October 17-November 3, 2025 with Bret Whitney
Field Guides’ 2025 SPECTACULAR SOUTHEAST BRAZIL: Part 1, North of the Tropic tour got off to a good start, with everyone arriving just fine and with all their luggage. For our first birding outing, we drove about an hour north to a property where we had a spectacular, Minas Gerais style, wood-fired lunch. Open country with easy access to a slope of ancient, volcanic rock netted us superb views of Pygmy Nightjars, Red-legged Seriema, and a pair of White Monjitas. An afternoon stop along the border of an extensive stand of mangroves quickly produced Bicolored Conebills and Straight-billed Woodcreeper (disjunct, local subspecies bahiae). We took advantage of a high tide to bird a spot on the Vitória coastline where we saw a few marine birds including nearly 100 American Oystercatchers.
Next morning was pretty miserable: cold and windy with rain squalls as an unusually late and strong southern cold front pushed into southern Espírito Santo. Birding was tough but we did manage good views of Atlantic Black-throated Trogon (a recent species-level split), Yellow-throated Woodpecker (endemic, red-throated subspecies erythrotis), Minute Hermit, Sooretama Slaty-Antshrike, Atlantic Plain-Xenops (another recent species-level split), White-eyed Foliage-gleaner, and Gilt-edged Tanager. At lunch, we enjoyed some good birding at feeders that attracted Blue-naped Chlorophonias, always very welcome, and several other species of tanagers, thrushes, and both Violaceous and Chestnut-bellied euphonias. We then made our way up to the Natureza EcoLodge, our base for the Cherry-throated Tanager quest. A tanager, maybe two, had been seen at the Kaetés Reserve four days before our visit – but the estimated total number of birds at the reserve had dropped from around 20 in 2024 to perhaps less than 8 this year, with no hard evidence that there were more than about 4. This was deeply disheartening. Weather continued to be awful, extremely windy (large tree limbs coming down across roads) and wet, with temperatures in the low-mid 60s. We had essentially no chance of finding the tanagers, but we tried hard along the section of trail thought to be best for the birds, finding only one decent canopy mixed-species flock late in the morning. I managed to coax a Such’s Antthrush back and forth across a trail, and we had a nice view of White-bibbed Antbird, which were enjoyed by all. Bare-throated Bellbirds were all over the place, seeming to enjoy the chilly, windy weather, and we also had good scope views of Spot-billed Toucanet and a Hooded Berryeater. I finally decided to throw in the towel and return to the hotel for lunch and a little time off. There we saw two active nests of Swallow-tailed Cotingas (fantastic!) and picked up a few other birds including a gorgeous pair of Crescent-chested Puffbirds, and a Rio de Janeiro Antbird in a bamboo thicket on the hotel grounds. Our plan was to go for Giant Snipe and Long-trained Nightjar at dusk, where we had seen them beautifully last year, but again, weather was just too lousy to get even a vocal response this year. The next morning, we went to a different forest block where we had found a nest of Cherry-throated Tanagers back in 2018. The cold front continued, but this area is somewhat more sheltered from wind, and we managed fine views of Rufous-breasted Leaftosser, White-throated and Scaled woodcreepers, Pin-tailed Manakin, Cinnamon-vented Piha, and Brown Tanager. Not a sign of Cherry-throated Tanager, but the forest sure does continue to look great for it, and it is not being birded regularly. This may change dramatically by next year, however, as Field Guides and some other, mostly Brazilian birding companies are funding field work to find and monitor more Cherry-throated Tanagers in areas heretofore largely neglected. The researcher heading up this initiative is well known to us and is, without a doubt, the very best person to take on this challenge.
We visited the fabulous hummer feeders at Sítio Vita Verde, near Santa Teresa, that afternoon, which was a big hit, as always, and birded the Augusto Ruschi Biological Reserve the next morning. Weather was much nicer, although still windy and cool. Canopy flocks were good and one understory flock provided superb views of a pair of Salvadori’s Antwrens, Streak-capped Antwren, Black-billed Scythebill, and Black-capped Foliage-gleaner! That afternoon we visited the Mello Leitão grounds for East Brazilian Chachalaca and picked up Wied’s Tyrant-Manakin as well. To cap off that day, we returned to Augusto Ruschi for owling and hit a homer, getting Mottled Owl and Long-tailed Potoo, which came in dramatically from a lonnng way off. What a day!
The Linhares Reserve, a short distance north of the Rio Doce, was our next birding venue. This reserve, right at sea-level, harbors the world’s largest population of the endangered Red-billed Curassow. Unfortunately, by the start of our birding at the reserve, weather had again become quite windy and cool, but we enjoyed good scope views of Least Pygmy-Owl and Maroon-faced Parakeets – and we had a fine view of a female Red-billed Curassow. That first curassow was really exciting, but we ended up seeing 13 of them by the end of the next day! I found this truly amazing, as the most we had ever encountered on the tour, going back to 1989, was 4 and we had dipped altogether a time or two. It certainly does seem that they are doing very well at Linhares!
Our plan for the next morning was to go all-in for Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo (the rarely seen, endemic subspecies dulcis), while trying to pick up other important birds over the course of the day. Most unfortunately, the cold front had continued to linger, and the day dawned dark and windy. We drove to the reserve, picked up our excellent local guide, Brener, and continued along for over an hour to reach the ground-cuckoo area (seeing multiple Red-billed Curassows along the way, a couple of them quite close!). When we got out of the vehicle, there was not a single bird vocalizing, not a frog or cricket, nothing going on. We walked along the piece of road where the ground-cuckoo had been found, offering playback of the bird’s song every few minutes. Two hours crawled by, then three, and it was about 10:30. We spotted a few birds along the way, but stayed focused on getting a response from the Neomorphus… and then, it came -- a low, distant humming song just like the recording! Wow, was that exciting! To make a long story short, we got the ground-cuckoo to approach fairly closely (I estimated less than 40 feet), but the understory was much too dense for viewing deeper than about 15-20 feet. The sky was darkening, and a rumble of thunder was ominous. The bird continued to sing consistently, and seemed to be moving a bit… and then François spotted it as it suddenly jumped up to a branch about 6 feet above ground! Unfortunately, none of the rest of us saw it before it returned to the ground just a few seconds later… and then it started raining. Aarrrgh, end of the ground-cuckoo story, but we walked to another sideroad and found both Cream-colored and Ringed (Atlantic Black-breasted, subspecies tinnunculus) woodpeckers and a few other birds. We had a picnic lunch in the van while it continued to rain, then managed a couple of relatively dry hours along trails in search of Black-headed Berryeater – which we missed this year for the first time ever on this tour. We wrapped the day on the subcanopy tower, seeing a few pairs of Red-browed, Orange-winged, and Mealy amazons winging by, staying long enough for nightfall to call in a Tawny-browed Owl to close the day. We did not even hear Ochre-marked Parakeet this year, which was crazy… I hope it was just the weather.
The Rio de Janeiro portion of our tour opened with a couple of hours around the town of Teresópolis, which produced nesting Rufous-thighed Kites, Orange-eyed Thornbirds, a dynamite Dusky-tailed Antbird, Chestnut-headed Tanager, Half-collared Sparrow and, with a little perseverance, we nailed Blackish-blue Seedeater. Then, en route to the old German town of Nova Friburgo (“New Freiburg”), we efficiently tallied Three-toed Jacamars, Chestnut-backed Antshrike, Serra Antwren, and Hangnest Tody-Tyrant.
Nova Friburgo is the launch point in the quest for the rare Gray-winged Cotinga, which has a tiny world-range high in the mountains of central Rio de Janeiro state. A few individuals are reasonably accessible along a very steep road high on Pico de Caledônia. Fortunately, weather was perfect for us, and we enjoyed excellent scope views of a singing male Gray-winged Cotinga(!) right off the bat, and also Large-tailed (“Starry-night”) Antshrike, Rufous-tailed Antbird, Rufous-backed Antvireo, Mouse-colored Tapaculo, Serra do Mar Bristle-Tyrant, and Bay-chested Warbling-Finch – it was a super-productive morning of birding!
Next up was Itatiaia National Park which was, as always, a fabulous birding venue. We started in the “high country”, in fact, along the highest-elevation road in all of Brazil which straddles the Rio de Janeiro/Minas Gerais state boundary. It covers a wonderful gradient of humid forest habitats from about 5300 feet elevation to above natural treeline at around 7800 feet. Weather started off perfectly with high overcast and light wind, and mixed-species flocks were good. The first birds to show well were Buff-throated Warbling-Finches, Thick-billed Saltator, Surucua Trogon, Gray-capped Tyrannulet, White-browed Woodpecker, Pallid Spinetail, Sharp-billed Treehunter, Scaled Woodcreeper, White-browed Warbler, Diademed Tanager and several other species of tanagers seen well earlier on the tour. Farther up the road we pulled in a Serra do Mar Tyrant-Manakin and a much-wanted Black-capped Piprites; scoped a gorgeous male Green-crowned Plovercrest; and called in a singing Rufous-tailed Antthrush for truly breath-taking views. A Speckle-breasted Antpitta nearby was much more furtive, but a couple of us saw it briefly. Unfortunately, by the time we reached the grasslands above treeline, foggy, drizzly conditions and blasting winds had set in. We stopped to put together our picnic lunch at the guard station, allowing us a bit of shelter. Despite the near-hopelessly bad weather, we soldiered into the grassland to try for Itatiaia Spinetail… and somehow managed to pull a silent bird in for a few seconds of viewing, and saw a Rufous-capped Antshrike in the process – but that was it for the highest elevations. On the way back down the mountain, we lucked out bigtime with a White-rumped Hawk that cruised low over the road, showing off its contrasty white wing linings and banded tail. I think it was at almost the exact same spot and hour where we had seen one on our 2024 tour!
A late-afternoon stop in a marshy area proved to be a very good call, as we quickly found a bunch of new birds for the tour, including Buff-necked Ibis (my first ever around Itatiaia), White Woodpecker, Narrow-billed Woodcreeper, Firewood-gatherer, Rufous-fronted Thornbird, Crested Black-Tyrant (which made for all three species of black-tyrants that day), White-rumped Monjita, Yellow-browed Tyrant, and an unforgettable trio of Streamer-tailed Tyrants (check out the video, below)! But one of the most-lauded highlights of the whole tour was yet to come. As dusk was settling in, we descended into the edge of the marsh below the road to get into position for… Giant Snipe. It was a beautiful, calm evening, and I was feeling the energy. We got an immediate response to playback from a distant Giant Snipe, and I was able to pick it up in flight with the thermal scope as it started roding dramatically, high overhead. A little more playback brought a bird down, fairly close; I could see its head above the grass, a white-hot speck in the thermal scope. It then started walking in slowly, and when it got to within 20 feet(!) of us, I had Ricardo throw the light on it. WOW, it just stood there for a moment, then resumed walking around, calmly feeding, now literally 15 feet from us (more video, below). What an awesome “snipe hunt”!
On our second full day at Itatiaia, trail birding at middle elevations was excellent for Ochre-rumped and Bertoni’s antbirds, more great looks at Streak-capped Antwrens, Buff-browed and Buff-fronted foliage-gleaners, Fork-tailed Pygmy-Tyrant, Olive-green Tanager and others, then a visit to a big bamboo thicket nearer the park entrance produced the rare White-bearded Antshrike and fabulous views of Slaty Bristlefront (a bizarre tapaculo) practically at our feet. The feeders at our lovely hotel in the national park were hopping with hummers, tanagers, and other birds right up to dusk and dinnertime. Several male and female Brazilian Rubys, a couple of Frilled Coquettes, and great views of Red-breasted Toucans and several species of parakeets, were especially appreciated.
On the day of departure from Itatiaia, after a leisurely breakfast and final check of the feeders, we packed up and headed down to the coast. Today would be devoted largely to travel, but there would be an especially important afternoon stop for one of the rarest birds on the continent of South America: Black-hooded Antwren. Unfortunately, weather shifted from fog to fairly hard rain as we descended from the park and continued down the eastern slope of the Serra do Mar, and it wasn’t looking good for birding… but as we finished up at our lunch stop, rain abated and we made our way into the Mambucaba area in hopes of finding the antwren and perhaps Buff-bellied Puffbird. A Long-billed Wren was calling as we got out of the van, and… yes!... also a Black-hooded Antwren! Both of these allowed us fantastic views, and the Black-hooded Antwren female was especially cooperative (females are often not so easy to see)! Although rain caught up with us shortly thereafter, we squeaked out a Buff-bellied Puffbird, which was fantastic; alas, our hope for Spotted Bamboowren was washed out. We rolled into the resort town of Ubatuba on the coast of northern São Paulo for a scrumptious churrascaria dinner and got to bed early, excited for the coming three days of birding treasures.
The Ubatuba area truly is a birding paradise! Our first morning there, near Caraguatatuba, produced excellent views of Scaled Antbird, Black-cheeked Gnateaters, Plain-winged Woodcreeper, Rufous-capped Spinetail, White-bearded Manakin, Gray-hooded Flycatcher, and a pair of Riverbank Warblers foraging calmly on the ground just ahead of us. Lunch was at a restaurant that maintains great bird feeders, and our delicious moqueca (coconut-milk-based stew of fish and veggies over rice) was accompanied by a constant stream of flashy tanagers and euphonias. We then went straight to one of the best hummingbird venues anywhere, Sítio Folha Seca, the property of our longtime friend, Jonas. We racked up 12 species of hummers there, including who-knows-how-many Saw-billed Hermits, multiple Festive Coquettes, and several Black-throated Mangos, all of which were firsts for us. At the same time, brilliant Brazilian Tanagers and a couple of flashy Red-necked Tanagers came in close at the fruit feeders. Our second day at Ubatuba took us to Fazenda Angelim where, in the course of a fabulous morning of birding, we connected with several lowland endemics, including Spot-backed Antshrike, Squamate Antbird, Fork-tailed Pygmy-Tyrant, White-thighed Swallow, Golden-rumped Euphonia, Buffy-fronted Seedeater, and Sooty Grassquit. After a well-appointed lunch complete with a sushi bar, and a rejuvenating siesta, we visited the Serra do Mar State Park for Robust Woodpeckers and Gray-hooded Attila.
The final day of North of the Tropic saw us ascending the coast range toward the megalopolis of São Paulo. Our last, outstanding target for the tour was the very local, endemic Marsh Antwren. We would need to visit a specific part of a marsh near Macuquinho Lodge, fingers crossed for decent weather. Sure enough, within 15 minutes of our arrival, we spotted a male Marsh Antwren that was sitting still, preening its plumage just off the edge of the road – fabulous! We also had our first Sooty Tyrannulet there, and just a short while later, we saw Orange-breasted Thornbirds at their nest. Our local guide, and owner of Macuquinho Lodge, Elvis, also produced a gorgeous Red-and-white Crake that had become accustomed to his feeding it mealworms, and we also had a wonderful view of Gray-fronted Dove right there. We glimpsed a Brown Tinamou in the path ahead of us, but it didn’t come in for a feeding with the other birds. After a delicious and relaxing lunch at Macuquinho, we made our way to our hotel in Guarulhos, near the São Paulo international airport, arriving right on time at about 5:30 pm. Once there, three members of the group had ample time to shower, repack, and take the shuttle to the airport for flights home. The balance of us met three new folks coming in for Part 2, South of the Capricorn, for dinner.
Several endemic, range-restricted mammals and other critters encountered along the course of the tour included:
Collared Anteater/Southern Tamandua (Tamandua tetradactyla) one spotted with the thermal imaging scope, then seen by all with the spotlight, at the Linhares Reserve
Mouse-opossum (Marmosa sp.) – one seen briefly with the thermal imaging scope, then the spotlight, during owling at the Linhares Reserve
Common Marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) which is introduced in this region
Geoffroy’s Marmoset (Callithrix geoffroyi) at the Linhares Reserve and at Mello Leitão in Santa Teresa
Buffy-headed Marmoset (Callithrix flaviceps) tiny world range, mostly in Espírito Santo state, rarely seen
Masked Titi Monkey (Callicebus personatus) heard at several places, seen well at Mello Leitão
Brown Howler (Alouatta guariba) Augusto Ruschi Biological Reserve, heard at Itatiaia
Nine-banded Armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) on our first afternoon at Ouro Velho, it dashed away from practically at our feet!
Guianan Squirrel (Sciurus aestuans) at Augusto Ruschi Biological Reserve, and then all of those thoroughly habituated ones around the reception desk at Itatiaia!
Brown Agouti (Dasyprocta variegata) in the road at the Linhares Reserve
Crab-eating Fox (Procyon cancrivorus) one in the road after a rainstorm at Itatiaia
Tayra (Eira barbara) one ran across a road behind two Red-billed Curassows at Linhares, and a second one followed a few seconds later
Collared Peccary (Dicotyles tajacu) one ran across the track at the Kaetés Reserve
Common Red Brocket Deer (Mazama americana) one walked across the track at Linhares
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Tegu Lizards (Tupinambis tegu) these big, terrestrial “monitor-like” lizards were seen at several of our stops, especially on sunny afternoons
Yararaca Lancehead (Bothrops yararaca) a species of fer de lance that one of the Kaetés guides found coiled up inside a bromeliad; a beautiful, seldom-seen snake!
Green Sea Turtle – probably Chelonia mydas, spotted by Doug along the coast at “ilha do boi” in Vitória
I want to give a special shout-out to François Grenon, who so ably and conscientiously commandeered the generation of our many eBird lists, often five or more per day. We all thank you very much, François!
It was great fun birding with you all, and I certainly hope we will be able to do it again somewhere else (probably in big, beautiful Brazil) before I retire at the end of 2027!
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/449982
You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/sb125TRIPLIST.pdf
-- Bret