Brazil is the largest country in South America (about the size of the US Lower 48) and home to one of the richest avifaunas on Earth, including some 220 endemics, a good number of them threatened or endangered. Field Guides has 40 years of experience guiding birding tours to Brazil, with 11 itineraries (including a two-parted Southeast Brazil trip) in our current schedule showcasing the best of this vast country, from lush rainforests of the Amazon and Atlantic Forest to the open wetlands and savannas of the Pantanal. Continue reading our overview of all Brazil tours...
Brazil Birding Departures
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This medium-length tour hits three of Brazil's premier birding venues, staying several nights at each to ensure an unhurried pace as we rack up some 400 species of birds.
Departures- Mar 7-21, 2026 with Marcelo Padua
- Mar 6-20, 2027 with TBA
An itinerary in our series of fantastic wilderness tours to Brazil aboard a delightful river vessel. We'll explore little-known sites for a rich diversity of Amazonian birds, with some exciting discoveries no doubt in store.
Departures- Jul 29 - Aug 13, 2026 with Micah Riegner & Bret Whitney
A birding adventure on the remote Rio Roosevelt in the spirit of Teddy himself, as we search for bushbirds, ant swarms, up to 10 species described to science only in 2013, and, of course, the unknown.
Departures- Jun 13-28, 2026 with Bret Whitney
- Jun 12-27, 2027 with TBA
A short but rich immersion in the avifauna of the Atlantic Forest, based at one lovely site near Rio.
Departures- Oct 22 - Nov 1, 2026 with Marcelo Padua
- Oct 21-31, 2027 with TBA
Beautiful Bahia, linking Northeast and Southeast Brazil, is chock-full of rare birds, from Giant Snipe and Hook-billed Hermit to Pink-legged Graveteiro and Banded Cotinga!
Departures- Jan 28 - Feb 11, 2026 with Marcelo Barreiros
- Jan 31 - Feb 14, 2027 with TBA
This short but action-packed Brazil birding tour features the Pantanal at its best, a nice taste of southern Amazonian birds, and excellent chances of seeing a Jaguar.
Departures- Jul 4-15, 2026 with Marcelo Barreiros
- Jul 3-14, 2027 with TBA
From beautiful beaches to barren badlands, our tour is a quest for specialties of the endangered caatinga, chapada, and Atlantic Forest habitats.
Departures- Jan 13-30, 2026 with Marcelo Barreiros & Bret Whitney
- Jan 16 - Feb 2, 2027 with TBA
Pristine rainforest on the beautiful Rio Cristalino combined with the wilds of the Pantanal in search of Hyacinth Macaw, Harpy Eagle, Jabiru, Jaguar, and a large piece of the meaning of life.
Departures- Jun 10-25, 2026 with Marcelo Barreiros
- Jun 9-24, 2027 with TBA
Bird the rainforests and rivers of the mighty Amazon and Negro in an unforgettable mix of forest hikes and live-aboard luxury.
Departures- Sep 5-20, 2026 with Bret Whitney & Marcelo Barreiros
- Sep 4-19, 2027 with TBA
The spectacular wetlands of the Pantanal, with Hyacinth Macaws and Jabirus, combine with the many specialties of Brazil's Planalto Central to make for the perfect first birding trip to Brazil.
Departures- Sep 19 - Oct 4, 2026 with Marcelo Padua & Megan Edwards Crewe
- Sep 25 - Oct 10, 2027 with TBA
The fantastic center of avian endemism in eastern Brazil, particularly well endowed with hummingbirds, cotingas, antbirds, and beautiful scenery. Part I: North of the Tropic; Part II: South of the Capricorn.
Departures- Nov 1-17, 2025 (Part Two) with Bret Whitney
- Oct 16 - Nov 2, 2026 (Part One) with Bret Whitney & Marcelo Barreiros
- Oct 31 - Nov 16, 2026 (Part Two) with Marcelo Barreiros & Micah Riegner
- Oct 15 - Nov 1, 2027 (Part One) with TBA
- Oct 30 - Nov 15, 2027 (Part Two) with TBA
Brazil Overview & Highlights
Brazil has a wealth of beautiful places and a rich cultural heritage, and the infrastructure for tourism works: air service is excellent, hotels and pousadas are clean and cozy, the food is fabulous, and people go out of their way to make things happen the way you want them to.
If you'll be doing just one birding trip to Brazil, try our rich sampler tour, Brazil Nutshell: Intervales, Iguazu Falls & the Pantanal, for seeing the highlights at a leisurely pace. Important sites we visit on this tour in addition to the falls include Intervales State Park in the Atlantic Forest, and Rio Claro Lodge and Pousada Piuval in the Pantanal.
For a tour with both Amazonia and the Pantanal, we offer Rainforest & Savanna: Alta Floresta & the Northern Pantanal; for some fine rainforest birding on this itinerary we visit Cristalino Lodge, and in addition to our time in the pantanal we'll also bird the red-rock country country of Chapada dos Guimaraes. And of course, we also have our Jaguar Spotting: Pantanal & Garden of the Amazon itinerary for a great chance to see the fabulous big cat with a nice taste of southern Amazonian birds.
Join our Safari Brazil: The Pantanal & More tour for an in-depth cross section of the special habitats and birds in the southern Pantanal (at the well-known Fazenda Sao Francisco), the cerrados and gallery forests of the Brazilian Planalto (in particular at Emas National Park), and the special serras on the fringes of the Atlantic Forest (at two parks, Cipo and Serra da Canastra).
Iconic birds of our Pantanal tours include Hyacinth Macaw, Jabiru, Toco Toucan, Bare-faced Curassow, and Southern Screamer, while highlight mammal possibilities are Jaguar, Giant Anteater, and even Maned Wolf.
Elsewhere, our Nowhere but Northeast Brazil! itinerary offers a delightful sojourn through a little-known region of Brazil with both seasonally dry and humid Atlantic Forest habitats loaded with both widespread and rare endemic species. We cover a large area of this fascinating part of Brazil, assisted by a couple of flights as we move from Recife up to the Fortaleza area, before heading south to end in Salvador.
If only birding Amazonia is what you want, Field Guides tour options include Rio Negro Paradise: Manaus in northern Amazonia, where you'll learn to love the Rio Negro and the Rio Amazonas (and see the famed "Meeting of Waters") in live-aboard luxury as you enjoy the hunt for rarities among the hundreds of more common birds, or Brazil’s Rio Roosevelt deep in wilderness in southern Amazonia, for a comfortable immersion in an endemic-rich site with a mile-long birdlist including several species only recently described to science.
We also offer a remote wilderness experience based on a very comfortable Brazilian river boat that allows us to stop wherever we wish in areas that few if any other birders have explored—this is our Brazil's Japura & Tefe Rivers: Mamiraua, Amana & the Unknown tour, and the prizes are a great diversity of Amazonian birds and other wildlife. In the Brazilian Amazon, almost anything is possible, from an army ant swarm attended by Chestnut-crested Antbird to the super-rare Chestnut-headed Nunlet, ancient Hoatzins, Screaming Pihas, and hundreds of other bird species.
For a short tour with mostly one-site birding and Atlantic Forest endemics, join our Brazil: Atlantic Forest Getaway trip. With our lodge just a couple of hours outside of Rio de Janeiro, we can maximize our time to see as many of those fabulous special birds as possible, from Brazilian Ruby and Frilled Coquette to Swallow-tailed and Gray-winged cotingas and Blond-crested Woodpecker.
By contrast, our Spectacular Southeast Brazil (in two parts that may be combined) is an epic journey running nearly the length of the coastal Atlantic Forest. This route features a very long list of highlight birds to seek in this biome, some of them among the most highly endangered in the world. We should see most of them! Part One ranges from Vitoria and Linhares southward to Sao Paulo, while Part Two runs from Sao Paulo down to Porto Alegre.
With so much to choose from, Brazil is a destination worth multiple visits!
Photo credit: Our thanks to participant Becky Hansen for the entertaining image of two Toco Toucans at the top of this page.
We offer many other SOUTH AMERICA birding tours, too!