Well it's hard to believe that it's already been 4 months since Melissa and I did a quick trip to Minas Gerais. With only 9 days off from work, this trip focused on a section of Brazil that holds a number of highly range restricted endemics and some truly rare birds. The biggest catalyst of the trip was the recent discovery of the Blue-eyed Ground Dove (July 2015) and the even more recent announcement that the newly created reserve was now open for visitors (opened roughly April 2018).
To be honest, I wrote up the trip report and blog posts almost immediately after the trip, but they stood 95% complete as I got caught up in fall migration, house renovations, and way too much work.
Anyways, the trip ended up being a huge success although at a very fast pace, covering 4,000 km in just 8 birding days!
I've broken the blog posts up into three sections with the first covering the first 2 days just north east of Rio in the Atlantic rainforest. Our first target was the Gray-winged Cotinga which luckily cooperated the first morning of the trip followed by the coastal Restinga Antwren the same after noon. The second day found us starting at the renowned Regua reserve where we managed to find Shrike-like Cotinga, a bird I've been wanting to see for a long time (and also dipped in NE Brazil the year before). After a morning of birding Regua it was already time to head north towards Belo Horizonte with a quick stop for Three-toed Jacamar along the way.
Check out the blog for pics and more details on the first two days!
https://budgetbirders.com/2018/11/11/a-sunrise-to-remember-back-to-brazil/
Best,
Ross
To be honest, I wrote up the trip report and blog posts almost immediately after the trip, but they stood 95% complete as I got caught up in fall migration, house renovations, and way too much work.
Anyways, the trip ended up being a huge success although at a very fast pace, covering 4,000 km in just 8 birding days!
I've broken the blog posts up into three sections with the first covering the first 2 days just north east of Rio in the Atlantic rainforest. Our first target was the Gray-winged Cotinga which luckily cooperated the first morning of the trip followed by the coastal Restinga Antwren the same after noon. The second day found us starting at the renowned Regua reserve where we managed to find Shrike-like Cotinga, a bird I've been wanting to see for a long time (and also dipped in NE Brazil the year before). After a morning of birding Regua it was already time to head north towards Belo Horizonte with a quick stop for Three-toed Jacamar along the way.
Check out the blog for pics and more details on the first two days!
https://budgetbirders.com/2018/11/11/a-sunrise-to-remember-back-to-brazil/
Best,
Ross