| Northeast Brazil Birding |
| Day 1: Serra do Baturité After arriving at the airport, we will head south to Serra do Baturité. The Serra do Baturité is an isolated mountain range carpeted with a semi-arid woodland but with some evergreen forest that provides the habitat for a set of endemic species and many other much more widespread species including Laughing Falcon, Yellow-chevroned Parakeet, Ruby-topaz Hummingbird, Gould's Toucanet, Ocraceous Piculet, Little Woodpecker, Wing-banded Hornero, Pale-legged Hornero, Pinto's Spinetail, Ochre- cheeked Spinetail, Gray-headed Spinetail, Rufous- breasted Leaftosser, Great Antshrike, White-fringed Antwren, Short-tailed Antthrush, Rufous Gnateater (ssp. cearae), Buff-breasted Tody-Tyrant, Band-tailed Manakin, Orange-headed Tanager, Red-necked Tanager (ssp. cearensis) and Pectoral Sparrow. Night in Guaramiranga. Day 2: Morning birding in Serra do Baturité and mid- morning transfer to the Serra do Araripe This morning will be spent looking for some of the species that might have eluded us the previous day. The heat of the day will be devoted to travel, with a few worthy stops on the way to the Serra do Araripe, especially to look for the local Pygmy Nightjar, Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Comb Duck, Yellow-chinned Spinetail, Rufous-fronted Thornbird and Caatinga Cachalote. Night in Crato. Day 3: Full day birding in the Serra do Araripe The Serra do Araripe National Park is the first national park set aside in Brazil (1946) but amazingly the striking Araripe Manakin remained unknown to science until recently. The 39,260,000 hectare park is an escarpment standing out in the dry Caatinga, providing the proper set up for various habitats where we will be looking for White- browed Guan, Tropical Screech-Owl, Common (Gray) Potoo, Little Nightjar, Cinnamon-throated Hermit, Tawny Piculet, Gray-headed Spinetail, Great Xenops, Red- shouldered Spinetail, Silvery-cheeked Antshrike, Planalto Slaty-Antshrike, Caatinga Antwren, White-browed Antpitta, Tawny-crowned Pygmy-Tyrant, Ash-throated Casiornis, Araripe Manakin, Pale-bellied Tyrant-Manakin, Gray-eyed Greenlet, White-naped Jay, Moustached Wren, Ultramarine Grosbeak and Cinnamon Tanager. Night in Crato. Day 4: Early morning birding the Serrado Araripe before transferring to the Serra do Baturite Early morning birding in the Serra do Araripe looking for some of the species that may have eluded us the day before, like White-bellied Nothura, Plain-breasted Ground- Dove, Spotted Piculet, Ochre-cheeked Spinetail, Rufous- breasted Leaftosser, Black-bellied Antwren and Flavescent Warbler. We will then drive to Crato and bird Serra do Baturte before heading to the airport at about 12:30 PM. We will check in to our flights and have lunch. By about 1:20 PM, we will need to be at the airport to catch our flights. We will take the Gol Linhas Aereas Flight at 2:35 PM, arriving at 3:45 PM in Recife. In Recife, we will take our transport heading to the Reserva Biológica Saltinho. We will have time for some late afternoon birding at the Reserve. Night in Tamandaré Day 5: Full day birding the Reserva do Saltinho and Trapiche The 528 hectare De Saltinho Biological Reserve and the Ucina Trapiche forest are some of the few remnants of forest in this otherwise devastated region, and are the home to rare species like the White-necked Hawk, Golden- tailed Parrotlet, Pernambuco Pygmy-Owl, Racket-tailed Coquette, Pinto's Spinetail, Orange-bellied Antwren, Willis's Antbird (endemic subspecies sabinoi), Seven- colored Tanager, Yellow-faced Siskin and Forbes’s Blackbird, among others. Night in Tamandaré. Day 6: Early morning birding the Reserva do Saltinho and Trapiche before driving to União dos Palmares One last morning searching the Saltinho, before we head further south to the Alagoas State. In Alagoas we will search for Seven-colored Tanager, Gray-breasted Crake, Russet-crowned Crake, Rufous-sided Crake and the very local Forbes's Blackbird. União dos Palmares will be our base to access the famous Murici forest. Night in União dos Palmares. Day 7: Full day visiting and birding the Murici Forest The Murici Ecological Reserve and its surroundings (the nearby forest Cerro do Ouro is the home of the rare White-collared Kite) are some of the last remnants of pristine forest in the region. Encompassing 6250 hectares, this reserve is the last stronghold for many rare species, a few of them only recently described to science. To visit the Murici Reserve at an appropriate hour we will have to start our day leaving the hotel well before first light. The discomfort created by this early start will be vastly compensated with views of the astonishing avifauna. The most important specialties here are the White-collared Kite, Alagoas Foliage-gleaner (extremely rare), Alagoas Antwren (very are, an extremely localized species), Orange-bellied Antwren (VERY RARE), Alagoas Tyrannulet and Seven-colored Tanager. Other species to look for here include Speckled Chachalaca (spp araucuan), Collared Forest-Falcon, Ash-throated Crake, Red-shouldered Macaw, Reddish Hermit, Margaretta's Hermit, Black Jacobin, Long-tailed Woodnymph, Black- throated Mango, Black-eared Fairy, Stripe-breasted Starthroat, Black-necked Aracari, Rusty-breasted Nunlet, Golden-spangled Piculet, Pinto's Spinetail, Red-stained Woodpecker, Black-tailed Leaftosser, White-shouldered Antshrike (ssp distans), Rufous-winged Antwren, White- fringed Antwren, Willis's Antbird, White-backed Fire-eye (ssp. pernambucensis), Scalloped Antbird, Black-cheeked Gnateater (ssp. nigrifrons) and White-eyed Tody-Tyrant. Night in União dos Palmares. Day 8: Full day birding the Murici Forest This morning will be spent looking for some of the species that might have eluded us the previous day, like Grayish Mourner, Bright-rumped Attila, Black-headed Berryeater, White-winged Cotinga, Bufft-hroated Purpletuft (the rare and isolated subspecies leucopyga), Screaming Piha, Blue-backed Manakin, White-bearded Manakin, Red- headed Mankin, Long-billed Gnatwren, Yellowish Pipit, Opal-rumped Tanager, Red-necked Tanager, Red- legged Honeycreeper, Yellow-backed Tanager, Flame- crested Tanager, Violaceous Euphonia, Chestnut-bellied Euphonia and Black-throated Grosbeak. This will be a good chance to walk new trails that will translate to new birds too. Night in União dos Palmares. Day 9: Early morning birding our Hotel grounds in União dos Palmares before driving to Jeremoabo This morning we will spend the best birding hours of the day according to our avian needs. Birds we will aim to see: Jandaya Parakeet, Rufous-breasted Hermit, Swallow- tailed Hummingbird, White-vented Violetear, Ruby-topaz Hummingbird, Sombre Hummingbird, Green-backed Becard, Chestnut-vented Conebill, Guira Tanager, White- headed Marsh-Tyrant, Tropical Gnatcatcher, White- throated Seedeater and Pale Baywing. We will especially aim to see the Murici endemics before taking our long drive to Jeremoabo. We will be trying to arrive in the early afternoon, giving us the opportunity to look for the Lear's (Indigo) Macaw before the sun sets. Night in Jeremoabo. Day 10: Early morning looking for the Lear's Macaw and midmorning transfer to Aracaju Only 400+ individuals of the critically endangered Lear's Macaw are known to exist in the wild and the ranch we will be visiting is in the core of their range, which is also the home for the Red-legged Seriema, Blue-crowned Parakeet, Cactus Parakeet, Spot-backed Puffbird, Spotted Piculet, Green-barred Flicker, Narrow-billed Wodcreeper, Silvery-cheeked Antshrike, Barred Antshrike, Stripe-backed Antbird, Black-bellied Antwren, White Monjita, Long-billed Wren, Hooded Tanager, Pileated Finch, Red-cowled Cardinal and Campo Oriole. This very same day we will set out on a drive to take us to the coastal town of Aracaju in the state of Sergipe. Night Hotel in Aracaju. Day 11: Morning birding near Crasto and afternoon transfer to Salvador This early morning we will be looking for the rare and local Fringe-backed Fire-eye and Sooretama Slaty-Antshrike, the rare Pectoral Antwren and Cinnamon-vented Piha. After lunch we will continue south to Salvador to end the main part of the trip. Night in Salvador |
| Detailed Itinerary |
| Araripe Manakin Photo by Lelis Navarrete |
| Lear's Macaw Photo by Lelis Navarrete |
Northeast Brazil
Birding
Birding
| More Details on This Trip |
| Please call Charles (in the USA at 720-320-1974 or toll free at 888-203-7464) or Ian (in the UK at 07719-052820), and/or email info@pibird.com. Also feel free to click here. |
| Gray-breasted Parakeet Photo by Lelis Navarrete |
| Silver-cheeked Antshrike Photo by Lelis Navarrete |
| Pygmy Nightjar Photo by Lelis Navarrete |
