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Espirito Santo

Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo Neomorphus geoffroyi © Tomas Sigrist http://www.avisbrasilis.com.br

Espirito Santo is a state in the South East 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

Conceição do Castelo

The only way to see what appears to be the last surviving population of six Cherry-throated Tanagers Nemosia rourei is to visit the Fazenda Pindobas IV with the two biologists employed there, Ana Cristina Venturini and Pedro Rogério de Paz. They charge US$200 per day plus expenses, and will pick you up at Vitória airport. Write to them at originalisnatura@originalisnatura.com.br The tanagers are becoming increasingly difficult to find. So far most people have seen the birds on the first day, one group saw them on the second, and in January 2001 we didn`t see them at all. There are a number of other interesting Atlantic Forest species in these forest remnants, particularly Cinnamon-vented Piha Lipaugus lanioides.

Reserva Natural da Vale do Rio Doce (Linhares)

Since the CVRD was privatised it has invested heavily in this reserve. There is a magnificent visitors centre, a hotel and more than 100km of good tracks through the forest. You need to get permission to enter the reserve (which is off limits to normal hotel residents).

Birding is better at Linhares than Sooretama because of the much better access to the forest and because poachers are kept out. In three visits to Sooretama I have never seen the Red-billed Curassow Crax blumenbachii but heard it on one and saw it on another of the four days I spent recently at Linhares.

Santa Tereza (“Nova Lombardia”)

To get permission to visit the reserve write to the Diretor, Reserva Biológica Augusto Ruschi (the new name of the reserve); Caixa Postal 13, 29.650-000 Santa Tereza, ES or just turn up at at the admin building (marked as Warden`s house on Forrester`s map) and chance your luck at getting permission on the spot. This has worked for me. Forrester`s directions to get to the reserve are a little inaccurate: replace take the Colatina road out of town with at the end of the one-way street through town (in the Colatina direction); where it becomes two-way, turn right up a cobbled ramp behind the bus station and. There is no longer a humming bird reserve at Ruschi`s house. The feeders were transferred to the Museo Mello Leitão, in town, but the last time I saw them they were not being filled regularly. In December 2000 there was a disastrous flood in Santa Tereza and the situation is probably even worse now. The reserve is a good place to see Wied`s Tyrant-manakin Neopelma aurifrons, from which the Serra do Mar Tyrant-manakin Neopelma chrysolophum has recently been split.

Sooretama

Nothing much has changed since Forrester`s day. To get there, drive north from Linhares along the BR 101, pass through the town of Sooretama, pass the entrance to the Reserva Natural da Vale do Rio Doce and after a few more kms turn left at a sign to IBAMA, Reserva de Sooretama (this is not the IBAMA post beside the BR 101 where it cuts through the forest). You need permission to visit the reserve and recently this has not always been forthcoming. Write to the Diretor, Reserva Biológica de Sooretama, Caixa Postal 108, 29.900-970 Linhares, ES or fax or telephone (027)-374-0016. There is free accomodation in the IBAMA compound in a house with bunks and a well equipped kitchen but no food. I always prefer to eat out at the churrascaria at the petrol station at Km 107 on the BR 101.

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 do Espírito Santo

http://www.ufes.br/

reserves

Linhares Reserva Natural da Vale do Rio Doce

http://www.cvrd.com.br/
Seja bem-vindo! A Companhia Vale do Rio Doce - CVRD - convida você a conhecer a sua Reserva Natural. Saiba porque nos orgulhamos tanto da proteção que damos a esta área, na sua maior parte, intocada...

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!

2004 [November] - Bird Tours

http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/brazil/braz17/braz-nov-04.htm
The itinerary worked well and during our 40 days in Brazil we recorded just under 700 species including 425 lifers, which in turn included 90 of the 100 possible trip endemics...

2005 [June] - Tropical Birding

http://www.tropicalbirding.com/tripReports/TR_Brazil_Jun2005.html
Another long drive to the Serra de Cipo, where a year ago Iain, Keith, and I had scoured the mountaintops looking for the endemic Cipo Canastero, failing miserably. Would be have better luck this time? Things looked grim after an afternoon and a morning, though we had managed to see just about everything else. So, with time running out, we decided to spread out over the savannah to cover as much ground as possible. Off we went in all different directions, walking through the grass and climbing up rock piles, Hyacinth Visorbearors occasionally zipping by...