Birding in Mato Grosso and Brazil
Birdfinding information and guided tours in Amazonia and beyond
BRAZILIAN CERRADO AND THE MIGHTY ARAGUAIA
The Araguaia river is a stronghold for populations of the globally-threatened Orinoco Goose. See this charismatic species and many more including several rarely-seen endemics on our Brazilian Cerrado and Mighty Araguaia tour!
TOUR ITINERARY:
Day 1: We meet at the international airport in
Brasilia in the early afternoon. There may be time for a quick sightseeing tour
of downtown Brasilia to see the famous modern architecture of its eixo monumental. Otherwise we will
depart in a comfortable air-conditioned vehicle for the three-hour drive on
good roads to Alto Paraíso de Goiás, arriving in time for dinner. Our hotel is
situated 8 kilometres west of the small town, surrounded by cerrado and gallery forest - there is
even a lovely waterfall on the grounds.
Night
at the Pousada Portal da Chapada.
Day 2: Our first full day will be spent birding
the excellent cerrado grasslands of
the Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park and neighbouring areas. The Chapada dos
Veadeiros hosts a small but significant population of the endemic Brazilian
Merganser, one of the rarest and most endangered ducks in the world. We'll try
to jump out of the blocks well, spending our first morning with a local guide
trying to track down mergansers. There are three reliable areas for the mergansers
in and around the park, but we'll probably check out the two most accessible
sites on our first day. Depending on our success and the fitness level of the
group, we may opt for the long hike to the third site inside the park on Day 3.
We return for lunch at the hotel, with a stop en route to look for
Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle. In the afternoon we will bird scrubby cerrado and gallery forest near
Alto Paraíso looking for the endemic Cinereous Warbling-Finch and Chestnut-capped Foliage-gleaner.
Night
at the Pousada Portal da Chapada.
Day 3: We have another full day to bird in and around the National Park, searching for cerrado endemics including White-banded and White-rumped Tanagers, Crested Black-Tyrant, Cock-tailed Tyrant and others. If we still need the Merganser, obviously that will be our priority but a number of the region's other specialties will fall into place as we go about our search.
Night at the Pousada Portal da Chapada.
Day 4: This morning we'll get up well before dawn
for a long day trip to the deciduous forests northeast of Alto Paraíso. Dry
forests on limestone outcrops of the Serra Geral of northeastern Goiás and
southeastern Tocantins host the world's population of the endangered Pfrimer's
Parakeet. This poorly known endemic has been seen by just a handful of birders,
and ours is possibly the only organized birding tour targeting this special
bird. Another scarce endemic, the Brazilian Black-Tyrant, also occurs here. The
avifauna in these drier areas retains characteristics of the arid caatinga of northeast Brazil, and we
could find specialties such as Jandaya Parakeet, White-naped Jay or
Scarlet-throated Tanager in addition to our main targets. We'll spend all day
birding and walking from the van, with a packed breakfast and a picnic lunch.
Night
at the Pousada Portal da Chapada.
Day 5: Before breakfast we will walk a trail at
our pousada. White-throated Kingbird breeds on the grounds, and Yellow-faced
Parrots are often seen nearby, particularly when the mango trees at a
neighbouring ranch are in fruit. The trail leads into nice gallery forest where
we'll be looking for Helmeted Manakin, Pale-bellied Tyrant-Manakin, and
Saffron-billed Sparrow amongst others. After an enjoying an excellent breakfast
spread we'll bird some cerrado north
of Alto Paraíso to look for the beautiful Yellow-billed Blue Finch. Check-out
from the hotel and lunch soon follow. We then head south of Alto Paraíso
(towards Brasilia) to bird an extensive private reserve, where the high campos hold a healthy population of
Black-masked Finch. Aplomado Falcon and Coal-crested Finch are also quite
common here. We bird this area for most of the afternoon before proceeding
south to Brasilia, where we arrive in time for dinner.
Night
in Brasilia.
Day 6: This morning we should have time to visit a
small park in Brasilia to look for Blackish Rail before heading to the airport
to catch our flight to São Felix do Araguaia. The flight takes about three
hours including a refueling stop (our plane is a small 9-seater Cessna Gran
Caravan). Upon arrival in São Felix we will be met by staff from our hotel and
transferred 14 kilometres to the lodge in time for a late lunch. Our meal will
likely be interrupted by activity at the rice feeders beside the restaurant, where
a number of species visit throughout the day, including Orange-fronted
Yellow-Finch and the extremely localized endemic Crimson-fronted Cardinal. If
there is time we will take a short boat ride on the Araguaia river where we
should see our first Hoatzins. Jabiru and Gray River Dolphins are also
possibilities during our quick first taste of the mighty Araguaia.
Night
at Pousada Kuryala.
Day 7: The best way to enjoy the Rio Araguaia is
without a doubt by boat. Our daily excursions on the Araguaia, to the Ilha do
Bananal National Park, and up the Rio das Mortes should turn up innumerous
water birds and herons including Roseate Spoonbill, Orinoco Goose and
Sunbittern along the banks and sandbars. The Rio Araguaia has incredible
concentrations of Hoatzin, and we should see literally hundreds of these odd
birds on a daily basis. Quiet oxbows and dense riverine thickets hold Agami
Heron (common here), Zigzag Heron, Subgrebe and the endemics Bananal Antbird
and Glossy Antshrike. A Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl may attract bands of mobbing
passerines near the boats, and White-wedged Piculet, Araguaia Spinetail, Glossy
Antshrike, Amazonian Tyrannulet, Stripe-necked Tody-Tyrant, Amazonian
Black-Tyrant and Ashy-headed Greenlet are all possible. After lunch we'll bird
the scrubby floodplain behind the lodge for Cinereous-breasted Spinetail and
Riverside Tyrant.
Night
at Pousada Kuryala.
Day 8: Today we'll explore a narrow branch of the
Rio das Mortes where Agami Heron is particularly common. We may see Giant
Otters and Black Caiman while navigating the sharp meanders. Least Bitterns and
Azure Gallinules skulk amongst the patches of dense hyacinths while Black-collared
Hawks and Horned Screamers maintain a watchful eye over all that passes. While
searching the darkest corners of the oxbows and scouring the overhanging
vegetation for Agami Herons (if we still need them), we should find Bananal and
Band-tailed Antbird without much difficulty. Returning to the lodge we will
stop at scrubby sandbars to search for an as-yet-undescribed species of Certhiaxis spinetail which is fairly
common here.
Night
at Pousada Kuryala.
Day 9: We'll set out early to bird the cerrado and overgrown pastures of a
nearby ranch. In the cerrado
grasslands we may find Long-tailed Ground-Dove, Collared Crescentchest, Chapada
Flycatcher and White-rumped Tanager. Islands of dry forest on higher ground
surrounded by cerrado hold the
endemic Chestnut-bellied Guan, Blond-crested Woodpecker, Spot-backed Puffbird
and Toco Toucan. There are usually many pscittacids in this area including
Golden-collared and Red-shouldered Macaws. Further along, the overgrown
pastures and regrowth cerrado have
Greater Rhea and Capped Seedeater amongst a number of other more common
species. In the afternoon we will either hit the river again or drive to a
small lake where we will look for Maranhão Hermit in the nearby forest.
Night
at Pousada Kuryala.
Day 10: This final morning is a wild card to
address any targets we may have missed up to now. This could mean another river
trip to check the favourite haunts of the enigmatic and endemic
Scarlet-throated Tanager, here at the western edge of its geographic range. If
we've cleaned up sufficiently, we could opt to explore new reaches of this
highly under-birded area either by car or by boat. Either way, we're sure to
work up an appetite for one final sumptuous meal before catching our early
afternoon flight back to Brasilia. This tour ends in Brasilia, where
participants may either catch onward flights to São Paulo to make international
connections, or those participants continuing on the Southern Amazonia tour
will join us on the early evening flight to Alta Floresta.
END OF TOUR or Night in Alta Floresta.
Price: Please check back soon for complete information on the cost of this tour.
The trip needs a minimum two participants to run, with a group size limit of 6 participants.
Difficulty: Easy. There is one optional moderate hike of roughly 10 km round trip, which we may consider if we cannot find Brazilian Mergansers at stakeouts with easier access.
Climate: Hot and arid in the Chapada dos Veadeiros, hot and humid on the Rio Araguaia.
October is a transitional month between the end of the dry season and the beginning of the rains. Rain is possible, but it is unlikely that it will interfere with our birding.
Accommodation: Good. All accommodations have ensuite facilities with electric- or solar-heated showers. Food is good to excellent and is comprised almost entirely of delicious local ingredients. Electric current is 110V in Brasilia, 220V elsewhere - please bring a transformer if necessary. At Kuryala, power is provided by a generator which is run in the afternoon and during the evenings. There are solar-powered lights in the rooms for use during early morning.
Contact: For further details or inquiries as to availability, please contact us via e-mail at bradley@birdingmatogrosso.com
