After an incredibly productive birding trip in Northwest Argentina, Garret, Joshua, and I had a morning layover in São Paulo. Our flight had arrived the previous evening, and after a few hours of sleep in a sketchy neighbourhood near the airport, we were in an Uber on our way to Parque Estadual Cantareira, just north of the city for some São Paulo birding . After spending a few minutes trying to figure out where the entrance was (we found it eventually at -23.459094, -46.633383), we started birding along the main tar road that runs through the forest (-23.453867, -46.636186). You can have a look at our eBird checklist here.
There were loads of birds, and we quickly picked up Social and Streaked Flycatchers, Swallow-tailed Hummingbird, Black Jacobin, the gorgeous duo of Green-headed and Brassy-breasted Tanagers, Blue Dacnis, Bananaquit, and Chestnut-vented Conebill.
Once we had passed through the busier section of the park, we scored big with Collared Forest Falcon, Ochre-collared Piculet, White-spotted Woodpecker, Scale-throated Hermit, White-eyed Parakeet, Spot-backed Antshrike, Rufous-margined Antwren, Rufous Gnateater, Pallid and Rufous-capped Spinetail, Crested Becard, and Blue Manakin. We also had views of common Neotropical species, such as Squirrel Cuckoo, Sick’s Swift, and Ruddy Ground Dove, to name a few.
A bird that I was particularly keen on seeing, as I had dipped it before in northeast Argentina, was Surucua Trogon. After pursuing a calling bird, we had good views of it! Success!
Before we knew it, I was arranging an Uber with a restaurant owner to get us back to the airport, and our Neotropical birding adventures were over. The morning had greatly exceeded my expectations, and I managed to add 13 lifers to my list! I can’t wait to be back to bird Brazil properly.
