The national park with a cable car to a waterfall at the bottom is spectacular. In the park and in the forest remnant behind the IBAMA headquarters (between Ubajara and Tianguá) we saw hooded gnateater (Conopophaga roberti) and buff-breasted tody-tyrant (Hemitriccus mirandae). There is good caatinga west of Tianguá, near the Piauí border, where we found the normal specialities of this habitat, including broad-tipped hermit (Phaethornis gounellei) and great xenops (Megaxenops parnaguae).
North-East Brazil Site Index
These 800m high hills south of Fortaleza have some interesting birds. In the private forest behind the Hotel Remanso can be found Gould's toucanet (Selenidera gouldii), buff-breasted tody-tyrant (Hemitriccus mirandae) and the distinctive race of rufous gnateater, Conopophaga lineata cearae.
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This is the mecca for the Araripe manakin Antilophia bokermanni. The type locality for the species, the Nascente do Farias near the town of Barbalha, has changed radically since I was there in 1998. It was then a simple swimming and picnic spot but is now being developed as a huge leisure complex, Arajara Park – a sort of tropical Wet ´n´ Wild. A new road from Barbalha to Crato has been built, giving access to the park. The manakins are in the trees along the two streams that flow from the spring at the foot of the hill and appear unperturbed by living on a building site. However, we found only female plumaged birds here. The owner of the Arajara Park, Dna. Fabiola, let us look for the manakins in the valley of the Nascente do Céu, behind her house, but there were only female plumaged birds there as well. Eventually we found a magnificent adult male further along the escarpment. The best plan is to make enquiries at the Arajara Park and get information and permission from the owners of the land you will have to cross to find the birds.
Above Barbalha there is good caatinga, where we had the usual species for this habitat, including red-shouldered spinetail Gyalophylax hellmayri. Take the road out of town up the hill, towards Jardim. 14,5 km from the turning to Caldas and the Hotel das Fontes there is an IBAMA protected area. Bird the side road to the right.
Above Crato there is dry forest, with white-browed guan Penelope jacucaca, rufous nightjar Caprimulgus rufus, tawny piculet Picumnus fulvescens and ash-throated casiornis Casiornis fusca. Take the road up the hill and turn right, sign-posted to Nova Olinda. There is a track to the right after 1.8km. If you go straight on instead of turning right to Nova Olinda, you soon come to an IBAMA compound on the left. On the opposite side of the road there is a disused airfield. In the dry forest along the runway we found the guan and a number of caatinga species, such as white-browed antpitta Hylopezus ochroleucus, caatinga (formerly pileated) antwren Herpsilochmus sellowi (alongside black-capped antwren H. atricapillus) and great xenops Megaxenops parnaguae.
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This National Park is situated near Piripirí, on the BR-343 main road from Teresina to Fortaleza.
It is most famous for its extraordinary rock formations but there is also good cerrado birding for the species typical of this habit. There is a pleasant hotel just outside the park.
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This national park with extensive primary caatinga is perhaps too remote for dedicated listers but for those with wider interests the scenery is magnificent and there are literally hundreds of archaeological sites with 6-12,000 year old rock paintings. The sites are widely scattered and one drives and walks long distances to see a representative sample. The park is administered by IBAMA but all the investment in an excellent system of roads, trails, walkways and signs has been carried out by the Fundação Museu do Homem Americano, an NGO run by Niéde Guidon, a French archaeologist who has worked here for over 30 years. Dr. Guidon believes that three of the sites are the oldest in the Americas, with evidence of human occupation dating back 50,000 years. However, although the museum and all the literature you will find there treat this claim as fact, few archaeologists accept it. So much so that neither an article in National Geographic in December 2000 nor a recent BBC programme on the early peoples of the Americas even mentioned the Serra da Capivara.
The park contains one of the largest areas of primary caatinga left in Brazil and all the caatinga specialities are here. The following Brazilian endemics have been recorded: Yellow-legged Tinamou Crypturellus noctivagus, White-browed Guan Penelope jacucaca, Caatinga Parakeet Aratinga cactorum, Pygmy Nightjar Caprimulgus hirundinaceus, Broad-tipped Hermit Phaethornis gounellei, Spot-backed Puffbird Nystalus maculatus, Spotted Piculet Picumnus pygmaeus, Ochraceous Piculet Picumnus limae, Silvery-cheeked Antshrike Sakesphorus cristatus, Caatinga Antwren Herpsilochmus sellowi, White-browed Antpitta Hylopezus ochroleucus, Red-shouldered Spinetail Gyalophylax hellmayri, Great Xenops Megaxenops parnaguae, White-naped Jay Cyanocorax cyanopogon, Gray-eyed Greenlet Hylophilus amaurocephalus, Scarlet-throated Tanager Sericossypha loricata, White-throated Seedeater Sporophila albogularis and Red-cowled Cardinal Paroaria dominicana.
To get to the park fly or bus to Petrolina and then take a 5 ½ hour bus ride to São Raimundo Nonato. There is no accomodation in the park which is some distance from São Raimundo and one stays at the Hotel Serra da Capivara hotelserracapivara@wserra.com.br on the edge of the town. The manager of the hotel, Girleide Oliveira, will organise a guide (obligatory) and a car. In July 2003 the guide cost R$35 (c.US$12 – about to increase to R$45) per day and the car R$0.75 / km. We drove 450 kms in four days. Although the cost is on the high side I strongly recommend this site for those with the time and inclination to get to know the caatinga. The best time to visit is November–March, after the rains have (hopefully) started and the birds are breeding.
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The R.P.P.N. Frei Caneca is a private reserve owned by the Usina Colônia sugar mill with excellent montane forest. The four Murici specialities, Orange-bellied Antwren Terenura sicki, Alagoas Tyrannulet Phylloscartes ceciliae, Alagoas Antwren Myrmotherula snowi and Alagoas Foliage-gleaner Philydor novaesi, are all here. Other interesting birds are Scalloped Antbird Myrmeciza ruficauda and Buff-breasted Tody-Tyrant Hemitriccus mirandae.
To get permission to visit the reserve write to Dr. José Alves Siqueira pcicjas@superig.com.br at the Federal University of the Valley of the São Francisco (UNIVASF). To get there take the road from Palmares to Garanhuns. A few kms after Jaqueira there is an asphalt road to the right, signposted "Usina Colônia".
At the gatehouse ask for Zezito, Dango or Nice. If they are not there, get directions to the reserve or, better still, get a friendly motorcyclist to take you there. The reserve is 9 km from the Usina up a steep dirt road and you will need four-wheel drive, especially if there has been any rain. There is accomodation for visitors in a well furnished house but you must take all your own food. The wife of the the reserve guard will do the cooking and her husband will accompany you into the forest.
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Stigmatura is an interesting genus. The two species, greater and lesser wagtail-tyrant, Stigmatura budytoides and S. napensis, have main populations in the chaco and riverine vegetation along the Amazon respectively and small, disjunct, sympatric populations in NE Brazil. We found both species (and pygmy nightjar Caprimulgus hirundinaceus) in very degraded caatinga near Lagoa Grande, which is 58km northeast of Petrolina. The two species of wagtail-tyrant were sometimes in the same bush. Lesser is smaller and browner than greater and forages lower. The local race Stigmatura n. bahiae is probably a separate species from its Amazonian relative Stigmatura n. napensis; their habitats and vocalizations are very different.
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This island, 400 km off the northeast coast of Brazil, boasts two endemics: Noronha Elaenia Elaenia ridleyana (considered by some a subspecies of Large Elaenia E. spectabilis) and Noronha Vireo Vireo gracilirostris. Both species are common. Ten species of seabird nest in the archipelago: Red-billed and White-tailed Tropicbird Phaethon aethereus and P. lepturus, Masked, Red-footed and Brown Booby Sula dactylatra, S. sula and S. leucogaster, Magnificent Frigatebird Fregata magnificens, Sooty Tern Sterna fuscata, Brown and Black Noddy Anous stolidus and A. minutus and White Tern Gygis alba. All these except Red-billed Tropicbird are easy to see, though the main concentration of Masked Booby is on the Rasa and Sela Gineta islands and you will need a boat to see them at close range. The main island is infested with Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis, Eared Dove Zenaida auriculata and House Sparrow Passer domesticus and that is it, so far as birds are concerned, except for waders in migration and vagrants (in 1999 a White Spoonbill Platalea leucorodia, spent a few weeks on the island, the first record of this species for Brazil). Josivan Rabêlo da Silva (aka Bam), an IBAMA park guard, is very friendly and helpful and will take birders to the offshore nesting colonies which can be reached on foot at low tide.
The beaches and skin and scuba diving are superb.
There are daily flights to the island from Recife. A tourist tax of R$23 (US$8) per day is charged. There is a wide choice of pousadas and bed and breakfast accomodation at fairly exorbitant prices. I paid R$240 per day for two rooms for three people in a B&B. The main island is about 17 km long and a beach buggy is convenient to get around. We hired one for R$80 per day. The only crime on the island is theft of petrol so take care!
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The best but most expensive place to stay is the Quilombo Parque hotel in União dos Palmares. It is pleasantly situated with plenty of birds in the grounds, including Seven-colored tanager Tangara fastuosa. It takes at least 50 minutes to get to the reserve from the hotel.
The road to the IBAMA reserve, near Fazenda Bananeiras, is very bad and you will need four-wheel drive if there has been any rain. Take a dirt road to the right off the BR-104 (signposted Fazenda Serra Nova), 700m north of the entrance to Murici. The way is complicated, with many tracks to the right and left. Keep to the "main" road. At a T junction with another "main" dirt road, turn left. Ask for Estreito and then Bananeiras. There is a small dam on the left at Bananeiras. The reserve is up the hill after the hamlet, forking left near the top. There is a chain (unlocked when we were there and no guard) at the entrance, 16.4km from the asphalt. The forest remnant along the left of the road before the reserve is good for Long-tailed Woodnymph Thalurania watertonii, Pinto's Spinetail Synallaxis infuscata and Smoky-fronted Tody-flycatcher Poecilotriccus fumifrons. Look inside the reserve for the local specialities: Scalloped Antbird Myrmeciza ruficauda, Orange-bellied Antwren Terenura sicki, Alagoas Tyrannulet Phylloscartes ceciliae, Alagoas Antwren Myrmotherula snowi and Alagoas foliage-gleaner Philydor novaesi (in order of increasing difficulty).
There is another bit of good forest, slightly lower, beside the telecom tower on the left of the BR-101, 16km north of the junction with the BR-104.
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We found fringe-backed fire-eye Pyriglena atra in March 1998 and March 2004 between Santa Luzia do Itanhi and Crasto, in Sergipe, near the beginning of the Linha Verde.
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John Walls and Dave Sargeant’s 1994 trip report has excellent maps and species lists for most of the sites below. Please contact me at arthur@arthurgrosset.com if you wish to contact the author's for a copy.
Closed to the public in May 1999 but now open again (January 2001). The access road is not at all bad for birding and one could easily see banded cotinga Cotinga maculata here (we didn't!). The Pataxó indians have taken possession of the area around the park entrance and are most importunate. The climb up to the peak is worth doing with a good view from the top but as a birding destination I do not rate Monte Pascoal highly. Ricardo Parrini has found black-tailed leaftosser Sclererus caudacutus here.
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This is perhaps the most reliable site for banded cotinga Cotinga maculata (in Nov 2001 we saw a fine male and a probable female), which in general appears to be an order of magnitude less common than white-winged cotinga Xipholena atropurpurea. The reserves mentioned by Forrester now have different names, CEPLAC and Estação Veracruz. The latter is open to visitors and in 2001 we were able to get permission to enter early and bird the main track (the old road to Cabrália). There is a "canopy" tower but it is not high enough nor well placed and the main view from it is over farmland.
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Just off the BR-101, south of Itabuna. For some good birding at the R.P.P.N. Serra Bonita, a private reserve, take the road to Jacarecí, passing the supermarkets Cesto do Povo and Super Sacolão (Km 0). Bear left after c.400m. After a speed bump and small shop (Km 10.2), turn left, opposite a bridge. A large sign has recently been installed. The track up to the telecomm. tower (Km 16.1) is rough and in wet weather slippery; it passes through good secondary growth. On 29 April 1999 four or five Pink-legged Graveteiro Acrobatornis fonsecai were building a nest practically at eye level in the trees by the access road to the research centre (Km 14.9 - 1.2km before the tower). We also saw Acrobatornis lower down and it can be seen in the cacau plantations along the Jacarecí road, but high up in the canopy. Golden-capped parakeet Aratinga auricapilla is fairly common in these plantations. Keith and Marlis Sneden report that Plumbeous Antvireo Dysithamnus plumbeus is common in the reserve.
Serra Bonita now has a web site http://www.serrabonita.org.br/ and very comfortable, reasonably priced accomodation is available in the reserve. The e-mail address is clemira@terra.com.br and the telephone number (73) 3283 0652.
North-East Brazil Site Index
BirdLife has recently bought land in these hills, north of Camacã. The habitat is mainly "cabruca", plantations of cacau trees with tall forest trees left for shade, but there are forest remnants on the tops of the ridges. Pink-legged Graveteiro Acrobatornis fonsecai and Bahia Tyrannulet Phylloscartes beckeri are here, as is an undescribed Heliobletus Treehunter.
To get to the site take the BR-101 north from Camacã. After about 20 km you reach a road off to the left, signposted to Jussari. Opposite this road turn right onto a dirt road to Itatingui. At the end of the village of Itatingui take a rough track to the right to the fazenda de Doutora Katira. Keep asking for the 'fazenda de Dotoura Katira.’ Leave the car at the fazenda and walk up a steep trail, through cabruca and then, near the ridge, secondary growth.
We did not find particularly good habitat here and I have since learnt that the Fazenda Orion (1° 11'S 39° 23'W) and the Fazenda Elza (15° 12'S 39° 24'W) are better.
There is a simple accomodation at the Pousada Fazenda Liberdade about 1 km north of the turning to Itatingui.
There is a bird list for Serra das Lontras in Cotinga 24.
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This small town, 18 km north of Itabuna, is a popular stake-out for Pink-legged Graveteiro Acrobatornis fonsecai. Leave your car or stay at the Pousada do Bosque and look for the bird in the cacau plantation opposite.
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White-winged potoo Nyctibius leucopterus, Bahia antwren Herpsilochmus pileatus (not to be confused with caatinga antwren - Ridgely and Tudor’s pileated antwren –Herpilochmus sellowi, a recent split) and Bahia black and tan tamarins are found here. The potoo responds fairly readily to playback. Look for it along the main track, about 400m inside the gate of the IBAMA reserve. Permission to visit the reserve is obtainable from the director, Saturnino de Souza (tel. (073)-236-2166. Next door there is a private reserve, EcoParque (tel. (073)-634-2179), with a canopy walkway, where the potoo has also been found. I have not visited either of these two sites.
In 1995 Stresemann's bristlefront Merulaxis stresemanni was seen near the reserve at the Fazenda Jueirana, the first sighting since the species was described. Subsequent attempts to find it have been in vain.
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Turn left off the BR 101 into the centre of Ubaitaba and drive back along the river bank, passing under the BR 101. The dirt federal BR 030 highway along the Maraú peninsular is dirt, very rough and in wet weather will require 4 x 4 drive. The c.60km to the beach at Saquaira takes almost 3 hours. An alternative is to drive to Itacaré (asphalt all the way), take the ferry across the Rio de Contas, and drive 34km (1 hr) to Saquaíra. There is fine accommodation here at the Pousada Maraú pmarau@uol.com.br in an idyllic setting on the beach. Look for black-faced tanager Schistochlamys melanopis and capped seedeater Sporophila bouvreuil in bushes in the sandy grasslands on the long straight before Maraú. There is good restinga forest along the northern access road from the BR 030 to the town of Maraú, where in January 2001 there were several pairs of Bahia antwren Herpsilochmus pileatus.
14km north of Saquaíra, on the road to Campinho (carry straight on at the right turn to Barra Grande) there are tidal mud flats surrounded by mangroves. They begin to dry out one and a half hours before low water. In January 2001 there were eight species of shorebirds here. It appeared an ideal place to find little wood-rail Aramides mangle but I was unsuccessful.
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Take the asphalt road from Travessão to Camamú and 500m before Orojó turn right. There is fairly good forest 13km along this dirt road. Bahia antwren Herpsilochmus pileatus is common and we saw several white-winged cotinga Xipholena atropurpurea. The type specimen of Stresemann's bristlefront Merulaxis stresemanni was collected very near here. Who knows, you may be lucky!
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The maps in the Sargeant / Wall trip report are excellent. Logging of the wet forest started in May 1999 but was then stopped, probably by IBAMA. The logging created a number of excellent access trails but by July 2002 these were becoming very overgrown and some will soon be impassable. In July 2002 Arthur and I saw Hook-billed Hermit Glaucis dohrnii in the dry forest, a most unusual habitat for this little known species.
The Hotel Solar continues to be excellent value — R$15 (US$5) in 2002 for dinner, bed and breakfast.
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This is (or was) a stakeout for little wood-rail Aramides mangle. Where the road from Candeias to São Francisco do Conde is joined by the road from Santo Amaro there is a bus shelter beside a rough track. Follow this track to where it ends in mangroves beside the river. This was a reliable place for the wood-rail but in recent years it appears to have been replaced by clapper rail Rallus longirostris which John Wall did not see but which was common in 2001. We did not see the wood-rail but did find some other interesting birds here, such as plain-bellied emerald Amazilia leucogaster, rufous-winged antshrike Thamnophilus torquatus and cinereous-breasted spinetail Synallaxis hypospodia. Half way along the track turn right down to mud flats with waders.
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In November 2001 we found a new site for fringe-backed fire-eye Pyriglena atra, about 100km from the site near Estãncia, Sergipe. Look for a conspicuous telecommunications tower at Km 20 on the BR-101 (20 km south of the Bahia / Sergipe state border). The birds were in a forest remnant on the other side of the road. We found them there again in March 2004.
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Access is much easier now than when Forrester was here. The BR-110 north from Alagoinhas is pot-holed but fast and there is a reasonable pousada in the town, the Hotel Bomfim, run by four elderly women. The stakeout for Pectoral Antwren Herpsilochmus pectoralis on the road to Canudos still exists, in good caatinga 20km from Jeremoabo. In March 2004 we found several pairs.
The best place to see Lear’s macaw Anodorhynchus leari is the Fazenda Toureiro, 29 km further on towards Canudos. The manager Zé Hilton and his wife Damiana will show you the macaws which spend most of the day here, arriving from their roosting site near Canudos at about 8:00am. A small tip is very gratefully received.
The macaws roost in cliffs at the Fazenda Serra Branca, owned by Sr. Otávio, the owner of the São Lázaro petrol station in Jeremoabo. In March 2004 we were unable to go to Serra Branca because the river was in flood but Sr. Otávio very kindly provided a guide to take us to his two other fazendas near Jeremoabo where we found, inter alia, several Great Xenops Megaxenops parnaguae and Pectoral Antwren Herpsilochmus pectoralis.
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This beautiful region, with highly diverse habitats, is described in detail, with a list of birds, in an article by Ricardo Parrini et al. in Cotinga 11.
An excellent place to stay is the pousada "Casa da Geléia" run by José Carlos and Lia (www.casadageleia.com.br ,tel/fax 075-3334-1151, e-mail casadageleia@hotmail.com), in the road behind the petrol station, as you enter the town. José Carlos speaks English, they have a big garden and have had 14 different species of hummingbird at their feeders, including, occasionally, the rare (in Brazil) Brown Violetear Colibri delphinae. Lia provides early breakfast on a tray or a sumptuous feast at 8:00 am. She will also cook dinner by prior arrangement.
There are several good areas to bird near Lençois. One is the trail over the mountains to Capão which starts at the top of the town, opposite the hotel Portal Lençois. In the campo rupestre (dry montane scrub on rocks) look for the undescribed form of Formicivora antbird whose song is Example 2 for Formicivora rufa on Isler and Whitney’s Songs of the Antbirds. A little further up this trail there are two patches of humid gallery forest, locally called mata de grota, and in the second of these, in March 2004, I recorded a tapaculo with a slow song, probably a member of the Scytalopus speluncae / novacapitalis complex which is presently being studied by several ornithologists.
Another good area is the road to Remanso. Take the road out of town, zeroing the odometer at the petrol station. At 3.9km turn right off the main road. At the first fork you can bear left through secondary growth to Capitinga and the BR 242 (said to be good for Rufous Nightjar Caprimulgus rufus). Bearing right at this fork and left at the next takes you to a fazenda; keep up to the left, avoiding the buildings, and drive down to the lake along a track which leads to a pump house beside a clump of bamboos. This is a good place for marsh and water birds. [In 2001 acess to this lake was closed] Bearing right at the second fork puts you on the road to the village of Remanso (c.25km from Lençois). The road passes through some good forest, with tracks leading off it. When you get to a cross roads, about 3km from Remanso, turn left (the track straight ahead is barely driveable but good for birding). In the open areas before the village there is Little Nightjar Caprimulgus parvulus.About 1km after the village fork left (the right fork goes to a farm house). This track is very overgrown but leads to good forest beside the "marimbús" (the local name for the extensive wetlands all along this valley). The marimbús are well worth visiting by boat, which can be arranged in Remanso or through Lentour in Lençois.
At Km 2.5 on the road from Lençois to the BR 242 (9.2km from the petrol station) there is a track to the left called Toalhas. I have not birded this.
At the BR 242 turn left. There is a track to the right after c.200m which is birded by the Field Guides groups. Further on (1.7km from the junction) there is a dirt road to the right to Usina Velha. This goes down the hill through reasonable secondary growth and after 2.5km crosses the Rio Mucugezinho. This looks a good place for a picnic or swim.
Continuing west along the BR 242, 11.2km from the Lençois junction, the road crosses a bridge with a sign "Divisa Lençois / Palmeiras". 1.3km after this bridge (just after the Morro do Pai Inâcio first comes into view) there is a dirt track to the left, leading down to a house in some mango trees. This is the start of an excellent trail back to Lençois which takes about four hours. You can take the Seabra bus from Lençois to the start of the trail. At the start of this trail, in March 2004, we found an immature male of the undescribed form of Formicivora antbird mentioned above.
The Morro do Pai Inácio is a good place to see Hooded Visorbearer Augastes lumachella and Pale-throated Serra-Finch Embernagra longicauda. This is a much more convenient and dependable site than Morro do Chapéu for these two endemics. I am told the visorbearer can be found near the car park but I have had better luck at the plateau on the right, half way up the path to the top (the view from which is spectacular). In November 2001 we found several Band-winged Nightjars Caprimulgus longirostris on this plateau.
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18km after the Pai Inácio turn left to Palmeiras. Drive through the town (54km from Lençois) and after 2.2km turn right to Tejuco and Lavrinha. Leave your car at the bridge and walk up the hill, at first through dry gallery forest and then through caatinga. All the caatinga species are here, including Broad-tipped Hermit Phaethornis gounellei, Red-shouldered Spinetail Gyalophylax hellmayri and San Francisco Sparrow Arremon franciscanus. Great Xenops Megaxenops parnaguae is common, but is not easy to see without playback.
Continuing along this road, which is rough but driveable, you pass by some spectacular mountains and then reach patches of cerrado habitat, called "gerais" locally. The best gerais we found were about 38km from Palmeiras, after Guiné. Rufous-sided Pygmy-Tyrant Euscarthmus rufomarginatus is common here. After a further 37km you get to Mucugê.
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The "campos rupestres" and cerrado on the road from Mucugê to Andaraí and along the two access roads to Igatu are worth visiting
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Humid forest at 1000m elevation. Turn right from Lençois onto the BR 242 and after 34km turn left (at an electrical substation) onto the BA 142 to Wagner, Utinga, and Bonito. At Bonito take the road to Morro do Chapéu; 2.2km from the roundabout at the end of Bonito turn right onto a dirt road. After a further 5.8km there is a green gate on the left (Fazenda da Mata Doida). There is good birding both on the road and along the track into the forest on the other side of the gate. The site is about 132km from Lençois.
North-East Brazil Site Index
Take the road from Itacarambi to Manga and +/- 3km from Itacarambi turn right, signposted "Porto da Balsa para Mocambinho". The road after the ferry is through degraded caatinga with plenty of birds, including white-browed guan Penelope jacucaca, Bahian nighthawk Chordeiles vieilliardi (beside the river at dusk) and greater wagtail-tyrant Stigmatura budytoides. 7.8km from the ferry there is a bridge on the left over the main irrigation canal, leading to the town of Mocambinho. Continue along the right side of the main canal and at the third sluice / concrete block, 1.4km after bridge, turn right and follow the small branch canal. After 4.1km cross the canal and continue along the right bank. After a further 0.6km you reach the forest. Turn left and after 0.8km there is a trail through the forest, with a longwinded No Entry sign (white-browed antpitta Hylopezus ochroleucus, great xenops Megaxenops parnaguae, ash-throated casiornis Casiornis fusca and San Francisco sparrow Arremon franciscanus).
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Others have found Brazilian black-tyrant Knipolegus franciscanus and Snethlage's woodcreeper Xiphocolaptes franciscanus in dry forest at Fazenda Olhos d'Água, near Itacarambi, owned by Sr. José de Paula, one of the owners of the tomato extract plant on the right, just before Itacarambi. José de Paula sold most of the fazenda and retained a small part and the name Fazenda Olhos d'Água. The part with forest is now called Fazenda Nossa Senhora Aparecida and is owned by Sr. José Roberto. Coming from Januária, the entrance is on the left, 1km after a sign saying "Itacarambi 5km". Open dry forest with very little understorey and not many birds. We had yellow-billed cuckoo Coccyzus americanus and Snethlage's woodcreeper, but not Brazilian black-tyrant.
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Parque Nacional Cavernas do Peruaçu
About 40km from Januária and 15 km from Itacarambi, turn left to Fabião I and continue up a very rough dirt road through a valley. At first there is excellent semi-deciduous forest with Snethlage's woodcreeper Xiphocolaptes franciscanus, ash-throated casiornis Casiornis fusca, Reiser's tyrannulet Phyllomyias reiseri and San Francisco Sparrow Arremon franciscanus. On emerging from the valley there is good caatinga. On the path to right, just where the forest changes to caatinga, we had great xenops Megaxenops parnaguae and San Francisco sparrow, with the other more common caatinga species. Unfortunately, in February 2002 we found that this recently created national park is now closed to the public. The local IBAMA manager, who found us inside the park, told us that permission to visit is obtainable only from IBAMA in Brasília.
If you get permission to visit Peruaçu, it would be more convenient to stay in Itacarambi, where one or two hotels have recently opened, than in Januária.
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The bridge over the rio São Francisco is a convenient place to see Bahia nighthawk Chordeiles vielliardi at dusk. From the north end of the bridge a road runs upstream along the left bank of the river, through riverine vegetation mixed with farmland.
North-East Brazil Site Index
Minas Gerais tyrannulet Phylloscartes roquettei can be seen between Pirapora and Várzea da Palma. Just after the Km 11 sign, turn left onto a dirt road that leads to a sand dredger ("draga") at Rio das Velhas. After 5km road the road crosses a small stream (Córrego dos Ovos). Look for the tyrannulet in the canopy of trees near the bridge and rufous-capped nunlet Nonnula ruficapilla and chestnut-capped foliage-gleaner Hylocryptus rectirostris in the adjacent gallery woodland. Continuing along the same road, there is a farm yard (where the Minas Gerais tyrannulet was also found in February 2002). Fork left after the farm to some wetland. Fork right to get to the river. At dusk there are Bahia nighthawks Chordeiles vieilliardi along both these tracks.
North-East Brazil Site Index