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Less than three hours from Rio de Janeiro, in that exciting zone of endemism known as the Atlantic Forest, lies the 113,000-acre Tres Picos State Park. Situated within this enormous park--itself less than an hour from "The Finger of God," jutting skyward out of Serra dos Orgaos National Park--is a lovely lodge located at about 3000 feet, an ideal location to immerse ourselves in the fantastic avifauna of southeastern Brazil. Some 150 species to date have been recorded on the grounds of this lodge, many of them Atlantic Forest endemics! The montane vistas, the fruiting and flowering vegetation--especially orchids and bromeliads--are inescapably appealing, such that taking the liberty of an afternoon nap or a swim in the natural pool requires little resolve.

Nestled in between steep forested mountains, Mariza lodge will be our base from which we'll be birding for more than a week, exploring a range of elevations (from below 200 feet up to 7000 feet) and habitats (from lowland forest to native bamboo, from high-altitude grassland to foothill forest, from wetland to open country). This translates into the possibility for a number of exciting endemics, from Saw-billed Hermit and Black-billed Scythebill to Large-tailed Antshrike and Ochre-rumped Antbird, from Black-and-gold Cotinga and even Gray-winged Cotinga to Itatiaia Spinetail, Brazilian Laniisoma, and Long-trained Nightjar. If we miss some of these, there will be others like bellbirds and berryeaters, antshrikes and antvireos, tanagers and toucans, puffbirds and plovercrests aplenty to pleasantly appease us--and tongue-tie us, you bet!

One look at the checklist will convince you that, although we won't see it all, we will not have gone south with the spring--for a short time--in vain. During our week of birding the vicinity, expect about 100 endemics. As is apparent from our triplists in recent years, our short tour stresses quality (a robust 97-119 endemics) rather than quantity (a modest 250-300 total species). A couple of our afternoons will be spent birding the rich lodge grounds; the remainder will be spent off-grounds at a series of sites from 30 minutes to a bit more than an hour away. On several of the days, we'll return after lunch for some time off before birding trails on the grounds or photographing birds from the veranda; the other half will be full days of rich but relaxed birding, with delicious lunches in the comfortable temperate clime of this remarkably beautiful landscape. Staying at one location only embellishes the appeal of this short tour. For those who wish to enjoy Rio before the tour, our office will gladly help you arrange it.

We have been running this tour in the same area since 2005. This tour is designed to target specialties of southeastern Brazil, and we plan to orchestrate our activities to maximize our chances of finding and seeing these species. This does not mean that there is no time for the more common and widespread species; indeed, even in southeastern Brazil, one still sees more species of widespread distribution than endemics.

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Client comment
"This was an excellent tour experience...Amazing habitat, some downtime most afternoons after busy birding mornings, great food, good pacing. I would travel with Marcelo Padua again in a heartbeat... He is a fabulous guide, birdwise and otherwise, and also a wonderful human being. Four of the six people on the trip had traveled with him one or more times previously, and that speaks volumes." R.C., BRAZIL: ATLANTIC FOREST GETAWAY