March 8-22, 2025 with Marcelo Padua
Brazil is a massive country; it's larger than the lower 48 states in the US, so choosing a first tour to this country is always a challenging thing to do. But this tour visits 3 distinctive areas of the country and offers a broad sample of two major habitats, the Atlantic forest, and the Pantanal, making it a perfect introduction to birding in Brazil.
We start the tour with four nights at Intervales State Park in the state of Sao Paulo, one of the best places to bird in Brazil and a place where we were immersed in pristine habitat from the moment we woke up to the moment we went to bed. We explored the trails and found a profusion of Foliage-gleaners, Tanagers, Manakins, Antbirds and several extremely hard to see birds that our local guide Betinho had staked out for us, such as Red-and-white Crake, Solitary Tinamou, Spot-winged Wood-Quail, Pavonine Cuckoo and Rusty-barred Owl, just to name a few of the birds that very few people ever get to see that Betinho had on a string for us.
We also worked hard and got lucky with a few others that are never guaranteed, and we had incredible looks at Helmeted Woodpecker, Black-fronted Piping-guan, Long-tufted and Black-capped Screech-owls, and even Variegated Antpitta just to name a few.
We then transferred to Iguazu Falls, where the birding is spectacular, but the falls take the center stage. We spent two nights on the Argentine side of the Falls and two nights on the Brazilian side, allowing us to experience the falls from every angle and to bird at a leisurely pace, taking time to enjoy the colors of birds such as Plush-crested Jays, Toco Toucans, Green-headed Tanagers, Yellow-fronted Woodpeckers, Rufous-capped Motmot and Cobalt-rumped Parrotlet. We also found some rare and more discreet birds, such as Buff-bellied Puffbirds, Black-and-white Hawk Eagle and Southern Bristle-tyrant.
Birding in Iguazu also allowed us take advantage of the joys of watching a feeder and getting incredible views of 7 species of hummingbirds, and visiting the falls at dusk to witness the spectacle of thousands of Great Dusky Swifts coming to roost behind the falls. What a memorable experience!
It would seem like a shame to leave Iguazu if it wasn’t for the fact that our next destination was the Pantanal, one of the best places for birding and general wildlife viewing in the world!
Four nights in the Pantanal proved to be a delight, with Hyacinth Macaws, Jabirus, Limpkins, Bare-faced Curassows and many others easy to see, but we also saw some great mammals like Capybara, Azara’s Night Monkey, Crab-eating Fox and even an Ocelot (not to mention a Jaguar that Allen got to see lurking around our lodge at night).
Besides the obvious beasts and birds of the Pantanal we managed to see some very secretive birds, like the discreet Zigzag Heron, Mato Grosso Antbird, White-lored Spinetail, Helmeted Manakin, Black-bellied Antwren and Pale Legged Hornero.
Our trip was a blast, our group wonderful, and I would do it all again in a heart beat.
Thank you for spending your time with me and letting me introduce you to the fabulous birding of Brazil and I hope we can do it again somewhere else.
And thank you Allen, for all the wonderful photos that illustrated this trip report.
Our list included some incredible mammal highlights:
Black-tailed Marmoset (Mico melanurus)
Black-and-gold Howler (Alouatta caraya)
Brown Capuchin (Sapajus apella)
Azara's Night Monkey (Aotus azarae)
Common Tapeti (Sylvilagus brasiliensis)
Guianan Squirrel (Sciurus aestuans)
Greater Capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris)
Azara's Agouti (Dasyprocta azarae)
Crab-eating Raccoon (Procyon cancrivorus)
South American Coati (Nasua nasua)
Lowland Tapir (Tapirus terrestris)
Marsh Deer (Blastocerus dichotomus)
Pampas Deer (Ozotoceros bezoarticus)
Common Red Brocket (Mazama americana)
Ocelot (Leopardus pardalis)
Jaguar (Panthera onca)
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/437794
You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/nut25TRIPLIST.pdf
-- Marcelo Padua