Southeastern Brazil: Best of the Atlantic Forest

Spot-billed Toucanet © Andrew Whittaker

A two-week “highlights” version of our flagship Brazil tour to the most endemic-rich corner of the South American continent. Over 140 possible endemics, including many hummingbirds, antbirds, and colorful tanagers set amidst beautiful scenery including the fabuous Intervales State Park and famous Itatiaia highlands, and the white-sand beaches, deep blue bays, and forest-cloaked mountains that define much of Rio’s famed Serra do Mar and coastline.

South America’s largest country is also one of its richest for birds. Nowhere is this more apparent than in southeastern Brazil, where habitats range from lush coastal rainforest and wet pampas to montane cloud forest and plateau grassland. The avifauna of southeast Brazil has radiated in a myriad of directions. Today there are more than 170 species of Atlantic Forest endemics found nowhere else in the world.

This tour centers on what we consider to be the heart of Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, and more specifically, the heart of the famed Serra do Mar. Our itinerary will spend time in both coastal lowlands and montane forest, as we seek a wide range of Atlantic Forest endemics, among them some of the rarest and most localized of Brazilian specialties. In the process, we'll spend extended time at two of the finest locales for birding the Atlantic Forest, and, indeed, in all of South America—Intervales State Park and Itatiaia National Park.

This tour also includes time at Ubatuba, an area where VENT pioneered birding tours in the early 1990s. Along the way, we should see an impressive number (perhaps as many as 150) of regional endemics, among them such prizes as Solitary Tinamou; Mantled and White-necked hawks; Giant Snipe; Buff-fronted, Rusty-barred, and Tawny-browed owls; Long-trained Nightjar; Saw-billed Hermit; Festive and Frilled coquettes; Purple-crowned and Green-crowned plovercrests; Crescent-chested Puffbird; Black-billed Scythebill; Orange-eyed and Orange-breasted thornbirds; Itatiaia Spinetail (Thistletail); Giant, Tufted, Large-tailed, Spot-backed, and White-bearded antshrikes; Black-hooded and Unicolored antwrens; Variegated Antpitta; Black-cheeked Gnateater; Slaty Bristlefront; Spotted Bamboowren; Buff-throated Purpletuft; Black-and-gold Cotinga; Black-capped Piprites; Fork-tailed Pygmy-Tyrant; Half-collared Sparrow; and more hummingbirds, tyrannulets, antthrushes, and colorful endemic tanagers than you can shake a stick at! We will also have excellent chances of finding some of the least predictable and hardest-to-find specialties of the region, including Black-fronted Piping-Guan, Blue-bellied Parrot, Helmeted Woodpecker, Salvadori’s Antwren, Swallow-tailed Cotinga, and Black-legged Dacnis.

A variety of habitats encompassing some spectacular scenery; a pleasant, largely subtropical to temperate climate; good food and accommodations throughout; and one of the world’s most unique and endangered avifaunas combine to make southeastern Brazil an unforgettable birding experience.

Good to very good accommodations throughout; good food; mostly easy to moderate terrain; many early starts and full mornings, often with significant midafternoon breaks on non-travel days; optional night birding on several nights; three lodges with exceptional birding on the grounds; hummingbird feeders and fruit feeders offering excellent photographic opportunities; no internal flights; a few long drives of four hours or more (but all of these broken up with stops for birding or meals); warm to cool spring climate.

Swallow-tailed Cotinga, female © Andrew Whittaker