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Amazonia is home to some remarkable sunsets, which we enjoyed daily. Photo by group member Fiona McKay.

This exploration of the fascinating area between the Madeira and Tapajos rivers was met with a excellent run of birding luck, dry weather (rubber boots barely used this time!), and relaxing accommodations on our riverboat, the Tumbira. The remarkably complex avifauna of Amazonia is dictated in large part by the history of water flow across the region, so we made special efforts to seek out species and subspecies that have evolved in isolation in this particular interfluvium. We began with three nights in the town of Borba on the right bank of the Rio Madeira, then boarded the Tumbira and explored eastward toward Maués, and then upriver (to the south), visiting some pristine areas that have never been birded aside from our tours here. The return trip along the main branch of the Amazon allowed us time to explore river edge and island habitats, adding some nice specialty sightings to the end of the tour. Some bird highlights of our adventure included White-winged and Rufous potoos, Bald Parrots, Golden Parakeets, Cryptic Forest-Falcon, Harlequin Antbird, Pale-faced Bare-eye, Hoffmanns's Woodcreeper, Brown-breasted Barbet, and much, much more.

In Manaus, we kicked things off with a pre-tour stroll around the grounds of the Tropical Hotel, spotting our first birds as well as the specialty mammals of the area, Brazilian Bare-faced Tamarins. Once the entire group was assembled, we caught our charter flight from Manaus to Borba; as we flew to the southeast, we passed over the famous "meeting of the waters" where the black water of the Rio Negro contacts the sediment rich white water of the Rio Solimoes to form the Amazon River. The bustling town of Borba was our home for three nights before we boarded the riverboat; we used Borba as a base of operations to explore surrounding terra firme forest and white sand campina habitats. This area was an important Natterer collecting locality, and so our discussions of biogeography here were steeped in ornithological history. Our visits to open campina produced wonderful views of dusk-foraging Least Nighthawks, Plain-crested Elaenia, and Spotted Puffbird. By day, visits to upland (terra firme) forest led us to find wonderful birds like Fiery-tailed Awlbill, Slender-billed Xenops, Red-billed Woodcreeper, Glossy-backed Becard, White-tailed Cotinga, and the exciting, as-yet-undescribed shrike-vireo that Bret discovered nearby in 2010. It's quite a special feeling to see a bird like this that hasn't yet been named - try it, you'll like it! A night outing yielded a fantastic White-winged Potoo and a roosting Short-tailed Pygmy-Tyrant. It is worth mentioning that Portuga and his family arranged special meals for our group while in Borba, so we enjoyed several memorable barbecues and never-ending tanks of caipirinhas during our stay here.

A short speedboat transfer down the Rio Madeira took us from Borba to Nova Olinda do Norte, where we stepped onto the Tumbira, our riverboat home for the rest of the tour. From here, we began our eastward transit along the Paraná Urariá while meeting the boat's crew from Amazonia Expeditions and getting settled into our air-conditioned staterooms. On the very first afternoon on Tumbira, a 2.5 hour-long watch from the top deck netted us about 95 species of birds, a testament to the monumental diversity in this area.

On our first morning of birding from Tumbira, we got into the motor canoes for a short transfer to a trail along the bank of the Rio Paraconí. The terra firme forest near the river hosted our first Bald Parrots, Ihering's Antwren, and Long-tailed Woodcreeper. In the late afternoon, a motor canoe trip along the edge of flooded river edge forest helped us find Amazonian Tyrannulet, Buff-cheeked Tody-Flycatcher, and nest-attending Short-crested Flycatchers. A night outing here produced a great scope view of the dead-leaf mimic Rufous Potoo. A second morning in this same area netted a remarkably different set of birds including Black-faced Hawk (rare south of the Amazon), Banded Antbird, Hoffmanns's Woodcreeper, Black-spotted Bare-eye, and Snow-capped Manakin. An afternoon transit back to the Urariá and then eastward brought us to to the town of Maués after dark. We reviewed our bird list, toasted the bounty of the Paraconí, listened to Micah's presentation on primates of the Central Amazon (illustrated with a lovely slideshow on the flat screen TV in the restaurant), and headed off to our quarters; meanwhile, the Tumbira's crew safely piloted us upriver on the Maués-Açu toward our next destination.

Beginning our exploration of the Maués-Açu, we walked a narrow trail through the forest to investigate a campina that was visible on satellite photos of the region; campina birds were quiet, but we enjoyed close studies of Crimson-bellied Parakeets and our first Sucunduri Yellow-margined Flycatchers. At night, we returned to this area and found a bounty of nightbirds including Blackish Nightjar, Rufous Nightjar, calling Dark-winged Trumpeter, Spectacled Owl, and Common Potoo. A second morning in this area turned up an Ash-colored Cuckoo that we watched at leisure through our scopes - a rarely seen bird in this portion of Amazonia. Returning to Tumbira, we navigated onto the Rio Parauari (a tributary of the Maués-Açu), and continued our way upriver, surrounded by Hoatzins and both species of river dolphins. No Golden Parakeets... yet.

Our target birding destination was an area of the Parauari with a steep, high terrace of forest above the river; in 2017, we found Harlequin Antbird at a nice army ant swarm here, so we returned this year with high expectations. Spending the day here, with two visits into the terra firme forest and a boat trip through flooded river forest, we found a skulky pair of Harlequin Antbirds, Blue-cheeked Jacamar, excellent views of Sucunduri Yellow-margined Flycatcher, a Cryptic Forest-Falcon in the scope, and two White-crested Guans!

At this point, on the morning of 12 August, we reached our farthest point away from Manaus by river, so it was time to turn the Tumbira around and start heading back. As we cruised down the Parauari, we kept our eyes and ears out for Golden Parakeets, and eventually, a group of 5 of these gorgeous green-and-yellow macaw-lets flew past calling. With a little bit of repositioning of the boat, we had them right in front of us for excellent views - 4 adults and 1 immature. Yip yip! We also spent some time watching pods of pink and gray river dolphins feeding under an amazing column of hundreds of migrating Plumbeous and Swallow-tailed kites. In the late afternoon, we pulled into a side stream and explored with the motor canoes, eventually reaching a small forest trail that took us to a splendid Slaty-backed Forest-Falcon just before dusk. As we motored on down the Maués-Açu, Bret gave us an after-dinner presentation on biogeography and hybridization in Amazonia, complete with satellite images and discussion about the historical patterns of water coverage in this fascinating region.

For our final morning along the Maués-Açu drainage, we took the motor canoes ashore and birded a nice terra firme trail along the Igarapé Jacundá. At the eleventh hour, we hit a jackpot with a busy army ant swarm attended by 4 Harlequin Antbirds, Pale-faced Bare-eye, Xingu Scale-backed Antbirds, Spix's Warbling-Antbird, and more. We also enjoyed good views of Bald Parrot and a silent Buff-cheeked Tody-Flycatcher that Bret called in from some river edge forest. For our last morning in tall terra firme forest, it sure was a memorable one! During lunch and our afternoon break, the Tumbira repositioned northward to Maués and then northeast along the Paraná Urariá. We watched near dusk and enjoyed hundreds of Brown-chested Martins gathering for roost and a spectacular show of over 500 Band-tailed Nighthawks taking off from riverside trees to hunt for the evening. A night outing in the motor canoes turned up a bounty of birds and mammals including 5 Ladder-tailed Nightjars, 2 Great Potoos, a hole-roosting White-throated Woodpecker, and quite a few Giant Tree Rats (very impressive - the size of small terriers!) - our thermal imaging scope has been re-named "the rat scope".

On 14 August, we met dawn at the junction of the Paraná Dos Ramos and the Paraná Urariá in a patch of low stature river edge forest that was absolutely loaded with birds. As we stood in a muddy clearing, we spotted one new bird after another - Varzea Piculet, Scaled Spinetail, Plain Softtail, Zimmer's Woodcreeper, Amazonian Scrub-Flycatcher, Lined Seedeater, and more! The day grew quite hot along the open river edge, so we headed down the Dos Ramos toward the main branch of the Amazon, spotting goodies like nesting Buff-necked Ibis and White Woodpecker from the top of Tumbira along the way. Our afternoon birding was scrubbed due to a massive rainstorm (our first big rain of the whole trip), so we hung out in the restaurant and took in a few more slideshows (including Micah's masters research on riverine woodcreepers) and examined photos from the trip.

The morning of 15 August began along the north bank of the Amazon River, where we took the motor canoes up a side stream and found very high levels of bird activity - Great Potoo with a chick, Ash-breasted Antbird, Klages's Antwren, Leaden Antwren, Green-tailed Jacamar, Guira Tanagers, Oriole Blackbirds, and three Crane Hawks. We went ashore on a muddy beach and found a recently downed tree with two active bird nests in it - Green-rumped Parrotlet and Spot-breasted Woodpeckers up close! In the afternoon, the "Buffalo Island" in the mouth of the Rio Madeira was good for Green-throated Mango, Black-and-white Antbirds, Wing-banded Hornero, riverine Fuscous Flycatchers, Bicolored Conebills, and Orange-headed Tanagers - classic river island birds. One final night outing in the canoes led us to find many roosting birds, an amazing display from a responsive Ladder-tailed Nightjar, and a small Spectacled Caiman that Cantogallo caught and showed to us.

For the final day of birding, we aimed our sights on the Marchantaria area of river islands near the mouth of the Rio Solimoes. Migrant shorebirds like Pectoral Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, and Solitary Sandpiper strode across pastures littered with roosting Nacunda Nighthawks and Collared Plovers. During the day, we explored some young river islands, finding responsive and visible Gray-breasted Crakes, Azure Gallinules (amazing views!), Lesser Hornero, Parker's Spinetail, Lesser Wagtail-Tyrant, Brownish Elaenia, Pearly-breasted Conebill, and Dull-capped Attila. A final canoe outing let us get back into the flooded forest of Marchantaria Island, and we spotted Castelnau's Antshrikes, Little Woodpecker, and a whole suite of staging parrots and parakeets. This took us right up until dusk, and then we re-boarded the Tumbira to head back to Manaus. This gave us plenty of time to pack up, review one final day's bird checklist, and get ready for our overnight flights from Manaus back to North America.

Thanks to everyone who participated in this exciting installment of our Great Rivers program; it's always an adventure out there on the rivers of Amazonia, and with variations in weather and water levels each year and the amazing pool of biodiversity from which we sample, we find slightly different species results each time. This was a particularly good year for finding marquee specialties such as Harlequin Antbird, Golden Parakeet, Brown-chested Barbet, Cryptic Forest-Falcon, and more. We hope to see you out in the field again soon, whether it's for another trip on the mighty Tumbira or somewhere else on this great big Earth of ours.

-Good birding, and safe travels!

Tom (for Bret, Micah, the staff at Field Guides, and the crew of Amazonia Expeditions)

KEYS FOR THIS LIST
One of the following keys may be shown in brackets for individual species as appropriate: * = heard only, I = introduced, E = endemic, N = nesting, a = austral migrant, b = boreal migrant

A typical scene from our trip - birders on the prowl in a motor canoe with Tumbira (our "mother ship") in the background. Photo by leader Bret Whitney.

Even though this particular Bald Parrot is in flight, we enjoyed some great looks of these very strange birds when they were perched. Photo by leader Tom Johnson.

It was great to be out on forest trails with plenty of large birds and mammals around. This Red-throated Piping-Guan posed nicely for group member Cathy Douglas.

In the dark forest understory, the pale lime green skin around the eyes of this Harlequin Antbird really stood out! Photo by leader Tom Johnson.

On our final day, we were enthralled with the close views of Azure Gallinules in a river island marsh. Photo by group member Fiona McKay.

When we tracked down an active army ant swarm, this Black-spotted Bare-eye did not disappoint! Photo by leader Micah Riegner.

Near the end of the tour, we spent some time perusing the avifauna of river islands - this Orange-headed Tanager was one prize for these efforts. Photo by group member Larry Peavler.

We enjoyed an unusual angle of this Gray-breasted Crake from on board the riverboat! Photo by group member Bill Crins.

We were all ready for action when these Golden Parakeets showed up and flew back and forth over the Rio Parauari. Incredible birds! Photo by leader Tom Johnson.

This stunning Black-faced Hawk perched quietly in the forest subcanopy and watched us as we enjoyed it through the scope. The species is rare south of the Amazon. Photo by leader Micah Riegner.

We all posed for a photo upon return to the dock in Manaus on the tour's final evening.

Birders in action! We were all focused intently on something up there in the canopy - perhaps one of Bret's Sucunduri Yellow-margined Flycatchers? Photo by leader Bret Whitney.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Totals for the tour: 435 bird taxa and 20 mammal taxa