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. Many of the birds have wide distribution, but others are restricted toa tiny area of original forest usually above 2500 foot elevation. The Birds of Brazil guide book by Ber Van Perlo was published in 2009. He gives the chances of seeing the birds and many are listed as R - meaning rare with a negligible chance of finding them. However with the excellent guide (Alex Mesquita) and going point to point where the reported sightings have recently occurred, we saw many of them. We drove over 2000 miles in the 2 weeks to see many of these rarities, as well as the more common birds. I will indicate these Rare species.
In 2023 I visited the southern part of this area. In 2025 I visited the northern part. Some of the photos will be ones I had not sent for the 2023 trip.
There were 3 hermits on the trip. The 5.5" Planalto Hermit (Phaethornis ruber) is a typical hermit with brownish coloration and long white central tail feathers.
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| Planalto Hermit |
The 4.3" endemic Broad-tipped Hermit (Anopetia gounellei) lacks the long central tail feathers.
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| Broad-tipped Hermit |
The endemic 5" Hook-billed Hermit (Glaucis dohrnii) also lacks the long central tail feathers. It is listed as Rare.
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| Hook-billed Hermit |
The 5" Black Jacobin (Florisuga fusca) is an easy ID with it being all black except for a white tail and white wing patch.
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| Black Jacobin |
The 5" White-vented Violet-ear (Colibri serrirostris) is a green hummer with bluish ear patch and white under tail.
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| White-vented Violet-ear |
The 3.5" male Ruby-topaz Hummingbird (Chrysolampis mosquitus) is an easy ID and I have seen it many times. It never fails to delight me to see it again.
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| Ruby-topaz Hummingbird |
The 6.3" Swallow-tailed Hummingbird (Eupetomena macroura) is a large blue hummingbird with long tail feathers and an easy ID.
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| Swallow-tailed Hummingbird |
I put the different bird/mammal families in single folders for easy viewing
David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com
photos copyright 2006 - 2025 David McDonald
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