Jens
Thanks for the reply. Yes the hours do seem rather bizarre. Part of the point of Serro dos Orgaos is my wife wants to do some hiking, so the attraction - for her anyway - is that you can't drive up to the top. Pico Caledonia does sound interesting, so I may give that a visit as well. If you have time, I'd be very interested in any other details of your trip. Where you went, general tips etc. I'm putting together an itinerary now. I realised I've already made a bit of a cock up as we've booked to Rio rather than Sao Paulo and have now found at that internal flights to Cuiaba all seem to involve a change in Sao Paulo adding a considerable cost and time penalty, not the best start to planning a trip!
Hi Steve,
I flew to Rio, and first spend a couple of days at Itatiaia, staying at a pousada in the village, from where i visited the Agualhas Negras road one day, and went inside the park the next (again only open 8-17 and cost 20R). The Agulhas Negras road was very nice, with displaying Plovercrests, plenty of Itatiaia Spinetails once you were beyond the pousada, Grey-backed Tachuri at the first sharp right turn of the road after the pousada, and several Serra do Mar Tyrannulets and Tapaculos, Speckle-breasted Antpittas and B and G Cotingas. Inside the NP i did the Maromba Trail, birded along the main road and watched the Hummingbirds around the feeders at Ype Hotel. Best birds here were a few Fork-tailed Pygmy Tyrants at the beginning of the Maromba trail, several Bertoni's and Ochre-rumped Antbirds and heard only Such's Anthrushes.
In the same area I also visited the Portal do Bosque trail in Penedo and Resende Wetland, which were both OK for a few hours or half a day, with White-shouldered Fireeye, Southern Antpipit and Black-cheeked Gnateater at the first site, and the only Yellowish Pipits and Capped Seedeaters of the trip at the other.
Next I went to Pereque, where I had Black-hooded Antwren first thing in the morning, but not heard or seen later, Squamate Antbird, Rufous-capped Antthrush, Saw-billed Hermit, Frilled Coquettes and lots of lekking White-bearded Manakins, just go for the sound of exploding fire-crackers.
Then on to the Ubatuba area, where I ran into several days of bad weather, with overcast conditions, long periods of rain and drizzle and low bird activity in the forest. Best place to be in/ or rather outside the rain, was at the hummingbird feeders at Folha Seca along with Saw-billed Hermits and Festive Coquettes. At Fazenda Angelim I had Sharpbill and Spotted Bamboowren, but I really felt, that I missed out on many birds at Ubatuba, bbecause iof the weather.
For a change of scenery I headed for Campos do Jordao, where it still rained a little, but the birds seemed more active here, with many Araucari Tit Sppinetails, and several Vinaceous Parrots, Variegated Antpittas (heard only), a single male Black-legged Dacnis and a few Dusky-tailed Antbirds.
After a drive through Sao Paulo (pack lots of patience) I came to Intervales, where 3 days (1,5 with guide - excellent guy, Luiz) saw me enjoying White-bearded, Giant, Tufted and Long-tailed Antshrikes, Mantled Hawk, the only seen Bare-throated Bellbird of the trip, Pin-tailed Manakin, Serra do Mar Tyrant Mannakin, Oustalet's, Bay-ringed and Sao Paulo Tyrannulet, White-breasted Tapaculo, Pavonine Cuckoo, Black-legged Dacnis, Blue-bellied Parrot and a Puma for 10-15 seconds on the track past the restaurant.
A long drive North, took me to Serra de Canastra NP in Minas Gerais where a day along the river between Vargem Bonita and the waterfall, rewarded me with a pair of Brazilian Mergansers 10,5 KM after leaving VB, Helmeted Manakins, several showy Red-legged Seriemas and a Giant Anteater which passed by me only a few meters away.
Having seen the Mergansers so early on, I had plenty of time to enjoy the birding at the top of the plateau, inside the NP. Approx. 1 KM below the entrance I had a male Yellow-billed Finch feeding on the burnt hillside, and once inside the park, in the grassland, Cock-tailed Tyrants were common (35-40 in two days), and Sharp-tailed Tyrants, Black-masked Finch, Campo Miner and Ochre-breasted Pipts were fairly common. Brasilia Tapaculo was heard at the place were the powerlines cross the road and at the source of the Sao Fransisco River, and at the top of the waterfall another pair of Mergansers were found, this time with 3 large downy young. On the cliffs south of the entrance there's a large active raptor nest, but without a scope I couldn't make out much, but according to the wardens at the entrance it was a nest of Crowned Eagle. I saw a very vocal and displaying Black-chested Buzzard Eagle in the vicinty twice, so I'm not totally convinced. Luckily I did see an adult Crowned Eagle inside the park.
Next I drove east to Serra do Cipo, where Cipo Canastero was tracked down in the morning at the pass after an hour, but I found road going downhill to the left to some camp sites and cottages one KM before the pass, to be the most birdy, with Horned Sungem, Hyacinth Visorbearer, Least Nighthawk (heard at dusk), Curl-crested Jay and Cipo Canastero heard from the cliffs some 2-3 Km along the road.
Another drive through Belo Horizonte took me to Caraca, where Serra Antwren was easily tracked down, along with Swallow-tailed Cotinga, White-bibbed Antbird and Pale-throated Pampafinch.
Going back towards Rio, I saw the Three-toed Jacamars at Carmo and visited Pico Caledonia near Nova Friburgo.
Driving was mostly easy in Brazil, except going through towns and cities, where a lack of signs got me lost more than once. Especially in RdJ and SP states, the most used roads are toll roads, that were some of the more expensive that I've driven - up to 10-15R in RdJ. Fuel is also relatively expensive, with gasoline at roughly 1,2 Euro/l, but alcohol is cheaper at ,70 Euro/l, and works nearly as well in smaller cars. I tried driving on both, and lost only 2-3 km/l switching from gasoline to alcohol.
I never 'broke through' the language barrier, but was able to get by with trying to speak some Spanish and using all sorts of gestures. I only met few English speakers.
I hope this gives you a little taste of what can be expected. I had also contemplated on going to the Pantanal, or heading up to Bahia, but it's nice to have something to go back for another time, and another and...!
Enjoy
Jens
