The past couple of weeks has seen the onset of the breeding season! There are several species of birds already feeding young in the lodge gardens, these include Green-headed Tanager, Red-necked Tanager, Rufous-bellied Thrush, Pale-breasted Thrush, Violaceous Euphonia. There are two pairs of Yellow-lored Tody Flycatchers with nests and also a Grey-capped Tyrannulet constructing a nest in a tree close to the swimming pool.

Cirilo guided a group from Birdfinders last week, seeing a total of 248 species, of which 77 were Atlantic forest endeimcs! Highlights included all the usual suspects (!) but also Spot-flanked Gallinule, Black Hawk-Eagle, Barred Forest Falcon, Spot-winged Wood-Quail, Blue-winged Macaw, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Ferruginous Pygmy Owl, Planalto Hermit, Amethyst Woodstar, Black-billed Scythebill, Itatiaia Thistletail, Giant Antshrike, Large-tailed Antshrike, Unicolored Antwren, Dusky-tailed Antbird, Scaled Antbird, White-bibbed Antbird (looking down on it from the canopy walkway in the Serra dos Orgaos National Park), Rufous-capped Antthrush, Swallow-tailed Cotinga, Black and Gold Cotinga, Hangnest Tody-tyrant, Serra dos Mar Tyrannulet, Sharpbill, Gilt-edged Tanager, Yellow-green Grosbeak, Half-collared Sparrow!

Swallow-tailed Cotinga© Adam Riley (Rockjumper Birding Tours)

As many of you know we are corporate sponsors of the Neotropical Bird Club, at the 2009 British Bird Fair we donated a prize to the Neotropical Bird Clubs raffle of a stay at Serra dos Tucanos Lodge for two people for 7 nights including birding excursions. This prize was won by Christine Lynn who was joined by Ian Cox for her stay a few weeks ago. They had a great stay and saw lots of good birds! Christine is due to write a short report of her stay, we will publish it on this page once we receive it!

Ian and Christine enjoying some relaxation!

Please visit the Neotropical Bird Clubs website, and if you are not already a member you can join online!

Please see below the benefits of becoming a Neotropical Bird Club member!

NBC members receive two volumes of Neotropical Birding and one bumper volume of Cotinga. The two publications are complementary, and both fill unique niches in the bird publications market:

Cotinga is now well established as a leading forum for publications of studies on Neotropical birds. Papers and short communications present new information on distribution, seasonality, biology and taxonomy. There is a special accent on globally threatened species. Cotinga is one of the few international journals partially or wholly devoted to Neotropical ornithology which still publishes avifaunal lists for sites or regions. Contributions are peer-reviewed and material is published in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

Neotropical Birding is the only birding magazine to focus exclusively on the Neotropics and is packed with articles on all aspects of birding in the region. Features on rare birds and conservation sit alongside overviews of birding sites and identification workshops, accompanied by mouthwatering colour photographs throughout.

Another busy week has passed by with plenty of birding action!

Cirilo has just finished guiding a group from Naturetrek, with a weeks total of 250 species! The weeks excursions included Theodoro Trail, Lodge grounds, Portao Azul, Cedae Trail, High Altitude Excursion, Wetlands Excursion, Serra dos Orgaos National Park and the Three-toed Jacamar Excursion to Sumidouro.

Highlights for the week included the following:

Brown Tinamou, Capped Heron, Buff-necked Ibis (only the 2^nd record for the Serra dos Tucanos list), White-necked Hawk, Harris’s Hawk (again, only the 2^nd record), Red-legged Seriema, Blue-winged Macaw, Scale-throated Hermit, Plovercrest, Frilled Coquette, Black-throated Trogon, Three-toed Jacamar, Black-necked Aracari, Yellow-eared Woodpecker, Itatiaia Thistletail, White-browed Foliage Gleaner, Black-capped Foliage Gleaner, White-eyed Foliage Gleaner, Sharp-tailed Streamcreeper (now breeding under the bridge at the lodge), Black-billed Scythebill, Giant Antshrike, Rufous-capped Antshrike, Unicolored Antwren, Ferruginous Antbird, Rufous-tailed Antbird, Dusky-tailed Antbird, Rufous-capped Antthrush, Black-cheeked Gnateater, Slaty Bristlefront, Black and Gold Cotinga, Grey-winged Cotinga (Cirilo picked this some distance away giving good scope views, afterwards one was located closer), Bare-throated Bellbird, Rough-legged Tyrannulet, Eye-ringed Tody Tyrant, Shear-tailed Gray-Tyrant, Gray-hooded Attila, Long-billed Wren (still living by the pool in the lodge grounds!), White-necked Thrush, Yellow-backed Tanager, Fawn-breasted Tanager, Red-necked Tanager, Brassy-breasted Tanager, Gilt-edged Tanager, Bay-chested Warbling Finch, Uniform Finch, Half-collared Sparrow, Black-throated Grosbeak, Green-winged Saltator and Thick-billed Saltator.

Grey-winged Cotinga© on the High Altitude Excursion. Richard Hall

Payments – Just to let you know that we can now accept Mastercard payments in addition to Visa cards.