Ciro is undoubtedly the person to be with if you are contemplating a birding trip to NE Brazil – put quite simply, he is far and away the best bird guide in the Region! We spent just over 3 weeks in Ciro’s company in November-December 2007, and left having seen all – yes all! – the key species of the north-easternmost states and having made a great friend. Not only did we see the many special birds of the area well, but also managed to obtain fantastic photographs of most of them – including the near-mythical and Critically Endangered Alagoas Foliage-gleaner and White-collared Kite, not to mention an as-yet unnamed Myiornis pygmy-tyrant!
The success of our trip – our 4th to Brazil – was in no small measure due to Ciro’s amazing ears and his knowledge of the area and the best places to visit, but equally importantly his organizational skills, great company and admirable ability to engage with the local people.
However, one trip with Ciro is not enough, as there is so much to see and do in this little-known corner of Brazil – so we’re planning another trip with him, to Bahia, in November-December 2008. If you get a chance to go on a birding trip with Ciro, don’t hesitate – though you’d better get in quick as he’s sure to become increasingly sought after as one of the best ‘local’ guides around – anywhere..!
Andy & Gill Swash / WorldWildlifeImages.com (Devon, UK)
In 20 years of birding around the world, and I have never encountered a better guide than Ciro Albano. He knows multiple locations for every key species, his ear is trained and sensitive, he carries clear recordings of multiple different vocalizations for every bird, and he has the passion and drive to work hard for shy species. I hope to bird with him again, and I recommend him without reservation.
Philip W. Johnson, P.E., Ph.D.
Tuscaloosa, AL
Pjohnson@eng.ua.edu
Whilst on an extensive North Eastern Birding Tour in August/September 2007 we had the privilege of meeting and birding with Ciro Albano.
This young man is involved with several major conservation projects regarding endangered or critically endangered birds. He really cares for their welfare and habitat protection.
His field craft is superb and with his expertise we obtained excellent views of many species we would most certainly have not seen without him.
Ciro has an excellent sense of humour, is a superb driver and has an impressive knowledge of British Rock Music [we had a few impromptu jam sessions whilst motoring].
Anyone planning a birding trip to North Eastern Brazil in search of specialities should definitely seek the help of this brilliant young birder.
Ruth and John [Jake] Ward (England)
Email: jeward@tiscali.co.uk
Ciro Albano was our primary guide for a huge loop through Northeast Brazil in August 2007, our third trip to that country. Beginning at Recife, we went west along the coast to the mountains south of Forteleza, then south into the pure caatinga, and back east to end at Maceio. August is 'way less than ideal for finding some of the birds of the area, but Ciro's intimate knowledge of his "patch," and his persistence, worked wonders in digging out some that seemed impossible. Ciro's technical skills are, or course, excellent, but perhaps more important he is a fine traveling companion with a good sense of humor. We recommend him without reservation and would be happy to answer any inquiries.
Paul Blakeburn and Linda Bogiages
Gulf Breeze, Florida (USA)
PaulB4178@aol.com
Just a short note to say thanks once again for organising and delivering a great tour to N.E Brazil. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with you and appreciated not just your skill in finding birds on the trails and your taxonomic knowledge but also all your hard work to make sure everything ran smoothly. We see from our notes that in the first hour on the short trail in the hotel grounds at Baturite we saw 35 different species including great views of Goulds Toucanet, White-throated Spadebill, Blond-crested Woodpecker and Gray-headed Spinetail which got the trip off to a great start. The Great Xenops and Araripe Manakin were of course great highlights, together with Lear`s Macaw and Velvet-black Tyrant at Jeremoabo and 3 of the 4 critically endangered species plus Seven-coloured Tanager at Murici were a great finish. Best wishes for the future.
Graeme & Moira Wallace (Scotland)
dacnis@mwallace.freeserve.co.uk
We were recommended to Ciro as a guide to N.E. Brazil by Edson Endrigo.
Our trip (15 days) was arranged efficiently by e-mail & arrangements made for Ciro to pick us up in Fortaleza.
We arrived in early Nov. & telephoned him to say we had arrived. Bombshell I had mixed up the dates & he was expecting us in December! At such short notice he re-arranged everything he was fantastic.
He is a very enthusiastic & well informed guy & goes to a lot of trouble to find the birds you want to see. He knows every bird by call & has excellent taping skills. He works tirelessly with the local people to try to protect such species as the Araripe Manakin and Grey-breasted Parakeet & has an excellent relationship with them.
He is also a good safe driver.
His English is very good, he has a great sense of humour & will tailor make the trip to your own personal requirements. He is to be thoroughly recommended.
Roger & Liz Charlwood (England)
rodger.charlwood@btinternet.com
After reading Graeme and Moira Wallace’ s report about their trip to Northeast-Brazil with Ciro I contacted him to get an idea about the time needed and the costs involved to see most of the specialities of the area. His suggestions for a 12 day tour sounded excellent so we booked him from March 1st 2008. The tour was excellent, his knowledge about the birds, their vocalisations and where to find them amazing and some of his stakeouts unbelievable. We saw nearly all endemic species of the area (missed only the Foliage-Gleaner) and a lot of the endemic subspecies plus 3 (!) White-collared Kites in a small private forest close to Murici, which we had not even hoped for. So we were really satisfied with the tour results.
I am used to travel and bird on my own normally, but in the Northeast of Brazil a lot of the best birds are on private land and not accessible without local contacts. So Ciro’s tailor-made trips for small groups are perfect if you don’t want to join a group from the big tour operators and pay more for probably seeing a lot less. In addition to being an excellent bird guide, Ciro is a very nice person and very good company. We can thoroughly recommend him if you want to maximise your chances to see some of the rarest and most beautiful birds in Brazil.
Christain Dietzen, Volker Erdelen, Volker Schmidt and Matthias Fehlow (Germany)
This was obviously a very successful four week tour to Northeast Brazil. The goal was to see as many restricted range taxa as possible and we succeded far beyond our expectations, largely due to our excellent guides Ricardo Parrini in Bahia and Ciro Albano in the rest of the Northeast.
Birding was at times very frustrating since many of the target species were incredibly difficult and time consuming to find and we worked very hard on several species. Many are very thin on ground and you need quite a lot of patience and persistence to find them. With guys like Ciro and Ricardo this is not a problem however since they are really hard working and professional.
Travelling with Ricardo Parrini in Southest Brazil a couple of years ago, he was the obvious choice as the guide for Northeast, recognized as being one of the best guides in Brazil and also a very nice person. However, agreeing to take on Bahia, he recommended the Fortaleza-based biologist Ciro Albano for the rest of the Northeast. Ciro has been working in all of Ceará for most of his life and is probably the best birder in Northeast Brazil, with excellent knowledge of every taxa and especially every single call or sound. It was a real pleasure to have these fantastic guides for these weeks and we saw almost every endemic taxa possible including a couple of as yet undescribed species.
I will not describe all the localities we visited here, but rather recommend that you contact Ciro or Ricardo for their services or for further information. Much information can obviously also be found at different sites on the Internet and in various trip reports.
The itinerary was worked out by Ciro and Ricardo, and was changed a couple of times due to success (or failure) with target species. In the end we managed to squeeze in Una, Itubera, Serra da Ibiapaba and a couple of other spots which had not been included in the initial itineraries.
Magnus Jäderblad (Sweden)
jaderblad@hotmail.com
On our April (2008) trip we were very lucky to have Ciro as a guide. He is an expert on NE Brazil birds, knows all the voices, habits, and the best time to look: his prediction of when White-collared Kite would fly by was within 3 minutes! Superb knowledge coupled with his dedication and enthusiasm for sharing the special birds of the region make him the one to go with.
Ron & Marcia Braun
Houston, TX
