Hooded Visorbearer (Augastes lumachella) - 12&13Feb2026

This striking hummingbird of higher altitudes in Brazil is not only a Brazilian endemic but also an endemic to Bahia State.  It has a Near Threatened status per IUCN criteria but luckily much of its range is protected by Chapada Diamantina National Park.  We had them in our hike into Chapada Diamantina when we stayed in Lancois but also near the village of Mucuge further to the south.

Sincora Antwren (Formicivora grantsaui) - 12Feb2026

This Brazilian endemic is restricted to a very small area in the Chapada Diamantina mountains of Bahia State.  They have a Vulnerable status per IUCN mainly due to the small size of their range, but we had a handful while we visited so they are locally common.  The female with her streaking is almost more striking than the male.  Thankfully much of this area is a Brazilian National Park.

Small-headed Elaenia (Elaenia sordida) - 12Feb2026

Although this species is also known as the Brazilian Elaenia, it is not an endemic, as it crosses over into Paraguay and Argentina and Uruguay.  However, most of its range is decidedly Brazilian, in the southeast specifically.  We had ours on our second trip to Brazil in the northern reaches of its range in Chapada Diamantina in Bahia State, Brazil.  

Elaenia ID is tricky, but this one is well named and does look to be small-headed, mainly because it does not have a conspicuous crest.  

Hooded Siskin (Spinus magellanicus) - 12Feb2026

This species of Siskin has a wide and weird range in South America.  Weird because they have highly disjunction populations in different types of habitats.  One population is west of the Andes from Colombia down to northern Chile.  Another population in southeast Brazil south of the Amazon basin but in most areas at much lower elevations.  And finally one isolated population in the northeast of South America.  The ones we saw were in the higher elevations of Chapada Diamantina in Bahia State, Brazil.  I will definitely need to improve on this pics but at least I got a female and male pic.  They are supposedly pretty common although we only saw a couple.

Gilt-edged Tanager (Tangara cyanoventris) - 14Feb2026

This beautiful Brazilian endemic resides in southeast Brazil but does extend up into Bahia State in its most northern range.  We saw this and others in the Mucuge area in Bahia State.  It is not lonely, being in a genus with 27 other tanagers.  It seemed to be doing well in this heavily degraded forest surrounded by farmland.

Stripe-tailed Yellow Finch (Sicalis citrina) - 13Feb2026

This species has highly disjunct populations north and south of the Amazon basin in South America.  They inhabit anywhere with grasslands or pastureland which is in no shortage in South America.  The males are yellow and unmarked and the females are brown and streaky with all kinds of variations in between for younger birds.  I didn't get any really good photos of the "stripe" in the tail but it's a fairly inconspicuous white mark in the under tail.  Both these photos were taken in the area near Mucuge in Bahia State, Brazil. 

Pale-throated Pampa-finch (Embernagra longicauda) - 14Feb2026

This Brazilian endemic has a fairly wide but thin range at higher elevations in Bahia and Minas Gerais States.  It inhabits grassy land with rock outcroppings.  This was exactly the habit of Chapada Diamantina where we saw our first ones.  However, we got even better looks a couple days later in Mucuge in Bahia State.   This is another one of those birds that looks like a sparrow, is in the Tanager family but has a name with Finch in it.  There are only two birds in this genus with the other being the Great Pampa-finch which lives further to the south.