Day 10 - Chapada Diamantina and surrounding areas - 12Feb2026

From our base in Lençóis, we were able to set out early and head up a truly beautiful trail into Chapada Diamantina, which is the Diamond Plateau in Portuguese.  The name is based on the fact that this area was and still is mined for diamonds.  The habitat is high elevation Caatinga or Cerrado. Even without a bunch of endemic birds, I would have loved this hike.

Gretchen and I posing for a selfie.

White-bellied Seedeater

Hooded Siskin

Small-headed Elaenia - a southeastern South American species.

Plain-crested Elaenia - this one is found in the northern half of South America.  We were in the southern area of its range.

Sincora Antwren!  An endemic with a very small range, see below.  It has a status of Vulnerable per IUCN criteria.

The female Sincora. 

Pale-throated Pampa-Finch - Another Brazilian endemic!

Rufous-winged Antshrike

Sincora Antwren

Hooded Visorbearer!  This was the star of the show.  He gave us a hard time trying to find him let alone photograph him.  Its range is only slightly larger than the Antwren's and it has a Near Threatened status per the IUCN criteria.  

Stripe-tailed Yellow-Finch - female

Scissor-tailed Nighjar!!  Although widespread, it was nice to find one day-roosting.

Plumbeous Seedeater

Lesser Elaenia

Yellow-bellied Seedeater

Hooded Siskin

We went back to Lancois for lunch and some down time which I spent trying to photograph swallows and swifts in the rain.

Blue-and-white Swallow

Fork-tailed Palm Swift

In the afternoon we headed up a different slope near town with intermittent rain coming down.  This was a fairly heavily trafficked forrest road with what I could say was degraded forest.  

Helmeted Manakin

White-bearded Manakin

Streaked Xenops

Surucua Trogon - not endemic as it does cross into neighboring countries, but a southeastern South American speciality.  This is the female.  The funny thing is it was eating the same katydid type insect that is in the Merlin App picture!

Later we had the male!

Blue-backed Manakin!

Flavescent Warbler

Gray-headed Elaenia!  Not endemic but another bird only found in southeastern South America.

We emerged from the forrest and checked an overlook only to find a cloud of swifts very high up.

Biscutate Swifts - identified by their calls.  Probably mixed in with other species but our guide only heard Biscutate calls.

Versicolored Emerald

Pearly-vented Tody-Tyrant

Glittering-bellied Emerald

Our final stop was to try for some crepuscular birds.  

Short-tailed Nighthawk!  This big boy came in and strafed us several times while blasting us with its otherworldly call. A most satisfying way to end an already wonderful day in Brazil.

Day 9 - Arua to Lençóis (11Feb2026)

The day started in the same general area where the previous day ended.  The coastal forest is tough for photography and we also were dumped on by some rain early on.  However, after the rain moved through, the birds were more confiding.

Pale-bellied Tyrant-Manakin - not quite a Brazilian endemic, but almost.  There are some records in Guyana and a few in Bolivia.

Fringe-backed Fire-eye - the endemic specialty we were after!  Only found in this small area of eastern Brazil in Bahia state.

White-flanked Antwren - this is the female, but even the male in this sub-population doesn't have obvious white flanks like they do in the Central and northern South American populations.  Perhaps ripe for a split.

Scaled Antbird!  Southeastern Brazil endemic!  This was the male.

And the female.

Male again.

Golden-spangled Piculet!  There are two disjunct populations for this species, one north of the Amazon basin and this one is a representative of the southeastern Brazilian cohort. 

Red-headed Manakin - young male only showing a hint of the color to come.

We emerged from the forest and birded the open area under the road a bit.

White-winged Cotinga!  Vulnerable status by IUCN criteria, and only found in southeast Brazil.  This was the female. 

Ruby-Topaz Hummingbird

Pernambuco Foliage-gleaner!  This is yet another Brazilian endemic of the southeast and is endangered according to IUCN criteria.

We cleaned up the major targets for the area and set out on the road for another long day in the van.  It seemed a bit ridiculous that just the previous day we drove 7 hours from the interior to the coast and now we would be doubling back to drive another 6 hours inland!  I am sure the tour operator did the best he could do, but this was a little punishing.  By the end of the trip we had driven over 3000 miles - basically across the USA.

The drive on Day 9 was designed to reposition at the famous National Park of Chapada Diamantina.

Caatinga Cacholote at a gas station stop.

White-cheeked Pintail at a random roadside pond.

Sooty-fronted Spinetail - I hope to meet this species again as it never fully confided to me or at least I failed to get crisp shots in the open.

Roadside Hawk

We arrived at our beautiful bed and breakfast type accommodation in the late afternoon in the pretty town of Lençóis.

A type of Cracker Butterfly.

That night we had a wonderful meal at an upscale restaurant in town and I sampled some of the local beer.

Ropa Vieja!

Next morning we would spend the day up in the mountains of Chapada Diamantina!