Just got back from 4 days at the small mountain town of Monte Verde, in the state of Minas Gerais, SE Brazil. The town is small and tranquill, with lots of beautiful lodges amidst typical high altitude Atlantic Rainforest vegetation, completely covered in mosses, bromeliads, etc, and big araucária pine trees.
The altitude of the town averages from 1.600 to 1.800 meters, with a few higher points. Unfortunately on my trip it rained almost non-stop all the time making the dirt roads that give access to these higher areas totally impassible. Even to access the basic areas near by we suffered, after 4 days of mud sliding my car looked like it just came out from the Paris-Dakar rally. Consider renting a 4 x 4 to go there, just in case it starts raining. Although I heard there are strong plans to pave some of the roads this year, as the town (just 2+ hours from São Paulo) is quickly becaming a favorite among nature lovers in general. There are some mansions there that are absolutelly breathtaking.
Anyway, lets go to what really matters. I stayed at the Pousada Cantos e Contos (look them ou in the web), excellent and quite fancy (I went wih my gf) with a big yard full of tress and birds that came in for the goodies the staff put out everyday, these included: Scale-Throated Hermit, Brazilian Ruby, White-Throated Hummingbird, Sombre Hummingbird, Black Jacobin, Violet-Capped Woodnymph, Banaquit, Blue Dacnis, Burnished-Buff Tanager, Yellow-Chevroned Tanager, Sayaca Tanager, Shiny Cowbird, Golden-Winged Cacique, Grassland Sparrow, Thick-Billed Saltator, Red-Rumped Warbling Finch, Rufous-Collared Sparrow and Saffron Finch (these last 3 very common everywhere).
Behind the lodge, and in a lot of other places in the town, there's some woods. Exploring that area (which is quite small for public access) I found White-Barred Piculet, some Olivaceous Woodcreeper, Lesser Woodcreeper, Buff-Browed Foliage Gleaner, Euler's Flycatcher, Golden-Crowned Warbler, White-Necked Trush and its typical cat-like song, a couple of the endemic Brassy-Breasted Tanagers exploring the canopy, a Channel-Billed Toucan flying by and my biggest surprise there, a gorgeous Red-Ruffed Fruitcrow looking down at me from the undercanopy.
The two biggest surprises of the trip were the high number of the critically vulnerable Vinaceous Parrot. Everyday I saw groups of them, even near the town center (a single street with some shops and restaurants). I'd say this is a much better place to see this species than the more famous Campos do Jordão.
The other surprise was when I was going for lunch at this main street. I was on a dirt road almost at it (in my car), just maybe 100 meters from the main street. I saw some bird movement on some low bushes by the road and couldn't believe what I was seeying: a female Swallow-Tailed Cotinga! A 1st. one for me! Aren't these birds supposed to be elusive forest species? Neverthless I was very happy with it and got a bad record photo.
At this site I also saw a gorgeous Diademed Tanager and some Rufous-Bellied and Pale-Breasted Trush (these 2 common everywhere).
Other birds I saw included noisy troops of Maroon-Bellied Parakeets, Southern House Wren, Southern Lapwing, Whistling Heron, Southern Caracara, Yellow-Headed Caracara, Gray-Headed Kite, Picazuro Pigeon, Ruddy Ground Dove, Campo Flicker, Rufous Hornero, Pallid Spinetail, Blue-Billed Black Tyrant, Fork-Tailed Flycatcher, Kiskadee, Gray Monjita, Tropical Kingbird, Cattle Tyrant picking out ticks from horses, Cliff Flycatcher (and some other Tyrannidaes I could not identify), Hooded Siskin, Double-Collared Seedeater and Blue-Black Grassquit.
On the way up the mountain I saw other birds of lower altitudes, like a group of Red-Legged Seriemas and Chestnut-Capped Blackbird.
I do think this is a good option for higher altitude species. It was a shame I could not acess the higher quality forests up the mountains that surround the town, or the high altitude fields and araucaria forests, where I was hoping to see a Black and Gold Cotinga. Maybe next time!
A few photos taken there:
Buff-Browed Foliage Gleaner
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/153/...0f73b8052_o.jpg
Cliff Flycatcher
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/160/...e99abc98e_o.jpg
Vinaceous Parrots
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/155/...a3754f9f1_o.jpg
Swallow-Tailed Cotinga
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/65/3...db38a0655_o.jpg
Sounds like it was a fantastic trip, Araçari. A shame it has rained so much, but I'm sure you've enjoyed it very well.
Thanks for sharing all these details.
Cheers,