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Bahia

Chopi Blackbird Gnorimopsar chopi © Tomas Sigrist http://www.avisbrasilis.com.br

Bahia is a state in the North East region of Brazil.

Below are some of its top attractions and websites to the reserves and many places to stay where birding is an option. We welcome a proper introduction to this page from someone who knows the area well.

top sites

Boa Nova

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

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.

Camacã

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

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

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

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.

Lençois [continued 1]

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.

Lençois [continued 2]

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

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

Closed to the public in May 1999 but now open again (January 2001). The access road is not at all bad for birding and one could easily see Banded Cotinga Cotinga maculata here (we didn`t!). 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

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

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.

contributor

Jeremy Minns
(São Paulo)
jeremyminns@uol.com.br

useful reading

Books, CDs, DVDs etc.

See the main Brazil page for guides etc. covering the whole country...

museums

Universidade Federal da Bahia

http://www.portal.ufba.br/

reserves

Centro de Pesquisas para a Conservação das Aves Silvestres

http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centro_Nacional_de_Pesquisa_para_Conservação_das_Aves_Silvestres
Conservation efforts for the Lear`s macaw etc...

Monte Pascoal National Park

http://www.nybg.org/bsci/res/bahia/MPNP.html
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...

Parque Nacional Descobrimento

http://www.ibama.gov.br/siucweb/mostraUc.php?seqUc=123
Proteger e preservar amostras dos ecossistemas ali existentes e possibilitar o desenvolvimento de pesquisa cientifica e programas de educação ambiental...

Parque Nacional do Monte Pascoal

http://www.ibama.gov.br/revista/monte/texto_monte.htm
A fauna é exuberante e rica nos diversos ambientes; os animais possuem uma relação direta com a vegetação existente, auxiliando na disseminação, como o caxinguelê...

Parques Nacionais do Descobrimento - Prado

http://aventure-se.ig.com.br/materias/14/0001-0100/75/75_01.html
Esse é um dos mais novos Parques Nacionais do país. De criação recente, ainda não tem estrutura para receber visitantes, o que deve ser providenciado em breve, segundo o Ibama.

Parques Nacionais do Pau Brasil - Município de Porto Seguro

http://aventurese.ig.com.br/materias/14/0001-0100/74/74_01.html
O parque, juntamente com o Parque Nacional do Monte Pascoal e o do Descobrimento, forma um corredor ecológico responsável pela preservação da fauna e da flora na região do descobrimento, que abriga, além dos poucos exemplares existentes de pau-brasil, um patrimônio histórico e cultural fundamental para o nosso país.

Pousada Colibrí - Guarajuba

http://www.pousadacolibri.com.br/
A Pousada Colibri, sob direção germano-brasileira, com dezesseis espaçosos apartamentos mobiliados com madeira de lei, está situada dentro de um jardim tropical onde colibris se divertem. Conforto que convida a sonhar.

Reserva Particular do Patrimônio Natural Fazenda Morrinhos

http://www.rppnmorrinhos.arq.br/
Junto com o periquito vaqueiro (Aratinga cactorum) e o periquito cuiubinha (Forpus xanthopterigius); é o maior psitacídeo que hoje habita a caatinga do entorno da Reserva Particular do Patrimônio Natural Fazenda Morrinhos, num raio de mais ou menos 80Km.

Serra das Lontras Atlantic Forest Project

http://www.birdlife.org/action/ground/bahia/index.html
The coastal mountains of Serra das Lontras and Serra do Javí form part of the coastal massif of southern Bahia, north eastern Brazil. They have received little attention from conservationists or biologists...

UNA Ecopark

http://www.ecotour.org/xp/ecotour/destinations/una_ecopark.xml
During your visit to the Una Ecopark you will be able to appreciate one of the most beautiful and most threatened forests of the world: Brazil`s Atlantic Forest. The park`s 2 km. main trail begins in a rubber plantation, where you will learn how natural rubber is harvested from trees by the local workers. As you proceed along the trail, you will pass through secondary forest and enter an area of natural forest, with the characteristic towering trees, and exuberant vines and bromeliads of an old-growth tropical forest.

trip reports

Travelling Birder
http://www.travellingbirder.com
The Travellingbirder.com birding trip report search engine guides you to 7,000+ birding trip reports on the Internet. You can search for trip reports from a specific country and time of year. Not all these reports are in English. So, if you can’t find the trip report you want on this Fatbirder page… give them a try!

2000 [September] - Peter Lonsdale

http://maybank.tripod.com/SouthAmerica/Brazil-08-2000.htm
I`m recently back from a quick week-long (Aug28-Sept4) solo trip to Northeast Brazil. I wanted to share with BIRDCHAT how easy it has become to see some awesome birds around the village of Canudos, Bahia --including most of the world population of the very local and very beautiful Indigo Macaw (Andorhynchus leari). After my trip I discovered a wonderful info-packed website, which give various recent estimates of the total world population, all in the range of 140 to less than 80. At 8 one morning I counted 42 of them feeding in palm trees on a ranch 44km E of Canudos (along the gravel road to Jeremoabo); and was assured that the next ranch to the west, which I didn`t enter `cos the owner happened to be absent, had a roughly equal number (I did see some fly-bys circling there).

2003 [November] - Fraser Simpson

http://www.fssbirding.org.uk/brazil2003tripreport.htm
This trip report documents the birds recorded while in Brazil with work. Therefore, this account only partly reflects what could be seen on an all out birding expedition to these locations with more time and dedication...

2004 [April] - Eduard Sangster

http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/brazil/braz12/ne-braz-ap-04.htm
...It’s obvious why to go to the NE: the Atlantic Forest here is far, far more threatened than the southeastern part. Of the 63+ Northeast endemics 48 are red data species! The area is far less known to science (and birders) than the Southeast; in recent times almost every year new species are described from this part of Brazil. This birdreport (or should I say birdguide) aims to stimulate visits to the NE as it combines a lot of scattered information you’ll need to make your visit a succes. If visiting NE Brazil you should cover the following habitats to see all endemics...

2004 [March] - John van der Woude

http://home.tiscali.nl/~jvanderw/bahia2004/ItineraryMaps.html
This was a two-week private independent birding trip to the state of Bahia in Eastern Brazil. The region has an interesting combination of habitats. There is a continuation of the SE Brazil wet forests (a highly important endemic region) but also several important drier habitats, like the dry forest at Boa Nova (Slender Antbird etc.), and the caatinga bushes (Great Xenops etc.). Also cerrado and campo are present, the latter with e.g. the superb Hooded Visorbearer (hummer) on top of the magnificent Pai Inacio table mountain in the Chapada Diamantina...

places to stay

Ecoresort Tororomba - Ilhéus

http://www.tororomba.com.br/
O Ecoresort Tororomba além de serviços de hotelaria, mantém à disposição da hospedagem bosque temático (cultural, recreativo e ecológico); com acesso por túnel aquático com passagem para pedestres e caiaques.

Enseada do Caeiro Eco Resort - Santo Amaro

http://www.enseadadocaeiro.com.br/
Flash site - slow

Fazenda Amendoeira Eco Resort - Santo André, Santa Cruz Cabrália

http://www.fazendaamendoeira.com.br/
Nice pictures - short on info...

Fazenda Country - near Comandatuba

http://web.archive.org/web/20010307064515/http:/www.fazendacountry.com.br/
Cavalgada Ecológica na Mata Atlântica

Hotel Ilha de Comandatuba - near Una

http://www.comandatuba.com.br/
Basic details...

Hotel Praia do Encanto - Morro de São Paulo

http://www.hotelpraiadoencanto.com/
A Pousada está situada à beira-mar e sua estrutura oferece excelente serviço de restaurante, piscinas à beira-mar com sofisticada barraca de praia, salão de jogos, salão para eventos, play ground para crianças e loja de souvenirs com camisetas exclusivas. E para os fãs do ecoturismo e aventura dispomos de cavalos, bicicletas, caiaques, laser, trilhas ecológicas, barragem, rio, riacho e muito mais...

Itacaré Eco Resort - Itacaré

http://www.ier.com.br/
A resort perfect integrated in the landscape. Sophistication and charm in a little bay with perfect waves, surounded by Atlantic Rainforest. The diversity of smells, colors, flavors, sounds and texture of this fantastic nature will tuch all your senses...

Jokotoka Eco Resort - Ponta do Corumbau

http://www.jocotoka.com.br/
Aconchegantes bangalôs espalhados por um coqueiral de frente para o mar, com total privacidade...

Pousada Aldeia Banzaê - Imbassaí

http://aldeiabanzae.com.br/
Localizada na Praia de Imbassaí, esta pousada cujo o nome pertence a uma tribo indígena baiana tem em cada um de seus bangalôs a representação das tribos indígenas da Bahia: Kiriri, Pataxó Hãhãhã, Atakikúm, Pankareré entre outras... numa área de 5.000 m² de incomparável flora e fauna você e sua família irão desfrutar deste momento único de paz e tranquilidade bem próximo ao rio e ao mar.

Pousada Ecológica Projeto Semente - Vale do Jiquiriçá

http://web.archive.org/web/20010430023500/http:/www.svn.com.br/projetosemente/
Conheça um local de paz em contato com você mesmo e com a Natureza. Num cenário rodeado de serras, lagos e cachoeiras, a pousada-fazenda do Projeto Semente oferece uma irresistível alternativa de lazer, descanso e auto conhecimento para pessoas de todas as idades. Esperamos por você ou seu grupo de trabalho, faculdade ou amigos para embarcarmos na fantástica viagem de conhecermos a nós mesmos e descobrirmos as mudanças que podemos fazer neste Mundo!

Pousada Estrela d`Água - Trancoso

http://www.estreladagua.com.br/
Flash

Pousada Jambo - Itacimirim

http://www.pousadajambo.com.br/
...usual info...

Pousada Mucugê - Mucugê

http://www.mucuge.com.br/
Several properties...

Pousada O Forte - Mangue Seco

http://www.pousadaoforte.com/eng/index.php
Mangue Seco é uma península localizada no litoral norte da Bahia, divisa com o Estado de Sergipe, em Área de Proteção Ambiental (APA) composta por praias amplas de areia branca, rios, altas dunas, manguezais e coqueiros formando uma das mais belas e raras paisagens do nosso litoral. Tem acesso pela Linha Verde até Pontal em Sergipe onde, de lancha faz-se a travessia do rio Real em 10 minutos. Desde Sergipe (Aracaju) o acesso é feito via Porto do Mato com travessia de 15 minutos.

Pousada Sincorá - Andaraí

http://www.sincora.com.br/
Infra Estrutura Confortável Quartos com Ar Condicionado Maravilhosos Cafés da Manhã Preços Extremamente Camaradas.

Praia do Forte Eco-Resort - Salvador

http://www.praiadoforte.com/
This is Praia do Forte, the first Eco-Resort of Brazil on the east coast of the state of Bahia. It`s in this amazing tropical area where the Praia do Forte Eco-Resort is located. 155.000 square miles of pure nature in harmony with the customs of an old charming fishermen`s village.

Sitio Paraiso

http://www.elsolmio.cjb.net/
Located at the confluence of Rio da Barra, and the Atlantic Ocean, on the south side right near the beach, in Trancoso, and near Porto Seguro, in the Brazilian state of Bahia, about 16° south latitude. Sitio Paraiso is a lovely tropical retreat, private and secluded, yet not far from the charming and historical town of Trancoso, and a short drive from the art colony of Arrial d’Ajuda, and historical Porto Seguro. you’ll be staying in our newly finished and decorated home, furnished with comfort in mind. Air conditioned, it has a large master suite upstairs, with its own bathroom with shower, TV, queen sized bed and covered verandas to take in the vista of the tropical environment and afternoon breezes. Downstairs is a modern kitchen, dining area, living room, bathroom with Jacuzzi, bedroom with two beds, and entry. Recommended occupancy- two adults and two children...

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