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This tour coincided perfectly badly with the arrival of Hurricane Irma into southern Florida, causing six of the ten participants to have to cancel because flights couldn’t get out even several days later. Ruth did manage to get Dan down to Manaus so he could hop aboard the boat for the final two days. So, it was perhaps the roughest start to any Field Guides tour since the beginning, and it kept Ruth and the office hard at work to help folks understand what was happening and keep up with airport conditions to try to get as many participants down to Manaus as possible. With the resulting guide:pax ratio of 3:4, the arrivals were pretty happy and the tour itself was a breeze!

Weather was decent this time around, with daytime highs at about 93 and lows of about 75 (normal), with more rain than usual, which caused some problems and probably a few misses, but nothing lifer-threatening, like a hurricane. Marcelo and I went to the Reserva Ducke a couple of nights before the tour, and quickly found the Rufous Potoo nest that we were pretty sure would be active then, judging from the past two years. We were able to see the bird with the tour group, a mega-highlight(!), but, sadly, a predator ate the chick a week or so later, leaving just a bundle of downy feathers atop the stub. The balance of our morning at Ducke was easy and productive, with fine looks at Red-billed Woodcreeper, Green Aracari, Black-spotted Barbet, and Straight-billed Hermit being especially welcome, although Black-faced Hawk was silent, unseen.

Then, following an 03:30 breakfast and 04:00 departure from the hotel, we made it to the famous INPA tower about 50 kilometers north of Manaus, and got up on top about 06:00, which was fine on a lightly overcast morning. Although we had no close flock activity, we enjoyed good sightings of quite a nice variety of birds including Red-fan Parrot, Red-lored Parrot (unusual this early in the season), Guianan Puffbird, Glossy-backed Becard, Pompadour Cotinga, and Olive-green Tyrannulet.

Presidente Figueiredo was also very good, especially a couple of new trails opened near Mari Mari, where we stay and visit the Guianan Cock-of-the-Rock lek. We had great looks at White-throated and White-fronted manakins, and a Cinnamon Manakin-Tyrant, which is rarely seen anywhere. Other highlights in that area included an adult male Crimson Topaz that stayed put for good scope views, both Wing-banded and Musician wrens (both fantastic encounters!), Ferruginous-backed Antbird, Cinnamon-crested Spadebill (unusually leisurely viewing of a singing bird), Pale-bellied Mourner, Black Manakin, Cocoa Thrush, and Blue-backed Tanager. Mari Mari itself was fabulous for the cocks-of-the-rock, and also produced Pelzeln’s Tody-Tyrant, Yellow-crowned Manakin, and several other good birds.

Then it was down to the Negro to board the Tumbira, our lovely, comfortable live-aboard river boat. We set off up the Negro on an overcast afternoon, caipirinhas in hand, and Junior (owner of the boats and our capable biologist-guide of many years) gave us a fun introduction to the crew, and logistics, amenities, and safety on the boat. Folks and leaders alike enjoyed getting a much-needed nap that afternoon ahead of our first excellent dinner on the boat. A post-dinner, nightlighting excursion produced exciting encounters with two species of enormous treefrogs, Boat-billed Herons, Band-tailed Nighthawks, and several other critters. Next morning, we started with a pre-breakfast swing around the Anavilhanas anchor area, hearing but not coaxing into view a pair of Spectacled Owls, and both species of Band-tailed Nighthawks. Breakfast was on the top deck, just great to be up there on a clear morning in the Anavilhanas. All of the target species showed pretty easily, especially Wire-tailed Manakin, which seemed to be on all sides all morning! Ash-breasted Antbird failed to come in for a look (super-unusual). As always, people loved that very birdy morning. I wish we could get a cell signal out there – it would be a fabulous venue for a live Facebook feed. We then motored up to the town of Novo Airao, where pax went with Marcelo to see the Night Monkeys at their longtime roost at Junior’s hotel, and I zipped out to collect a nest of Klages’s Antwren found by Micah Riegner in early July, which he had shown to me and Tom Johnson just ahead of our Great Rivers, Madeira-Tapajos tour. Our second mate, Isaqueu, managed a simply amazing climb of essentially unclimbable trees to use a makeshift, 3-meter pole with a hooked twig tied to the end of it, to pull the nest limb close enough to cut it off, 14 meters above the ground. It’s the only known nest of the species! I then ripped back to the mother ship to wait for the group so we could visit the feeding platform of the Amazon River Dolphins, which was a huge hit with the group.

We motored upriver through the night and woke up next morning at the entrance to remote Jau National Park. As usual, sunrise was spectacular there, with good numbers of Large-billed and Yellow-billed terns and a few Black Skimmers flying around and calling, lots of parrots coming by, etc. We spotted a juvenile Gray-bellied Hawk (looks like a miniature Ornate Hawk-Eagle!) perched atop a low snag, which most folks got to see before it zipped away. We’d seen an adult only a few hundred meters away from that spot on the 2015 tour.

Our three Days in Jau were excellent, highlighted by several sightings of the big macaws in great light, a White-winged Potoo that came in to the exact perch we wanted it on, at least three Tawny-tufted Toucanets, a fabulous Orange-breasted Falcon that allowed close approach, a pair of Pearly Antshrikes, a pair of Amazonian Black-Tyrants, a singing Rio Negro Gnatcatcher (= Guianan Gnatcatcher), Pavonine Quetzal (males on two days), and a pair of Bar-bellied Woodcreepers. We nearly dipped on antswarms (a couple of folks did get White-plumed and White-cheeked antbirds, no Chestnut-crested even heard), and, unfortunately, we didn’t get to go for Nocturnal Curassow due to water levels being too low in the spots we needed to visit.

Our run down the Negro toward Manaus was uneventful – almost. We had to do some engine repair work that ate up a couple of hours of time as the boat had to go much slower than usual – but we passed by Manaus at about 02:00 to pick up Dan who had finally made it in from Miami. Low water in both the Negro and Amazon meant we couldn’t easily get the Tumbira through the narrow shortcut channel across to Marchantaria Island, but after it got light enough to see, we discovered that it was going to be just barely passable, and we made it! We then made two highly productive stops on Marchantaria and a young, satellite island that was essentially connected to Marchantaria, with the rivers so very low (and still dropping!). We cleaned up most everything in 2-3 hours of really fun birding, then headed back to the mother ship for showers, a great lunch, and a swing across the famous “Encontro das Águas” = Meeting of the Waters, where the Negro meets the Soilmões, together forming the Rio Amazonas, always among the memorable events of the tour.

A late-afternoon stop on Jaguar Island, well down the Amazonas toward the Madeira, produced Red-and-white Spinetail and a handful of other birds on a lovely boat ride against a gorgeous sunset with threatening thunderstorms all around – with quite a dramatic charge back to the big boat! We awoke next morning at the mouth of the Madeira, with a massive thunderstorm brewing ominously in just the wrong direction for us. We tried getting ashore to see a few birds before it hit, but that essentially didn’t work, and we had to retreat and wait for it to pass. Fortunately, it did pass in an hour or so, and post-storm birding was excellent. We barely walked 100 meters, seeing a fine list of species typical of youngest-growth, whitewater islands. Most of us had been standing in one spot for several minutes when Bret called attention to a female Varzea Piculet in a vine-tangled set of small trees about 30 meters away. He then noticed that there was another bird in the tangle that he couldn’t get a good look at, but which was sized/shaped like a conebill. When it hopped into view, he and the rest of us were totally shocked to see it was a Tennessee Warbler! This bird was waayyy east and south of where it’s supposed to be; it turns out to be the first record for Brazil, and possibly for the Amazon basin. We theorized that high-elevation winds associated with Hurricane Irma et al. might have played a role in displacing this migrant individual (and, then, probably lots of other migrating birds). It was clearly an adult bird, and, by plumage, probably a female. Excellent, indeed, and it was very nicely documented for such a brief sighting.

We were running at least a couple of hours behind schedule, and had lunch on the boat before making a final birding stop on another, old-growth island. We quickly bumped into a mixed-species flock that had the hoped-for White-throated Woodpecker and a number of other new birds for us, including our fifth species of fancy Celeus woodpecker, Cream-colored. That afternoon we turned the bow upriver to head back to Manaus, having a delicious top-deck dinner on the way. We made it to Manaus very early the next morning.

Our final tour day saw us leaving a port in Manaus after an 04:00 breakfast to visit the MUSA tower, which finally produced our missing Guianan Toucanet, a nice scope view of a Marail Guan (which we’d seen at close range, but only “in pieces” on our first morning, at Ducke), and a number of other new species for the tour. Unfortunately, we called a halt to the birding just 15 minutes later than we should have, because we got caught in a heavy, hour-long thunderstorm, huddling under the roof overhang of a small building in the forest before it let up enough for us to make a run back to the entrance area and grab a cup of coffee. Lunch was grand back on the boat, and we had a siesta before reemerging for a swing through downtown, where Junior treated us to a fine tour of the Opera House (Teatro Amazonas), and folks could do a little shopping (and Bret could get us some acai (ah-sah-EE). We had a nice, light dinner on the boat, and hour or so to pack up, then headed to the airport for easy check-in with AA on the daily, 23:00 flight to Miami.

We certainly hope that all of you who got blocked out by Irma are able to come on the tour next year, or as soon as your timing allows. We will be there waiting for you!

Marcelo Barreiros

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

Ferruginous-backed Antbird. Photo by guide Bret Whitney.

Musician Wren. Photo by guide Bret Whitney.

Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture. Photo by participant Becky Hansen.

Wing-banded Wren. Photo by guide Bret Whitney.

Tawny-tufted Toucanet. Photo by guide Bret Whitney.

Orange-breasted Falcon. One of the highlights of this tour. Photo by guide Bret Whitney.

Amazonian Black-tyrant. Photo by guide Bret Whitney.

Amazonian Barred-Woodcreeper. This is the nominal subspecies, found east of the Rio Negro. Photo by guide Bret Whitney.

Yellow-chinned Spinetail. Beautiful photo by participant Becky Hansen.

Scarlet Macaws in flight. It's always a show to see these colorful birds over the forest. Photo by guide Bret Whitney.

Rufous Potoo. Photo by guide Marcelo Barreiros.

Wire-tailed Manakin. Photo by participant Becky Hansen.

Lesser Hornero close to the nest. Photo by guide Marcelo Barreiros.

Cinnamon Tyrant-manakin. Photo by guide Bret Whitney.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

We had other interesting fauna as well, such a really nice Giant Monkey Frog (Phyllomedusa bicolor), a few King Toad (Buffo marinus), Gladiator Tree-frog (Hypsiboas sp.), a weird giant earthworm from Megascolecidae Family, a few Orange-nosed Rat (Makalata sp.), a beautiful Gray Tree-frog and some Spectacled caiman.

Totals for the tour: 459 bird taxa and 12 mammal taxa