Atlantic Rainforest birding at its best!
BIRDING BRAZIL’S ATLANTIC RAINFOREST AT ECO LODGE ITORORÓ, 4th – 11th Sept 2024
Andy Foster’s Serra dos Tucanos Birding Tours has just finished their latest birding tour at Eco Lodge Itororó, a fantastic week birding covering the whole elevational range of the Serra do Mar Mountains. During the week they’ve seen just under 280 species, of which 96 were Atlantic Rainforest endemics!
DAILY ACCOUNT
DAY 1. WEDNESDAY 4TH
The group were picked up from Rio and arrived at the wonderful Itororó Lodge by 9H30. Birding action started swiftly with some serious feeder action, highlights were many and included Brassy-breasted Tanager, Golden-chevroned Tanager, Ruby-crowned Tanager, Burnished-buff Tanager, Maroon-bellied Parakeet, Plain Parakeet, Sayaca Tanager, Azure-shouldered Tanager, Magpie Tanager, Cinnamon Tanager, Rufous-bellied Thrush, Dusky-legged Guan and both Violet-capped Woodnymph and White-throated Hummingbird, not bad for 10 minutes!
After some tea and coffee, the group were shown to their rooms before meeting up for some birding from the deck and gardens. Soon enough we were picking up more new species that included Chestnut-crowned Becard, Gray-fronted Dove, Slaty-breasted Wood-Rail, Blond-crested Woodpecker, Rough-legged Tyrannulet, Spix’s Spinetail, Ochre-faced Tody-Flycatcher, an amazing Swallow-tailed Cotinga (first record for the summer so hopefully they will stay and breed in the lodge grounds again), Olivaceous Elaenia, Cliff Flycatcher, Yellow-eared Woodpecker, Gray-capped Tyrannulet, Buff-fronted Foliage Gleaner, Rufous-crowned Greenlet and much to everyone’s delight, a pair of Surucua Trogons! Next up was a Rufous-browed Peppershrike, Golden-crowned Warbler and after hearing a Green-crowned Plovercrest calling nearby and a little playback, we were having fantastic views of this great little endemic! With a few minutes left before lunch, we wandered up one of the forest tracks picking up good views of our first Antbirds of the trip, Bertoni’s and an Ochre-rumped, two great endemics!
After a well-earned lunch we took a walk into the forest on the White Trail, it wasn’t long before our first new birds of the afternoon started to appear, these included Rufous-capped Spinetail, Variable Antshrike, Mottle-cheeked Tyrannulet, a pair of Spot-billed Toucanets (always a firm favourite), upgraded views of Ochre-rumped Antbird, Sepia-capped Flycatcher, a beautiful Half-collared Sparrow and from the new Itororó lodge hide, Black-goggled Tanager, Uniform Finch, Blue Dacnis, Green-winged Saltator and then with some playback we enticed a pair of Orange-eyed Thornbirds in, White-throated Woodcreeper and another star bird, Black-billed Scythebill! The icing on the cake right at the end of the afternoon was a male Bare-throated Bellbird, “clanging” away in a distant tree!
We arrived back at the lodge, had some tea, coffee and cake and completed our first checklist of the tour, just over 60 species in total!
DAY 2. THURSDAY 5TH…
Below are some photos from the tour!
Photo Credits: Andy Foster
