Highlights

• By expanding Kaetés Reserve in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, this project will protect 100% of the remaining habitat for the Critically Endangered Cherry-throated Tanager.
• This protection adds to a wildlife corridor that extends across a Key Biodiversity Area and shelters other threatened species like the Critically Endangered Buffy-headed Marmoset.
• Rainforest Trust and Instituto Marcos Daniel have worked together for a decade to safeguard the Cherry-throated Tanager’s fragile habitat through protection, research, and community awareness.

In Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, a rare bird clings to survival in a small patch of old-growth habitat. The rainforest canopy in and around Kaetés Reserve sustains approximately 20 Critically Endangered Cherry-throated Tanagers. We have helped protect and nurture this small songbird for the past decade, safeguarding its fragmented habitat from mining, poaching, and development.

We now have the exceptional opportunity to support our local partner, Instituto Marcos Daniel, in protecting 100% of the Cherry-throated Tanager’s remaining viable habitat. Through purchase of the adjacent Veneto Farm, this project will add 300 more acres to the 1,645-acre Kaetés Reserve. Together with the 611-acre Saíra-apunhalada State Park, this project will provide protection across all of the bird’s known habitat. The Veneto property also includes a lodge, operational buildings, and visitor facilities that our partner will use to support ecotourism, operations, environmental education, and other essential activities to ensure the Cherry-throated Tanager’s long-term resilience.

Header photo: Critically Endangered Cherry-throated Tanager © João Linhares

Secure a wildlife corridor for vulnerable species

This latest expansion will strengthen protection across an ecological corridor that spans the Kaetés Reserve, Saíra-apunhalada State Park, and the 4,000-acre Águia Branca Natural Heritage Private Reserve. This corridor has been recognized as an Important Bird Area and a Key Biodiversity Area, covering one of the last high-altitude Atlantic Forest remnants. Our local partner will collaborate with state officials to ensure that the Cherry-throated Tanager’s entire range is managed under a single, coordinated strategy that includes maintaining nesting success and mitigating threats such as fire and poaching.

Several other threatened birds rely on this habitat, including the Endangered Vinaceous-breasted Amazon, along with vulnerable mammals like the Critically Endangered Buffy-headed Marmoset and the Endangered Northern Maned Sloth.

Support local conservation for global impact

Since 2016, we have partnered with Instituto Marcos Daniel to protect the Cherry-throated Tanager’s fragile habitat. Thanks to habitat protection and careful monitoring by our local partner, the population has expanded over the past decade from 4-12 birds to approximately 20. The institute also conducts groundbreaking research on this species, and last year they published the first scientific study on the Cherry-throated Tanager in 20 years.

Learn more about this project