After 3 trips to Colombia with diminishing returns, it was time to go further afield. Pablo Flores the guide in Colombia is now leading trips to Brazil as well. So my birding buddy Martin Jackson and my daughter Chantel and I decided to go there. We visited the Pantanal, the Atlantic forest in the Sao Paulo area and had 1 day in the Chapada. The Pantanal is the largest wetland in the world, so it is teeming with wildlife. The Atlantic Forest is a unique ecosystem from sea level to about 1 mile elevation. It contains 800 species of birds (225 endemic) and 26 species of primates. Unfortunately it also contains 2 mega cities - Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro and the resulting sprawl and clearing for agriculture since the Portuguese arrived 500 years ago, has wiped out 90%+ of the original forest. About 250 species of amphibians, birds and mammals have gone extinct in the past 400 years. The good news is that many preserves and parks have been set aside to try and preserve the remaining biodiversity.
The funarids or ovenbirds are a huge family of birds in the New World. Most are hard to photograph in the dense jungle, but here in the Pantanal and southeastern Brazil, the forest was more open. Thus I had a record of 23 new species photographed for the trip. We already saw the woodcreepers in Bulletin #16.
The spinetails for me are difficult to see well and get a photo. The 6.25" Rufous-capped Spinetail (Synallaxis ruficapilla) is easy to ID if you can see him. He has a reddish cap and a black line through the eye.
 |
| Rufous-capped Spinetail |
His cousin, the 6.25" White-lored Spinetail (Synallaxis albilora) has a rufous body and wings and a gray head. There is a tiny white spot between the eye and the beak.
 |
| White-lored Spinetail |
The 5.5" Pallid Spinetail (Cranioleuca pallida) is a Brazil endemic. This is a forest species with a rusty cap, wings and tail.
The 6" Yellow-chinned Spinetail (Certhiaxis cinnamomeus) is a spinetail of marshy areas. It has rufous wings and tail and a rufous cap. It is pale on the back and underside with a yellow chin spot. Like the bird above, the named feature of the bird is never seen in the field so need ID by voice.
 |
| Yellow-chinned Spinetail |
The 6.75" Arucaria Tit-Spinetail (Leptasthenura setaria) occurs in the mountains in the arucaria pine forests. He is grayish with a streaked head and a long rufous forked tail. The arucaria trees were prehistoric looking.
 |
| Arucaria Tit-Spinetail |
The horneros are easier to see as many forage on the ground. The 7" Rufous Hornero (Funarius rufus) is overall plain rufous.
 |
| Rufous Hornero |
His cousin, the 6.5" Pale-legged Hornero (Funarius leucopis) is more intese rufous on the body, with a gray head and obvious white eye stripe.
 |
| Pale-legged Hornero |
Lastly is the 6.5" Band-tailed Hornero (Funarius figulus). He is similar to the previous one but he has a rufous cap. He is another Brazil endemic bird.
 |
| Band-tailed Hornero |
I put the different bird/mammal families in single folders for easy viewing
David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com
photos copyright 2006 - 2025 David McDonald
To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask to subscribe.
