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The 2019 Nowhere but Northeast Brazil tour was a strange one from a weather perspective, but a very good one for birding, as it turned out. Major rains usually get going before Christmas, but this year they started in earnest about a month ahead of that, then tapered quickly through mid-late January. Thus, we started off real wet, with rain on most of the first five days, which made it quite difficult to get into Murici Reserve, let alone find birds there. Our early departure in capable 4WD vehicles permitted us to get to the reserve in good order, and we were relieved to see the clouds lifting as we got out of the vehicles to start looking for birds. Just moments later, we were treated to a close fly-by of an adult White-collared Kite that then perched in the distance for scope views – a mega-rich start to the day! Also showing during that brief clear window in the clouds was a distant male White-winged Cotinga, which further whetted our appetite… but it was not to be. Literally within three minutes of walking through the gate and into the forest at Murici, it began to rain, and it rained for most of that day, occasionally quite hard. It was a depressing scene, overall, with few species seen or even heard, and we finally called it quits to head back to the hotel. A late-afternoon hour of birding in open, somewhat marshy country produced a Pinnated Bittern, our first Caatinga Cachalotes, and more species of birds than we had seen the whole day! We fared much better at the reserves near Jaqueira (Frei Caneca and Pedra D’Anta), but we were again thankful to have the 4WDs to negotiate the steep, slippery-muddy roads through vast sugarcane fields to reach those remnant forests. Among highlights there were Alagoas Tyrannulet, Orange-bellied Antwren, scope studies of a pair of nest-building Seven-colored Tanagers, and the hummer feeders where several Long-tailed Woodnymphs, a stunning male Ruby Topaz, a Black-eared Fairy and eight other species vied for sweet sips all around us. Other stops in that region gave us Lettered and Black-necked aracaris, Golden-spangled Piculet (subspecies pernambucensis), Jandaya Parakeet, Golden-tailed Parrotlet, Plain-bellied Emerald, Willis’s Antbird, Alagoas Spinetail, Smoky-fronted Tody-Flycatcher, much better views of adult male White-winged Cotinga, Bicolored Conebill, and the weird, relict Forbes’s Blackbird.

The next four days of the tour found us traversing the state of Ceará, birding the Serra de Baturite, Quixada, and the Chapada do Araripe, where we had fine sightings of Pygmy Nightjar (nominate hirundunaceus), a couple of Pearly-breasted Cuckoos (I think the very wet weather helped us with this one), an entertaining pair of Gould’s Toucanets (local subspecies baturitensis), Planalto Hermit, rare Gray-breasted Parakeets (so close!), Ochre-backed Woodpecker (a recent split from Blond-crested – what a bird!), Ochraceous Piculet, Planalto Slaty-Antshrike, Variable Antshrike, Rufous-winged Antshrike, Barred Antshrike (here represented by the distinctive spotted and red-eyed subspecies capistratus), Black-capped Antwren, Caatinga Antwren, Ceara Gnateater, an amazing White-browed Antpitta (finally!), (Atlantic) Lesser Woodcreeper, (Reiser’s) Olivaceous Woodcreeper, and the gracilirostris subspecies of Buff-throated Woodcreeper, Rufous-breasted Leaftosser, Buff-breasted Tody-Tyrant, Ash-throated Casiornis, Pale-bellied Tyrant-Manakin, Long-billed Wren, and, of course, the fabulous Araripe Manakin. A male Tawny Piculet sang several times and came in close, but it was stand-offish, showed well for only some of us, then simply vanished. And, hauntingly, there had been no sign of Megaxenops – the elusive Great Xenops remained “at large”. We would have to work hard and somehow get luckier to dig one up later in the tour…

Descending the steep face of the Chapada do Araripe, we headed south into the arid interior of Pernambuco, making productive stops for some very welcome Masked Ducks (a couple of fine adult males with some female-plumaged birds), our first perched Cactus Parakeets, Little and Green-barred woodpeckers, Narrow-billed Woodcreeper (buffy subspecies bahiae), a tremendous Red-shouldered Spinetail, Black-bellied Antwren, Stripe-backed Antbird, Black-backed Water-Tyrant, and White-throated Seedeater, rolling into Petrolina as twilight settled over the great Rio Sao Francisco. Next day we continued to enjoy good fortune with caatinga birding, picking (kicking?) up some Least Nighthawks (nominate pusillus -- #5000 for Jenny!) during the day for fabulous scope views, Suiriri Flycatcher (local subspecies bahiae), both Greater and Lesser wagtail-tyrants inside of a couple of hours, for excellent comparative studies (both a represented in NE Brazil by distinctive subspecies far disjunct from their nominate populations), Pearly-vented Tody-Tyrant, and our first good group views of dapper White-naped Jays. We also managed to spot a scarce Southern Pochard far across an ephemeral pond, and then got to see it much better when a person back there flushed it toward us, together with lots of White-cheeked Pintails and Brazilian Ducks.

Our next destination would be perhaps the most memorable venue of the tour: the remote, redrock canyon country that is the Raso da Catarina, sole breeding stronghold of the very rare Indigo (Lear’s) Macaw. The area has been well-protected for a number of years now, especially by the NGO Biodiversitas, and the macaws are holding their own at somewhere around 450 pairs. Based in the little town of Canudos, we set off very early in 4WD vehicles to negotiate a series of dirt roads (thankfully, all quite dry) to access the canyon rim before dawn. As we waited anxiously for the Earth to turn on its axis, the eastern horizon began to glow pinkish and those first, strange calls of Indigo Macaws fell on our ears. What a thrilling moment! Minutes later, as it grew just light enough to use the scopes, we watched three birds sitting atop Pilosocereus columnar cacti only about 150 meters away. As it became light enough to ensure good footing, and led by our Biodiversitas guides, we made our way quietly to the rim of one long arm of the canyon. The macaws were flying and calling all around us, many of them heading off to feed on licuri palm nuts at far-distant feeding areas. We noted how the tones of blues in their plumage are highly variable, appearing remarkably different depending on the angle of light and the intensity of sunlight that came and went with the passing of a low cloud-cover that morning. Numerous pairs and groups perched on the canyon rims and walls, some birds going in and out of nest crevices, others flying by at close range, none of them seeming to be perturbed by our presence. Also present in the canyon, mostly in the lower reaches where there are more trees, were good numbers of Blue-crowned Parakeets, but the Turquoise-fronted Parrots we usually see there were completely absent this time. Parrots were not the only denizens of the Raso that we found around Canudos. A handsome little male Bat Falcon sitting just below the rim of the canyon was the closest one any of us had ever seen, for sure – he was only about 20 feet away – and we also enjoyed excellent views of several Stripe-breasted Starthroats, more Lesser Wagtail-Tyrants, Tawny-crowned Pygmy-Tyrant, and a fabulous male Silvery-cheeked Antshrike. As usual, we saw none of the other approximately 7 billion people on our planet that morning with the macaws.

Although accessible by much better roads than was the case just ten years ago, Canudos and the Raso da Catarina are truly remote, and getting to them and then on to our next birding stops requires a good amount of time (close to two days) in the saddle. Fortunately, we had a comfortable bus with a bathroom on board that helped the miles roll by. The afternoon we departed Canudos was to be our best (certainly most convenient) shot at finding a Pectoral Antwren, and sure enough, we got it, along with our first male Spotted Piculet. Like many birds, the antwrens already had well-grown young and were very quiet and reluctant to show themselves (probably due to early breeding with the start of early rains), but everyone finally did get excellent views of an adult male. Fringe-backed Fire-eye was our next major target. We made it into the forest at a good hour and found a bird fairly quickly, which proved to be an immature male. We enjoyed fine views, but that bird turned out to be the only individual we encountered (whew!). Other good birds that morning included Golden-spangled Piculet (the nominate subspecies here), several beautiful, perched Golden-capped Parakeets, Sooretama Slaty-Antshrikes, Bahia Antwren, White-flanked Antwren (subspecies luctuosa, to be split as “Silvery-flanked Antwren”), Eared Pygmy-Tyrant, and a duetting, tail-wagging pair of Black-capped Donacobius. Then, after a fabulous churrascaria lunch, it was full-on westward to the Chapada Diamantina!

We wrapped up the main body of our tour with three days around the little towns of Mucuge and Lencois, based in a couple of lovely hotels convenient for birding a variety of habitats ranging from cerrado and chaparral-like scrub on rocky slopes to caatinga-like woodland and enclaves of semi-humid forest. A couple of beautiful, early morning hours in savanna-like cerrado produced a handsome Collared Crescentchest (Jim completed the family Melanoparaeidae with that one!), excellent views of Rufous-sided Pygmy-Tyrant and Gray-backed Tachuri, and also White-banded Tanager and Black-throated Saltator. Nice! Then, at a spot I had found fortuitously a few years ago, we were treated to a spectacular hummer show, with eight species in play at densely flowering Callandria bushes -- it was better than we could have hoped! Several male and female Hooded Visorbearers put on spectacular performances at near-arm’s-length range, and there were a couple of glowing Ruby Topazes and lots of White-vented and a few Brown violetears, the latter represented by the chapada endemic subspecies greenewalti, vastly disjunct from its closest relatives in the southern guianas and tepuis. It was so much fun to leisurely move around clumps of flowering plants, watching all of those gorgeous hummers in that wonderful setting! After an excellent lunch, we got our butts kicked trying to come up with a pair of Sincora Antwrens and a Diamantina Tapaculo on a hot, quiet afternoon. In the same habitat we searched for the antwrens, we picked Pale-throated Pampa-Finch and Stripe-tailed Yellowfinch.

Our final morning of birding proved to be a beauty, which was a good thing because we had a number of major target birds to find! The first “mega” was Sincora Antwren, which we found fairly quickly this time, yayy! This recently described species is known only from the Chapada Diamantina! Mega #2 was a Broad-tipped Hermit that buzzed around us, then perched for excellent views, and the next, just a moment later was the “mega mega”: Megaxenops! We were on pins-and-needles for several minutes as a distant bird sang back to my recording, staying well upslope. Then it fell silent. An excruciating minute went by. I whispered to the group that the bird might show up any second, and suddenly, there it was, a fantastic Great Xenops right in front of us! “It’s 2 feet above the dot.” Graças a Deus, the bird stayed around for a couple of minutes or so, eventually rising up into an essentially leafless tree where everyone could see it clearly, no dots needed. Yesss!! It was high-fives for the Broad-tipped Hermit and Great Xenops, bam-bam! But, greedy birders that we are, we immediately turned our attention to finding a Sao Francisco Sparrow. Fortunately, we didn’t have to go far or wait too long, even after stopping to watch a close pair of East Brazilian Chachalacas for a couple of minutes. Despite the sparrow’s ideal patch of habitat having been torn up pretty badly in 2016, the birds were still in there, and, with a bit of patience, a singing male eventually popped out for good views.

That afternoon we flew to Salvador, where my longtime friend and NE Brazil tour organizer, Conor O’Sullivan, treated us to an excellent tour of the old, upper part of the city, at Pelourinho. Our final dinner was a delicious shrimp moqueca (coconut milk-based shrimp and vegetable stew).

We had said good-bye to Bill and Tyrrell, and picked up Bart, bringing our group to 11 birders with me and Marcelo guiding for the start of the Southern Bahia Extension. We caught an early ferry across Baia de Todos os Santos (All Saints’ Bay) to make our way southward to bird some mangrove flats for Scarlet Ibis (they were fabulous!) and other birds, and a trail in coastal forest for Band-tailed Antwren and Kinglet (Eastern Striped) Manakin. We found both of those fairly quickly, but, unfortunately, the manakin was a rather shy immature male that showed well for only the front half of the group; we would have to try to find another one (hopefully, an adult male) later, around Porto Seguro. Continuing or way southwestward through cacao country, we made an important stop to search for Pink-legged Graveteiro. Weather was perfect as we walked into an extensive cacao plantation shaded by many old, bromeliad-festooned native trees, remnants of the once-luxurious, humid lowland forest that blanketed southeastern Bahia. Sure enough, and within minutes, we heard a gravateiro! Working the birds into view proved to be more difficult than usual, but we eventually arranged ourselves into viewing angles that permitted everyone to see them high in trees as they performed their distinctive, under-limb foraging behavior.

Boa Nova was our headquarters for three days of fabulous birding in four quite different habitats: mata-de-cipo (vine forest, which persists along high ridgelines that capture the last vestiges of moisture wafting in off the Atlantic), rich in highly range-restricted endemic antbirds; caatinga scrub offering many species we had seen on the main tour; marshland, always good for adding diversity; and humid Atlantic Forest more typical of Southeast Brazil, with loads of species new for us including a number of birds we don’t always or ever get on our big SE Brazil tours. Consequently, we tallied something like 120 species per day around Boa Nova! We started in the vine forest, where Slender Antbird, Silvery-cheeked Antshrike, Narrow-billed Antwren, Caatinga Antwren, and Hangnest Tody-Tyrant all put on spectacular performances, one after the other. This is such a special habitat – and these antbirds are parts of particularly ancient lineages in the huge family of antbirds, being ancestral to the rise of most of the other clades in the family. Next day we birded the humid Atlantic Forest a short distance east of town, where we were delighted to find Least Pygmy-Owl, Rio de Janeiro Antbird, Bahia Spinetail, Striated Softtail, Fork-tailed Tody-Tyrant, the rare Bahia Tyrannulet, and a host of new tanagers. A late afternoon birding a natural “cactus garden” on a rocky hill was unforgettable, as dozens of hummers, including multiple Sapphire-spangled Emeralds and Ruby Topazes, buzzed around the pink cactus flowers, and we also found a couple of Pygmy Nightjars for Bart, who had not been with us when we saw it earlier, on the main tour. Finally, special mention goes to the Giant Snipe that we coaxed into view practically at our feet one evening – that was a successful snipe hunt indeed!! Fortunately, the Boa Nova region is now reasonably well protected within the new Boa Nova National Park and a couple of other reserves.

Porto Seguro, on the coast of Bahia, was our final tour venue, and it too was a beauty. Highlights there included fine views of the rare and highly localized Hook-billed Hermit, Ringed Woodpecker (subspecies tinnunculus, to be split as Atlantic Forest Black-breasted Woodpecker), Bahia Antwren, White-bellied Tanager (split from Turquoise Tanager), Black-headed Berryeater, and several White-winged Cotingas. Most unfortunately, a male Banded Cotinga that had been perched on a bare treetop took flight just before the group could get into position to spot it, leaving us with only a close fly-over, as the bird continued to fly quite far, eventually out of sight. A fabulous adult male Kinglet (Eastern Striped) Manakin that stayed put for several minutes was sooo much better than the brief view of a subadult male we’d had earlier! In the following triplist, "Ext" refers to species found only on the Southern Bahia Extension (thus, not *all of the birds* we saw on the extension).

Marcelo and I want to thank all of you for joining us for this great journey through the badlands, beaches, and forests of Northeast Brazil. We had a most enjoyable time birding a wide variety of habitats, seeing some of the rarest birds in South America, and indeed, in the world. For those of you who have not birded extensively in Southeast Brazil, you now have made an excellent start on seeing the huge number of species endemic to that region, and we look forward to showing you the rest in the future!

Com grandes abraços – Bret and Marcelo

KEYS FOR THIS LIST
One of the following keys may be shown in brackets for individual species as appropriate: * = heard only, I = introduced, E = endemic, N = nesting, a = austral migrant, b = boreal migrant

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

We saw a number of other interesting critters along the way, among them a Metallic Wood-boring Beetle at Frei Caneca (Psiloptera bicarinata), a tiny, arboreal tarantula at Serra de Baturite that remains unidentified (no help from anyone on iNaturalist even), a Muller's Termite Frog (Dermatonotus muelleri, the "spadefoot-like" one we found DOR near Baturite), a Caatinga Coral Snake (Micrurus ibibiboca; the small, dead one we found near Lençois in the Chapada Diamantina), a fancy, small tegu-type lizard (unidentified to species, near Mucuge), and a Casque-headed Treefrog (Trachycephalus sp., at Boa Nova; the one we found on its day-roost in a knothole in a tree).

Totals for the tour: 445 bird taxa and 5 mammal taxa