we saw some new species too.

We ate again at Ubatuba and we drove to São Paulo to take our flight to Cuiabá and the Pantanal. We arrived around 10:30 pm in our Hotel few kilometers from the airport

19August 2007

We had breakfast around 6 am and we drove to the Pantanal. We stopped first at a great Swamp where birds were numerous. We saw some of the sepcies only there like Great-billed Seed-Finch (Oryzoborus maximiliani), a first record for the Pantanal.

We arrived for lunch in our lodge: Pouso Alegre.

This lodge is well known as because there is a nest of the endangered Hyacinth Macaw. After the lunch we were luncky to have six birds coming to the lodge and staying around. A walk around the lodge gave a lot of other interresting species, everything almost new!

20August 2007

This morning we followed the main road which gone to the lodge. We started to day by searching and finding a nest of a Great Horned Owl. Later A worker well known by Giuliano show us a Great Potoo! We drove at the end of the morning to our next lodge (Fazenda Santa Tereza) on the Transpantaneira Road.

After lunch a had a short walk along the river which gave us our first Chestnut-eared Aracari. Then we join the group a did another walk along the road. At night we continued with the car for Nightjar. We found a lot of Pauraque (Nyctidromus albicollis) and one nice Scissor-tailed Nightjar (Hydropsalis torquata).

21August 2007 After an early breakfast at 5:30, we took the track along the river which led to a very interresting forest area. We were luck to find a Southern Tamandua (Tamandua tetradactyla) and to see again some Capuchins (Cebus apella).

In the afternoon we had a incredible boat trip on the Pixaim river. At the last moment we found the Giant Otter at their usual place. We saw the 5 species of Kingfishers and a lot of interesting species like Agami Heron and different Nightjars.

22August 2007 We left the lodge early in the morning to Serra das Araras but we did a lot of stop on the road in the Pantanal area. We saw two very interresting species of Hummingbirds, one was a lifer even for our guid. We stopped in a small town for lunch in a typical brazilian restaurant with at least a dozen of variety of meats We arrived in our new lodge in the afternoon. We went directly to the site of the Harpye Eagle of the area but without success unfortunately... However new place means new birds a we had a very good evening after all.

23August 2007 We had a walk in the "Harpie Forest" in the morning still without success for the species. We drove to our next area: Chapada dos Guimarães National Park. We finished the day in the National Park around éu de NoivaFalls with some really interresting birds like Blue-winged Macaw. Just before sunset, we saw hundreds of Great Dusky Swifts and White-collared Swifts returned behind the fall for the night!

24August 2007 We started along the Agua Fria Road. It's a place of lower vegatations with really specific birds like Horned Sungem (Heliactin bilophus), Coal-crested Finch (Charitospiza eucosma), White-eared Puffbird (Nystalus chacuru) and especially the Collared Crescent-chest (Melanopareia torquata)... The end the the morning was spent in the "Jamaca Forest" where we contacted Sharp-tailed Streamcreeper (Lochmias nematura), Band-tailed Manakin (Pipra fasciicauda) and few others...

As we were quiet tired we decided to have a rest after lunch. Me and Valerie were just in bed when Ann call us for a big birds in the grass in front of our Bungalow. I took some pictures and we are able to identify it as a Horned Screamer (Anhima cornuta), a first record for Chapada!

Then we went to his father's house in the Jamaca Valley. This valley is a mix of forest and organic farms well integrated with some very good bird sites. We finished the day with a very nice sight of a Tropical Screech-Owl (Megascops choliba).

25August 2007

For this last morning with the group we walked along the Geladeira Road, North-East of Chapada. One of our first bird was the big Nacunda Nighthawk in a very good light.

We came back to the hotel in the middle of the morning. We said good by to the group and Marluce, the wife of Paulo Boute brought us back to Cuiabá.

Then we took a regular bus for São José do Rio Claro, 300 km North of Cuiabá. The bus was without conditioned air but very confortable more or less like a business class plane's seat. In São José, someone from the "Jardim da Amazônia" came to bring us to the lodge. We arrived just before sunset which allowed us to have a first view of this beautifull place.

26August 2007 After breakfast the owner of the lodge offered us a tour in a car to discover all his property. We were lucky to find at the extremity of a track a Tapir crossing a open area and few seconds later when we were living we saw a Razor-billed Curassow (Mitu tuberosa) too! The owner were very proud of his fish ponds farming which is a very good place for birding too.

After lunch we had first a rest and then we tried the very nice natural pool of the lodge. The very clear and drinkable water is supplied by a natural spring of 500 liters per second!

We finished the day by a walk around the fish ponds

27August 2007 We walked around before the breakfast. Then we took a boat and came back on foot on the other side of the river with the help of a local guid. It was a day very windy and even cold and we saw only one flock several Aras Araraunas (Ara ararauna) and very few new birds at the end except Scaled Pigeon (Columba speciosa).

During lunch a Common Tegu Lizard (Tupinambis teguixin) crossed the grass at a dozen of meters from us. It was our second species of Tegu of the trip.

In the afternoon we decided to try to fish in the river without a bigger success. The return on the boat offered us a small compensation with a nice sight of a Gray-headed Kite (Leptodon cayanensis). We took our telescop for a last walk before the night and we found that a Blue-necked Tanager (Tangara cyanicollis) had its nest in a small tree closed to the main house!

28August 2007 The morning was hoter and the activity of birds really better than yesterday. We did a loop following some tracks. Our first idea was to come bak to the Tapir site but the number and the quality of our observations forced us to stop at mid-distance! After lunch a taxi came to bring us back to Cuiabá. It was more confortable than the bus because of the conditioned air and it was especially faster! We arrived in the evening. The next morning Marlucce came back to bring us to the airport for our return

SUMMARY

Date	Morning	Afternoon
11August 2007	We arrived early in the morning at São Paulo airport. we got the minibus for the Best Western Panamby hotel. We decided to rest a little bit before a visit of the town.	We asked for a guid to the hotel. He came at 2 pm with a driver and we had a nice tour of the main site of the town. We finished in a nice park in the center of the town. A very little list of bird at the end but with some lifers however like Rufous Hornero (Furnarius rufus) and Rufous-collared Sparrow (Zonotrichia capensis). In the evening we met our guid Giuliano.
12August 2007	We waited until 1pm before all people of the group join us. A visit of the garden of the hotel allowed us to see a Orange-headed Tanager (Thlypopsis sordida) and several common birds like the Rufous Hornero (Furnarius rufus).	We drove to Itatiaia where we arrived around 5pm. Our first stopped were in the park on a lookout where we saw a few new species. We stayed in Itatiaia Park Hotel (formerly Hotel Simon)
13August 2007	After the breakfast at 6am, we started birding around the hotel. Some feeders attracted a lot of different Tanagers. Others species were visible too in the trees. In the middle of the morning, we walked to the Swimming pool and then on the Tres Picos trail.	After lunch we took other trails. We finished the day in the garden of a small house with some feeders which allow to see several hummingbirds.
14August 2007	This day were dedicated to the higher part of the Park. We spent first a few time around the feeders which attracted some black-capped Capuchin (Cebus apella)! We left the park and took the road to Agulhas. A stop in an open area gave us some very interresting species like White-tailed Hawk (Buteo albicaudatus), Yellow-rumped Marshbird...Higher, we turned to the right on a track and made another stop immediately and we saw our unique Plovercrest (Stephanoxis lalandi). During the day we alternate walk and drive on this small and beautifull road.	In the afternoon we reach the level of the Araucaria trees and we found Itatiaia Thistletail (Oreophylax moreirae), Araucaria Tit-Spinetail (Leptasthenura setaria) and other interresting species. Before coming back to the hotel, we stopped at Donati Hotel to try to call and see the Tawny-browed Owl. After few second an Owl came and we had all a very good view of it.
15August 2007	We looked for birds around the hotel and the swimming pool until 10am. Then we left the park for Ubatuba with a detour by Perequê for the Black-hooded Antwren (Formicivora erythronotos), a species rediscovered only in 1987. In the first village just after the exit of the park, we stopped near a marshy area with the hope to see the Streamer-tailed Tyrant (Gubernetes yetapa) but without success. The place were in any case very good with several new species like Rufous-sided Crake (Laterallus melanophaius), Chestnut-capped Blackbird (Agelaius ruficapillus), Masked Yellowthroat (Geothlypis aequinoctialis) and South American Snipe (Gallinago paraguaiae)...	After 4 hours drive if only one stop on a very beautifull lookout on the ocean to search birds we arrived at Perequê near Angra dos Reis. The forest near the village is very nice and productive. We arrived in the evening in our hotel: Ubatuba Palace in the center of the town. Not a dreaming place but well situated for the next days.
16August 2007	We spent the morning in Fazenda Angelim. We came back to Ubatuba for lunch. Then we did a quick visit to the beach and came back to the hotel for a rest.	In the afternoon we went to Jonas's home at Folha Seca. It's an incredible place for Hummingbirds and Tanager. The owner fed the feeders until 4 time a day!
17August 2007	We returned to Jonas's home in the morning. We walked in this areea and we were lucky to find a Three-toed Sloth too.	In the afternoon we went to a park near Ubatuba on the coast where we saw some new species like Gray-hooded Attila and Semipalmated Sandpipers.
18August 2007	This morning we came again Fazenda Angelim with even more sucess than the first day. We tried hard and finally saw very well Spotted Bamboowren. Later in the morning we went to Fazenda Capricornio where we saw some new species too.	We ate again at Ubatuba and we drove to São Paulo to take our flight to Cuiabá and the Pantanal. We arrived around 10:30 pm in our Hotel few kilometers from the airport
19August 2007	We had breakfast around 6 am and we drove to the Pantanal. We stopped first at a great Swamp where birds were numerous. We saw some of the sepcies only there like Great-billed Seed-Finch (Oryzoborus maximiliani), a first record for the Pantanal. We arrived for lunch in our lodge: Pouso Alegre.	This lodge is well known as because there is a nest of the endangered Hyacinth Macaw. After the lunch we were luncky to have six birds coming to the lodge and staying around. A walk around the lodge gave a lot of other interresting species, everything almost new!
20August 2007	This morning we followed the main road which gone to the lodge. We started to day by searching and finding a nest of a Great Horned Owl. Later A worker well known by Giuliano show us a Great Potoo! We drove at the end of the morning to our next lodge (Fazenda Santa Tereza) on the Transpantaneira Road.	After lunch a had a short walk along the river which gave us our first Chestnut-eared Aracari. Then we join the group a did another walk along the road. At night we continued with the car for Nightjar. We found a lot of Pauraque (Nyctidromus albicollis) and one nice Scissor-tailed Nightjar (Hydropsalis torquata).
21August 2007	After an early breakfast at 5:30, we took the track along the river which led to a very interresting forest area. We were luck to find a Southern Tamandua (Tamandua tetradactyla) and to see again some Capuchins (Cebus apella).	In the afternoon we had a incredible boat trip on the Pixaim river. At the last moment we found the Giant Otter at their usual place. We saw the 5 species of Kingfishers and a lot of interesting species like Agami Heron and different Nightjars.
22August 2007	We left the lodge early in the morning to Serra das Araras but we did a lot of stop on the road in the Pantanal area. We saw two very interresting species of Hummingbirds, one was a lifer even for our guid. We stopped in a small town for lunch in a typical brazilian restaurant with at least a dozen of variety of meats	We arrived in our new lodge in the afternoon. We went directly to the site of the Harpye Eagle of the area but without success unfortunately... However new place means new birds a we had a very good evening after all.
23August 2007	We had a walk in the "Harpie Forest" in the morning still without success for the species.	We drove to our next area: Chapada dos Guimarães National Park. We finished the day in the National Park around éu de NoivaFalls with some really interresting birds like Blue-winged Macaw. Just before sunset, we saw hundreds of Great Dusky Swifts and White-collared Swifts returned behind the fall for the night!
24August 2007	We started along the Agua Fria Road. It's a place of lower vegatations with really specific birds like Horned Sungem (Heliactin bilophus), Coal-crested Finch (Charitospiza eucosma), White-eared Puffbird (Nystalus chacuru) and especially the Collared Crescent-chest (Melanopareia torquata)... The end the the morning was spent in the "Jamaca Forest" where we contacted Sharp-tailed Streamcreeper (Lochmias nematura), Band-tailed Manakin (Pipra fasciicauda) and few others...	As we were quiet tired we decided to have a rest after lunch. Me and Valerie were just in bed when Ann call us for a big birds in the grass in front of our Bungalow. I took some pictures and we are able to identify it as a Horned Screamer (Anhima cornuta), a first record for Chapada! Then we went to his father's house in the Jamaca Valley. This valley is a mix of forest and organic farms well integrated with some very good bird sites. We finished the day with a very nice sight of a Tropical Screech-Owl (Megascops choliba).
25August 2007	For this last morning with the group we walked along the Geladeira Road, North-East of Chapada. One of our first bird was the big Nacunda Nighthawk in a very good light. We came back to the hotel in the middle of the morning. We said good by to the group and Marluce, the wife of Paulo Boute brought us back to Cuiabá.	Then we took a regular bus for São José do Rio Claro, 300 km North of Cuiabá. The bus was without conditioned air but very confortable more or less like a business class plane's seat. In São José, someone from the "Jardim da Amazônia" came to bring us to the lodge. We arrived just before sunset which allowed us to have a first view of this beautifull place.
26August 2007	After breakfast the owner of the lodge offered us a tour in a car to discover all his property. We were lucky to find at the extremity of a track a Tapir crossing a open area and few seconds later when we were living we saw a Razor-billed Curassow (Mitu tuberosa) too! The owner were very proud of his fish ponds farming which is a very good place for birding too.	After lunch we had first a rest and then we tried the very nice natural pool of the lodge. The very clear and drinkable water is supplied by a natural spring of 500 liters per second! We finished the day by a walk around the fish ponds
27August 2007	We walked around before the breakfast. Then we took a boat and came back on foot on the other side of the river with the help of a local guid. It was a day very windy and even cold and we saw only one flock several Aras Araraunas (Ara ararauna) and very few new birds at the end except Scaled Pigeon (Columba speciosa).	During lunch a Common Tegu Lizard (Tupinambis teguixin) crossed the grass at a dozen of meters from us. It was our second species of Tegu of the trip. In the afternoon we decided to try to fish in the river without a bigger success. The return on the boat offered us a small compensation with a nice sight of a Gray-headed Kite (Leptodon cayanensis). We took our telescop for a last walk before the night and we found that a Blue-necked Tanager (Tangara cyanicollis) had its nest in a small tree closed to the main house!
28August 2007	The morning was hoter and the activity of birds really better than yesterday. We did a loop following some tracks. Our first idea was to come bak to the Tapir site but the number and the quality of our observations forced us to stop at mid-distance!	After lunch a taxi came to bring us back to Cuiabá. It was more confortable than the bus because of the conditioned air and it was especially faster! We arrived in the evening. The next morning Marlucce came back to bring us to the airport for our return