The Quest for the Cherry-throated Tanager

 August 2022: A Trip to Espirito Santo for a Very Special Bird

Sometimes you go somewhere on a whim.  I had never been to the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil despite having been to all the states surrounding it.  An old friend who lives in the capital city Vitória saw my eBird map and concluded, not unreasonably, that I was avoiding him somehow.  Ironically I had actually long wanted to go, having made some financial donations to the conservation of the Red-billed Curassow many years before, but in the end it was another bird that gave me the excuse to finally visit.

Thursday, August 25 - Domingos Martins / Pedra Azul

The temperature was a delight, so refreshingly chilly compared to the oppressive heat and humidity of the Amazon basin.  After a long flight first to São Paulo, then to Viiória, Pablo and I had picked up a rental car and headed off into countryside more reminiscent of Northern Italy then of the lowlands of Brazil we had left behind.  A little local birding, then we made our way to our hotel, a delightful place celebrating a family that had emigrated to Brazil from the Italian Alps and which even boasted a fondue restaurant.  

Some very hearty local fare for dinner ... we had left the land of
rice and beans behind ...

After a substantial local dinner we opted to walk a bit and digest some of those carbs so decided to do a little owling.  The suburban setting didn't seem all that promising but the in the end we heard a Black-capped Screech-Owl so declared victory and then settled in for a well earned night of sleep, ready for adventures tomorrow.

Friday, August 26 - Reserva Kaetés

The Cherry-throated Tanager has a total world population of perhaps 12 individuals, all of which live in one tiny reserve in Espírito Santo.  For some reason this species had been on my mind all year.  A nesting pair had been photographed the previous year and the photos just peaked my interest.  Eventually I had to ask Pablo if he was interested in making a trip to see it, figuring his connections as a bird researcher might open the door and allow us to visit.

As it turns out, the local researchers from Instituto Marcos Daniel, the organization that had established and manages the reserve, were delighted to have some birders come and visit to see their work and their birds.  It not being the breeding season, we knew the birds would not hanging around a nest site, but we also knew that they would be somewhere in the vicinity (they literally have no-where else to go unfortunately) so we allowed ourselves two days to walk the trails at the reserve and see the tanagers.

Spot-breasted Antvireo and While-collared Foliage-gleaner

The technique for seeing tanagers when they aren't nesting seemed straightforward.  Walk back-and-for along the two long, straight trails that run through the reserve and intersect at the center.  The tanagers, likely in a small family group will be moving around and calling as they feed and, with luck, your path and that of the tanagers will intersect at some point.  Sounded simple enough, and with two days allocated it sounded simple enough; on the first morning I was actually wondering what we would do with our second day once we had seen the tanagers ...

Atlantic Black-throated Trogon and
Ochre-faced Tody-Flycatcher

And so off we went and the reserve was indeed very birdy.  On the first morning we saw or heard around 45 species, including some nice things like Hooded Berryeater, Robust Woodpecker and Sharpbill.  We weren't at all worried that we hadn't bumped into the tanagers and took a break trail-side for lunch and a rest, before hitting the trails again for round two.

The afternoon session produced more of the same, lots of birds and plenty of tanagers ... Azure-shouldered, Brassy-breasted, Rufous-headed, and Black-goggled ... but not the ones we came for.  We eventually had to admit defeat and headed off for more of that delicious local food (after two weeks of rice and beans in the Amazon, the food was a big plus) and some sleep.  There was always day two ...

Did I mention that the food here was good?

Saturday, August 27 - Reserva Kaetés

Back to the trails and had a really nice morning of birding.  We took the time to get a good look at White-breasted Tapaculo, a bird that sounds more like a toad than like something with feathers.  We also saw (not just heard) Brown Tinamou and Such's Antthrush while quietly stalking ground birds.  But as for the target ... no luck.  At this point my anxiety was starting to rise and I asked if it might be possible to stay another morning for a fifth chance at the birds.

Two of my favorite bird names ... Black-goggled Tanager and
Sibilant Syrystes

So the afternoon, and session number four.  We started at the center of the reserve and chose a direction to walk covering about a half mile before turning around to head back and perhaps try another trail.  Then, a flurry of excitement.  One of the researchers heard Cherry-throated Tanager calls and we ran up the trail to where they seemed to be.  For an instant there was a fast moving flock of birds in the canopy overhead, multiple people calling directions and the birds were moving fast, and away from the trail.  Hard to describe my relief when I got my bins on a bird, but no time to waste and I whipped the camera around and employed a technique known as 'spray and pray' firing a volley of shots into the leaves where I thought the bird might be.  And then ... they were gone, the whole encounter lasted only a couple of minutes.   But I had a record shot!

OK, it wasn't a good shot ... but that didn't really matter ...

So a success, and a lot of fist-bumps and high-fives.   Birders who visit the reserve during breeding season are usually shown to the nest site and easily see the birds but we had to work for ours and, after the fact, that felt pretty good.  This really is one of the rarest birds on earth which makes the experience of seeing them special but also rather poignant.  There are plans to expand the reserve so perhaps there's a glimmer of hope for the this species but otherwise its future does not look good.  There are many challenges for any species that gets this close to extinction but you have to admire the tenacity of the last survivors who continue to breed in the last, tiny sanctuary.  I really hope they make it.

Sunday, August 28 - Vitória

Dinner and social time and a reluctant final packing before returning to the US after nearly a month in Brazil.  More Brazil trips to come, I hope so ...

OK, I may have overdone the food here but ...