Day 12 - Mucuge to Boa Nova (14Feb2026)

On this day we would be repositioning yet again from Mucuge to Boa Nova, but not before hitting up some local Cerrado habitat in Mucuge.  It was raining a bit but the birding was still good.

Black-throated Saltator

Rusty-backed Antwren male

Female.

Cinnamon Tanager

Rufous-sided Scrub-Tyrant

Gray-backed Tachuri!!  A Brazilian endemic and the main target for the morning.

Blue-black Grassquit - this area was chock full of grassquits displaying.

White-rumped Tanager - very wet and grumpy.

Cerrado habitat

Grassland Sparrow

Aplomado Falcons

Grassland Yellow-Finch

Pink Powderpuff (Calliandra brevipes)

Aplomado Falcon

Fork-tailed Flycatcher 

We packed up from our hotel and said goodbye to Mucuge and its beautiful cemetery.

Our drive this day would be another 5 hours, but of course we had some stops.  The track above is what we would have done if we were driving straight there, but our track was actually different.  Our first stop was south of Mucuge in Morro Santa Barbara.

White-collared Swift - we ran into a large flock of swifts and most of them were White-collared, but we sifted through them.

White-collared Swift

Biscutate Swift - it was difficult to pick out this one but I went through a ton of pics and found a few.  The Biscutate Swift has a collar that does not connect and in fact is staggered with a cork-screw pattern.

Biscutate Swift - even if you don't see the corkscrew shape, the bib of the collar bulges in front.

Pale-throated Pampa-Finch! A Brazilian endemic.

White-eared Puffbird!  I had seen these before, but they were super photogenic this time.

Chestnut-capped Blackbird

In a place called Barra do Choça we stopped at a small gallery forrest that was being preserved within a large agricultural area.  It is amazing how birds can hang on if we just provide them with a little habitat.

Three-toed Jacamar!! This Brazilian endemic is actually only found in a small area mostly within the state of Bahia.

Gilt-edged Tanager

Yellow-green Grosbeak!

Gilt-edged Tanager

Habitat shot.

Rio de Janeiro Antbird!! Yet another Brazilian endemic.  This was the female.

The male..

The rest of the day was spent driving to our hotel in Boa Nova.

More to come soon....

Day 11 - Lençóis to Mucugê (13Feb2026)

On Day 11, we spent the day slowly repositioning from Lençóis to Mucugê along the western flank of the Chapada Diamantina mountains.  Our first stop was just south of the town of Palmeiras.

Planalto Slaty-Antshrike - We were looking for a sparrow, but some bonus birds got in the way.

Rufous-tailed Jacamar

Caatinga Antwren

Southern Beardless-Tyrannulet

Glittering-throated Emerald

Silvery-cheeked Antshrike

Stripe-breasted Starthroat

Sao Francisco Sparrow!! The main target for the day.  This is a Brazilian endemic with a very restricted range in Bahia state and Mines Gerais state, straddling the Sao Francisco River.

Apparently it can be pretty hard to find, so our guide was relieved when we did.  

A little further down the road we had our first East Brazilian Chachalaca of the trip.  As you can probably tell from the name, this was yet another endemic.

Wedge-tailed Grass-Finch!  Not an endemic but our first of the trip.

Horned Sungem!!!  Not an endemic but one of the most striking birds we would see.

White-banded Tanager - used to be called Shrike-Tanager.

Rufous-sided Scrub-Tyrant

Pale-breasted Spinetail

Stripe-tailed Yellow-finch

Collared Crescentchest!!! This skulker is often hard to see, and we missed it on our first trip to Brazil despite trying hard for it.

Blue Finch - this is one we didn't miss last time.  However, we were happy to see it again.  This species is a near-endemic to Brazil with a little crossover into Bolivia.  

Plain-crested Elaenia

Cinnamon Tanager

Stripe-tailed Yellowfinch

Chestnut-capped Blackbird

White-vented Violetear

One of the many side roads we explored. 

Variable Oriole - this subspecies looks different than the ones we saw in the Pantanal.  The patch on its shoulder is yellow instead of orange.  I suppose that's how it got its name.

White-bellied Seedeater

White-crested Tyrannulet

Spotted Piculet!!  It was good to run into this endemic again.  This time it was even more obliging.

Copper Seedeater - not endemic but another lifer for me.

Dubois's Seedeater!  Brazilian endemic.

East Brazilian Chachalaca

When we got to Mucuge, we stopped in a little preserve downhill from the town.  This preserve was full of Pink Powderpuff (Calliandra brevipes) which the hummingbirds love.  This plant looks like the blooms of the Persian Silk Tree which we have in NC as an invasive, but it sticks close to the ground.

Glittering-bellied Emerald

Hooded Visorbearer

Diamantina Tapaculo!!  Yet another extremely range restricted endemic found only in Bahia state.  Very difficult to see and photograph.  

Violet-capped Woodnymph

Crested Caracara

We arrived in Mucugê, a lovely little town that is a great base for some of the local endemic birds.  We had dinner and then were getting ready to turn in for bed when our driver alerted us to an owl that was calling from the parking lot area of the hotel.

Stygian Owl!  

Great way to end another long day on the road.