Brazil: The Southeast Atlantic Rainforest

Locally known as the Mata Atlântica in eastern Brazil, the wet forests stretching along the Atlantic coast are home to the typical Neotropical bird families familiar to those who have birded elsewhere in South America: woodcreepers, foliage-gleaners, antbirds, antpittas, cotingas, tapaculos, manakins, and tanagers. But imagine that these rainforest-cloaked mountains have been isolated from the vast forests of the Amazon Basin and the Andes off and on for millions of years, separated by savannas, deserts, and brushland. The bird life has been allowed to evolve in such isolation, producing an utterly different and often colorful mix of species that can be seen nowhere else on earth. Much of this once extensive rainforest has long been cleared, as this is where Europeans first settled and where the large cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are located. We’ll use these two cities as our ports of entry and departure, but we’ll visit national parks, a state park, and private lodges and reserves where sizable chunks of habitat have been preserved and where a huge number of Brazil’s endemic birds can still be found.

Note: In 2026 it’s possible to do this tour back to back with Brazil: Minas Gerais.