Codes:

(BRe): endemic to Brazil             (BRqe): quasi-endemic, or nearly endemic to Brazil
 
Regions in the country where birds have been seen during FONT tours noted in the list as follows:
  
AF:        Alta Floresta area, in northern Mato Grosso
AM:       Amazonia
BR:        Brasilia
ES:        Espirito Santo
IG:         Iguacu Falls
MN:       Minas Gerais
MS:       Mato Grosso do Sul
MT:       Mato Grosso (excluding Alta Floresta area)
RS:        Rio Grande do Sul (far-southern Brazil)
SE:        southeast Brazil (the states of Rio de Janeiro & Sao Paulo) 

Links:

Upcoming FONT Birding & Nature Tours in Brazil

FONT Past Brazil Tour Highlights

A Brazil Bird-List & Photo Gallery, in 3 Parts:
Part 1: Tinamous to Doves
Part 2: Macaws to Flycatchers
Part 3: Antshrikes to Grosbeaks

Birds in Minas Gerais

Birds in Mato Grosso & Mato Grosso do Sul

Birds in Rio Grande do Sul

Birds in Southeast Brazil

Directory of Photos in this Website

 

Species classified as CRITICALLY THREATENED:

Brazilian Merganser  ______  MN   (BRqe or now BRe) 
Mergus octosetaceus

The very rare BRAZILIAN MERGANSER has been seen during 6 FONT tours in Brazil: in March 1997, October 1998, August 2002, October 2003, September 2006, and March 2008. 
Each time, our sightings have been in a remote part of western Minas Gerais. 

Recent estimates have put the population of the species at only about 100 pairs. Some say, however, that's too high a number. With large territories, and favoring remote areas, the Brazilian Merganser can be a hard bird to find. 
The range of the bird has included southeast Brazil, northeast Argentina, and adjacent Paraguay. It's probably now extinct in Paraguay, and may be so in Argentina (where the population has been critically small). 
Actually, in the mid-20th Century, the species was thought to be extinct. It was re-found in 1948. Now, just over 50 years later, this rarity is still "too close" to extinction. 

The very rare Brazilian Merganser in Minas Gerais, 2006.
A pair was seen during the FONT tour in September of that year. 
There have been sightings during FONT tours in Minas Gerais 
during 6 different years. 
(Photo courtesy of Renilda Dupin)

The Cherry-throated Tanager is one of the rarest birds ever seen during any FONT tour, anywhere in the world. 
Our sighting was on October 9, 1998 in the Brazilian state of Espirito Santo, just east of Minas Gerais. 
The attractive male was seen well that day by everyone in our group (ours was the first birding group EVER to see the species). 6 hours of searching and waiting were worth it.  Two birds of the species were in a moving mixed species flock that we encountered. That flock was seemingly led by the vocal Eastern Sirystes.

The Cherry-throated Tanager is one of the least-seen bird species in the world. In the 19^th Century, it was known only from a lone specimen in a European museum. That bird was collected in 1870 in the area of Muriae, in Minas Gerais state, along the Paraiba River. 

In the 20^th century, the species was sighted once, in 1941, in Espiritu Santo (at Jatiboca), prior to its very exciting re-discovery by Brazilian ornithologists shortly before our tour in 1998. We were most grateful to have been given permission to enter private land (and to stay overnight there), and to have the great cooperation of the local biologists, enabling us to see Nemosia rourei, the Cherry-throated Tanager as we did.  

A Hyacinth Macaw
photographed during a FONT tour
(photo by Andy Smith)

The Hyacinth Macaw is the largest parrot in the world. During the 20th Century, it declined greatly due to trading and hunting. In the 1980's, there was a massive illegal trade, with at least 10,000 birds taken from the wild. 50 per cent of those were destined for the Brazilian market. In 1983-84, over 2,500 were flown out of Bahia Negra, Paraguay.

Currently, some 2,500 to 5,000 wild birds are estimated as remaining in the wild, with the vast majority in Brazil, mostly in the Pantanal region. A few still occur in easternmost Bolivia and northeast Paraguay.

Nesting is during July-December in large tree cavities and on cliffs. Two eggs are usually laid, but only one normally fledged.

The Hyacinth Macaw has been seen during every FONT tour in Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul. 

Other similar macaws in Brazil and in nearby South America have, unfortunately, become extinct, notably the Glaucous Macaw and the Spix's Macaw.

The Glaucous Macaw occurred formerly in southern Brazil, particularly in western Rio Grande do Sul, and in adjacent Argentina and Uruguay, and apparently in southern and eastern Paraguay.

The Spix's Macaw is now extinct in the wild. In the 1990's, one individual remained in interior northeast Brazil. No longer. The initiatives to provide effective protection for the last wild birds failed. Endeavors at establishing a captive-breeding program using stock held in private collections around the world (perhaps totaling no more than 20 birds) have been unsuccessful.



Red-tailed Amazon  ______  SE  (BRe)
Amazona brasiliensis

The Red-spectacled Amazon has a small range in southern Brazil and northeast Argentina (and possibly also in Uruguay & Paraguay). It is closely associated with Araucaria-dominated forest. Recently, its population has seriously declined. A comparison of population estimates in 1971 and 1997 indicate that the decline of the species has been at a rapid rate of equivalent to 22% in 10 years.

The Red-spectacled Amazon has been seen during FONT tours in Rio Grande do Sul.
   

Vinaceous-breasted Amazon  ______  RS,SE  (BRqe)
Amazona vinacea


Three-toed Jacamar  ______  MN,SE  (BRe)
Jacamaralcyon tridactyla

This Three-toed Jacamar is a Brazilian endemic that has, during recent years, undergone a major decline in numbers, and a contraction of range. Habitat clearance has been mainly responsible. The population is now estimated to be from 250 to 1,000 birds.
 
The species can continue in relatively small woodlots where there are mudbanks in which to nest. The occurrence of this rarity is localized.

It has been seen during FONT tours since 1997, mostly in Minas Gerais, but most recently in 2005, in a remote part of Rio de Janeiro state, just a few kilometers from the Minas Gerais border.

Buff-throated Purpletuft  ______  SE  (BRe)
Iodopleura pipra 

The Buff-throated Purpletuft is a small bird, just over 3 inches in length, and a member of the cotinga family. It occurs at only a very few places in a severely fragmented range in eastern Brazil. During FONT tours, we've seen it only in the area of Ubatuba, near the seacoast in Sao Paulo state. In that area, our sightings have been at borders of humid forests, secondary woodland, and cacao plantations such as Fazenda Capricorno.

The bird tends to perch on high exposed branches. There is some evidence that it may be associated with a single species of a tall, fine-leaved deciduous tree which is locally common and often supports clumps of mistletoe. The bird feeds primarily on berries, particularly those of mistletoe, supplemented by anthropods.   
     

Atlantic Royal Flycatcher  ______ SE  (BRe)
Onychorhynchus swainsoni 


Restinga Antwren  ______  SE  (BRe)
Formicivora littoralis


Black-hooded Antwren  ______ SE  (BRe)
Formicivora erythronotos

Only in a very limited area of southeastern Brazil, the Black-hooded Antwren is very rare. For years, it was only known from Nova Friburgo (north of the city of Rio de Janeiro), where it was feared extinct, due to habitat destruction, and with the last reliable record during the second half of the 19th Century. 

However, it was recently re-discovered, in 1987, in a secondary swampy wooded area near the mangrove line at sea level along the southern coast of Rio de Janeiro state.

The rare Black-hooded Antwren has been found during FONT tours at the appropriate locality in Rio de Janeiro state.


Cipo Canastero  ______  MN  (BRe)
Asthenes luizae

The Cipo Canastero was discovered only as recently as 1985 in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, where it is very localized. 
When it was initially found, it was quite a surprise as all other canasteros occur much further west in South America, mostly in Andean habitats. 

We've seen the Cipo Canastero during nearly every FONT tour in Minas Gerais.

The range of this species is but a dot on a Brazilian map, where its habitat is a limited area of rocky outcrops, and associated dry vegetation.

Also occurring there are 2 other notable Brazilian endemics, both rare, but not as rare as the canastero. These other two species, designated as "near-threatened" by Birdlife International, are the Gray-backed Tachuri (a flycatcher) and the Hyacinth Visorbearer (a hummingbird). Both have been seen during every FONT tour in the area.  
 

A Crowned Solitary Eagle photographed 
in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais,
during the FONT tour in March 2008.
(photo by Marie Gardner)
  

The Crowned Solitary Eagle is a large, gray bird, occurring sparsely over a large range mostly in Brazil, but also in Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina. 
In its big geographic range of over 3 million square kilometers, this rare bird has been found at about a hundred localities. But a number of those places, however, relate to sightings back in the 19th Century.

The species is classified by Birdlife International as "vulnerable" because "it occurs at very low densities ... in fragmented habitat" and because "the severity of threats strongly suggest a significant and continuing decline". 

Birdlife International suggests that the total population of the bird is somewhere between 2,500 and 10,000 individuals.

However, others say that surely such an estimate is too high for a species which is so thinly scattered and almost everywhere rare or, at best, scarce. A total of just 1,000 breeding birds (500 pairs) would give an average density over the entire range of 1 pair in 6,000 square kilometers (that would be 75 x 80 kilometers). The pattern of current, or recent, sightings does not indicate that many birds. So, even though classified as "vulnerable", the species may well be more so than others in that category.  

Juveniles are said to remain with their parents for several years. Breeding is less than annual. Birds have a large home range.

The Crowned Solitary Eagle can be described as indolent, sluggish, and partially crepuscular, as they most actively feed at dusk and dawn. Their favored prey are skunks and armadillos, animals that are themselves mostly crepuscular.
Population densities are lower in the chaco and cerrado habitats than in rich grasslands. 

The spread of agriculture, with burning, mechanization, and pesticides, and intensive cattle-raising continue to destroy suitable lightly wooded habitats and natural grasslands throughout much of the bird's range. Forestation of grasslands with eucalyptus is further affecting foraging areas. The species is also hunted. And so, with the combination of these factors, the decrease continues.

Adults have a long, occipital crest. Hence, "crowned" in its name. The species is now called the Crowned Solitary Eagle as there is another large raptor called the Crowned Eagle in Africa. 

The Crowned Solitary Eagle and the more-northerly Montane Solitary Eagle (a black, not gray, bird, formerly called the Solitary Eagle) are the only two members of their genus.

Male and female Crowned Solitary Eagles are similar. Females only average about 3 per cent larger.

The Crowned Solitary Eagle is not a "true eagle". It is a buteonine. But, however it is classified, it is large. Of the 100 raptors in North and South America, only 6 have larger wingspans. In that sense, only the Andean and California Condors, the Bald and Golden Eagles, the Harpy Eagle, and the King Vulture are bigger. In South America, only 3 species of raptors have larger wingspans than the Crowned Solitary Eagle.  
In terms of length, only 7 North & South American raptors are larger, with the Crested Eagle added to 6 species just noted as bigger than the Crowned Solitary Eagle. 
93 (out of 100) species of American raptors have smaller wingspans than the Crowned Solitary Eagle. In terms of both body length and wingspan, the Crowned Solitary Eagle is about twice as big as the Plumbeous Kite.   
 
The Crowned Solitary Eagle has been seen during a few FONT tours in Brazil, in Mato Grosso and Minas Gerais. But the best sighting was during our March 2008 tour in Minas Gerais when both male and female birds were seen, closely, both perched and in flight. 

Olrog's Gull  _____  RS
Larus atlanticus


Blue-winged Macaw  ______  BR,IG,MN,MT 
Propyrrhura maracana 


Golden-capped Parakeet  ______  MN  (BRe) 
Aratinga auricapilla 

The Golden-capped Parakeet is an attractive species restricted to forested areas of southeast Brazil. Its decline is due to habitat fragmentation and trapping.

It is closely related to the Sun Parakeet of northern Brazil and the Jandaya Parakeet of northeast Brazil.

The Golden-capped Parakeet has been seen during most FONT tours in Minas Gerais, where the species is found in scattered areas. Outside Minas Gerais, there are some recent records from several sites in Sao Paulo state, from single sites in Rio de Janeiro and Parana states, and from two areas in Goias state. There have been no records from Espiritu Santo state since 1950.
    

Cinnamon-vented Piha  ______  MN  (BRe)
Lipaugus lanioides


Black-capped Piprites  ______  SE  (BRqe)
Piprites pileatus 


Sao Paulo Tyrannulet  ______  SE  (BRqe) 
Phylloscartes paulistus


Black-and-white Monjita  ______  RS 
Heteroxolmis dominicana 


Cock-tailed Tyrant  ______  BR,MN,MT  (BRqe)
Alectrurus tricolor 

With extensive and continuing habitat loss throughout its range, the Cock-tailed Tyrant has had a rapid population decline. The favored habitat is seasonally wet and dry grasslands. It remains locally common in a few scattered protected areas in the Brazilian states of Minas Gerais and Goias. In the former, where we've seen it during a number of FONT tours, in the Serra da Canastra National Park, it has been said to be migratory, arriving in mid-August and departing by January. However, we've also seen the species there, in numbers, during March, most recently during our tour in that month in 2008.

Breeding is said to occur at the start of the wet season in September-October.

Only one time have we seen the species in Mato Grosso, in cerrado habitat in Chapada dos Guimaraes. 

The Canebrake Groundcreeper is a little-known species that occurs in small and fragmented populations. Its range is only in southern Brazil (in the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Parana, Santa Catarina, and southern Sao Paulo), and in southeast Paraguay and in northeast Argentina. In the portions in that range in Argentina, Paraguay, and Sao Paulo, Brazil, there have been very few records.
Most recent records of the bird have been in the Brazilian states of Santa Catarina and Parana, But we saw the bird in the state of Rio Grande do Sul  (near Santa Catarina).
 
In the book "Threatened Birds of the World" (a Birdlife International publication), it's stated that there have been "no records in Rio Grande do Sul since 1973".

The bird is said to be rare in thickets and dense vine-tangles near streams where deciduous and Araucaria forests meet. It was in such a habitat that we found it during our October '06 tour. 
  

Ochre-breasted Pipit  ______  MN  (BRqe)
Anthus nattereri


Black-masked Finch  ______  MN 
Coryphaspiza melanotis 


Cinereous Warbling Finch  ______  MN  (BRe)
Poospiza cinerea


Buffy-fronted Seedeater  ______  SE  (BRqe)
Sporophila frontalis


Temminck's Seedeater  ______  SE
Sporophila falcirostris


 
Species classified as NEAR-THREATENED:


Solitary Tinamou  ______  SE  (BRqe)
Tinamus solitarius


Yellow-legged Tinamou  ______ MN  (BRe)
Crypturellus noctivagus


Greater Rhea  ______  RS,MN,MS,MT 
Rhea americana

A Greater Rhea photographed during a FONT tour in Brazil

Magellanic Penguin  ______  SE 
Amazona leucocephala

A Magellanic Penguin photographed during a FONT tour in Brazil

Black-browed Albatross  ______  RS 
Thalassarche (has been Diomedea) melanophrys


Mantled Hawk  ______ MN,SE  (BRqe)
Leucopterbis polionotus

The Mantled Hawk is rare and local in lowland and mid-elevation forests of eastern Brazil from Alagoas south to Rio Grande do Sul. It is nearly endemic to Brazil, with only very few in adjacent Uruguay, and just one record recently in Paraguay. Deforestation and agricultural practices have been cited as causes for the species' decline.



Harpy Eagle  ______  AF,AM,MT 
Harpia harpyja

The Harpy Eagle has been seen during a half a dozen FONT tours in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso.

Our first sighting of this massive raptor was in August 1993 in the northern part of the state in the area of the Rio Cristalino north of Alta Floresta. The bird was at a nest in a huge tree in the forest. 2 years later, in August 1995, during a boat-trip along the river, an adult Harpy Eagle was observed perched in a big dead tree by the river, just prior to 2 younger birds being seen flying about, nearby, upriver. Photos were taken.

More recently, in 1998, 2000, and during 2 tours in 2004, Harpy Eagle were observed at and near a nest, with young, during FONT tours in southern Mato Grosso state, at Serra das Araras.
In 2004, a young bird (already big) was seen at that nest during our tour in August. Two months later, in October, during another FONT tour, that same bird was seen again. The bird was still by the nest (and it was even bigger). Its loud call could be heard a long distance away, as it begged for food.
One of the adults, during the October '04 tour, was seen nearby, flying not far above the canopy of the forest.

The Harpy Eagle is sparsely distributed throughout its extensive range in Central & South America. It has been extirpated in a large part of its former range, particularly in the north in central & northern Central America, and in the south in northern Argentina and southern Brazil.
The species occurs in interrupted expanses of lowland tropical forest. The low overall population and a slow reproductive rate make shooting a significant threat. 
    

An immature Harpy Eagle

Another young Harpy Eagle, photographed through a telescope,
during a FONT tour in Mato Grosso, Brazil

Sickle-winged Nightjar  _____ MN
Eleothreptus anomalus

The Sickle-winged Nightjar, throughout its range, is generally scarce. There are apparently fragmented populations in central and southeast Brazil. Outside Brazil, the species has been found rarely in eastern Paraguay and northern Argentina. Nearly all records have been of lone individuals, and many times there has been only a single record at a particular locality. Some records have been of southern breeders migrating north in the austral winter (May-Aug).

Habitats where the bird has been found include: gallery forest, chaco-woodlands, cerrado, grasslands, savannas, marshlands, and swamps.

The species was seen during the FONT tour at Serra da Canastra National Park in Minas Gerais state in October 2006.
   

The Saw-billed Hermit is the largest of the South American hummingbirds known as hermits. Others have longer tails, but in terms of weight, this is the biggest. Its length is 15 centimeters. Only one other hermit, with a longer tail, has a greater length - the Great-billed Hermit of northern Brazil and the Guianas has a length of 16 centimeters.

The Saw-billed Hermit only occurs in southeastern Brazil, where it is relatively common in lowland Atlantic forest and in nearby second growth. The species is considered "near-threatened" by Birdlife International as its overall population can be adversely affected by deforestation and agricultural conversion.

We've seen the Saw-billed Hermit during FONT tours in the Ubatuba area, and, recently, the species was enjoyed when during our March 2008 tour, we birded at the Fazenda Capricorno, located on the Tropic of Capricorn.  

     

Hyacinth Visorbearer  ______  MN  (BRe)
Augastes scutatus

A Hyacinth Visorbearer photographed during a FONT tour

 

Saffron Toucanet  ______  IG,SE  (BRqe)
Baillonius bailloni


Mottled Piculet  ______ RS
Picumnus nebulosus


Yellow-browed Woodpecker  ______  RS,MN,SE  (BRqe)
Piculus aurlentus


Swallow-tailed Cotinga  ______  MN,SE  (BRqe)
Phibalura flavirostris


Black-and-gold Cotinga  ______  SE  (BRe)
Tijuca atra

The Black-and-gold Cotinga is a Brazilian endemic with a very limited range, occurring from 1,000 to 2,000 meters above sea level in Rio de Janeiro state, extreme eastern Sao Paulo state, and adjacent Minas Gerais state, where it is occurs in montane Atlantic Forest. It is found in the canopy and the middle level of the forest, where it makes its distinctive, unusual call.

The Black-and-gold Cotinga has been seen during FONT tours in Southeast Brazil in more than one of the areas favored by the bird,


Hooded Berryeater  ______  SE  (BRe)
Carpornis cucullatus


Bare-throated Bellbird  ______  ES,IG,SE  (BRqe)
Procnias nudicollis


Eye-ringed Tody-Tyrant  ______  MN,SE  (BRe)
Hemitriccus orbitatus


Gray-capped Tyrannulet  ______  MN,SE  (BRe)
Phyllomyias griseocapilla


Sharp-tailed Grass Tyrant  ______  BR,MN 
Culicivora caudacuta


Gray-backed Tachuri  ______  MN  (BRe)
Polystictus superciliaris


Southern Bristle-Tyrant  ______  IG,SE  (BRqe)
Phylloscartes eximius


Oustalet's Tyrannulet  ______ SE  (BRe)
Phylloscartes oustaleti


Serra do Mar Tyrannulet  ______ SE  (BRe)
Phylloscartes difficilis


Spot-breasted Antvireo  ______  SE
Dysithamnus stictothorax


Rufous-tailed Antbird  ______  SE  (BRe)
Drymophila genei


Ochre-rumped Antbird  ______  MN,SE  (BRe)
Drymophila ochropyga


Rio de Janeiro Antbird  ______  SE  (BRe)
Cercomacr brasiliana


Spotted Bamboowren  ______  SE  (BRqe)
Psilorhamphus guttatus


Slaty Bristlefront  ______  SE  (BRe)
Merulaxis ater


Brasilia Tapaculo  ______  MN  (BRe)
Scytalopus novacapitalis

The Brasilia Tapaculo is similar to a number of other small, black tapaculos, in that it haunts then undergrowth. This species, however, is endemic to central Brazil, where it is rare and local. 
During FONT tours, we've had some good looks at this little denizen, since our first, which was in the Serra de Canastra National Park, in March 1997.
 

White-breasted Tapaculo  ______  MN,SE
Scytalopus indigoticus


Campo Miner  ______  MN,MT
Geobates poecilopterus


Araucaria Tit-Spinetail  ______  RS,SE
Leptasthenura setaria


Chestnut-throated Spinetail  ______  AF
Synallaxis cherriei


White-browed Foliage-gleaner  ______  MN,SE
Anabacerthia amaurotis


Azure Jay  ______  RS  (BRqe)
Cyanocorax caeruleus


Creamy-bellied Gnatcatcher  ______  SE 
Polioptila lactea


Green-chinned Euphonia  ______  IG,MN,SE
Euphonia chalybea

Azure-shouldered Tanager  ______  ES,RS,SE  (BRe)
Thraupis cyanoptera


Shrike-like Tanager  ______  BR,MT
Neothraupis fasciata


Brown Tanager  ______  SE  (BRe)
Orchesticus abeillei


Blue Finch  ______  MN,MT  (BRqe)
Porphyrosspiza caerulescens


Dark-throated Seedeater  ______  MT
Sporophila ruficollis


Coal-crested Finch  ______  BR,MN,MT
Charitospiza eucosma


Serra Finch  ______  MN  (BRe)
Embernagra longicauda

References:

Threatened Birds of the World (a Birdlife International publication), Lynx Edicions, 2000