It’s a moist mountain range about 180 Km south of the city of Fortaleza. The altitude in the area is over 800m from the sea level. These moist areas are known in the Brazilian literature as ‘brejos’ or ‘brejos de altitude’. Brejos receive orographic rains because of their altitude and situation relative to the prevailing moisture-laden winds, and are clad in humid forests within areas facing the winds. These grade into semi-deciduous forest and eventually into dry, xeric caatingas in lower areas. These areas are a refuge for many forest birds that are isolated from their similar in the Amazonia and Atlantic Forest, and this natural isolation is acting in the speciation of some forest birds, here is the habitat of many subspecies that are in split process and also the shelter of brejo’s endemics species such as the Grey-breasted Parakeet, Buff-breasted Tody-Tyrant, the local forms of Rufous-breasted Leastosser, Rufous Gnateater, Lesser Woodcreeper, Variable Antshrike, Gould’s Toucanet, Spot-winged Wood-Quail, Red-necked Tanager, Slender-footed Tyrannulet, Ochraceous Piculet, Short-tailed Antthrush and others.

It’s a plateau situated in the south of the state of Ceará. The region is very rich in birds due the diversity of the habitats, the vegetation in the top of the plateau is a mixed of Moist Forest (near the slopes), Cerrado and Caatinga. In the foothills of the slopes are the most important water resources of the Region, with more than 300 springs, along these slopes there is an exuberant moist forest that is the only habitat in the world for the Critically Endangered and recently described to science (just in 1998!), the gorgeous Araripe Manakin. In the dry vegetation of the top of the plateau we will also find many endemics such as the bizarre Great Xenops, Silvery-cheeked Antshrike, Red-shouldered Spinetail, Caatinga Antshrike, Tawny Piculet, the secretive White-browed Antpitta, the Caatinga Antwren, with fortune, the White-browed Guan and many others. Note: In the route between Serra de Baturité and Chapada do Araripe there is a site to the endemic Pygmy Nightjar, here we will see the bird in the diurnal roost. According to the client requirements and availability of time, we can also go to specific areas in the state to the Little Wood-Rail, Hooded Gnateater and Moustached Woodcreeper – the last one only with a 4x4 car.