September 10-25, 2024 with Bret Whitney & Marcelo Barreiros
As the 2024 Rio Negro Paradise: Manaus tour got underway, it was clear that environmental conditions were going to be quite challenging. The rivers, including even the Rio Solimões (that huge part of the Amazon west of where it meets the Negro, at Manaus), were at or approaching all-time lows. This has more to do with lack of rainfall in the Andes than with anything happening in Brazil. The severe dearth of water in the rivers would lead to some follow-on corollaries: inability to navigate certain sectors of the Solimões and Negro in our big boat (“the mothership”); inability to make landings on most “young” river islands in the Solimões due to wide expanses of recently exposed, treacherous mud; and inability to land on most “old” river islands because the Solimões had dropped so much that reaching the vegetation was essentially impossible above 30-foot, vertical walls of mud and collapsed trees and other debris. Another negative follow-on of the extremely dry landscape was widespread burning of second-growth and forest in the hinterlands such that the atmosphere would be rather smoky without rains to clear the skies. We talked about these realities on our first evening get-together, with a Google Earth presentation, so we were all prepared for a challenging environment. As it turned out – despite the above headwinds -- we had a great tour, with a handful of misses of common birds restricted to whitewater river islands that we would easily find in normal years, and scattered other relatively minor issues such as getting the boat stuck on sandbars in shallows a couple of times, and having to use the outboard motors on our canoes more often than usual, again owing to very shallow waters. We had just enough rain across the region to keep the smoke to a minimum most days.
Our first day at the Ducke Reserve at the edge of Manaus was properly exciting. Just as we got out of the vans, a couple of Black-necked Aracaris and a gorgeous male Guianan Toucanet came into a fruiting tree over the road, and stayed around for fine scope views. We soon picked up Black-spotted Barbets and Green Aracaris as well, and over the next hour or so, also Yellow-billed Jacamar, Ringed and Red-necked woodpeckers, Amazonian Pygmy-Owl, Tiny Tyrant-Manakin, and Painted Tody-Flycatcher. Several species of parrots were scoped near the road, including Caica, Mealy, and Red-lored (Diademed), plus a secretive pair of Red-fan Parrots. Black-headed Antbird and Guianan Warbling-Antbird showed nicely, giving our necks a little relief from looking up at most of the other birds out there! Probably our most-appreciated sighting, however, was that of a Red-billed Woodcreeper that came across the road to provide several good views.
We got a very early start the next morning for our visit to the famous INPA tower about 60 kilometers north of Manaus. We had a well-appointed tailgate picnic breakfast, finishing up at the very first hint of dawn. Minutes later, we had a Long-tailed Potoo calling well back into the forest, and managed to coax it out to the road where it swooped dramatically overhead in the beam of the spotlight. Our morning atop the tower was a real beauty! Sightings started happening on all sides: a pair of Marail Guans, a male Black Curassow eating fruits way up in the canopy(!), Guianan Puffbird, Paradise Jacamar, Waved Woodpecker, Pompadour Cotinga, and a mixed-species flock that yielded Glossy-backed and Pink-throated becards, Sibilant Sirystes, Yellow-throated Flycatchers, and an especially good view of an Olive-green Tyrannulet. We also spotted two very unusual fly-bys from the tower: a Barn Swallow and, just seconds later, a Cliff Swallow which has probably never before been recorded in that area (unfortunately, we didn’t manage photos). But the runaway highlight of the INPA Tower morning was the non-stop bird activity in a flowering “Roxinho” or “Purpleheart” tree (Peltogyne sp.) immediately beside the tower. WOW, was that tree hopping with honeycreepers and tanagers! Everyone enjoyed wonderful, leisurely viewing, eye-level or below, of Fulvous-crested Tanagers (male and very different female), Spotted, Dotted (awesome!), and a cameo by 6 Paradise tanagers; Black-faced and Blue dacnis; Green, Red-legged, Purple, and Short-billed honeycreepers, and even a female Racket-tipped Thorntail! But the day was far from over…
Near the town of Presidente Figueiredo, about 70 miles north of Manaus, we had a scrumptious lunch of roasted Tambaqui (a large, vegetarian member of the piranha family, absolutely delicious fish!) with vinaigrette, salad and veggies. Fruiting Euperpe (açaí) palm trees over the dining area attracted both Purple-throated and Spangled cotingas, and we had fabulous scope views of a male Guianan Red-Cotinga nearby. We birded low-stature, campinarana forest that afternoon, getting good views of Bronzy Jacamar, Yellow-crowned Manakin and Pelzeln’s Tody-Tyrant on the way to the lek of Guianan Cock-of-the-Rock. About eight fully adult-plumaged males, and one young male, were in attendance at the lek, and at one point several of them adopted display postures and descended on to their terrestrial courts. Then, to close out one heckuva fabulous day of birding, we went to a Harpy Eagle nest that had been found only weeks ahead of our tour! To our delight, the nest held a fluffy, white chick about two months old, with the head of the huge adult female visible above the rim, right behind the chick. The landowner, who accompanied us to the nest site, was fully aware of the importance of safeguarding the area, which certainly was heartening to see. Additional birding near Presidente Figueiredo was highlighted by excellent views of male and female Crimson Topaz hummers, a regal pair of Collared Puffbirds, the sudden appearance of a Barred Forest-Falcon, a dozen Sapphire-rumped Parrotlets preparing to go to sleep on their night roost, a cooperative male Black-throated Antshrike, a pair of Rufous-bellied Antwrens, a beautiful male Ferruginous Antbird, Black-banded and Chestnut-rumped woodcreepers, and a furtive (as usual) Collared Gnatwren. Red Howler Monkeys, Black Spider Monkeys, and Common Squirrel Monkeys were also seen (and heard!) well.
Our next venue was the little town of Manacapuru, on the west side of the Rio Negro. Our lodging proved to be perfect for seeing the Mauritia flexousa (buriti) palm specialists: Fork-tailed Palm-Swift, Red-bellied Macaw, Point-tailed Palmcreeper, and Sulphury Flycatcher. Birding in the surrounding forest was highlighted by fabulous views of a Crested Owl that Marcelo got the scope on during the day, and Stephen spotted an immature male Fiery Topaz to go with our Crimson Topaz from the other side of the Rio Negro!
After a truly fabulous experience with Chestnut-headed Nunlet on our 2023 tour (which was the first-ever Field Guides group to see the bird), everyone was certainly looking forward to going for it this year. Our high hopes were, however, quickly dashed – extremely low water levels in Lago Manacapuru meant that we would not be able to get near the nunlet site even with a small launch and a pilot who knew exactly where we wanted to go. This was a hard pill to swallow, but we held out a glimmer of a chance to find the nunlet in Jaú National Park. Our comfortable river boat from Manaus arrived at the port of Manacapuru right on time, and we made the transfer from land to the Rio Solimões in good time for afternoon birding. The low river level made it tough to find a point of access to the upstream end of huge Marchantaria Island, but we managed to get ashore at a relatively low bank to find Spot-breasted Woodpecker, Tui and White-winged parakeets, Short-tailed and Festive parrots, excellent comparisons of the very similar Straight-billed and Zimmer’s woodcreepers and also Rusty-backed and Parker’s spinetails, White-bellied Spinetail, Lesser Hornero, Rusty-fronted and Spotted Tody-Flycatchers, and an especially close study of the island subspecies (C. fuscatus fuscatior) of Fuscous Flycatcher. Early the following morning, Sand-colored Nighthawks were on the wing, showing their handsome, contrasty wing and tail markings as we approached one of the younger satellite islands to Marchantaria. Once ashore, we found both Riverside Tyrant and River Tyrannulet, among several species we had seen yesterday, and it was interesting to watch the many Large-billed Terns nesting there as they drove away marauding Black Vultures.
Unfortunately, our plan to find most of the remaining “whitewater island specialties” did not work out; the river was so low that the vegetation zones we needed to visit were everywhere inaccessible above steep banks of mud and debris. So, we continued down to the Encontro das Águas (Meeting of the Waters), where the Rio Negro joins the Rio Solimões, their convergence forming the greatest river on Earth, the Rio Amazonas, that flows some 900 miles east to the Atlantic Ocean. The low river levels produced a dramatically sharp line at the interface of these two huge rivers, and we sent our drone up to show it at a wider scale. As we cruised up the Rio Negro past Manaus, we enjoyed our first encounters with both species of river dolphins.
The Anavilhanas Archipelago of hundreds of islands in the lower Rio Negro was our next venue, and our morning there was fantastic, as new species just kept coming at a steady rate, allowing nice, close views for everyone. Birding got off to a roaring start with a gorgeous adult Agami Heron that stayed put for a couple of minutes (we could thank the low water levels for this and at least three more encounters with Agamis). Then, at our first birding spot ashore, roughly in order of appearance: Black-crested Antshrike, Klages’s Antwren, Yellow-olive Flatbill (island subspecies Tolmomyias sulphurescens insignis), Streak-throated Hermit, Ash-breasted Antbird, Black-chinned Antbird, Snethlage’s Tody-Tyrant, Leaden Antwren, Striped Woodcreeper, Varzea Schiffornis, Speckled Spinetail, Green-tailed Jacamar, and just a little farther in, at another spot, a properly impressive pair of Long-billed Woodcreepers, displaying Wire-tailed Manakins, and a very cooperative Blackish-gray Antshrike. That afternoon we made a stop at the town of Novo Airão, where a representative of the Brazilian Fish and Wildlife Service gave us a presentation video on the Amazon River Dolphin protection effort, after which we were allowed to feed several dolphins that have become accustomed to a regimented feeding schedule. What an amazing experience it is to have these big, pink creatures rise out of the dark waters of the Rio Negro to accept an offering of fish right from our hands!
A long night of river travel up the Negro put us in position for a well-appointed, top-deck breakfast. We were actually short of where we had planned to be, in very shallow water below the mouth of the Rio Jaú. It took us close to an hour to find a way forward for the big boat, but our capable crew met the challenge. We improvised our morning birding stop at a place new to us that proved to be highly productive, especially for Amazonian Umbrellabird (we saw at least 4 in there!), and all 5 species of Amazonian kingfishers, with dynamite views of American Pygmy and Green-and-rufous, and with lots of Hoatzins and a couple of Sungrebes. That afternoon, after checking in at the guard station for Jaú National Park, we cruised slowly up the Jaú, watching for birds and other wildlife, and tied up near the mouth of a tributary we wanted to investigate in our smaller canoes with 15hp outboard motors. Habitat in this region is chavascal, a low-stature woodland about 20 feet tall growing on extremely nutrient-poor soil (mostly sand). It is flooded by the blackwater rivers for much of the year – but we would take advantage of the unusually dry conditions to access a good stretch of this habitat. There are few species of trees that have adapted to survive the prolonged flooding cycle, and the chavascal has correspondingly few species of birds, but there is one that is especially captivating: the Chestnut-headed Nunlet. We motored along to go up an even smaller arm of water, and surprised a family of Giant Otters that coughed at us from only a few yards away – we were as surprised as they were! We soon found a spot that looked good for both getting out of the canoes and birding the chavascal. A Brown-headed Greenlet came in nice and close, permitting everyone to see it really well and our first Ivory-billed Aracari also showed up. We maintained focus on Chestnut-headed Nunlet, and tried the recording a couple of times with no response, but the habitat was ideal, so we moved along slowly, everyone making their way through the rather deep layers of dry leaves. Then, about 30 minutes into our search, we got a response to the recording and a minute or two later, we had the male Chestnut-headed Nunlet in the scope! There was a pair of birds there, and we got to see both male and female very well – what a wonderful birding moment! Who knows, but maybe the unusually dry environment this year was good for the nunlets – whatever, you can be sure we will be back for another go at them next year (even if we manage to find it at Lago Manacapuru, as we originally planned).
The Rio Jaú was too low for our big boat to make it very far upriver, so we anchored in a safe spot and took the outboard canoes to reach our trailhead into terra firme forest. This worked well, and we had nice looks at Blue-crowned Trogon, Maroon-tailed Parakeets, Amazonian Antshrike, Rufous-backed Stipplethroat (E. amazonica pyrrhonota), and a pair of Chestnut-crested Antbirds eventually allowed most folks at least a brief view. Our final birding destination was back down the Rio Negro to Novo Airão, where we enjoyed seeing a pair of Spix’s Night-Monkeys in their traditionally used tree cavity, then had great views of both Rufous and White-winged potoos inside of half an hour! with a final top-deck dinner of grilled tambaqui and meats. Next morning, we said good-bye to our excellent boat crew and transferred to our van for an early morning of birding that netted us good views of Straight-billed Hermit, White-fronted Nunbirds, Cream-colored Woodpeckers, Orange-cheeked Parrot, Fasciated Antshrike, Long-winged Antwren, Common Scale-backed Antbird, Spot-throated Woodcreeper, and a cooperative Musician Wren. We went up the MUSA (Museum of the Amazon) on our last morning and visited the famous Teatro Amazonas, -- the Manaus Opera House -- that afternoon, a nice close to our two weeks of birding the region of the lower Negro and Solimões rivers.
This was a logistically challenging tour due to the very low water levels in the rivers, but we did our best to find as many birds as possible. Thanks to everyone for your patience and understanding! We certainly had a fine time birding with all of you, and hope to see you again for another productive Field Guides tour to Brazil!
-- Bret and Marcelo
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/290576
You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/mao24TRIPLIST.pdf