Another full day dawned - we set off out of the reserve to Macae de Cima which comprises of an area of montane forest reaching an altitude of 1400m - we stopped at several different altitudes looking for zone specific birds en route to the orchid reserve of the renowned orchid expert David Miller who died last year. We spent a couple of hours birding around his 'hansel and gretal' type house set in a forest clearing. We also ate our packed lunch while watching birds come and go. The air was filled with the sound of bell birds calling and thanks to the enormous lens of the guy from Taiwan we are pretty sure we saw a swallow tailed cotinga in a distant tree! But when the guides take out their cameras you know you have hit the jackpot - we were drawn to a cacophony of sound from lots of small birds mobbing another in a tree just infront of us- it turned out to be a rare least pigmy owl - it was calling and stayed for 5-10 minutes before flying off. Apparently it is more often heard than seen and if it is seen it is far away - so we had a result!
When we returned in the late afternoon we had to pack as sadly tomorrow we had to leave this little oasis of Brazilian Atlantic rainforest. Nick and his Brazilian wife Rachel really are doing a great job in conserving this corner of important Brazilian habitat.
Over our 3 days the birds we sighted included:-
Saffron finch, red rumped casique,
long billed wren, moustached wren, red eyed vireo, rufous crowned greenlet, sheer tailed grey tyrant, highland elania, grey monjita, tropical peewee, great kiskadee, grey hooded atilla, white throated spade bill, common tody flycatcher, drab breasted pgmy(bamboo) tyrant, swallow tailed cotinga, southern antpipit, black capped becard, white eyed foliage gleaner, sharp billed tree hunter, pale browed tree hunter, orange eyed thorn bird, plain xenops, olivaceous woodcreeper, rufous winged antwren, chestnut backed ant-shrike, rufous gnateater, rufous capped spinetail, sharp tailed stream creeper, wing banded hornero, pallid spinetail, white bearded manakin, pintailed manakin, blue manakin, sharp bill, campo flicker, yellow necked, yellow eared and yellow browed woodpeckers, channel billed toucan, spot billed toucanet, white barred piculet, crescent chested puff bird, white throated, rufous breasted and swallow tailed hummingbirds, black throated trogan, surucua trogan, rufous tailed jacama, maroon billed parakeet, blue winged parrotlet, brown backed parrotlet, orange winged parrott, squirrel cuckoo,least pigmy owl, burrowing owl, picazuros pigeon, pale vented pigeon, ruddy ground dove, great snipe, southern lapwing, purple gallinule, moorhen, slaty breasted wood rail, capped heron, whistling heron, pinniated bittern, rufescent tiger heron, black crowned night heron, neotropic cormorant, least grebe, cattle egret, great egret, muscovy duck,masked duck, white faced whistling duck, brazilian teal, turkey vulture, black vulture, yellow headed caracara, red necked tanager, red crested ant tanager, azure shouldered tanager, golden chevroned tanager, brassy breasted tanager, black goggled tanager, red breasted thrush, bare throated bellbird, black and gold cotinga(f), white browed warbler, bertonis antbird, mottle cheeked tyranulet, blue naped chlorophonia ( feeding on bananas put out by a fruit shop owner) , guira cuckoo, slaty bristlefront and smooth billed ani....total 98 but I know I have missed some!! If you are a real hard core birder or someone who wants to take a more relaxed look at the Atlantic rainforest this is a place well worth a stop - the welcome is warm and friendly, the guides are excellent and very knowledgeable and the food great - what more could you ask for?