Arrive in São Paulo, Brazil, at Guarulhos International Airport (GRU). No activities are planned for this day so you can rest up from your travels. The transfer to your hotel is included; your hotel is about twenty minutes away and we can organize an early check-in as an option for those that need it (Usually rooms can be available by noon; getting into a room earlier than that requires additional charges. Remember, you have at least 1.5 hours to get luggage and clear immigration and customs; there is a restaurant and public areas at the airport where you can relax if you don’t want to pay an early room fee.). This evening you’ll enjoy a welcome dinner the chance to meet your guide and traveling companions, and learn more about our coming adventure. We invite you to sample Brazil’s national cocktail, the caipirinha, made with cachaça (sugarcane liquor), sugar, and lime. We predict this may be the first of many. Accommodations at Hotel Matiz Guarulhos (D/B)

After breakfast we’ll drive to Itatiaia (around three and a half hours drive time). Itatiaia is mountainous and rocky with altitudes ranging from 540 to 2,791 metres (1,772 to 9,157 ft). The highest point is the Black Needles peak (Pico das Agulhas Negras). Today we’ll visit part of the oldest National Park of Brazil. The lodge that will serve as our accommodation for the following 3 nights is surrounded by forest and a great place for some easy afternoon birding, where we hope to find Frilled Coquettes feeding on flowers in the garden. Nectar feeders should attract a few different hummers such as Scale-throated Hermit and White-throated Hummingbird, Brazilian Ruby; fruit feeders often bring in colorful species like the unmatchable Green-headed Tanager, Chestnut-bellied Euphonia and Blue-naped Chlorophonia along with many other species, but the most wanted will be the unique Saffron Toucanet, we hope for at least one sighting during our stay. You’ll certainly love the activity around the lodge, Red-rumped Caciques, Maroon-bellied Parakeets make their presence very obvious. Accommodation at Hotel do Ypé (B/ L/D)

After breakfast, you’ll enjoy the activity around the hotel which is located inside the National Park, just around the lodge grounds we may find Dusky-legged Guans and Slaty-breasted Wood-Rails, or we might see Blue-winged Macaws departing from their roosting cavities. We’ll then spend the rest of the day birding roads and trails not far from your hotel. Today we’ll try to get good views of some remarkable antbirds like Ochre-rumped and White-bibbed Antbirds, and we’ll be on the lookout for the scarce White-bearded and Giant Antshrikes. Bamboo patches hold Black-billed Scythebill, Black-capped Foliage-gleaner, Rufous-capped Spinetail, Fork-tailed Pygmy-Tyrant, and others We’ll try our luck with some tough birds like Such’s and Rufous-tailed Antthrushes. The elegant Swallow-tailed Cotinga is unpredictable this time of year, but with luck we may encounter one. Tawny-browed Owl often remains hidden in the forest near the hotel, and it’s not unusual to be woken up by its otherworldy calls. Hotel do Ype (B/L/D)

After an early breakfast, we’ll drive about 1 hour to a back road that accesses the higher zones of the National Park. The stunted forest and scrub here host a very different set of birds, and the unmistakable calls of Black-and-gold Cotingas ring out through the mist. Hearing them is easy! Seeing them often takes a lot of persistence and patience. We’ll target several species along the lower parts of the road like Rufous-tailed Antbird, Large-tailed Antshrike, Serra do Mar Tyrannulet, and Black-capped Piprites. Forest patches can be quiet until a mixed species flock comes whirling through, and then we can be inundated with birds like Diademed and Brassy-breasted Tanagers, Buff-throated and Bay-chested Warbling-Finches, Pallid Spinetail, Rufous-backed Antvireo, Sharp-billed Treehunter, and White-browed Woodpecker. We’ll check a regular lekking site for Green-crowned Plovercrest, where several males of this superb-looking hummingbird usually perch and chirp incessantly. Further up, the forest becomes shorter, and we’ll try various spots for the endemic Itatiaia Spinetail, and for sure we’ll try to look for Araucaria Tit-Spinetail. After a picnic lunch, we’ll bird a side road lower down the valley that passes through pastures and light woodland. The birding here is easy and offers very different birds like Toco Toucans, screeching Curl-crested Jays, handsome White-eared Puffbirds, dancing Streamer-tailed Tyrants, among others. Hotel do Ype (B/L/D)

Today you’ll have a scenic drive from Itatiaia to Ubatuba (4 and a half hours drivetime), where the forest-covered mountains that come down to the sea make this part of the Atlantic coast truly beautiful. Various private reserves and quiet side roads at the base of the mountains offer easy birding with some of the best species the Atlantic Forest has to offer. Numerous antbirds are possible, many of which are truly handsome and often surprisingly easy to see compared to other parts of the Neotropics – a few in particular that we will be looking for are Scaled and Ferruginous Antbirds, Spot-breasted Antvireo, Tufted and Spot-backed Antshrike, and Star-throated Antwren, the strikingly patterned Spotted Bamboowren and the perky Slaty Bristlefront with its unforgettable song. Bare-throated Bellbird with its unique disctintive call will be one of our target species as well. We’ll stop at Folha Seca Reserve which has hummingbird and fruit feeders . Swarms of hummers are always present with the startling Festive Coquette often being the favorite. Others that visit include Saw-billed Hermit, Violet-capped Woodnymph, Brazilian Ruby, Sombre Hummingbird, Versicolored Emerald, and White-chinned Sapphire. The fruit feeders attracts amazing visitors such as Green-headed, Ruby-crowned, Brazilian and Red-necked Tanagers. We’ll then head to a suburb of the beach town of Ubatuba where we will spend the next 2 nights at Itamambuca Eco Resort or Similar (B/L/D)

After breakfst you’ll drive to Facenda Angelim (30 minute drive time). There’s a fair amount of remaining lowland forest there with an impressive amount of Atlantic Forest endemics, like Rufous headed, Brazilian and Gilt-edge Tanagers. Tawny-crowned Pygmy-tyrant and Striped Cuckoo constantly call at the entrance, Spotted Bamboowren sometimes call softly from the overgrown clearing along the entrance road. If weather allows this is one of the most reliable locations for Buff-Bellied Puffbird and Buff-Throated Purpletuft. Along the trails we’ll try for Yellow-lored Tody-flycatcher, White-eyed Foliage-gleaner, Yellow-throated Woodpecker , White-spotted Woodpecker, White-bearded Manakin, Chestnut-crowned Becard, Rufous-winged Antwren, Squamate antbird ,Spot-breasted Antvireo, Plain Antvireo among others. Mantled Hawk sometimes can be seen perched in the trees right along the clearings waiting to ambush their prey. Hotel Itamambuca Eco Resort (B/L/D)

Our last morning in Ubatuba. We’ll have time to enjoy and relax on the beautiful beach of Itamambuca or take a short visit to Sitio do Folha Seca to try to get anything we’ve missed in the previous days. After lunch we’ll drive back to Guarulhos (3 hour drive). We’ll arrive in the international airport by 6:00pm, in time for evening departures on several airlines, or if you require an overnight stay, we can arrange an additional night in the Hotel we regularly use close to the airport. (B/L)