Brazil: With André Tostes at Salesópolis

Birding is really important for nature conservation. I say this because I think birding is the best way to promote public natural history participation! Brazil is a country of amazing contrasts, inspiring conservation efforts and catastrophic environmental degradation often occur side by side. Just a few days ago, we returned from a trip to this remarkable country, meeting people and exploring places for the first time. Here, I will riff on the importance of birding in Southeastern Brasil, from our views during our mini-road trip through São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais states. On this post I concentrate on one such destination near São Paulo and our guide there.

First, our guide and the birding scene in Southeast Brazil 

Of course, I want to thank my newfound friend and top birding guide André Tostes, who introduced us to the Salesópolis area. This took place on our second day in Brazil, of our 11-day road trip. His guidance was a trip highlight! First, I present some details of his bio and notes on the birding scene in Southeastern Brazil.

André Tostes is a 35-year-old Brazilian birding guide, a family man, and someone genuinely in love with nature. He is of the arts, with a business and letters degree and a tour guide certificated by the Tourism Ministry. He has been actively birding since 2017 and uploading pics and sounds since 2018, contributing to iNaturalist, Wikiaves and eBird. His major area of deep nature experiance is his home state of São Paulo, with particular knowledge of the Atlantic Forest (Mata Atlantica) and southeastern Brazil in general. He has an amazing knowledge of the regional specialties and difficult-to-detect birds. His field skills include bird identification by both sight and vocalization, locating secretive forest and marsh species, bird photography, and sound recording. I was especially impressed by his persistence in bringing birds out by careful playback and his remarkable ability to find and identify birds by sound. And since André is also a master of languages—his own language and an expert English-language teacher as well—he is a great help for someone trying to learn Brazilian Portuguese! (I am listing André's address below - I highly recommend his guiding services for English-speakers in Brasil).  

Now something important for us english-speakers traveling in Brazil...If you don't speak Brazilian Portuguese, it is really a culture-shock to do an independent road-trip there. People speak their language, and many of course understand or speak some Spanish as well. It is not a touristy country and English is not widely understood. So to break-into the philosophy of the culture it is interesting and I think important to take up some Portuguese; I did and I enjoyed it. (I recommend a 30-day AI assisted multi-media blitz; also using Pimsleur® while drving, Youtube, and other such media; i.e., listen-repeat while commuting and keeping a notebook. Also, limited duolingo as well. The key is building confidence in speaking!).

Back to birding: I should mention that in very recent years, birding is growing strong in southeastern Brazil. I was told there are important events and a growing number of young specialists, not just eclectic photographers or jungle-hermit museum men. A birder is now known here as a passarinheiro (Informal community slang) or more formally observador/a de aves. The nationwide movement and social media hashtag used by local birders is #vempassarinhar ("come birdwatching"). Key citizen science hubs are: a) WikiAves, the absolute central hub for Brazilian citizen science, seemingly nearly every serious birder in Brazil uses this platform to upload photos and vocalizations; and b) Avistar: The largest annual birdwatching festival and gathering in Latin America, held in the greeny city of São Paulo. On Youtube media a very interesting channel for listening to the wonderful Brazilian language, about birds specificially, is Planeta Aves hosted by Willian Menq (https://www.youtube.com/@PlanetaAves). Also, have a look at the top-notch touring work promotion done by Calyptura Expeditions (https://www.youtube.com/@CalypturaExpeditions), shout-out and thanks to Brazilian birding veteran,  Rene Santos for his help in our trip preparation. 

The Salesopolis in São Paulo State: a new eBird hotbed of hotspots!

The tiny town of Salesópolis is known to birders worldwide primarily because it is home to one particularly rare bird, the São Paulo Marsh Antwren, and because of a small ecolodge that regularly hosts visiting birders, Macuquinho Lodge (providing feeders and a trail). The very small town of Salesopolis, not really a polis, is located only a couple of hours (91 kms) from the main international airport of São Paulo (Guarulhos). Our birding experience here, however, was somewhat different, since we toured the wider area without focusing exclusively on the rare birds and without visiting the well-known lodge. And we did not find the rare Antwren - Formicivora paludicola (also classified as a subspecies Formicivora acutirostris paludicola). It is very obvious that you don't need either of these two attractions to enjoy and explore Salesópolis as a premier birding and natural history area. There is so much more to see and discover.

One of the highlights was actually discovering a new eBird hotspot at our own guesthouse accommodation, Pousada Quintal de Hortênsias, just outside the town. We highly recommend the place for at least a three night stay. It is full of birds, with a short upland trail through secondary woodland and immediate access to a tiny stream floodplain. It has wonderful landscape views, but is not yet...geared to focusing on avitourism (no feeders, unfortunately). But the place has mega-potential, and it is also wonderfully situated for exploring a variety of other birding sites in the surrounding countryside. We evaluated the bird richness of the property and, within just two days, identified at least 60 bird species there. André then helped promote the site as an eBird hotspot and discussed with the proprietor some simple improvements that could make the property even more attractive to birders and other nature-going visitors.

For me, this is an important part of what birding can contribute to conservation. Promoting small, locally owned accommodations, documenting their biodiversity, and encouraging nature-based tourism can give local communities another reason to appreciate and protect the landscapes around them. We really believe that this kind of small-scale ecotourism and birding promotion can contribute to the conservation of the wider landscape around Salesópolis.

Salesópolis--Salesópolis Wetland

Salesopolis wetland, a huge area with open-country birds and wonderful road-side vistas. The farms nearby also present interesting open-country birds, very close to the town of Salesopolis.

Brazilian Teal. 

Yellow-throated Spinetail.

Black-headed Donacobius, these one's are at Pousada Quintal de Hortênsias.

Rufous Tiger Herons at the wetland.

Masked Water-Tyrant, another common bird, looks very much like a wheatear! 

Guira Cuckoo, a common species in open country and parks as well.

Marvellous wetlands! 

Early morning it was chilly! 

Salesópolis--Pousada Quintal Das Hortansias 

One of the nicest places a birder can stay at: Pousada Quintal Das Hortansias). 

The pousada with the native woods above. 

Nice trail above the pousada, regenerating native woods. 

Blond-crested Woodpecker, seen twice on our trip, this one was from further afield, but I got a similar view at the trail above the pousada. 

The view near the trail within the property of the pousada. View of the landscape east of town. Note the extensive eucalypt and pine plantations in the distance. 

Red-breasted Toucan. Surprisingly this is the only species we saw really well. We heard another two and saw one of those fly-over, but in 11 days we only say one decent toucan. I am so happy we took this photo.

Campos Flickers. 

Rufous-sided Crake, seen breifly (and filmed) after much play-back persistance. 

Black-headed Donacobius; amazing marshbirds on display.

Guans are not easy to see in a rural landscape where they are frequently hunted. On one of my early morning walks I saw some above the guesthouse. This photo is from Ubatuba on the coast (touristy place, where they are totally fearless of humans).

 

Sapphire-spangled Emerald. One of several hummers seen. 

Serra do Mar State Park--Núcleo Padre Dória

The guards and the paperwork upon entering Serra do Mar State Park--Núcleo Padre Dória. No one else was there, no fee to pay (just pre-book). Nice situation. 

Perhaps the best raptor of the entire trip: Black Hawk-Eagle (Spizaetus tyrannus).

One of the amazing bromeliads. 

One of the tigerwings we saw. Not much butterfly activity, it was still "late winter" in the area. 

Seeing birds in the forest was not easy. Trogons, we heard them many times, did not see a single bird. 

In good company.

Salesópolis--Bairro dos Mirandas

André Tostes, a natural optimist, working on his skills at playback. 

Bare-throated Bellbird: several were singing and easily visible from a far. One of the best birds of the trip. 

Sooty Tyrannulet, seen really well. 

  

Please inquire about at:

André Tostes: https://www.instagram.com/tostesandre/

And birders should visit Pousada Quintal das Hortênsias, find information at: https://pousada-quintal-das-hortensias.allsaopaulohotels.com/en/

This graffiti was found at the base of a bridge near Ubatuba: A bird that wants to fly needs no cage....

And our final eBird contributions in our 11-day trip from Sao Paulo to Rio and back again: 40 lists, 178 species identified, 144 photographed. Slow birding during a road-trip with many other obligations, not just birding. You may be surprised at the rather low overall number of birds. Birding needs time and lots of patience. A reason to go back!

Natural History on Lesvos! An ecotourism paradise?

Mid April 2026

It’s been three decades since I last toured the island of Lesvos. Vassiliki and I were here in July 1995 to map the wetlands of Kalloni and Gera Bays on contract with the Ornithological Society, for a project organized by the Greek Biotope Wetland Centre (EKBY). The report was an interesting exercise in identifying, delineating and organizing wetland conservation needs.

This time I am back on a survey of streams, conducting a rapid assessment of pressures on river water bodies. I am also keeping notes on birds, but I have severe lower back pain and am moving very slowly.

There are some things I want to say about the island, and especially about the reasoning behind promoting a “different” kind of tourism here. And generally saving the authentic character of this unique island. And specifically, Lesvos is particularly important for its ecotourism initiatives in Greece.

Firstly, the relative conservation status of the island’s landscapes: they are still largely intact, agro-pastoral, and in many places purely beautiful and authentic. Even the coastlines are well preserved. It is quite amazing. The island’s 300,000+ sheep help maintain a wonderful mosaic of agro-forested savannas, phrygana, pseudo-steppe, grasslands, rockscapes and heterogeneous maquis scrub, supporting a rich biodiversity of invertebrates, reptiles, and birds. Lesvos is also surprisingly wooded. There is no island in Greece with this extent of oak forest, but it is not just woodland—it is also the beautiful groves, dense and extensive pinewoods, rocky forested pastures, punctuated by jagged volcanic formations. It is a truly unique landscape, and all these habitats are widespread. The wider landscape is the issue here, its big and no hyperbole.

Secondly, the specifics of the biodiversity. The island holds two-thirds of all wetland area in the Aegean Greek islands. Unlike Chios for example, wetlands are everywhere and in many forms, primarily due to the island’s geology (impervious volcanic rocks) and topography (shallow bays, gulfs, and highly indented coastal plains) and wetness - the island is more northerly...closer to the Marmara and Black Sea! This spring has been particularly wet, and all wetlands were well flooded. Biodiversity, in all its forms, is rich both on land and at sea. I am not sure how well this has been studied, but for ichthyofauna we are still lagging far behind—and there are some very important freshwater fish species in the streams here. Sealife is interesting here (another long story). The asiatic component of the fauna also - Persian Squirrels! But little is catalogued, for example little is known about aquatic insects and stream faunas. Birds, however, are well studied.

Thirdly, in terms of natural history education and ecotourism identity, the island is among the richest and most enriching of the Greek islands, perhaps only rivalled by Crete and Corfu. I think better than Corfu at least (however both Corfu as is Euboea and Lesvos are all continental islands). Lesvos is the premier Greek island for birding and one of Europe’s best-known globally-distinguished birding destinations, with no fewer than three English-language birding guidebooks dedicated to it (i.e., Williams, Brooks, Dudley). The main “honeypot” area for birding is the small village of Skala Kalloni, located in the centre of the island next to its largest wetlands on the Bay of Kalloni. The island also hosts one of the best geological museums I have ever seen, including a unique thematic Natural History Museum exhibits - this at the Petrified Forest area, at its easternmost edge, in the windswept, ocean-like port of Sigri. In addition, the island has a dynamic university with several departments related to environmental studies, geography, and marine sciences. What an amazing place to build the University of the Aegean! 

All this sounds really positive, but is the island’s nature, its cultural landscapes, and its scenic beauty truly protected?

Well, as one of the birding guidebooks on Lesvos eloquently notes: “Nature conservation as we know it in Europe is not practiced here”... (Dudley, 2007). And unfortunately, although this does sound extreme, a radical statement for sure, it does have some truth to it, even in 2026.

So, what are the problems?

• Protected areas do exist but they are are not managed for biodiversity conservation. Biodiversity in itself is poorly inventoried or monitored (with the exception of birds- where a lot of citizen science comes into play). Many stream suffer from anti-flood protection schemes that tears down woodlands of Platanus and rich riparian habitats nearly at every major stream even within the protected areas. In the hills, the conservation is happening, forests are growing back (we must acknowledge this) but it is due to the paradox of beneign neglect. 

• “Benign neglect” is not enough! In Mediterranean landscape conservation, “benign neglect” refers to the passive protection of landscapes through the continuation of low-intensity traditional land uses and limited human intervention, allowing ecological processes and biodiversity patterns to persist without intensive management. In many Mediterranean regions, however, complete abandonment may eventually lead to shrub encroachment, increased wildfire risk, and the loss of semi-natural habitats historically maintained by grazing and small-scale agriculture. 

• The island is facing a major rural depopulation and farming-collapse crisis. Sustaining the “working, living village” must be a priority for landscape management and biodiversity conservation. Without grazing and traditional land use, this richly heterogeneous mosaic of landscapes will collapse. If this abandonment continues, that would mean future mega-fires, expansion of closed shrub cover, loss of microhabitats for species dependent on open land, and rapid biodiversity decline.

• Water and wetlands may be common landscape features, but they must be better protected. We say many infringements, drainage-degradation, roading, anti-flood works wrongly developed, garbage dumping, in-filling near roads, small tourist buildings in wet areas, fencing, etc.

• Ecotourism promotion is not enough; it requires proper care of facilities and consistent, keen upkeep. The island’s ecotourism infrastructure is in poor repair, signage is poor, trash everywhere, ugly but localized sprawl close and inside many wildlife hotspots.

• The scenic beauty and naturalness, currently maintained largely through benign neglect, are now threatened by two major forces: a) over-development and construction for low-key tourism (moslty holliday home and small hotel building and roading) outside designated settlement areas, and b) industrial wind turbine expansion (threatening the wild western part of the island; which by the way is mostly protected in extensive Natura 2000 sites).

Some snap-shots follow....

One of the many small wetlands, this one near Eressos in teh beautiful western part of the island

Messa Wetland (aka ''Derbyshire''); one of the signature landscapes of Kalloni Bay (Photo: https://www.lesvosgeopark.

Ruddy Shelduck are just fantastic to be around, this 'eastern bird' is one of the specialties of the island.

The Kalloni Salt Works are the largest and best wetland on the isalnd. Besides the industrial salinas teh area around is full of water meadows and other wetland habitat.

Marsh Sandpipers! 

Dalmatian Pelicans stopped over at Kalloni for a few hours in the morning. 

Messon Wetland with many Glossy Ibises! 

A group of spanish students near the well-sited hide at Alykes Kallonis near Agia Paraskevi.

A flight of ibises at Skala Kallonis.

An activist's map of developments on Lesvos. Focus on the ''Planning Stage'' proposals of Industrial Wind Turbine plants on the western part of the island (Αιολικά Άδεια Παραγωγής). Already there are just a few such plants- and they make a mighty impression on the landscape - in the heart of the GeoPark. If the planning stage with production approval proceeds (which I hope it won't) than the western part of the island will be one big industrial wind farm (source of map: "Συλλογικότητες υποδοχής στη Λέσβο της APIIDTT Οαχάκας Μεξικού, ο Νότος Αντιστέκεται» Ιούλιος 2023"; from repost on facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/aigilops) .

The island's Natura 2000 protected areas. Note there are few small reserves, this effort to create larger contiguous areas sometimes overshadows critically important smaller areas or areas very close to the large reserves. 

THE APRIL 2026 SURVEY

My rough trip itinerary (yellow lines) from 13th to 19th April 2026. Green spot, the base, Hotel Pasiphae at Skala Kallonis (About 600 km covered). 

eBird Hotspots and local sites visted during my tour. I only managed one day East of Skala Kallonis, I highly recommend this western part of the island. Totally unique. 

Muğla Turkey: Short visit

 

April 29th to May 1st

Muğla Turkey this time...the name is pronounced Moola; Μούγλα in Greek since Byzantine times. I came here for a scientific workshop but also for enjoying the nature, culture and language of Turkey. After or before meetings, I walked a couple of times just out of town to the ancient Acropolis on Masa Dağı (Table Mountain) and the lower part of the Değirmendere Canyon (immediately near the city, a peri-urban area really). Muğla is a relatively small city by modern turkish standards, about  61,550 (2009 estimate) and often overlooked by visitors to the nearby coastal resorts. I visited by landing at the airport in Bodrum, which is only an hour and 10 mins drive away.

Muğla's center is situated inland at an altitude of 660 m and lies at a distance of about 30 km from the nearest sea coast, the Gulf of Gökova to its south-west. We also visited Akyaka (ate at the Akyaka Orman Kampi Restorani that provides a view of the inner bay of Gökova). On Masa Dağı, to the north of the city, a few ancient remains and rock-cut tombs indicate that it was the site of an acropolis. It appears in the historical record for the first time at the beginning of the 2nd century BC under the name Mobolla (Ancient Greek: Μόβωλλα).

I have not researched the presence of the Anatolian Greeks in this area, but Wikipedia says that in 1912 the Sanjak of Menteşe (Muğla) had a total population of 42,000, of which 1,500–4,000 were ethnic Greeks, according to its various sources. Most Greeks residing in the subprovince lived in the city of Muğla, totalling slightly more than 1,000 in number; but I did read somewhere (Muğla Chamber of Commerce and Industry website) that there were said to be 3000 Greeks in Muğla City. So easy to forget the history. As all know we had this terrible population exchange so they all had to leave in 1924. But I did find one house in the old part of the city with some Greek letters above the doorway.

Anyway, I really recommend staying a couple of nights in this city to soak up a truely authentic turkish small-urban experience. The people are extremely friendly and hospitable and you can definately walk into wonderful countryside in spring. There are very very few foreign tourists. On the trails I saw no tourists. I did have an encounter with a dog, but it was very shy. 

The little walking I did was wonderful and I had some good wildlife experiences, especially finding my first Caucasian Squirrels (Sciurus anomalus, used to be called Persian Squirrel) and wonderful photo-ops of Rüppell's warbler, Masked Shrike, Wheatears, Rock Nathatch, Peregrine etc. Also the flight of Gull-billed Terns at Gökova. Of course, I would return to this part of Turkey anytime! 

More on our new project here:

https://www.planet.gr/news/new-project-leading-major-eu-project-safeguard-turkiyes-wetlands-and-coasts-against-climate

Some snapshots follow....

Aquilibrium Workshop with Stakeholders

City of Muğla 

View of the City from the Acropolis (Masa Dağı)

Değirmendere Canyon (Karamuğla Deresi)

Wildlife in and Near the City

Gulf of Gökova at Akyaka