Compare Brazil: The Pantanal and Amazon by Tropical Birding

Day 1: Cuiabá.

We’ll meet you at the airport and take you to a nearby hotel for the night.

Day 2: Chapada dos Guimarães.

We’ll start early and drive about 1h20m northeast of the city to a scenic escarpment. The scrubby cerrado (savanna) may not look like much, but it can be surprisingly good for birds such as White-banded and White-rumped Tanagers, White-eared Puffbird, Coal-crested Finch, Black-throated Saltator, and Chapada Flycatchers. Hummers can sometimes be common here depending on the number of plants in flower, and there is a chance to find the handsome Horned Sungem. We’ll also try for Collared Crescentchest, but this skulker can often be quite difficult to find. As the morning heats up, we’ll seek shade in the tall gallery forest lower down in the valley. It has a totally different set of birds such as Planalto Slaty-Antshrike, Band-tailed Manakin, Black-fronted Nunbird, Saffron-billed Sparrow, Moustached Wren, and sometimes even the gaudy Frilled Coquette. After an opulent lunch at a restaurant with an unforgettable view, we’ll bird near a magnificent escarpment offering great views and a chance for Red-and-green Macaw, King Vulture, Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle, Helmeted Manakin, and sometimes even the very rare Orange-breasted Falcon. We overnight in Chapada dos Guimarães.

Day 3: Chapada to Cristalino Jungle Lodge.

After a few more hours birding in the Chapada, we return to Cuiabá and catch a midday 1h3om hour flight to the town of Alta Floresta. From here, we travel in bus (or 4WD vehicles depending on road conditions) for another hour, and time permitting we will stop at a palm grove to look for Point-tailed Palmcreeper. Once we reach the dock at the edge of the river, we’ll board a motorboat and head up the Cristalino River to Cristalino Jungle Lodge, our home for the next five nights. Cristalino Jungle Lodge has quickly gained the reputation as being the finest lodge in the southern Amazon, with comfortable rooms, great food and service, and terrific birding.

Days 4-7: Cristalino Jungle Lodge.

With four full days to explore the area, we’ll have the chance to visit most of the best birding sites. Dawn on one of the sturdy 160 ft. (50 m) high canopy towers is an unforgettable experience. The great views over the treetops gives us a good chance of seeing canopy species like Red-necked, Lettered, and Curl-crested Aracaris, Gould’s Toucanet, Black-girdled Barbet, Tooth-billed Wren, Pompadour and Spangled Cotingas, Ringed, Scaly-breasted, and Cream-colored Woodpeckers, and Red-fan and Kawall’s Parrot, among many others. Later in the morning, the towers give a great chance to see raptors as they ride the thermals over the forest. White-browed Hawk, Double-toothed and Gray-headed Kites, several species of Hawk-Eagle, are possible, and if we are very lucky we could even see a Crested or Harpy Eagle.

A notable feature of the Cristalino area are the scattered rocky outcrops that rise above the surrounding forest. We’ll spend a morning on one of these “serras”, looking for a number of localized species that prefer this habitat, such as Natterer’s Slaty-Antshrike, Spotted Puffbird, White-fringed Antwren, and Fiery-tailed Awlbill. The more open nature of this habitat also makes it a good place to look for Brown-banded Puffbird, several species of parrots and parakeets, and hummingbirds.

Birding the terra firme forest trails is challenging, but a vast array of birds live there, so a significant amount of time will be spent searching for the many antbirds, foliage-gleaners, woodcreepers, woodpeckers, puffbirds, flycatchers, and countless others that skulk in the dark corners of the forest. Some of the main targets will include Dark-winged Trumpeter, Bare-eyed Antbird, Cryptic Forest-Falcon, Para Foliage-gleaner, Crimson-bellied Woodpecker, Red-necked Woodpecker, Amazonian Pygmy-Owl, Alta Floresta Antpitta, Cinnamon-crested and White-crested Spadebills, White-eyed Antwren, and Rufous-necked Puffbird. Some of the trails pass through patches of dense bamboo, which harbor a different selection of birds like like Manu and Striated Antbirds, Amazonian Antshrike, Rose-breasted Chat, Dusky-cheeked Foliage-gleaner, Large-headed and Dusky-tailed Flatbill, and a distinctive race of Dot-winged Antwren.

The seasonally flooded forest on the edge of the Cristalino River is mostly dry this time of year, making it easier to access good sites for Flame-crested Manakin, Glossy Antshrike, and Bronzy Jacamar.

The river itself can be a great place to see such species as Razor-billed and Bare-faced Curassows, Amazonian Umbrellabird, several species of macaw, as well as mammals like Giant Otter and Brazilian Tapir.

This is truly one of the top birding spots in the world and there will be plenty to keep us busy for every minute.

Day 8: Cristalino to the Pantanal.

After some final birding, we drive back to Alta Floresta for lunch, then fly back to Cuiabá in the afternoon. After collecting our luggage, we’ll drive about two hours to the start of the famous Transpantaneira, or Pantanal Highway. We’ll spend the first two nights at Pousada Piuval, a comfortable lodge on a working cattle ranch near the start of the highway.

Day 9: Pousada Piuval.

Piuval has some of the most impressive birding anywhere on the planet, with huge numbers of birds seen and daily lists reaching astronomical numbers, some of the highest of any of our tours. The reason why it’s so great is the easy access to a wide variety of habitats, including rivers, wetlands, flooded pastures, gallery forest, and dry scrub. Some of the main highlights are the huge Hyacinth Macaws (seen daily), Greater Rhea, Bare-faced Curassow, Chestnut-bellied Guan, up to four ibises, the hulking Southern Screamer, Jabiru, Maguari Stork, Nacunda Nighthawk Black-collared Hawk, White Woodpecker, Gray-crested Cacholote, Great Rufous Woodcreeper, Mato Grosso Antbird, White-lored Spinetail, and Red-crested Cardinal.

Day 10: Piuval to the Pixaim River.

After another morning at Piuval we drive a few hours south, deeper into the Pantanal. We’ll stay two nights at a lodge on the edge of the sluggish Pixaim River, and one of the highlights here are the afternoon boat trips on the river, a relaxing way to see Agami and Boat-billed Herons, Blue-throated Piping-Guan, Black-collared Hawk, up to five species of kingfisher, Giant Otter, and more. As darkness nears, Band-tailed Nighthawks appear to hunt insects over the river along with huge Greater Bulldog Bats. Spotlighting for nightjars in the evening might get us Swallow-tailed and Spot-tailed Nightjars, and Pauraque.

Day 11: Pixaim River.

A nearby trail passes through gallery forest along the edge of the river, which can be loaded with birds in the morning. The open nature of the forest makes it relatively easy to see them, and Band-tailed Antbird, Large-billed Antwren, and Helmeted Manakin can usually be seen without too much difficulty. A Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl imitation can often bring in large mobbing hordes of passerines, like Flavescent Warbler, Ashy-headed Greenlet, Stripe-necked Tody-Tyrant, and others. We can also target anything else we are still looking for, which could include White-naped Xenopsaris, Pale-crested Woodpecker, or Nanday Parakeet (some years). In the afternoon, we’ll have the option of having another boat trip on the river.

Day 12: Pixaim River to Porto Jofre.

After breakfast, we’ll board our bus and drive south towards the end of the Pantanal Highway. We’ll make several stops along the way to search for the gorgeous Scarlet-headed Blackbird, shy Cinereous-breasted Spinetail, vociferous Fawn-breasted Wren, elegant Maguari Stork, as well as others. We’ll reach our very comfortable hotel at the very end of the road in late morning, and after lunch, we’ll spend the afternoon cruising the rivers looking for Jaguars as well as birds and

Day 13: Jaguar searching.

Jaguar is the main target here, and we’ll spend the day cruising various rivers in a fast motorboat looking for this magnificent animal. Our boatmen are in radio contact, so if there is a jaguar seen we can head for the location – often at high speed! Jaguars here are not very shy and will often stay in view for extended periods of time. We will not ignore other birds and wildlife during our search, but Jaguar does take priority over everything. Some birds we may see from the boat include Sungrebe, Pied Lapwing, Yellow-billed and Large-billed Terns, Black Skimmer, Greater Ani, Anhinga, Great Black Hawk, Gray-necked Wood-Rail, and more. Families of Giant Otters are fairly common, and it is not too unusual to see a Tapir.

Day 14: Jaguar searching and return to Cuiabá.

The plan for the morning will depend largely on how well we did with Jaguars the day before. If we’re still trying for Jaguar, we’ll spend the full morning cruising the rivers and leave the hotel after an early lunch. If we had great Jaguar sightings, we may instead prefer some land-based birding, departing the hotel earlier in the morning with a packed lunch.  We’ll spend the afternoon driving back to Cuiabá, where we spend the final night.

Day 15: Departure:

The tour ends this morning in Cuiabá. The hotel provides free airport transfers upon request at any hour.