Our tired group arrived in Sao Paulo, following an overnight Varig flight from Miami. Rose Ann Rowlett, one of the two Fieldguides tour leaders, joined us in Miami. The other guide, Bret Whitney, planned to meet us in Cuiaba, after we completed our final flight. Bret was in the area early to do some pre-trip scouting. By late morning, the entire tour group successfully met at the airport in Cuiaba and we boarded a bus headed for Chapada.

The original plan had us boarding yet another plane bound for Alta Floresta. However, when that flight was cancelled, Fieldguides adjusted the itinerary to include a day in Chapada. It actually worked so well, that Fieldguides plans to use this as their regular itinerary for future tours. The bus ride to Chapada, quickly left the city into Brazil’s central plateau, the Planalto. As our destination neared, we gained altitude to about 2600 feet, along an impressive rusty-colored escarpment, for which Chapada is known. Along the way, we saw a Pearl Kite. This was exactly how my trip last year to Peru began, with a Pearl Kite at the Iquitos airport.

In addition to the birds, the scenery, and local culture, so much of the tour experience is with the other tour participants and the leaders. As for the tour leaders, Bret Whitney and Rose Ann Rowlett are outstanding in both their birding skills and people skills. Bret’s extensive knowledge of Brazil attracts top-class birders to his tours. This tour is no exception, as at least four participants each have more than 5,000 world birds; and another is nearing 2,500 species, solely within South America. As this is just my third trip to South America, I feel a little bit outclassed, but it’s thrilling to bird in such company.  Beyond the birding skills, the entire group is well traveled and well behaved. Joining me on this trip is my good friend Kim who is a long-time birding companion. In her words, "there are no pills on this trip, which is good."

Within a few hours of our arrival at the Hotel Penhasco in Chapada dos Guimaraes, we meet as a group for our first afternoon of birding. We bird the grounds, where I see my first Chalk-browed Mockingbird, Rufous Hornero, and Sayaca Tanager. Then we board the bus to be at Bridal Veil Falls, a known White-bellied Parakeet roost, at dusk. The Falls keep to their reputation and we watch the vibrant green White-bellied Parakeets fly in front the falls to their roost. We see several other goodies at the Falls: Toco Toucan, Swallow-tailed Hummingbird, Crested Black-tyrant, and Blue-winged Macaw.

During the night, Kim retrieved a pillow that had fallen to the floor earlier in the evening. What Kim didn’t know and found out way too quickly, was that fire ants had crawled on the pillow. Neither one of us slept very well after that. And we wondered, when we heard one of our neighbors "yelp" in the night.  Later we learned the "yelp" was just a nightmare, and our room was the only one with fire ants.

We departed early the next morning to head back to the airport in Cuiaba, to catch our rescheduled flight to Alta Floresta. In just a few hours of birding along the way, we managed to see many of Chapada’s specialties: Curl-crested Jay, Coal-crested Finch, White-banded Tanager, White-rumped Tanager, Rufous-winged Antshrike, and Campo Suiriri Flycatcher. The trees and shrubbery around the Cuiaba Airport also attracted several cool hummingbirds, the most unusual being a Long-billed Starthroat.

After landing in Alta Floresta and a short lunch at The Floresta Amazonica Hotel, we board yet another bus, to take us to the boats for our journey to the Rio Cristalino Lodge on the Rio Cristalino River. On the way to the boats, we stop first at a grove of moriche palms for Point-tailed Palmcreeper. At another stop, we see our first Amazonia (Olive) Oropendola. We reach the boats at dusk. While the sun sets, we motor toward the lodge where we’ll stay the next six nights.

The Rio Cristalino Lodge lies in Amazonia surrounded by hectors and hectors of pristine terra firma forest. This area has never had indigenous people. Several trails lead directly from the lodge, while others may be reached following a short boat rides on the Rio Cristalino. This area has more butterflies in pure quantity than anyplace I have ever visited. A typical boat ride down the Rio Cristalino is through feeding White-winged and White-banded Swallows and thousands of butterflies flying along the river banks. Several species of kingfishers perch on low branches above the water. On most days, Red-throated Piping-guans sit in the trees along the river and Swallow-wings dot the tree tops.

Recently the Lodge added a fifty-meter tall tower. The first morning our group had the honor of being the first group to use the tower. This was my first experience on a tower and while I was told to expect the tower to move, it did take me awhile to adjust to the occasional swaying. This tower is very sturdy and I soon looked forward to my trips up the tower. We birded mostly from the middle platform, where at eye level we watched Kawall’s Parrots, Gould’s Toucanet, Red-necked Aracari, Crimson-bellied Parakeet, Red-fan Parrot, Black-girdled Barbet, Striolated Puffbird, Yellow-shouldered Grosbeak, White-thighed Swallow, Lesser Swallow-tailed Swift, Amazonian Pygmy-owl, and Tooth-billed Wren (by half the group).

We divided up into two groups, the Macaws and the Aracaris, to facilitate birding while at the Lodge. Bret and Rose Ann split their time equally between the groups. They planned the various days’ activities to maximize our opportunity of seeing the area specialties. Among the Alta Floresta specialties, we saw Glossy Antshrike, Flame-crested Manakin, Snow-capped Manakin (missed by more than half, including me), Snethlage’s Tody-tyrant, Dark-winged Trumpeter (seen only by Josep – who did not do the tower), Brown-banded Puffbird, and Bare-eyed Antbird (the most common antbird at ants).

Some of the best birding occurred our final morning when we hiked the steep Serra Trail onto an outcropping of rocks at the top of the forest. Here we all had outstanding looks at Tooth-billed Wren, a surprising Ash-colored Cuckoo, Masked Tanager, Pied Puffbird, Rufous-winged Antwren, Natterer’s Slaty-antshrike, Paradise Jacamar, and King Vulture.

That afternoon we boarded the boats and headed back to the town of Alta Floresta. Alta Floresta is a fairly new town created for the purpose of logging the forest. There is much deforestation around the town and frequent burning creates smoke-filled skies that in turn intensify the sunsets. Prior to boarding the bus for town, we birded the area just this side of the Telesperis, the larger river that must first be crossed prior to reaching the Rio Cristalino. Our afternoon of birding rewarded us with such delights as Gray Antbird, Little Cuckoo, Short-tailed Pygmy-tyrant, and Paradise Tanager.

Before dinner, the hotel owner shared with us her personal conservation efforts in the Alta Floresta area. Through her efforts a parcel of land, that is next to some of her own land surrounding the Rio Cristalino Lodge, was just set aside as a National Preserve. Dinner that night, while quite tasty, was quite late. Apparently something happened to one of the cooks.

The next morning we birded a forested area behind the Hotel. Here we found White-browed Hawk, Barred Forest-falcon, and Collared and Rufous-necked Puffbird. Then we were off to the airport to return to Cuiaba to start the next phase of the tour in the Pantanal.

The Pantanal, located southwest of Cuiaba, contains the largest marsh-bird region of South America. Our trip runs during the dry season, which helps concentrate the large marsh birds, such as Roseate Spoonbill, Jabiru, and various egrets. I saw more Limpkin and Snail Kites in this area than I can ever recall seeing at any other location.

We stayed in the northern Pantanal. It took several hours to drive from the airport to the Pouso Alegre Lodge where we were staying. After an hour or so, the paved road turned into a sometimes rutted dirt road, with frequent water crossings via wooden bridges. This road is the Trans Pantaniera highway. It runs north to south, the length of the Pantanal.

The weather was hot and humid. I wondered how comfortable I would be the next few days traveling in a bus without air conditioning. Night fell before we reached the lodge. We saw both Nacunda and Scissor-tailed Nightjars along the drive.

Hyacinth Macaw and Chaco Chachalaca both roost on the grounds of the lodge. The next morning, both greeted us with their calls. After a pre-dawn breakfast, we boarded the bus for a "Disney-like" tour of the Pantanal. As we drove slowly, Bret and Rose Ann called the birds we saw on either side of the road: Wood Stork, Plumbeous Ibis, Black-collared Hawk. What a joy to get off the bus again! At the first stop we saw both Greater and Common Thornbird, and Red-crested and Yellow-billed Cardinal. A stop at a more forested area netted Pale-crested Woodpecker, Great Rufous Woodcreeper, Red-billed Scythebill, and Planalto Slatey-antshrike. By time we left this location the next day, we had added White Woodpecker, Golden-collared Macaw, and Blue-throated Piping-guan to name a few.

During the night, the wind picked up blowing in cold Antarctic air. Prior to us boarding the bus to leave, we all pulled out our fleeces and gloves from our luggage. On the drive to the Santa Teresa Lodge which situated on the River Pixaim, we saw our first Greater Rhea of the trip, along with Alpomado Falcon, White-napped Xenopsaris, and White-rumped Monjita.

It was positively raining as we arrived at the Lodge. We ate lunch and hoped the rain would pass so we could take our planned boat ride to look for Giant River Otter. Well the rain didn’t pass, so off we went in the bus to see what we could find. The drive started with Whistling Herons though we never did heard them whistle. My personal favorite bird of that afternoon was some "killer" looks at Scarlet-headed Blackbird.

The next morning we bundled up and headed out in search of Chestnut-bellied Guan. Our eyes turned with each cracidae. Yet another Chaco Chachalaca. Finally someone spots the Guan. It then proceeds to dive into the tree before most everyone, including myself, has had a chance to see it. We all search madly for this bird. I just happened to notice this huge bird sitting in the middle of a defoliated tree. The Guan!

How funny the group looks this morning all bundled in our winter gear! Fortunately, we all took the warning about potential cold weather seriously and packed some warm clothes. After we returned to the Lodge, we hiked a short trail to see Helmeted Manakin. This Lodge is quite a bird friendly place with frequent handouts and several pets, a Toco Toucan, and Bare-faced Curassow, that might otherwise be hard to see. We ended our stay at this Lodge with a boat ride to see Giant River Otter. In short, two out of three boats saw one Giant River Otter and our boat, the one that missed Giant River Otter, saw Buff-bellied Hermit instead.

Our final night was at the Ypiranga Lodge. It is situated the closest to Cuiaba of the three lodges where we stayed. We celebrated our trip with capirinhas and a Bret Whitney video show. The final morning birding included a horse and buggy ride for some and a tractor ride for others, to visit a lake to see Southern Screamer. This was one of those spots where the water birds concentrate. We saw egrets, Jabirus, Wood Storks, and Roseate Spoonbill in large numbers. Birding along the road to the Lodge, we worked a large mixed flock of Seedeaters. Bret found a Spot-backed Puffbird, and Rose Ann scored the Chapada Suiriri Flycatcher.

Following lunch, we drove to the airport to end our tour. Kim and I still had one week more planned in Brazil. While the rest of the Fieldguides group left the plane in Sao Paulo to catch a plane to Miami, we continued on to Rio de Janeiro. It’s a good thing Kim and I spent some time with Bret discussing our planned week on our own. What might seem like the simplest thing of leaving a plane and going to an Airport Hotel was in reality quite a long confusing walk through two airport terminals. Fortunately, Bret had clued us into what to expect.

Kim and I arranged our final week’s stay in Brazil through Fieldguides. They used Blumar, a local company, to make the arrangements. Our final destination was the Hotel de Ype, in Itatiaia National Park. After sleeping in, and grazing at the Hotel breakfast buffet, we picked up our rental car and headed to Itatiaia National Park. We made just one small wrong turn. Once back on course, we headed up the Rio to Sao Paulo highway toward Itatiaia.

Itatiaia National Park is Brazil’s oldest National Park, created in 1937. It consists mostly of montane forest, with high montane (alpine), in the highest elevations of the park. Itatiaia reaches 2,400 meters.

Itatiaia and the Hotel de Ype, is such a marvelous mix of comfortable accommodations, outstanding food, gracious service, and incredible birds. In short, one of every two birds I saw at Itatiaia was a life bird. Kim and I managed to see 20 endemic birds during our stay without using tapes. Just imagine what a tour group would do with specific knowledge and equipment. It’s interesting to note, that Kim and I were the only birdwatchers we encountered our entire stay at Itatiaia.

We arrived at the Hotel de Ype in time for lunch. And finally my bird studies really paid off, as I proceeded to name off every bird at the feeder just outside the window: Golden-chevroned Tanager, Olive-green Tanager, Green-headed Tanager, and Chestnut-bellied Euphonia.

Did I mention the hot fresh rolls? Every meal is served buffet style, with easily six or eight deserts to choose from every night. And for the chocolate lovers, some form of chocolate is served with each meal. Thursday night just so happened to be chocolate desert night. Eight deserts - all with chocolate. Chocolate cake, chocolate moose, dark chocolate pudding, and white chocolate pudding. Even hot chocolate fudge to dip strawberries. The Hotel de Ype is a resort with resort level food. Quite a step up from the earlier lodges. The lodging consists of private A-frame cabanas divided into two floors, so Kim and I had relative privacy.

The cold continued throughout most of our stay at Itatiaia. In fact, the second morning, we had the "high altitude" Warbling-finch, Bay-chested, in the fruiting tree outside our room. Instead of the mockingbirds I'm used to have waking me up here in the states, we were awoken each morning by Dusky-legged Guans. Magpie, Green-headed, Yellow-Chevroned, Sayaca, Black-Goggled, and Ruby-Crowned Tanagers, Saffron Toucanet, and Chestnut-bellied Euphonias filled the feeders at the Hotel de Ype.

By far though, the best feeders were at the owner's house at the Hotel Simon. It is about a thirty-minute walk from the Hotel de Ype. The hummingbird feeders at the Hotel Simon were covered with hummingbirds, dacnis, euphonia, and banaquit. At these feeders we saw Black Jacobin, Brazilian Ruby, Violet-capped Woodnymph, Scale-throated Hermit, White-throated Hummingbird and more. While watching the feeders one afternoon, a gentleman came running up the walk shouting something to us in Portuguese that ended in "Frilled Coquette". Kim and I immediately grabbed our binoculars and followed his lead to a flowering shrub in the yard where we saw feeding the most immaculately colored Frilled Coquette in perfect light. What a magical moment for me! This was my first Coquette.

Despite the cold, we found the birding nearly continuos all day long. We even ended our first day with ants. Each day, we typically ran into species specific flocks like the warbler and ant wren flock, the flycatcher flock, the foliage-gleaner flock, and even a flock of robins we found the final morning feeding on date palm fruit. We saw and identified close to 150 species. Almost everything we saw we identified, short of perhaps a few flycatchers, plus a hawk from the final morning we are still trying to identify. Certainly we missed things by not knowing calls or having tapes and prior knowledge to tape in some birds.

The first morning out, Kim and I were so carried away seeing birds like Black-billed Scythebill, Star-throated Antwren, Brazilian (Rufous-tailed) Antthrush, Brassy-breasted and Gilt-edged Tanagers, that we returned for lunch at three thirty, well after serving. They graciously offered to make us a special lunch.

At altitude, Kim and I found most of the high altitude birds – Black-and-gold Cotinga, Diademed Tanager, Plovercrest, Streamer-tailed Tyrant, Brassy-breasted Tanager, and Slatey-breasted Wood-rail.

On another morning, walking the trail between the Hotel de Ype and the Hotel Simon, we had Saffron Toucanet, Spot-billed Toucanet, and Red-breasted Toucan all feeding in the same fruiting tree.

Overall, I found the experience quite rewarding. Kim and I saw things, I think that would be difficult to see in a larger group. On the final morning, for instance, we found two Rufous-capped Motmots displaying, and a half dozen Spot-winged Wood-quail feeding by the side of the trail. What outstanding looks at both!

Kim and I returned to Rio de Janeiro in the early afternoon, in time to meet a tour guide for a quick city tour. Our tour took us through the city and to the beaches of Cococabana and Impanema. It ended with a tram ride to Sugar Loaf at sunset. This made for a memorable ending to three wonderful weeks in Brazil.