Having had our annual months staff holiday in June we are now back out on the excursions and seeing some fantastic birds! Our new bird guide Cirilo Rodrigues Vieira who has been with us for the last 6 months is now leading the excursions and finding some great birds for our guests!

Some of this weeks sightings included the following:

Three-toed Jacamar Excursion – 12^th July

Always a popular excursion that involves a 180km round trip to look for the endemic Three-toed Jacamar. The record for this day trip currently stands at 124 species (set in the summer when there are some migrant species in the area), this week we managed 89! Highlights included Whistling Heron, Capped Heron, Crane Hawk, Aplomado Falcon, Ash-throated Crake, Blackish Rail, 2 Red-legged Seriemas, Blue-winged Macaw, 4 Three-toed Jacamars, 3 White-eared Puffbirds, White Woodpecker, Tail-banded Hornero, Serra Antwren, Sooty Tyrannulet, Ochre-faced Tody-Flycatcher, Streamer-tailed Tyrant, Black-capped Donacobius and Half-collared Sparrow.

High Altitude Excursion Upper Section – 14^th July

With rain at the lodge we decided to head up over the mountains to see if it could possibly be drier on the other side….. thankfully it was but cloud built up making visibility hard and rain set in late afternoon. Highlights included Scale-throated Hermit, 2 male Plovercrests, Pallid Spinetail, Large-tailed Antshrike, Rufous-tailed Antbird, Black and Gold Cotinga, Serra do Mar Tyrant Manakin, Serra do Mar Tyrannulet, White-rimmed Warbler, Bay-chested Warbling Finch and Thick-billed Saltator.

Portao Azul – 15^th and 17^th July

Always a great excursion due to the mixture of different habitats with good primary forest, bamboo, secondary forest, scrub and some open water. Highlights from the 2 trips included Gray-headed Kite, Dusky-legged Guan, Slaty-breasted Wood-Rail, White-eyed Parakeet, Glittering-bellied Emerald, White-throated Hmmingbird, Rufous-capped Spinetail, Pallid Spinetail, Red-eyed Thornbird, White-collared Foliage Gleaner, Lesser Woodcreeper, Black-billed Scythebill, great views of Tufted Antshrike, Ferruginous Antbird, Dusky-tailed Antbird, White-shouldered Fire-eye, Pin-tailed Manakin, Gray-hooded Flycatcher, 2 Gary-capped Tyrannulets, Drab-breasted Bamboo-Tyrant, Hangnest Tody-Tyrant, Velvety Black-Tyrant, Green-backed Becard, Gilt-edged Tanager, Half-collared Sparrow, Temmincks Seedeater and 2 Green-winged Saltators.

Serra dos Orgaos National Park – 16th July

A rather wet and cloudy day with temperatures below 14 degrees centigrade made birding a little hard. However we spent three hours in the lower park with good views of Black Hawk-Eagle, Black-throated Trogon, Surucua Trogon, Spot-billed Toucanet, 2 Yellow-throated Woodpeckers, Streaked Xenops, Lesser Woodcreeper, White-throated Woodcreeper, Star-throated Antwren, Yellow-backed Tanager, Flame-crested Tanager and Buff-throated Saltator. After a 20 minute drive we arrived in the upper park that’s at an altitude of approximately 1000 metres. We found ourselves in thick cloud but the birding remained good with sightings of Rufous-capped Spinetail, Pallid Spinetail, Buff-browed Foliage Gleaner, White-collared Foliage Gleaner, Tawny-throated Leaftosser, Scaled Woodcreeper, Ochre-rumped Antbird and amazing views of Brown Tanager.

Brown Tanager© Peter Royle