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The igneous plugs so characteristic of the ancient mountains of far eastern Brazil make for inspiring landscapes, and the forests are inhabited by a wealth of endemic birds. This was the roadside view of the Serra do Mar outside Teresopolis in Rio de Janeiro state. Photo copyright Valerie Gebert, participant on "North of the Tropic" (Part 1; thanks, Val!).

The 2013 Spectacular Southeast Brazil tours carried on the Field Guides tradition of fantastic birding and travels through the rich Atlantic Forest biome. Weather was better than average overall, which was very helpful in getting good views of almost all of the many endemic and rare birds of this region. "North of the Tropic" (Part 1) began with a week in the mountains and lowlands of the tiny state of Espirito Santo. Highlights right out of the gate included a day-roosting Great Potoo and Boat-billed Heron, and a tractor ride to see Streamer-tailed Tyrant, Red-legged Seriema, Black-cheeked Gnateater, and especially the rare Plumbeous Antvireo and Wied's Tyrant-Manakin followed by a delicious lunch prepared by the local landowners at their house. We then climbed into the scenic mountains of the Serra do Mar, entering a new realm with a new avifauna, the likes of Barred Forest-Falcon (distinctive nominate form), Hooded Berryeater (Wow!), Sharpbill, Bare-throated Bellbird, Spot-billed Toucanet, the gorgeous Yellow-fronted and White-browed woodpeckers, White-collared Foliage-gleaner, White-throated Woodcreeper, a super-cooperative Black-billed Scythebill, the rare Rio de Janeiro Antbird, Ferruginous Antbird, and a host of hummers both at feeders and at flowering trees, including several Frilled Coquettes. The lifers just kept coming! Our final venue in Espirito Santo was the famous Linhares Reserve, which yielded more fabulous woodpeckers (Blond-crested, Robust, and Yellow-throated in one morning!, with the rare endemic subspecies tinnunculus of Ringed the next morning) and parrots (Red-browed Parrot and Maroon-faced and Ochre-marked parakeets topping the list). A nest of Crescent-chested Puffbird was an exciting find, as were a couple of sightings of Least Pygmy-Owl, scope views of a male White-winged Cotinga, and a very close Black-headed Berryeater that stayed put just long enough for scope views. An evening checklist session in the field was punctuated by Minute Hermits bathing in a puddle a few feet away. Nightbirding was also quite productive despite very dark skies. Biggies were a Solitary Tinamou on a night-roost, a fabulous pair of Tawny-browed Owls, a Black-capped Screech-Owl (that one took a while, but it sure was worth it!), and a singing male Ocellated Poorwill.

A travel day took us well south into Sao Paulo state, where we were treated to superb views of the still-undescribed "Sao Paulo" Antwren in a cattail marsh that also gave us Orange-eyed Thornbird and several more lifers. It proved to be an exceptionally long day owing to later-than-planned departure from Espirito Santo and your normally trusty guide (me!) missing a turn-off that cost us an hour, but all survived it well and we slept in a bit the next morning. And what a morning that next, beautifully sunny morning was! A nest-building Buff-throated Purpletuft right off the bat was absolutely wonderful, and it was followed immediately by amazing studies of Spot-backed Antshrike and Scaled Antbird, then Orange-throated Thornbird and a truly unforgettable Spotted Bamboowren that allowed all to see it really well. Dona Sue, I still regret that I never managed to video your representation of that bamboowren's message to us! It was such a fun morning of birding, and lunch back in Ubatuba at a sumptuous "by the kilo" spread was so good we did it again the next day! Speaking of repeat performances, we also visited the spectacular hummingbird feeders at Jonas's place "Folha Seca" two days in a row. What a show, so thoroughly enjoyable. Birding in the forest near his house gave us our second, exciting tapaculo experience when a pair of Slaty Bristlefronts came out to the edge of the road (the male even bounded across it!) to really blow us away; what an incredible voice that bird has!

Our search for Black-hooded Antwren this year was simply a delight -- we saw one the rarest birds in the world quite easily, then had a very pleasant, relaxing lunch at the home of a lady who started inviting us in several years ago. Three nights at Itatiaia National Park was next, and the weather held for us, which always requires a fair amount of luck. Highlights there must include the fabulous morning below Agulhas Negras ("Black Needles", the jagged peaks above treeline) with Black-and-gold Cotinga (sooo close!), Emerald-crested Plovercrests, Rufous-backed Antvireo, Rufous-tailed Antbird, Itatiaia Thistletail, Black-capped Piprites, Buff-throated Warbling-Finch, and Thick-billed Saltator among many others. Lower elevations gave us Saffron Toucanets, Red-breasted Toucan (flagrant nest-robber that it was), White-bearded Antshrike, Ochre-rumped and Bertoni's antbirds, White-bibbed Antbird, Buffy-fronted Seedeater, and a number of fancy tanagers. It was fun just birding the hotel grounds there!

The first part of the tour wrapped up with a couple of days birding around Teresopolis and Nova Friburgo, which added several important birds to our list, foremost among them Three-toed Jacamar, Gray-winged Cotinga (a suspenseful but mega-happy ending!), Large-tailed and Giant antshrikes (awesome experiences, these two monsters), Chestnut-headed Tanager, and Blackish-blue Seedeater. We said good-byes to most of the group at the Rio airport and drove in to Copacabana, where an eager bunch of folks awaited to begin "South of the Capricorn," Part 2 of the saga. Festivities began with dinner and Mariu's Degustare, one of the most memorable restaurants one could ever experience (especially on a birding tour!); it properly imbued everyone with the Brazilian spirit!

Intervales State Park was our first birding venue and it lived up to expectations, producing lifers at a steady pace for a full three days (and nights!) in beautiful, undisturbed montane forest. Tops there were Black-fronted Piping-Guans (not as easy as in recent years, but we eventually nailed it), Spot-winged Wood-Quail, Red-and-white Crake (obrigado, Luiz!), Rusty-barred, Mottled, and Stygian(!) owls, Long-trained Nightjar (Ohh WOW!), Rufous-capped Motmot, White-bearded Antshrike, Ferruginous, Bertoni's, and Dusky-tailed antbirds, Spot-breasted Antvireo, Mouse-colored Tapaculo (southern form being named a new species), Slaty Bristlefront (another one being named as a new species!), Bare-throated Bellbirds, Hooded Berryeater, Gray-hooded and Rufous-tailed attilas about an hour apart, Brown and Olive-green tanagers, and a nesting pair of rare Black-legged Dacnis. Coastal Sao Paulo was excellent for Red-tailed Parrots, Long-billed Wren, and Black-backed Tanager, just as we'd hoped.

Parana state came next, and our luck continued on a roll. Best there were Sickle-winged Nightjar (at our feet!), Wetland Tapaculo (brief but excellent views), Canebrake Groundcreeper, "Speckle-breasted" Antpitta (new species soon to be named!), Kaempfer's Tody-Tyrant, the recently described Parana Antwren (a pair practically at arm's length for minutes), and a tremendous Large-tailed Antshrike that definitively chased us out of his territory. What a haul!!

The tour wrapped up in the far south, in the land of the gauchos, Rio Grande do Sul. The high grasslands and Araucaria forests there provided serene landscapes for some of the most exciting birding on the tour. The dark, haunting Araucarias sheltered such specialties as Blue-bellied, Pileated, and Red-spectacled parrots, Mottled Piculet, Araucaria and Striolated tit-spinetails, Sharp-billed Treehunter, Short-tailed Antthrush, and, to complete another clean-sweep of rhinocryptids across both tours, we thoroughly absorbed a singing male Planalto Tapaculo at very close range. Out in the campos, Black-and-white Monjitas and Saffron-cowled Blackbirds came easily, and Black-bellied Seedeaters had arrived from wintering grounds and were common along roadsides. Marshes and grasslands held everything from Ochre-breasted and Hellmayr's pipits to Sharp-tailed Tyrant and Bearded Tachuri to Firewood-gatherer and Long-tailed Cinclodes and rare Tawny-bellied and Tropeiro seedeaters, the latter an endangered species introduced to science as Sporophila beltoni just a couple of months ago, in "The Auk." We have been showing this little-known bird to Field Guides tour participants for years now, and we were almost certainly the first birders to see it since it received its formal name. Another male Sickle-winged Nightjar also performed beautifully -- just wish I could save him up for next year! Blackish Rail and Rufous-sided Crake had about 15 minutes to show before we had to hightail it to the airport for flights home, and boy did they perform, parading out, one after the other, in the same spot in the marsh.

Sightings for both parts of the Spectacular Southeast Brazil tour are annotated in the following list. N is for "North of the Tropic" (Part 1), and "S" is for "South of the Capricorn" (Part 2). An asterisk denotes species heard only. Thus, N*/S means "heard only on Part 1, seen on Part 2." No codes mean "seen on both parts," and an asterisk by itself indicates "heard only both parts." A capital "E" marks species and distinctive subspecies endemic to the Altantic Forest biome.

I very much look forward to seeing most of you on future Field Guides Brazil tours, and I know several of you are already signed up! Thanks so much for joining us this year, and for remembering the best of an overall fantastic tour experience. A special thanks to Valerie for making available many of her photos via the "Flickr" website; several are dropped in here. Have fun reliving some good times through the video clips, I enjoyed putting them together! I, Chris, and Marcelo send our best wishes to all for an excellent, prosperous 2014 ahead. Boas viagens para todos!!

Com grandes abraços, Bretche

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

Among lots of other creatures of interest were Striped Hognosed Skunk (S - Rio Grande do Sul at night); Yellow-footed Tortoise (N - Linhares); a fer-de-lance Tonya spotted *outside* her room at Itatiaia (rather than inside it, as she did with a Boa at Alta Floresta a year or so ago!); Tupinambis tegu lizards (large, terrestrial guys that came out on roads on sunny days); some enormous Bufo icerotis toads on forest roads; lots of small leaf-litter (camouflaged) toads; several tarantulas, especially on Part 2 near Sao Francisco de Paula where we saw 4-5 big ones one day!; and many fabulous butterflies along the way.

Totals for the tour: 540 bird taxa and 19 mammal taxa