In 2010, FONT birding & nature tours will continue in South America, the richest continent in the world for birds.  Included in our schedule of South American tours will be those in: Venezuela, in the spring, and Brazil, including Amazonian Brazil, at various times throughout the year.    Other FONT South American tours in 2010 are to Argentina & Chile in November & December. Our Venezuela tour in the spring of 2010 will be in the eastern part of the country, where there's a great variety of bird species. A number of them are "Pantepui specialties", and about 40 of them are endemic to that region. Particularly well represented there are birds in the cotinga family.           Brazil has one of the richest and most interesting avifaunas in the world. During the last 20 years, there have been 46 FONT birding & nature tours in Brazil, during which cumulatively about 1,040 different birds have been seen.  Many of these tours have been to the region of Mato Grosso, in south-central Brazil, with some distinctively different areas ranging from the bird-rich wetlands of the "Pantanal" to the dry habitat of the "Cerrado".  In the summer of 2010, if the birds are there, we'll also be at a place where, during our tours in the past, we've seen Harpy Eagles at a nest.         FONT Brazilian birding tours also have been to "Amazonian Forest" locales including the Rio Cristalino near Alta Floresta, a place called "Jardim da Amazonia" ("the Garden of the Amazon"), and the region of Manaus. The "Atlantic Forest" and other habitats of the Southeast are also visited during FONT Brazilian Tours, near the coast and further inland in Sao Paulo State (either at Itatiaia or Intervales).  There are also many interesting birds indigenous to Southeast Brazil, further inland, where we also go during our tour into the state of Minas Gerais. Particularly notable among those birds has been the very rare Brazilian Merganser, that we've seen during 6 tours in that area. A Photograph of a rare Brazilian Merganser A region of Brazil that we have found to be very bird-rich is the southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul. We're scheduled to be there in 2010, as we were in 2009, when it's spring in that part of the world (in October), during a tour that also includes Minas Gerais, and an extension to Mato Grosso do Sul, where 3 times during our tours in the last 3 years, we've seen Jaguars.  During one of our tours there in Mato Grosso do Sul, there were:  as many as 7 Ocelots, a Pantanal Cat, a Maned Wolf, two Brazilian Tapirs, many Giant Anteaters, and other animals. Good wildlife sightings, with many birds & animals, have continued during tours there since then, in  March & August 2008, and in March 2009.     A particularly rare animal found during that March '08 FONT tour in Brazil was the Maned Three-toed Sloth.             Itineraries of our tours in Brazil follow. Also, links to lists of birds, mammals, butterflies, and other nature.

Jabiru,  a bird of the Pantanal of Brazil  Brassy-Breasted Tanager, a Brazilian endemic in the Southeast. The Red-fan Parrot is to be seen during FONT tours in both Venezuela and Amazonian Brazil

A Complete List  of Brazilian Birds  (noting about  1,040 species during FONT Tours):   Part 1: Tinamous to Flycatchers Part 2: Antshrikes to Grosbeaks Brazilian Rare Birds  (with photos) Brazilian  Mammals & Other Wildlife (with photos) South American  Mammals & Other Wildlife (with photos)

A List of  Venezuela Birds A Complete List of Birds of the  Amazon Basin (including Brazil, Ecuador & Venezuela)  Birds during  FONT Tours in: Mato Grosso Minas Gerais Rio Grande do Sul Southeast Brazil (all of these  bird-lists  are with photos)

Some Previous Brazil  Tour Highlights Narratives relating to previous FONT Tours: "Mergansers, Eagles, & a Sloth" "Hyacinth Macaw, many other birds, & a Jaguar" The Tour with the Most Birds Photos of Animals  & Birds (from our  Sep '06 Brazil Tour ) Photos of Nature & Scenery (from our Mar '08 Brazil Tour)  Photos of Birds  & Animals (from our Oct '09 Brazil Tour)

Birds in the Pantanal of Mato Grosso do Sul,
mostly Egrets & Jabiru Storks,
photographed during a FONT tour in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil 

It's usually not easy to see an antpitta.
In the 2 photographs above, there's a female Variegated Antpitta
on its nest in the crotch of a tree, in southeastern Brazil.
During a FONT tour in October 2001, as we were walking
along a trail in a section of Atlantic Forest, 
we found this bird at eye-level (ours & its), as it was sitting on its nest.
We stood still and enjoyed the rare sight, 
and in particular the large antpitta with its big dark eyes.
In these pictures, the antpitta is looking right at us,
with those eyes on each side of the white on its face.
As we walked away, the bird temporarily left its nest.
We looked, before we left, at its blue eggs.
This description written by Armas Hill;
The photograph by Herbert Cutler (above)
and David Cutler (below).
       

Harpy Eagle in Mato Grosso, Brazil,
photographed during a FONT tour
by participant, Bill Anderson.

FONT Brazilian birding tours have been led
by Armas Hill (who has birded in Brazil during over 40 visits)