Bahia

• Boa Nova

  Satellite View
  The maps in the Sargeant / Wall trip report are excellent. However, the wet forest has being logged. When we were there in May 1999 work was stopped because of rain. The destruction is horrendous but at least the logging roads give excellent acess to what is left of the superb forest….

• Bonito

  Satellite View
  Turn right from Lençois onto the BR 242 and after 34km turn left (at an electrical substation) onto the BA 142 to Wagner, Utinga, and Bonito. At Bonito take the road to Morro do Chapeu; 2.2km from the roundabout at the end of Bonito turn right onto a dirt road. After a further 5.8km there is a green gate on the left (Fazenda da Mata Doida - 1.000m altitude). There is good birding both on the road and along the track into the forest on the other side of the gate. The site is about 132km from Lençois.

• Camacan

  Satellite View
  Just off the BR-101, south of Itabuna. For some good birding take the road to Jacarecí, passing the supermarkets Cesto do Povo and Super Sacolão (0.0km). Bear left after c.400m. After a speed bump and small shop (10.2km); turn left, opposite a bridge. The track up to the telecomm. tower (16.1km) is rough and in wet weather slippery; it passes through good secondary growth. The best place for Pink-legged Graveteiro Acrobatornis fonsecai is after a left bend with trees and a river to the left of the road, in the valley (14.9km - 1.2km before the tower). On 29 April 1999 four or five birds were building a nest practically at eye level. We also saw Acrobatornis lower down and it can be seen in the cacau plantations along the Jacareci road, but high up in the canopy. Golden-capped Parakeet Aratinga auricapilla is fairly common in these plantations. We stayed at at a small hotel near a square up the hill at the end of town - very simple but quieter than the hotel in the main street.

• Camamú

  Satellite View
  Take the asphalt road from Travessão to Camamú and 500m before Orojó turn right. There is excellent forest 15km along this good (with bad patches) dirt road. The type specimen of Stresemann's Bristlefront Merulaxis stresemanni was collected very near here. Who knows, you may be lucky!

• Chapada Diamantina

  Satellite View
  This beautiful region, with highly diverse habitats, is described in detail, with a list of birds, in an article by Ricardo Parrini et al. in Cotinga 11.

• Lençois

  Satellite View
  An excellent place to stay is the pousada Casa da Geléia run by José Carlos and Lia (tel/fax 075-3334-1151); in the road behind the petrol station, as you enter the town. José Carlos speaks English, they have a big garden and have had 14 different species of humming bird at their feeders, including, occasionally, the rare brown violetear Colibri delphinae. A useful person to know in Lençois is André Carvalhaes (tel. 334-1340). He is doing a doctorate in ornithology and has tapes of many of the local species. José Carlos can put you in touch with him.Take the road out of town, zeroing the odometer at the petrol station. At 3.9km turn right off the main road (signposted Hotel Fazenda Shalon). At the first fork you can bear left through secondary growth to Capitinga and the BR 242 (said to be good for Rufous Nightjar Caprimulgus rufus). Bearing right at this fork and left at the next takes you to the Hotel Fazenda; keep up to the left, avoiding the buildings, and drive down to the lake along a track which leads to a pump house beside a clump of bamboos. This is a good place for marsh and water birds. Bearing right at the second fork puts you on the road to the village of Remansos (c.25km from Lençois). The road passes through some good forest. When you get to a cross roads, about 3km from Remansos, turn left (the track straight ahead is barely driveable but good for birding). About 1km after the village fork left (the right fork goes to a farm house). This track is very overgrown but leads to good forest beside the marimbús (the local name for the extensive wetlands all along this valley). The marimbús are well worth visiting by boat, which can be arranged in Remansos or through Lentour in Lençois.At Km 2.5 on the road from Lençois to the BR 242 (9.2km from the petrol station) there is a track to the left called Toalhas. I have not birded this.At the BR 242 turn left. There is a track to the right after c.200m which is birded by the Field Guides groups. Further on (1.7km from the junction) there is a dirt road to the right to Usina Velha. This goes down the hill through reasonable secondary growth and after 2.5km crosses the Rio Mucugezinho. This looks a good place for a picnic or swim.Continuing west along the BR 242, 11.2km from the Lençois junction, the road crosses a bridge with a sign Divisa Lençois / Palmeiras. 1.3km after this bridge (just after the Morro do Pai Inácio first comes into view) there is a dirt track to the left, leading down to a house in some mango trees. This is the start of an excellent trail back to Lençois which takes about four hours. You can take the Seabra bus from Lençois to the start of the trail.The Morro do Pai Inácio is a good place to see Hooded Visorbearer Augastes lumachellus and Pale-throated Serra-finch Embernagra longicauda. I am told Augastes can be found near the car park but I have had better luck at the plateau on the right, half way up the path to the top. The view from the top is marvellous.

• Maraú

  Satellite View
  Turn left off the BR 101 into the centre of Ubaitaba and drive back along the river bank, passing under the BR 101. The dirt federal BR 030 highway along the Maraú peninsular is dirt, very rough and in wet weather will require 4 x 4 drive. The c.60km to the beach at Saquaira takes almost 3 hours. An alternative is to drive to Itacaré (asphalt all the way); take the ferry across the Rio de Contas, and drive 34km (1 hr) to Saquaíra. There is fine accomodation here at the Pousada Maraú pmarau@uol.com.br in an idyllic setting on the beach. Look for Black-faced Tanager Schistochlamys melanopis and Capped Seedeater Sporophila bouvreuil in bushes in the sandy grasslands on the long straight before Maraú. There is good restinga forest along the northern access road from the BR 030 to the town of Maráu, where in January 2001 there were several pairs of Bahia Antwren Herpsilochmus pileatus. 14km north of Saquaíra, on the road to Campinho (carry straight on at the right turn to Barra Grande) there are tidal mud flats surrounded by mangroves. They begin to dry out one and a half hours before low water. In January 2001 there were eight species of shorebirds here. It appeared an ideal place to find Little Wood-rail Aramides mangle but I was unsuccessful.

• Monte Pascoal

  Satellite View
  The access road is not at all bad for birding and one could easily see Banded Cotinga Cotinga maculata. The Pataxó indians have taken possession of the area around the park entrance and are most importunate. The climb up to the peak is worth doing with a good view from the top but as a birding destination I do not rate Monte Pascoal highly.

• Palmeiras

  Satellite View
  18km after the Pai Inácio turn left to Palmeiras. Drive through the town (54km from Lençois) and after 2.2km turn right to Tejuco and Lavrinha. Leave your car at the bridge and walk through dry gallery forest and caatinga. All the caatinga species are here, including San Francisco Sparrow Arremon franciscanus, and Great Xenops Megaxenops parnaguae is common, but is not easy to see without playback.Continuing along this road, which is rough but driveable, you pass by some spectacular mountains and then reach patches of cerrado habitat, called gerais locally. The best geral we found was about 38km from Palmeiras, after Guiné. Rufous-sided Pygmy-tyrant Euscarthmus rufomarginatus is common here. After a further 37km you get to Mucugê.

• Una

  Satellite View
  White-winged Potoo Nyctibius leucopterus, Bahia Antwren Herpsilochmus pileatus (not to be confused with Caatinga Antwren Herpilochmus sellowi, Ridgely and Tudor's Pileated Antwrens – a recent split) and Bahia Black and Tan Tamarins are found here. Permission to visit the reserve is obtainable from the director, Saturnino de Souza (tel. (073)-236-2166. Next door there is a private reserve, EcoParque (tel. (073)-634-2179); with a canopy walkway, where the Potoo has also been found. I have not visited either of these two sites.

• Jeremy Minns

  São Paulo | jeremyminns@uol.com.br

• Number of bird species: 880

  (As at May 2024)

• Number of endemics: 7

  Spix's Macaw Cyanopsitta spixii
  Sincora Antwren Formicivora grantsaui
  Stresemann's Bristlefront Merulaxis stresemanni
  Bahia Tapaculo Eleoscytalopus psychopompu
  Diamantina Tapaculo Scytalopus diamantinensis
  Pink-legged Graveteiro Acrobatornis fonsecai<
  Bahia Tyrannulet Phylloscartes beckeri

• Universidade Federal da Bahia

  Website

• Neotropical Bird Club

  Webpage
  Birding in north-east Brazil, part 2: The vast state of Bahia - No birder can feel satisfied without ever visiting the country of Brazil, home to over half of the Neotropical avifauna. In this second and final part on top birding places in north-east Brazil, the author makes this point abundantly clear… What are you waiting for?

Abbreviations Key

• *Protected areas of Bahia

  InformationSatellite View

• NP Toggle the table of contents Serra das Lontras

  InformationSatellite View
  It protects a rugged area of Atlantic Rainforest with a wide range of bird species, including several that are threatened with extinction.

• NP Alto Cariri

  InformationSatellite View
  The park is in the Atlantic Forest biome.The eastern side of the rugged Cariri massif is moist and dominated by montane rainforest. Further west it is drier and semi-deciduous forest gradually becomes dominant. In the northern portion of the Cariri massif the forests meet the deciduous forest of the Jequitinhonha depression

• NP Boa Nova

  InformationSatellite View
  The purpose is to fully protect and regenerate the natural ecosystems in the transition between Atlantic Forest and Caatinga, to maintain viable populations of species of birds and endangered mammals, especially the slender antbird, to maintain and restore watersheds and waterways, to enable development of educational activities and environmental interpretation, recreation in contact with nature, ecological tourism and scientific research

• NP Chapada Diamantina

  InformationSatellite View
  The hooded visorbearer (Augastes lumachellus) hummingbird is endemic.

• NP Descobrimento National Park

  InformationSatellite View
  It has an area of 22,693.97 hectares (56,078.0 acres). It contains the Discovery Coast World Natural Heritage Site, a Biosphere Reserve, and the most important wildlife refuge of the south of Bahia. Bird species include ringed woodpecker (Celeus torquatus), black-headed berryeater (Carpornis melanocephala), red-billed curassow (Crax blumenbachii), banded cotinga (Cotinga maculata), band-tailed antwren (Myrmotherula urosticta), ochre-marked parakeet (Pyrrhura cruentata) and striated softtail (Thripophaga macroura).

• NP Grande Sertão Veredas

  InformationSatellite View
  Protected species in the park include the maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus), jaguar (Panthera onca), cougar (Puma concolor), ocelot (Leopardus pardalis), colocolo (Leopardus colocolo), Brazilian merganser (Mergus octosetaceus), marsh deer (Blastocerus dichotomus), giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla), giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus), Brazilian three-banded armadillo (Tolypeutes tricinctus) and Owl's spiny rat (Carterodon sulcidens),

• NP Monte Pascoal National Park

  InformationSatellite View
  Monte Pascoal, a peak 586 m high, was the first land sighted when the Portuguese discovered Brazil in 1500. The Park was dedicated in 1961 at which time it covered 22,500 ha; the Park's area was later reduced to 14,000 ha, with most of the excluded territory given to the local Pataxós Indian tribe (Padua & Coimbra Filho 1989, Soares & Ascoly 1970). Some of the 14,000 ha, especially the part nearest the coast, have been exploited by the Pataxós and are disturbed…

• NP Nascentes do Rio Parnaíba

  InformationSatellite View
  Protected species in the park include the jaguar (Panthera onca), cougar (Puma concolor) and giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus).

• NP Pau Brasil National Park

  InformationSatellite View
  It preserves a remnant of the Atlantic Forest biome and covers an area of 19,027 hectares (47,020 acres). Protected species in the park include jaguar (Panthera onca), cougar (Puma concolor), harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja), red-billed curassow (Crax blumenbachii), Atlantic black-breasted woodpecker (Celeus tinnunculus), black-headed berryeater (Carpornis melanocephala), ochre-marked parakeet (Pyrrhura cruentata).

• NR Reserva Particular do Patrimônio Natural Fazenda Morrinhos

  Observatory WebsiteSatellite View
  Along with the cowboy parakeet (Aratinga cactorum) and the cuiubinha parakeet (Forpus xanthopterigius); is the largest parrot that today inhabits the caatinga surrounding the Private Reserve of Natural Heritage Fazenda Morrinhos, within a radius of about 80 km.

• NR Una Ecopark

  InformationSatellite View
  The big attraction of the Ecoparque de Una is a 100 m long and 30 m high canopy walkway suspension bridge through the rainforest canopy. The Una Biological Reserve was created by the Brazilian Federal Government in 1980, preserving within a total area of 7.022 hectares around 4.500 ha of native Atlantic Rainforest / (Mata Atlântica).

• 2014 [02 February] - Peter B. Armstrong

  Report
  …Serra Bonita features several excellent trails for forest birding, both on the mountain and in the lowlands. For dinner, ask for feijoada, the black bean and pork stew generally considered the national dish of Brazil. The station features several bird feeders, which attract a variety of parrots, hummingbirds, tanagers, and other species for good photographic opportunities….

• 2014 [05 May] - Paulo Boute

  Report
  ...We had a lovely lunch, and because of the heavy rain, we spent the rest of the day at the veranda, watching birds at the feeder. The adult Crab-eating Foxes returned, allowing us to photograph them in the daylight. The feeders were quite busy with Red-necked Tanagers (that rarely come to feeders), Green-headed Tanagers, three species of Euphonia, Sayaca, Palm, Azure-shouldered and Golden-chevroned tanagers, Maroon-bellied Parakeet, Spot-billed Toucanet, Sombre Hummingbird, Black Jacobin, and Violet-capped Woodnymph, among others. A female Pin-tailed Manakin, a Yellow-lored Tody-flycatcher, a pair of Three-striped Flycatchers, a Chestnut-crowned Becard, and a Pallid Spinetail also passed through. A roost of short-tailed bats was seen above one of the doorways at the lodge....

• 2017 [01 January] - Bret Whitney - Bahia

  Report
  ...Highlights were many, with Giant Snipe again topping the list, followed by Pink-legged Gravateiro, Silvery-cheeked Antshrike, Narrow-billed Antwren, Bahia Tyrannulet, Rio de Janeiro Antbird, and Bahia Spinetail...

• 2020 [12 December] - Ann Gifford

  PDF Report
  Back to the hotel then birding in the little park across the road. Very pleasant with plenty of Tropical mockingbirds, Rufous-bellied thrush, Saffron finch and others. We sat by the pool later watching the Black vultures circling overhead and with the advent of dusk, there were plenty of parakeets and parrots flying over to their roosts.

• 2022 [04 April] - Bret Whitney

  Report
  The northern coastal region of Bahia has an extensive forest of old-growth mangroves, and our morning there was wonderful as we saw Mangrove Rail and Little Wood-Rail right off the bat! A little later, we spotted a distant adult Rufous Crab-Hawk and had another adult bird calling loudly as it flew right over our heads; this hawk is rarely seen anywhere else in Brazil. Eric and at least a couple of other folks got to see a Green-and-rufous Kingfisher shoot past their boat, which is also rarely recorded in coastal Brazil. But the highlight, in terms of overall rarity, was getting lengthy scope views of Rafael’s beautiful, undescribed Pyrrhura parakeet that is a close relative of the widely disjunct Gray-breasted Parakeet heretofore considered endemic to the Serra de Baturité in northern Ceará state.

• 2023 [01 January] - Bret Whitney

  Report
  Lunch in the little resort town of Praia do Forte was bracketed with productive birding on a beautifully manicured trail through dense restinga (stunted, woody habitat on ancient, quartzitic deposits with many cacti and terrestrial bromeliads) that yielded our first Spotted Piculets and dynamite views of Stripe-necked Tody-Tyrant, and some mangroves that serve as a roosting area for Lesser Nighthawks and a colony of Long-nosed Bats. Next up was a suspenseful but ultimately very successful hunt for the rare Fringe-backed Fire-eye, followed immediately by a fabulous half-hour in the peaceful presence of a low, close Maned Three-toed Sloth, one of the rarest mammals in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil...

• 2023 [11 November] - Chris Lotz

  PDF Report
  We encountered many Brazilian endemics, a lot of them restricted to tiny parts of north-east Brazil. These included Araripe Manakin, Lear’s Macaw and other parrots, Banded Cotinga, Bahia Tapaculo, Diamantina Tapaculo, Sao Francisco Sparrow, an amazing suite of range-restricted and beautiful antbirds, many localized furnariids, Hooded Visorbearer, Great Xenops, Ceara Gnateater and a host of others too numerous to mention here. In addition to the localized species, this also proved a good trip for loads of Atlantic Forest endemics which also occur further south (e.g. into south-eastern Brazil and Paraguay), and more widespread South American birds which are, however, often tough to find, including Pinnated Bittern, Solitary Tinamou, Sharpbill, Blue Finch, Collared Cresentchest, Horned Sungem and several crakes and rails. We were delighted because we almost cleaned up on all possible targets, obtaining great views of most of them.

• Ecoresort Tororomba - Ilh

  Accommodation
  O Ecoresort Tororomba al

• Fazenda Amendoeira Eco Resort - Santo Andr

  Accommodation
  Nice pictures - short on info

• Hotel Praia do Encanto - Morro de São Paulo

  Review
  ...for fans of ecotourism and adventure we have horses, bicycles, kayaks, laser, ecological trails, dam, river, stream and much more.

• Pousada Estrela d'

  Accommodation
  Estrela D'Água is the ideal retreat for those seeking comfort, sophistication and impeccable quality of services, which makes each lodging a unique experience.

• Pousada Jambo - Itacimirim

  Accommodation
  Located in the white sands of the beautiful Espera Beach, in Itacimirim, we have all the structure for your comfortable stay in the North Coast of Bahia, with a swimming pool facing the sea, restaurant with delicious regional dishes, ample accommodations, room for events and spa for massages and relaxing moments.