About Us

The company

Brazil Birding Experts is a Brazilian based company specialized in Birding Tours all around the country, including the many Amazonian Endemism Centers, the Pantanal, the exuberant Southeast and not to forget, the one and only Northeast Brazil. It all started when Ciro Albano did his first guiding trip in 2006. Not much later, he founded “NE Brazil Birding”, and continued providing the best services and breathtaking “Northeast Brazil experiences” to his clients. After a few years officially in the market, Ciro’s agenda started to get busy. In the year of 2015, Ciro trusted his first clients to Caio Brito who started helping Ciro with his “excess of quota”. After a few years, Caio had already provided a few successful tours. Like Ciro and Caio, who are good friends and started working together in partnership, they also have many friend ornithologists who are true experts in the many regions of Brazil. With the urge and will to deliver the best services for birders around the world in the many regions of Brazil, Ciro and Caio joined together and founded Brazil Birding Experts, who will also rely on the services of Brazilian friends: Expert Birders. Although the company was only officially founded in 2018, Ciro has been guiding since 2006, and Caio since 2014. Before the company was even open, Tatiana Pongiluppi joined the team to give an essential hand with customized itinerary planning, logistics and guiding, mainly in the Southeast.

We are happy to present the BEST experiences you will ever have Birding in Brazil!

 
The Team

Ciro Albano

Ciro Albano was born and grew up in Fortaleza, capital of the state of Ceará in the heart of the Caatinga Biome. Throughout his childhood, he would often visit the countryside accompanying his father, a nature photographer, and this inevitably turned him into a nature enthusiast. This passion made Ciro choose to study biology at university, and to specialize in birds has been his natural choice ever since. In 2003, Ciro joined the NGO Aquasis to work with bird research and conservation.

For five years he was a team member and one of the founders on the Conservation Projects of two critically endangered species – the Araripe Manakin and the Grey-breasted Parakeet. Ciro’s skill at identifying bird calls and his wide knowledge of the birds of North-eastern Brazil drew the attention of other Brazilian ornithologists and birding guides, and in 2006 Edson Endrigo and Ricardo Parrini contacted him to suggest he should lead tours in the Northeast. By that time, he had already fallen in love with birding and since that he never stops leading Tours.

He is also a bird photographer and enthusiastic for bird recordings, with photos published in several important publications as the HBW,  he’s author or co-author of several scientific paper on birds. One of Ciro’s greatest discoveries is a yet unnamed new bird species to science, of the genus Myiornis ( Pygmy-Tyrant ), that is under the process of description.
Since Ciro spends most of his time in the field, his knowledge of local birds here is incomparable, so that trips he organizes to all and any sites in the Northeast and nearby areas are truly unforgettable.

Specialty: Northeast Brazil
Also guides: Southeast and some parts of the Amazon


Caio Brito

Caio Brito was born in Fortaleza, state of Ceará, Northeast Brazil, in 1989. At the age of 5, he followed his family to California, where he lived from 1995 to 2000. Because of this early experience with the English language, he is a fluent English-speaking guide.

In the year of 2012, after getting his degree in Biology at the State University of Ceará (UECE), Caio went on a road trip around Brazil on his 125cc motorcycle! He was eager to know more about the country and its biogeographical aspects (and all the birds, of course!). This trip provided him with a fair general idea of the country, and, most important, it gave him the thirst to seek ever more! From then on, Caio has been setting out on journeys throughout the country in every single Brazilian biome, and has seen over 1500 birds on all four corners of Brazil!

Caio is an enthusiastic, fun, patient and thoughtful person to be with. Besides the birds that he is always very passionate to show, there is always a hot thermos bottle of coffee to keep you going during the day!

If you want to have fun besides seeing a great number of birds, look no further!

Caio has a vast experience in the Northeast and Southeast and also guides in the Amazon, Pantanal and Southern Brazil.


Tatiana Pongiluppi

Tatiana Pongiluppi was born in São Paulo, one of the most biodiverse states of Brazil, with exuberant patches of Atlantic Forest. And it was in this environment that Tatiana began birding in the year of 2004, when she was still an undergraduate student.

In 2007, she started working in SAVE Brasil (Birdlife International in Brazil), where she began traveling to many parts of the country acting for bird conservation in local communities and carrying out bird surveys. All of this time in the field gave her well-trained ears and it is the identification of bird songs that really gets Tatiana’s attention.

Tatiana passionately worked for years connecting people, environment, culture and birds while leading citizen science projects. She pursued her master’s degree on biodiversity in protected areas in 2017. Currently, she applies all of these skills and knowledge to work on logistics and guiding to provide the best experience for birding tourists in Brazil.

Specialty: Southeast Brazil
Also guides: Pantanal and some parts of the Northeast


Carlos Gussoni

Carlos Gussoni is an ornithologist with Phd in Zoology, that worked with natural history of the Restinga Tyrannulet in the states of São Paulo and Paraná for almost 10 years. He lives in the countryside of São Paulo and is currently studying the biology of a Critically Endangered species of Chachalaca (Ortalis remota). He is a birder since he was 11 years old and has travelled birding in 21 of the 26 Brazilian states. In his expeditions, he has already observed 1229 species in Brazilian territory, giving him a wide knowledge on the Brazilian avifauna. In the southeast, there is nothing that goes unnoticed by Carlo’s ears.

eBird profile: https://ebird.org/profile/NTAxMDY4/world

Specialty: Southeast Brazil


Pablo Cerqueira

Pablo Cerqueira was born in Teresina, capital of Piauí state in 1989, and grew up traveling from a big town to a little city in the south of Piauí in the middle of the Caatinga and Cerrado environments during his school holidays. Since his childhood he was very curious to know about animals whom he observed in nature. He naturally chose to study Biology to specialize in birds.

At the end of his undergraduate course, Pablo moved to Belém city in 2012, to study Zoology focusing in evolution and biogeography of Neotropical birds. During his Master’s degree he has worked with Phylogeography and interspecific limits of the polytypic Black-billed Thrush (Turdus ignobilis). In 2019 concluded his PhD. thesis focused on evolution patterns of endemic birds of the Caatinga domain. He is now associate researcher in “Universidade Federal do Pará” and “Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi”, contributing in studies of evolutionary history, biogeography and ecology.

Pablo has ten years of field experience participating and organizing expeditions to many places in the Amazon, Caatinga dry forests and Cerrado with a special interest in exploring remote regions. During his Master’s degree Pablo observed that eastern Pará state was virtually unexplored for birding in the Belém Area of Endemism and decided to organize tours focusing in rare and endemic birds of Pará state and many friends encouraged this initiative. Currently, Pablo offers birding tours through many areas of endemism in the Amazon forest and northeastern Brazil, accounting for over 1,000 species.

He is an enthusiastic wildlife photographer and sound recordist, contributor of the Macaulay Library (Cornell Lab of Ornithology).

Specialty: Central and Eastern Amazon

Also guides: Western Amazon, Northeast Brazil.


Fernando Farias

Fernando Farias is from Florianópolis (Santa Catarina), the place where he was born and developed his interest for birds, even before starting his undergraduate studies. During his undergraduate years he was involved in many studies with avifauna and his final year project was a comparison between birds of Santa Catarina Island (Florianópolis) and the near mainland. In 2018 he finished his Master’s degree in State University of Londrina (UEL) studying the pattern of richness and composition of birds along an altitudinal gradient in Santa Catarina.

He is passionate about traveling and discovering different landscapes, especially for birding and wildlife photography. He has visited many Brazilian biomes: Amazon forest, Pantanal, Caatinga and Mata Atlantica. He has also visited Patagônia, Pampas and Yungas during a road trip in Argentina and Atacama in Chile.

He is also the author of “Aves da Estação Ecológica de Carijós”, a bird guide of a conservation unit in Florianópolis.

With vast experience with birds of South Brazil, he works as a birdwatching guide in the region since 2014.

Specialty: South Brazil

Also guides: Southeast Brazil


Bruno Rennó

Bruno is from Resende, state of Rio de Janeiro, at the foot of the beautiful Itatiaia National Park. During his school holidays he traveled to the interior of Minas Gerais, at the home of his grandparents, in the confines of the Serra da Mantiqueira and since his childhood was an active and obsessed birder.

His passion for birds led him to study biology at the university, with a focus on ornithology. Bruno is a true field ornithologist and enjoys natural history, biogeography, conservation, and bird vocalizations. He has a keen ear for bird sounds and deep knowledge of Brazilian bird vocalizations, which has led him to make a number of significant discoveries in the environment, such as a possible new Oropendola species recorded in the Amazon region of Mato Grosso state.
Since 1998 he travels regularly throughout Brazil and has observed birds in almost every state of his country. He is a nature photographer and sound recorder, and has compiled an extensive collection of photos and sounds with over 1300 species of Brazilian birds, including many rare, endemic and endangered species. In 2012 he was a member of the team that represented Brazil in the first World Birding Rally Challenge held in Peru.

Bruno’s love for birdwatching and his enthusiasm in the field is contagious, and he loves to share these experiences with other birders, appreciating the challenges of searching for rarities and target birds.

Bruno lives with his wife and young son in Itajubá, in the Mantiqueira mountains, in the south of Minas Gerais, between two of the most beautiful birding areas in southeastern Brazil, Campos do Jordão and Itatiaia National Park.

Specialty: Amazon (Rondonia and Acre) and Southeast Brazil

Also guides: Other areas in Amazon and Central Brazil


Felipe Arantes

Felipe was born in São Paulo-SP and has been passionate about wildlife since he was a child, which led him to study Biology, becoming an ornithologist focusing on the history, morphology, and songs of Brazilian birds.

He has a broad experience with bird surveys and bird monitoring projects in protected and remaining natural areas, mainly in the Amazon and the Atlantic Forest. Due to his expert skill in fieldwork and ornithological knowledge, he collaborated in research projects and management plans, for example, in the Madeira River Basin and Gurupi Biological Reserve.

He currently works as a birdwatching guide and environmental consultant. The topics that interest him most are biogeography, bird sounds and natural history. He is fascinated by photographing animals in the wild and recording their songs.

Specialty: Southeast Brazil

Also guides: Some areas in Amazon


Andre C. De Luca

Andre De Luca was born in São Paulo and is a true wildlife lover. He spent his childhood in close contact with the Atlantic Forest, always getting into the woods, swamps and restingas on he coastal area of the State.

Initially graduated in Business Administration, Andre decided to study Biology and follow his need to be in contact with nature. He was involved in a series of studies ranging from freshwater fish to gastropods, groups that gave him the honor in two described species (Hypsolebias delucai and Conus delucai). His passion for birds came to light about 20 years ago when he started to work with conservation at the NGO SAVE Brasil (BirdLife Internation partner) where, among other activities, he did extensive ornithological research in the cocoa plantation areas of southern Bahia. He is the author of the book “Important Bird Areas in Brazil – Part II: Amazon, Cerrado and Pantanal”, also published with SAVE Brasil.

Amongst his current professional activities, Andre has been working for more than 10 years as an environmental consultant and, consequently, he had the opportunity to travel extensively and visit all Brazilian biomes (specially Amazon), having then registered more than 1500 bird species in the national territory.

As a guide, Andre is always attentive to any detail in the landscape. From the tinyest land snails to the rarest and beautiful birds, his sharp eyes and ears are in constant search for news to show you!

He currently lives in Goiânia, capital of the State of Goiás, a city close to Brasília and inserted in the Cerrado of Central Brazil, where he usually enjoys birds from his apartment window (where he has more than 200 species recorded in 5 years)!

Specialty: Southern Amazon and Southeast Brazil

Also guides: Southern Pantanal, Cerrado (Central Brazil) and other areas in the Amazon

Also guides: Some areas in Amazon


Arthur Gomes

Arthur was born in Campinas, in the countryside of São Paulo state. He was interested in nature since he was a child, and as a teenager he discovered his passion for birdwatching. He graduated in Biology, and then joined in a master’s degree in Ecology at the National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA) in Manaus. During his master’s degree he lived in the Amazon, where he’s still involved in several expeditions to remote regions, and has even found new species’ records for Brazil. He has participated in birding trips in almost every brazilian state, having accumulated more than a thousand species of birds recorded in Brazil alone on eBird. This provided him with extensive experience in the field as well as naturalistic knowledge of the environment and various biological groups, therefore, as a guide, he is capable of identifying and showing a great diversity of elements of the ecosystem.

Arthur has dedicated part of his time in the field to recording bird sounds, with more than 1,800 sound contributions to the Macaulay Library, as well as photos, including new records for some species. He is involved in a variety of projects, such as training the Merlin app, developed by the Cornell University, for identifying bird songs. He is also a volunteer reviewer for the eBird, coordinating the northern region of Brazil.

eBird profile: https://ebird.org/profile/NjQ4MzEw/world


Julice Aristides

Although her family descent is from Alagoas, Julice was born in 1996 in Minas Gerais during one of her father’s many “field works”. Since then traveling has been recurrent in her life, living in approximately 15 cities throughout the different Brazilian states.

After completing high school, she obtained a national license to be a flight attendant, and soon after, she began studying tourism at the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul. During graduation, she performed activities and projects in marketing, design, sports, events and travel. She also participated in an incredible project that studied the relationship between riverside communities in the Pantanal and Community Based Tourism.

During the pandemic with the pause in touristic activities, she studied and worked with digital design, marketing, social media, audiovisual production and user interaction design. She developed application projects and several other design pieces. With the decrease in the pandemic, she went back to working with travel and event consulting, an area she had already worked on after completing graduation.

She currently works in the reservation and logistics sector of Brazil Birding Experts, contributing with the company to create the best possible experiences birdwatchers. Her passion for the environment, culture and science are a few hobbies and lifestyle that led her to find out about Brazil Birding Experts.

Also guides: Some areas in Amazon


Joanna Rossinski

Joanna has been working in tourism for over 10 years; She graduated in Tourism & Hospitality in 2014, and ecotourism was always her focus, having done her final project research about the Birdwatching as a tourist activity in Brazil.

Although not a bird expert, she is getting more familiar with the birding world day after day, willing to learn to make the client’s experience the best possible, since she faces each tour as a person’s dream.

Originally from south Brazil, she loves to travel and has lived in the middle-west, southeast, and now lives in the northeast, in Ceará state.

Enjoys the countryside life in a very small city, living with her partner and dogs on a farm surrounded by forests.