The Atlantic Rainforest

The Atlantic Rainforest of Brazil (Brasil) is one of those swiftly diminishing ecosystems which marks humanity's impact on the rest of the world.  My one visit to this area was restricted to the rainforest northeast of Rio de Janeiro.

Please see the Brazil portal page on this website for links to video of individual bird species recorded in the Atlantic Rainforest. Photographs from this area can be found in The Birds of Brazil photo gallery.

I have recorded three long-form videos from the Atlantic Rainforest, see below.  Notes from my trip to The Atlantic Rainforest begin below the video presentations.

Volume 1 of “The Birds of Brazil’s Atlantic Rainforest” includes the following bird species; Great Egret, Striated Heron, Brazilian Teal, Savannah Hawk, Roadside Hawk, Black Hawk-Eagle, Crested Caracara, Yellow-headed Caracara, Red-legged Seriema, Picazuro Pigeon, Ruddy Ground-Dove, White-eyed Parakeet, Maroon-bellied Parakeet, Blue-winged Parrotlet, Plain Parakeet, Squirrel Cuckoo, Smooth-billed Ani, Guira Cuckoo, Saw-billed Hermit, Rufous-breasted Hermit, Reddish Hermit, Sombre Hummingbird, Swallow-tailed Hummingbird, Black Jacobin, Plovercrest, Glittering-bellied Emerald, Violet-capped Woodnymph, White-throated Hummingbird, Ringed Kingfisher, Three-toed Jacamar, White-eared Puffbird, White-barred Piculet, Yellow-eared Woodpecker, White-browed Woodpecker, Campo Flicker, Blond-crested Woodpecker, Wing-banded Hornero, Rufous Hornero, Chicli Spinetail, and Yellow-chinned Spinetail.



Volume 2 of “The Birds of Brazil’s Atlantic Rainforest” includes the following bird species; Common Thornbird, Streaked Xenops, Chestnut-backed Antshrike, Swallow-tailed Cotinga, Bare-throated Bellbird, White-bearded Manakin, Blue Manakin, Southern Beardless Tyrannulet, Yellow-lored Tody-Flycatcher, Common Tody-Flycatcher, Fuscous Flycatcher, Masked Water-Tyrant, White-headed Marsh-Tyrant, Streamer-tailed Tyrant, Cattle Tyrant, Shear-tailed Gray-Tyrant, Grey-hooded Attilia, Great Kiskadee, Rusty-margined Flycatcher, Social Flycatcher, Lesser Kiskadee, Piratic Flycatcher, Streaked Flycatcher, Tropical Kingbird, Green-backed Becard, Crested Becard, Blue-and-white Swallow, Southern Rough-winged Swallow, Black-capped Donacobius, Moustached Wren, Long-billed Wren, Southern House Wren, Chalk-browed Mockingbird, Rufous-bellied Thrush, Pale-breasted Thrush, Red-eyed Vireo, Masked Yellowthroat, and Bananaquit.



Volume 3 of “The Birds of Brazil’s Atlantic Rainforest” includes the following bird species; Cinnamon Tanager, Yellow-backed Tanager, Ruby-crowned Tanager, Brazilian Tanager, Sayaca Tanager, Golden-chevroned Tanager, Palm Tanager, Purple-throated Euphonia, Violaceous Euphonia, Blue-naped Chlorophonia, Green-headed Tanager, Red-necked Tanager, Brassy-breasted Tanager, Blue Dacnis, Blue-black Grassquit, Double-collared Seedeater, Saffron Finch, Rufous-collared Sparrow, Buff-throated Saltator, Green-winged Saltator, Chestnut-capped Blackbird, Shiny Cowbird, and Crested Oropendola.


Notes From This Trip


Manakins

We are in the Atlantic Rainforest of Brazil in early January - the rainy season is ending, it hasn’t rained in days, the video has been great. Andy Foster of Serra dos Tucanos has been showing me the area - and doing a great job.  I have been working Blue Manakin for more than seven hours to get a little less than a minute of video. A remarkably beautiful bird that calls from just a few feet away, a bird that seems impossible to see - much less video. Better times are to come but the effort of getting on location and the frustration of failing to tape the bird is getting to me.

Three-Toed Jacamar

Endemics, especially rare endemics, are the birds which drive many birders to specific locations. Few places in the world match the avian endemism of the Atlantic Rainforest of Brazil. One of the great birds of this area is the Three-toed Jacamar - a rare endemic - a bird of one of my favorite avian families.

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Andy Foster of Serra dos Tucanos said that he knew a good spot for this species - so we were off for a happy day of video. We rounded a curve in the dirt road we were on and there they were. Two Three-toed Jacamars sitting on a branch not twenty feet from the road. I smiled, said “It doesn’t get any easier than this” and got out of the car. Off they flew.

Later that morning we were able to spend a lot of time taping this species (framegrab right), but it wasn’t as easy as rounding a curve and stepping out of the car.


© Robert Barnes 2023-2024