Deep within the Atlantic Forest of São Paulo


When wildlife photographers consider Brazil, they may consider the Amazon or Pantanal. And though these biodiversity hotspots are full of wonderful animals, they aren’t the one locations within the nation for wildlife images. They’ll even be touristy and extremely guided at occasions. If you wish to discover a wild setting, the place else might you go in Brazil? Properly, the state of São Paulo is probably not the primary to return to thoughts. However, it presents one of many largest remnants of Atlantic Forest with a plethora of conservation areas just about unknown to the remainder of the world. It is usually the place this story begins.

On the Periphery

My spouse and I are looking by the windshield, driving by the estuaries of southern Brazil. Town is giving strategy to forests – remnants at first, however indicators of civilization slowly change into much less outstanding. The cool, blue ocean fog is available in waves, surrounding the bushes, and softening the harshness of the intermittent concrete. Our vacation spot lies deep within the Atlantic forest, however now we’re simply on the sting of it. Birds that thrive on each the forest and the cultivated land are beginning to seem.

A flycatcher calls consideration to itself, leaving its perch however then returning, utilizing its streamer tail to attract wavy patterns towards the clouds. It’s the Fork-tailed Flycatcher. They’re chasing Tropical Kingbirds and one another, too. Palms mark the sting of a ravine and supply an oasis for the hyperactive birds.

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Fork-tailed Flycatcher / tesourinha. Nikon D500 + 500PF @ ISO 140, 1/2000, f/5.6

I’ve seen these flycatchers in cities, however they appear happier right here. Much less vigilant, extra playful. One other flycatcher comes, but it surely’s not the Fork-tailed. This time, a vivid, saturated, crimson flash of feathers strikes from department to fence and again. I not often see colour that appears so saturated in nature, and this Vermillion Flycatcher is a kind of pretty exceptions. Day after day, he’ll revisit his favourite perches.

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Vermillion Flycatcher / príncipe. Nikon D500 + 500PF @ ISO 500, 1/160, f/5.6

However this border between forest and city is just the start. Gently swaying within the wind is a gate a couple of meters away. That gate results in…the place? Off into the forest, off into the land of thick branches that disappear into the darkness. Sure, for wildlife images, branches can cover the birds and make it difficult to seize good photographs. However, obscured birds means birds with a pleasant house. Pleased birds. Birds on their very own phrases, and never on the phrases of a commercialized ecosystem tamed by an ecolodge. Right here, I’ll get much less pictures, but when I do get one, it’s one which means one thing to me.

On this wild habitat, a Southern Yellowthroat friends out for a second, solely to cover as soon as extra, calling, singing. I can hear Spix’s Spinetail and Campo Sparkles take refuge in an enormous tree. Just a few Clean-billed Anis come out, enjoying on the fenceposts after which hiding, peering out and deciding whether or not to fly away.

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Clean-billed Ani / anu-preto. Nikon D500 + 500PF @ ISO 900, 1/500, f/5.6

Droplets of rain and fog encompass me, and strolling by the tall grass is peaceable. Then, I really feel a shock as if I had stepped out from a cave into blinding rays of golden solar. An enormous pair of wings propels a big, feathered physique into the forest. Was it a raptor? My coronary heart beats quicker as I transfer slowly forward. The place is it? It could’t nonetheless be round, proper? I look, however I don’t dare hope it hasn’t disappeared. After which…

Unbelievable. It hasn’t left! The majestic fowl is wanting, scanning, resting – calmly sitting and supremely conscious. A Striped Owl, Asio clamator. We’re close to the southern border of its vary, which extends as far north as Mexico. It’s stunning, simply standing out agains the darkish greens. It’s not tense, and it permits a couple of pictures, turning its head right here and there like a mannequin. Three minutes later the department is empty. Discovering a fowl like that is magical, and it’s the most effective sightings of my life.

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Striped Owl / coruja-orelhuda. Nikon D500 + 500PF @ ISO 2800, 1/250, f/5.6

The extra birds I see, the extra I cherish seeing birds within the wild – untamed, unhabituated, and of their world. I keep in mind that months earlier, I did some analysis on the Pantanal. One ecolodge described how they’ve habituated birds. I really feel that people are all too keen to change the setting with out restrict.

When it comes to images, I ponder if that’s as a result of, by putting the photograph as a mere end-product to be perfected as a commodity to be scrolled previous, we’re slowly forgetting and dismissing the worth of the human expertise behind a photograph. As a substitute, we should always decrease our traces, and spot the life round us, somewhat than ourselves. To reduce one’s presence is nothing else than an invite to the soul of the opposite.

Into the Forest

The following day, we drive to a spot known as Legado das Águas – legacy of the waters – a big personal reserve that holds about one p.c of the remnant Atlantic Forest. Down the dust street, the homes vanish, and there may be simply forest.

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Atlantic Forest. Nikon Z6 + Nikon 50mm f/1.8G @ ISO 100, 1/30, f/10.0

Then, the speeding sound of water breaks the silence of the bushes. A river seems, and throughout it a bridge supplies passage. We get out and look. There are not any birds, however the patterns of water under hypnotize me. Abruptly, an enormous black mass rushes inside meters of my face! Spinning, I see it’s the White-collared Swift, and there are three of them. They’re on the lookout for bugs, I assume. Swifts are superb birds, and it’s uncommon to see them perched. They spend a lot of their lives on the wing. It have to be such a special world for them, more often than not seeing our complete world as a distant sample from above.

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White-collared Swift / taperuçu-de-coleira-branca. Nikon D500 + 500PF @ ISO 560, 1/1600, f/5.6

We drive a bit of farther and arrive to the Reserve’s restaurant. I feel to myself that even when I don’t get any good pictures of birds, a budget however scrumptious lunch buffet will give me power to attempt. I shortly eat three plates.

However there’s nothing to fret about. With the arrival of the southern Brazilian spring, the flowers are blooming, the birds are plentiful, and the forest is pouring out wealthy oxygen. Regularly, I cease and exhale with all my may, then inhale deeply, attempting to carry this treasured, candy forest air in my lungs without end. I search for, and within the distance, the flash of a Lengthy-tailed Tyrant is unmistakable.

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Lengthy-tailed Tyrant / viuvinha. Nikon D500 + 500PF @ ISO 100, 1/800, f/5.6

And any time I see flowers, together with these right here in Legado das Águas, I feel hummingbirds. Sure, right here they arrive! A big one flies by solely momentarily, however a smaller one stays. Its mild noticed throat offers it away because the Festive Coquette. It darts from flower to flower however stays lengthy sufficient for me to get an image or two.

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Festive Coquette / topetinho-verde. Nikon D500 + 500PF @ ISO 1100, 1/400, f/5.6

Later, a employees member offers me complicated directions on how one can discover the cauré. However what’s the cauré? I’m not too acquainted with the Brazilian names for birds. It’s some well-known fowl, I assume, but it surely appears to be unimaginable to search out. They are saying it’s on a white tree. Properly, there are about 1,000,000 whitish bushes round, and all kinds of different ones moreover. I hope it’s not a Rock Dove.

“It’s alleged to be on the finish of a path,” another person says. “Close to the tip, and really simple to see.” I’ve heard that earlier than, and never in a great way, however let’s attempt anyway. Properly, the forest is getting dense once more, and the sunshine isn’t terribly good. I name it “ISO 20,000 gentle”. Not less than there was a Bananaquit at the beginning of the path.

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Bananaquit / cambacica . Nikon D500 + 500PF @ ISO 500, 1/800, f/5.6

I do see some bushes that is likely to be the one favored by the magical cauré. However no fowl. Nonetheless, down under there’s a dam surrounded by birds flying in all instructions. Swallows. They use holes in a concrete wall to launch themselves out for the hunt. They’re deliciously cute and so they don’t thoughts us an excessive amount of. We cease there, relaxation, and neglect the cauré.

After a while with the swallows, we head again. The rain intensifies, however the swallows fly as carefree as ever. Nearer to the trail, a tropical Kingbird perches towards the foggy, lush mountains within the rain. A shot or two, and it’s time to return to the path.

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Tropical Kingbird / suiriri. Nikon D500 + 500PF @ ISO 640, 1/160, f/6.3

As I slowly shifting up the street, one thing large flies! One thing cool! It lands on a really attribute white tree. It’s so out of the unusual that it have to be the cauré. Now I perceive. It’s the Bat Falcon! I take a file shot, not letting myself hope that it’s going to keep as I transfer into a greater place.

However this Bat Falcon is unperturbed, preening and infrequently flying down and away and coming again up as soon as extra. Is it searching? I look at the tree rigorously, attempting numerous angles to get essentially the most pleasing association of branches and pose. Fortunately this tree solely has thick, stunning branches, all positioned towards a distant mountain background, coloured blue within the mild rain.

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Bat Falcon / cauré. Nikon D500 + 500PF @ 500mm, ISO 1100, 1/640, f/5.6

On the Street

I want I might spend the remainder of my life on this forest, simply observing animals. But it surely’s time to maneuver once more, only a hundred kilometers away.

We go briefly by a spot supposedly good for birds, but it surely seems simply to be a feeder. I don’t oppose feeders categorically, however that is the worst sort of feeder as a result of they feed the birds a lot that the birds are combating, and we depart as shortly as we are able to. This kind of touristic overexploitation for me has no place in fowl images, and there are two new birds I see that I don’t even add to my listing.

Fortunately we depart and are available throughout a forest path. This one is so darkish that it’s nearly unimaginable to see any birds aside from one White-throated Spadebill. This isn’t the primary time I’ve seen this species. I feel they have to be curious birds as a result of they all the time come so shut. Are they checking us out, questioning what we’re doing? It lingers above after which strikes to a department proper over the trail. I take a danger and take a look at a long-ish shutter pace. Then it’s gone.

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White-throated Spadebill / patinho. Nikon D500 + 500PF @ ISO 1800, 1/100, f/5.6

Carlos Botelho Park

We make our strategy to our vacation spot. The forest habitat adjustments into farmland punctuated with small cities. On the street, big vehicles carrying eucalypts and different timber are a reminder that the gorgeous forests are a uncommon exception, and never the rule.

The uniform monoculture farms give strategy to the scarred wilderness of the Carlos Botelho park. We’re staying close to the park in an Airbnb run by Adilson Brito and Edi Oliveira, a pair with a ardour for conservation. They personal 30 hectares of land close by that after was a soybean plantation, however that they dedicated to rewilding. Adilson offers me a couple of uncommon pictures that he scanned from an expedition of Reinhard Maack. Maack was an explorer, and his pictures present immense swaths of untouched Atlantic forest that not exist immediately.

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1930 expedition photograph taken by explorar Reinhard Maack, displaying a pristine a part of the Atlantic Forest that not exists immediately. Courtesy of Adilson Brito.

However Adilson tells us that the Atlantic forest has an unimaginable regenerative potential, and the proof is correct earlier than our eyes. They began rewilding a lot of their land in 2010, and already it’s laborious to inform that it’s a brand new forest. Now, as a substitute of a soybean plantation, it’s the Refúgio das Araucárias and Ecovila, the place they’ve dedicated to holding 80% of the land wild. The remaining 20% is used to develop meals and broaden an eco-village the place one can construct a sustainable tiny home.

It’s laborious to convey how cool their story is, particularly for individuals who haven’t lived in Brazil. However after residing right here for 2 years, I can say that doing issues in Brazil is tough, particularly when these issues are off the overwhelmed observe. I solely want extra individuals who owned land would see that rewilding it might be our final hope for redemption.

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Black-throated Mango / beija-flor-de-veste-preta. Nikon D500 + 500PF @ ISO 450, 1/1000, f/5.6

On their property, there’s an incredible path. Strolling by its windy path, I’m reminded of an important motive to look at birds. It’s not only for the photographic alternatives, neither is it only a recreation of numbers (though seeing new species is actually enthralling). As a substitute, watching birds is a method of receiving historical data of ecosystems, of life, and of ourselves.

For when you spend time with birds, you possibly can inform from the sorts of birds you see whether or not the land is wholesome or sick, simply as you possibly can inform whether or not pal is doing fantastic by the best way they speak and stroll. This data doesn’t come from science, however from a soul resonating with nature.

And strolling on this path, I really feel that resonance and understanding. So, after I see two Star-throated Antwrens in a courtship dance, it’s not the rarity of the species that signifies ecosystem well being. As a substitute, it’s the happiness of their track and their dance and their playful, unconcerned hops from department to department.

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Star-Throated Antwren / choquinha-de-garganta-pintada. Nikon D500 + 500PF @ ISO 4000, 1/500, f/5.6

We get pleasure from our final moments within the forest. The climate isn’t nice for fowl images – it’s both too sunny, too wet, or too darkish. Even so, it’s simply good to stroll on this stunning peace. The sounds of the birds and the wind within the bushes are excellent.

Nobody else is on any of the paths. Solitude is so vital, and but the fashionable world is taking that away from everybody. Our determined try to assemble a extra superior society required a sacrifice of group and friendship, which has been changed with superior expertise. The forest tells me there’s something incorrect with that.

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Atlantic Forest. Nikon Z6 + Nikon 50mm f/1.8G @ ISO 100, 1/50, f/2.2

On the finish of 1 path, we come to a prainha, or little seaside. It’s the most stunning place as a result of it’s the farthest level into the wild that we’ve got come. I see no birds right here, however the bushes are mirrored within the meandering waters of the Taquaral river. And it’s simply as stunning as any fowl, rippling towards the sleek stones. I’ve heard that in cities, some birds sing extra harshly and with much less nuance as a result of they must compete with noise air pollution. Right here, the birdsong has by no means sounded extra pretty.

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Taquaral River. Nikon Z6 + Nikon 50mm f/1.8G @ ISO 250, 1/250, f/3.2

We sit on the little stones and watch leaves drift by. Bursting out of the calmness, a creature is shifting throughout the water’s floor and involves shore. It’s a water spider, and it rests its nimble legs earlier than darting off as soon as extra down the gently flowing stream.

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Water Spider. Panasonic G9 + Laowa 2X Macro @ 50mm, ISO 800, 1/125, f/7.1

Conclusion

The Atlantic Forest of Brazil is a particular place. I cherished each minute of being surrounded by it, and but I used to be additionally crushed by how little of the luxurious, life-giving forest stays.

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Purple-breasted Toucan / tucano-de-bico-verde. Nikon D500 + 500PF @ ISO 100, 1/250, f/5.6

All through this journey, I additionally gave severe thought to the character of wildlife images. Is the aim of wildlife images to get gorgeous and delightful photos of wildlife? For me, I concluded that the reply is no.

As a substitute, for me, the last word function of wildlife images can solely be to deliver again little experiences with birds and animals, and present that there’s nonetheless one thing good on this world. And though I’m very completely happy to have introduced again images I like, realizing that this forest would final without end and broaden into its former vary would make me far happier than any {photograph}.

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