Brazil: Emas National Park: Oct 29—Nov 08, 2009

Giant Anteater— Photo: Andrew Whittaker

A short tour to one of the finest preserved examples of campo/cerrado habitats in central Brazil. Focus on birds and mammals of savanna and gallery forest habitats; easy birding with excellent chance for Cone-billed Tanager, White-winged Nightjar, Yellow-faced Parrot, Giant Snipe, Cock-tailed Tyrant, and an array of fancy migrant seedeaters. Mammal-rich, with good chance of maned wolf, giant anteater, Brazilian tapir, white-lipped peccary, and others.

Emas presents a vivid landscape of golden grasslands dotted with red termite mounds, and dissected by narrow green ribbons of gallery forest that follow the many clear, rushing streams. Here, spritely Cock-tailed Tyrants hover above the grass like so many toy helicopters, while flocks of Yellow-faced Parrots and Blue-and-yellow Macaws noisily commute between roosting sites and feeding sites in the nearby cerrado. Majestic maned wolves, atop impossibly long legs, stalk tinamous in the grass, while Aplomado Falcons maintain watchful vigilance atop the termite mounds. Giant anteaters, improbable in every respect, roam the grasslands, which resound with the songs of Red-winged Tinamous, Sharp-tailed Tyrants, Grass Wrens, and Black-masked Finches. Ephemeral marshes may host a mixed-species flock of migrant seedeaters, among them such prizes as Marsh, Chestnut, Rufous-rumped, and Black-bellied seedeaters. The next bend in the road may reveal a group of huge Greater Rheas, or a herd of pampas deer. Following a typical blazing sunset, the grasslands again come alive, as bioluminescent termites light up their mounds like so many Christmas trees, and elegant White-winged Nightjars hawk insects from atop their perches on the same termitaria.

Emas National Park— Photo: Andrew Whittaker

For its landscapes, ease of birding, and abundant mammal-viewing opportunities, Emas has been compared to the savannas of east Africa. In addition, it is an excellent place to see the many specialties of Brazil's campo-cerrado habitats, including such prizes as Lesser Nothura, Red-legged Seriema, Rufous-sided Pygmy-Tyrant, Chapada Flycatcher, White-rumped Tanager, and Yellow-billed Blue-Finch. We have timed our tour to coincide with the best period for migrant seedeaters, many of which have extremely limited distributions. A major attraction is the opportunity to see the recently rediscovered Cone-billed Tanager, a bird that was long known from only a single specimen. Other rare or locally distributed birds that we hope to produce (all found on our scouting trip) include Giant Snipe, Planalto Foliage-gleaner, White-striped Warbler, and Great-billed Seed-Finch.

Single locality tour (with first and last nights in Brasilia), quartered at a comfortable, new family-run hotel (A/C frigo bar, private baths); most birding in-and-out of van, with short walks along roads, trails in gallery forest, or into grasslands; easy terrain; full mornings in the field, usually returning to lodge for lunch and midday break, followed by late afternoons back in the field; some night drives; moderate to warm temperatures and relatively dry climate.