During the days 11 to 18 of February I mounted a script for bird photography for the Portuguese friend Paulo Paixão. Those were really cool and fun days. 11 / 02- The beginning of our journey began at Santos Dumont Airport, in Rio de Janeiro, where we travel to Itatiaia, where we have already arrived at night.
12 / 02- Itatiaia National Park. We left the Pousada and headed to the Park, but we made a small stop on the road where Paulo was able to see the ballet of the Streamer-tailed Tyrant, a bird that charms everyone, even though I’m already used to it, I’m tired of watching your beautiful dance . Beyond it many other birds were photographed by him, where I highlight:
- Green-crowned Plovercrest
- Itatiaia Spinetail
- Buff-throated Warbling-Finch
- Serra do Mar Tyrannulet
- Diademed Tanager
- Rufous-capped Antshrike
- Cliff Swallow
- Hooded Siskin
- Pallid Spinetail
- Large-tailed Antshrike
- Rufous-crowned Greenlet
- White-browed Warbler
- Brazilian Ruby
- Masked Duck
- Least Grebe
- Blackish Rail
- White-throated Kingbird
- White-bellied Seedeater
- Pale-breasted Spinetail
- Yellow-rumped Marshbird
- Southern Beardless-Tyrannulet
- Double-collared Seedeater
- Orange-headed Tanager
- White-crested Tyrannulet
Orange-headed Tanager
Masked Duck
and some more totaling 60 different species photographed on the first day. We were interrupted at times by the bad weather in the area.
13 / 02- Itatiaia National Park. Our first photo attempt on this day was of Variegated Antpitta, but he was not at the usual place and we left for another day.
Still in the morning the rain fell harder making it impossible to continue through the region of the Itatiaia National Park. We went towards the city of Tremembé SP where it has a rice field with many cool birds where the highlights were:
- Jabiru
- Wood Stork
- Roseate Spoonbill
- White-backed Stilt
- White-faced Whistling-Duck
- Brazilian Teal
- Whistling Heron
- Burrowing Owl
- Snowy Egret
- Great Egret
- Little Blue Heron
- Cattle Egret
- Eared Dove
- White-browed Meadowlark
- Chestnut-capped Blackbird
- Striated Heron
- Black-crowned Night-Heron
- Cocoi Heron
Jabiru
Roseate Spoonbill
After a few hours by the rice field we took the road again towards the Trilha dos Tucanos, where we already arrived at night.
White-backed Stilt
Great Egret
14/02-After the coffee already in the Trilha dos Tucanos was the magic moment of the Trail, to photograph by the feeders. birds like the Benedict of yellow forehead, green parakeet, had seven colors, catirumbava, pepper beak do the joy of the photographers. There they land very close to the lens allowing great photos.
Yellow-fronted Woodpecker
Green-headed Tanager
There the hummingbirds also give a show the part. Black jacobin, Festive coquette, Black-throated Mango, brazilian ruby , Sombre Hummingbird, Scale-throated Hermit and Violet-capped Woodnymph. 
Sombre Hummingbird
Black jacobin
Black-throated Mango
After lunch we checked out the Trilha dos Tucanos and headed towards the road that leads to the Legado das Águas, a road with about 25 km of pure forest. We headed to a point where there was a cub of Common Potoo who sleeps every day on a branch of a dry tree. Paulo took some photos but always had the bottom blown by the height the bird was. Seeing the difficulty of a good photo I placed my car right next to the ravine and went up on the roof to see if it helped to have a forest bottom that I had seen from the other side and it did not work. Look how a green background makes all the difference to get a better quality photo. In the return we spent at the Pousada Salve Floresta to know the place and we were super well received by the owners. There we can climb in a tower 22 meters high, staying at the level of the canopies. Shortly after we continue our trip to Peruíbe SP.
Here are some birds photographed on the Trilha dos Tucanos :
- Slaty Bristlefront
- Yellow-fronted Woodpecker
- Plain Parakeet
- Maroon-bellied Parakeet
- Neotropical River Warbler
- Ochre-collared Piculet
- brazillian ruby
- Violet-capped Woodnymph
- Sombre Hummingbird
- Scale-throated Hermit
- palm tanager
- Golden-chevroned Tanager
- greem olive tanager
- White-bearded Antshrike
- Rufous Gnateater
- greem headed tanager
- ruby crowned tanager
- festive coquette
- black jacobin
- Black-throated Mango
- Lined Seedeater
- White-collared Foliage-gleaner
- Black-capped Foliage-gleaner
- Red-crowned Ant-Tanager
- Surucua Trogon
- Dusky-tailed Antbird
- Black-throated Grosbeak
- Common Potoo
14 / 02-
15 / 02-
16 / 02-
17 / 02-
18 / 02- Last day of the expedition but we still had time to make one more attempt to photograph the Variegated Antpitta, we stayed half an hour by the place and nothing, appeared a crooked beak arapaçu to brighten the morning yielding good photos. We were already going back to the expensive when we heard the corner of the Variegated Antpitta together, we returned to the point where it was only wait for 5 minutes for him to stop right in front of Paulo’s lens. It was only joy at this moment, a bird that was very much wanted by him on this trip. We left for the last photo attempt of the expedition. We drove to the city of Valença to try photos of the Black-banded Owl. I made contact with a person there and she confirmed the presence of the owl in the tree. On arrival I just took the camera and take the pictures, this with many curious people around.
Then we headed to the Galeão airport for Paulo to return to Portugal. There were 2,500 kilometers covered in these 8 days with 213 species photographed during the expedition. Until the next Paul and do not forget to bring the legitimate pastels of Bethlehem.
