I'm back in the Amazon for my fifth summer season of guiding at Cristalino Jungle Lodge. This time, though, I was able to arrange a stopover in Rio to finally get to see some of the Atlantic rainforest and some of its many endemic birds. Together with a Brazilian friend and a local guide, I stayed in a small, private reserve next to Itatiaia National Park at an altitude of 1400m. We ventured right up to 2100m, where there was frost on the ground and we saw Itatiaia Spinetail, which has an extremely small range. Other favourites of the many new species I saw include the stunning Black-and-gold Cotinga, Sharp-tailed Streamcreeper, Black-capped Piprites, and the beautiful Diademed Tanager. Best of all, though, was a patch of flowering bamboo inside the park which had attracted a feeding frenzy of at least 32 different species and kept us busy, as well as somewhat overwhelmed, for over an hour!
