CENTRAL BRAZIL - TOCANTINS, MINAS GERAIS & MORE!

Brazil really is the gift that keeps on giving. Our exciting Central Birding adventure aims to fill in the gaps between your other visits to Brazil targetting some of the rarest species on the planet. We will be visiting the seldom-visited states of Tocantins and Minas Gerais in our exploration of the more unknown regions of this fabulous birding destination. Starting in Palmas, the capital city of the state of Tocantins in central Brazil we will visit Lagoa da Confusão where we will begin our birding adventure amidst the natural fragments of floodplain forests. Here we will target Large-billed Antwren, Rusty-fronted Tody-Flycatcher, Chestnut-bellied Guan and more. Moving on to Canguçu Research Center things start to get really interesting as we start our search for Bananal Spinetail, Araguaia Spinetail, Bananal Antbird and Araguaia Cardinal. We will then head to Miranorte and look for Kaempfer’s Woodpecker, a species that was thought to be extinct for 80 years until it was rediscovered in 2006 in Tocantins. From hee its a long drive to São Domingos, where we will sleep in an isolated  pousada so that we could be close to the endemic Pfrimer’s Parakeet before we move on to the wonderful Peruaçu National Park. There are a number of specialities to search for here including the rare endemics Moustached Woodcreeper, Plain-tailed Nighthawk and White-throated Seedeater, Other endemics here are White-browed Guan, Sombre Hummingbird, Outcrop (Dry Forest) Sabrewing, Great Xenops, Red-shouldered Spinetail, Sao Francisco Black Tyrant and Sao Francisco Sparrow, as well as near-endemics such as Rusty-margined Guan and Sibilant Sirystes. Next up it the Critically Endangered endemic Blue-eyed Ground-Dove, only rediscovered oin 2015. There will also be a few species associated with this rocky environment that we will also target such as Hyacinth Visorbearer, Cinereous Warbling-Finch and, with a lot of luck, Cipo Canastero. Moving on to the Caraça Sanctuary with its Maned Wolves and Giant Anteaters, we will also hope to find Serra Antwren here. Heading to Serra do Cipó for Cipo Cinclodes, Cipo Canastero and Rock Tapaculo, there's a fine supporting cast such as Hyacinth Visorbearer, Horned Sungem, Checkered Woodpecker, Lesser Grass-Finch, Pale-throated Pampa-Finch, Blue Finch, Streamer-tailed Tyrant, Stripe-tailed Yellow-Finch, Long-tailed Reed-Finch and Cinereous Warbling-Finch. And we'll aim to end our stay here on a high with the superb Diamantina Sabrewing. One of the highlights of our tour is a visit to the Crake Capital of Pompéu, where two brothers have done something remarkable and have seemingly 'tamed' such cryptic and shy species such as Ocellated, Russet-crowned and Grey-breasted Crake, much to the delight of visiting birders. And finally, we will end this fabulous tour at Serra da Canastra National Park, which is home to the much-wanted Brasilian Merganser. We also hope to see a good selection of other scarce species here such as Golden-capped Parakeet, Campo Miner, Cock-tailed Tyrant, Brasilia Tapaculo, Helmeted Manakin, Collared Crescentchest and much more. 

If that wasnt enough, there is an extension to the awesome Carajás National Forest, where during our four full days possibilities include a mouth-watering selection of species including Dark-winged Trumpeter (dextralis), White-crested Guan, Chestnut-headed Chachalaca, Cryptic Forest-Falcon, Silky-tailed Nightjar, Pearly Parakeet, Rufous-throated Sapphire, Dot-eared Coquette, Guianan Red Cotinga, White-tailed Cotinga, Para Foliage-Gleaner, Carajas & Brigida's Woodcreeper, Snethlage's Scythebill, Peruvian Recurvebill, Rufous-faced Antbird, Variegated & Snethlage's Antpitta, Purple-breasted Cotinga, Ash-throated Casiornis, Chestnut-belted Gnateater, Rose-breasted Chat & Opal-crowned Manakin,

This is guaranteed to be an exciting birding adventure, travelling around Central Brazil after some really crazy species. There's several long drives to be taken in a minibus, and it will be a full-on dawn til dusk birding tour targetting the endemics and truly rare species. So let's go birding!