Birding sites
Species names
English and portuguese translations

My name is Hermann Redies, I am resident in Ceará (Brazil) since 1998, and member of Associação Mãe-da-lua. I am interested in the local fauna, and since 2003, I am spending much time observing, photographing and voice-recording birds.

The List of birds of NE Brazil, which I present here, is not a general catalog of the regional avifauna, but my annotated personal birding list: It shows the species which I have seen or heard myself, and is linked to species accounts with additional information.

Birding is a fascinating hobby, and a lot of fun. Most importantly, it also fosters environmental awareness. I hope that our site contributes to promote the interest in birds, nature, and their protection, especially among the northeastern Brazilian public.

Birding sites

From 2003 to 2008, my principal birding locations were two sites in the Caatinga of northern Ceará:

• Mãe-da-lua private reserve, 764 hectares, municipality of Itapajé, about 100 km west of Fortaleza. Part of the reserve is flat land; and part is a low mountain range. Much of the vegetation is well-preserved, with an impressing biodiversity and over 160 bird species. A special section of our site is devoted to Mãe-da-lua reserve, please see there for further details. I live next to the reserve since 2006.


• Fazenda Canaã, 261 hectares, in the municipality of Pentecoste, about 60 km west of Fortaleza. The farm is situated in lowland ("depressão sertaneja"), and most of the vegetation is secondary growth arboreal caatinga, 3-8 m high. I lived in the fazenda from 2001 to 2006, and visited several times in 2009.

From 2009 onwards, I also made birding trips to other places in the Northeast, with different habitats. The main destinations were:

• The mountains of Baturité and Maranguape close to Fortaleza, with a few remaining areas of pristine or preserved secondary humid forest, and beautiful gardens and small-holdings.


• The vicinity of Floriano in the state of Piauí, and, at the other side of Rio Parnaíba, of Barão de Grajaú in the state of Maranhão. Habitats varied from primary Cerrado to agricultural land with reservoirs, and preserved or degraded gallery vegetation of rivers.


• The litoral of Ceará, for example mangroves and beaches of Acaraú.

For copyright and recommended citation, please click here.

To top of page

Species names

Scientific and English names are according to the proposal of the South American Classification Committee. At present, most Portuguese names are from Sick 1997, and some are from other sources, like CBRO.

The "species pages" sometimes also state the first published scientific name, and author and year of the publication, for the species (small letters, in black) and/or subspecies (small letters, in brown). See example. Occasionally, I added other synonyms as well.

To top of page

English and portuguese translations

My native language is German, am I am sure that the English and Portuguese text contains a fair number of errors in grammar and vocabulary. If you come across a passage that is difficult to understand, please send me an e-mail.

To top of page