Stephanie Arnow

Pantanal and Atlantic Forest, photo trip 2019

I recently took a 12 day tour with Biodiverse Brazil to photograph birds and mammals of Brazil. The trip was arranged by Fabiano Oliveira of Biodiverse Brazil and covered Itatiaia National Park (3 nights) and the Pantanal (8 nights) spanning two different ecosystems in Brazil.

During the planning stages, Fabiano helped put together the perfect itinerary, enabling opportunities to photograph birds well beyond the target list I initially expressed interest in seeing.
Starting in Itatiaia National Park (with more than 380 bird species, 50 endemic) the guide spotted the first Long-tailed Potoo ever seen in the Itatiaia Park! (A very exciting day for Brazilian birdwatchers!) The 3 days in Itatiaia were amazing. We saw wonderful hummingbirds, tanagers, and toucans including:
The Green-crowned Plovercrest, White-vented Violetear, Sparkling Violetear, Amethyst Woodstar, Black Jacobin, Brown Violetear, Black Eared Fairy, Brazilian Ruby, Green-headed tanager, and Red-necked Tanager, Golden-chevroned Tanager, Blue Dacnis (turquoise honeycreeper), Green-billed Toucan, Toco Toucan, Saffron Toucanet, Long-tailed Tyrant, and the Rufous-capped Antshrike, just to name a few.

From Itatiaia we continued via Cuiaba to the Pantanal. My guide was wonderful, with intimate knowledge of the behavior and habits of the mammals and birds, and helped me get many close-up, unique photos. Between the Cuiaba and Paraguay Rivers, we saw 2-3 jaguars each day, and wonderful wildlife of the Pantanal, including the Southern Tamandua (lesser anteater), Crab-eating Fox, Black tailed Marmoset, Howler and Capuchin monkeys, Marsh Deer, Tapir, Giant Otters and of course many Capybaras and Caimans.

The birds of the Pantanal are magnificent and I had multiple opportunities to photograph both endemic and migrating birds – including Jabirus, Macaws (Hyacinth and Scarlet), Parrots, Toco-toucans, Aracari, Black Ibis, Roseate Spoonbills, Kingfishers, Southern Screamers, Black collared Hawks, Osprey, Campo Flickers, Cocoi, Tiger and Capped Herons, Egrets, Red-legged Seriemas, and Rheas – (only a fraction of the 1000+ of bird species in the Pantanal)

In summary, the Biodiverse Brazil team is amazing! They are highly trained experts and wonderful guides. Whether you are an enthusiast or a seasoned professional, Biodiverse Brazil Tours will exceed your expectations in every way.