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Participant Ruth Kuhl captured this wonderful moment from the cabins at Pousada Rio Roosevelt.

The 2019 Field Guides Rio Roosevelt & Rio Madeira tour, in its 11th consecutive iteration, took place in October for the first time. It turned out to be a good time to run the tour, although we were just plain lucky dodging rain squalls and thunderstorms a bunch of times during our two weeks. Everyone had been concerned that the widespread burning in the southern Amazon that had been making news headlines for months, and huge areas affected by smoke from the fires, would taint our experience on the tour, but it turned out that rains had started a bit ahead of normal, and the air was totally clear.

We gathered in the town of Porto Velho, capital of the state of Rondônia. Our first outing was a late-afternoon riverboat trip on the Rio Madeira, which was a relaxing excursion, and we got to see a few Amazon (Pink) River Dolphins and Tucuxi (Gray River Dolphins) at close range. We then had three full days to bird the west side of the Madeira out of the old Amazonian town of Humaitá. It was a very productive time, as we birded a nice variety of habitats, ranging from vast, open campos and marshes to cerrado (a fire-adapted type of savanna woodland), campinarana woodland (somewhat stunted forest on nutrient-poor soils), and tall rainforest with some bamboo patches. We did see some evidence of burns through some of the campos, especially, but those areas areas will green up nicely in just a couple of months. Lots of great birds showed for us, including Ocellated (Yes!), Ash-throated, and Russet-crowned crakes, Spot-tailed Nightjar, Amazonian Pygmy-Owl, Curl-crested and Ivory-billed aracaris, Golden-collared Toucanet; Brown-banded, White-eared, Collared, and Western Striolated-puffbirds, Predicted Antwren, Manu, Humaita, and Banded antbirds, Inambari Woodcreeper, Cinnamon-rumped Foliage-gleaner, Cinereous-breasted Spinetail, Point-tailed Palmcreeper, Sharp-tailed Tyrant, Citron-bellied Attila, Fiery-capped Manakin, Black-masked Finch, Dark-throated Seedeater, and a number of flashy tanagers. We weren’t fortunate enough to find Campina Jay this time around, and Fulvous-chinned Nunlet got away heard only (twice, darn it!). Starting this year, we added a full day on the east side of the Madeira to check out some whitewater islands in the river, and bird in tall rainforest with dense bamboo understory. It was a fun, adventurous day, highlighted by a truly massive roost of Purple Martins, probably numbering more than 100,000 birds, sitting directly on the sand/silt near the tip of an island (check out the video, below!); they would have arrived in the region in the preceding month or so. Those several days on the Madeira were lovely, and the food was excellent! We hit a bunch of great little restaurants Bret has scouted out over the years.

Arriving at the Porto Velho airport, we met Ruth Kuhl, the Field Guides Rio Roosevelt Tour Manager, who had come to Porto Velho to join the tour for the week at Pousada Rio Roosevelt. It was great to see Ruth in Brazil, and so much fun to have her on the tour with us!

Our charter flight from Porto Velho to the Rio Roosevelt was right on time, and took us across a tremendous expanse of remote Campos Amazônicos National Park. As usual, the plane was a Cessna Caravan, with wings up over the windows, perfect for us! Descending toward the Rio Roosevelt, our pilots executed two wide circles for folks on both sides to get a fine view of the river and unbroken forest below, including fantastic Santa Rita rapids and the Pousada Rio Roosevelt, our home for the coming week. We enjoyed the 20-minute walk from the airstrip to the pousada, along the original portage path (now greatly enlarged, with walkways) opened by the Roosevelt-Rondon Expedition 105 years earlier. It was remarkable to contemplate those men laboring through that dense rainforest, probably clambering over the same, gnarled tree roots that punctuated the path at our feet. Along the walk we were stopped by a small group of rarely seen Aripuana Marmosets (Mico intermedius), and also a close mixed-species flock of understory insectivores. After settling into our comfortable chalets, we gathered in the dining room for lunch – more scrumptious food, and it never let up for our entire stay on the Roosevelt!

We opted for a check of the canopy tower that first afternoon, something I’d not tried on previous tours (afternoon). This tower is in only its second year, having been completed just in time for our 2018 tour. A dazzling Black-eared Fairy, Red-necked Aracaris, and a brilliant pair of Scarlet Macaws flying by at eye-level were the highlights up there. An Alta Floresta Antpitta singing spontaneously was fairly close along the trail, but lighting in the understory was just too dim for a good try at seeing it (we resolved to return on a morning walk).

The pousada is set at the back of a big, white-sand beach on a curve of the Roosevelt, just above Santa Rita rapids. Those thundering rapids are absolutely impassable (in fact, the 1914 expedition lost a boat there), so we had outboards stationed both above and below the rapids, for excursions up- and downriver. The upriver trips were silky smooth, no rapids on the Roosevelt section there, but we had a couple of small ones to negotiate on the Rio Madeirinha, the day we went way up to the campina. On the other hand, we felt some shots of adrenaline heading downriver, as we blasted through three sets of rapids to reach our most distant venue, a clay lick on the left bank of the Roosevelt. Our boatmen have spent so much time on the river around here that they know every little rock and ripple along the way, always expertly maneuvering us safely to our destinations – it was really quite amazing (check out the videos, below)! Most days saw us headed out on the boats at dawn to walk one of the many trails available to us, back to the pousada for lunch and a siesta, then back out to bird a different venue. One day, after birding the campina on the Rio Madeirinha (the most distant trail we visited), we did a little fishing to catch lunch: several beautiful tucunaré (Peacock Bass), which the guys expertly cleaned and cooked up for us on the spot – delicious!

Thinking back over the multiple avian highlights of our time on the Roosevelt, a few are real standouts. First and foremost must be the Zigzag Heron we patiently coaxed into showing himself at very close range, then staying put and calling for some 20 minutes. We then heard a few others in subsequent days; this bird kicks into breeding gear with the advent of the rainy season. And what a trip for Razor-billed Curassows! We saw a passel of them, with 1-4 almost every day. Spix’s Guans also showed well a few times, but Red-throated Piping-Guans were less in evidence than usual (June tours), appearing just a couple of times along the river borders. Brown Jacamars had well-grown youngsters; this species is easily missed in this region (distinctive subspecies melanosterna). Gould’s Toucanet performed admirably, doing its bowing/rocking vocal/visual display as we watched in the scope. Woodpeckers were very well-represented, as were the parrots. Orange-cheeked Parrots perched close and in ideal light were probably the most appreciated of all, but close views of perched Kawall’s Parrots and Crimson-bellied Parakeets were fabulous as well. Among a slew of great looks at antbirds, outstanding were the Glossy Antshrike, Roosevelt Stipplethroat (currently still a subspecies of Madeira Stipplethroat), Sclater’s Antwren (“Kermit’s” bird!), Ihering’s Antwren, Aripuana Antwren (thanks for that good spotting, Whitney!), Manicore Warbling-Antbird (we got all four species of warbling-antbirds possible on the tour), but top prize went to the highly sought White-breasted Antbird. A male Chestnut-belted Gnateater (possibly an undescribed species in this group) put on a great show one afternoon (but the darned antpitta mentioned above refused to cooperate). Another top vote-getter was a Rusty-belted Tapaculo that we talked into approaching us from way out there, eventually hopping across the trail just a few (breathless!) yards from us. Woodcreepers were well represented as well, with star performances from Hoffmann’s, Uniform, and Curve-billed (Rondonia) Scythebill. Buff-cheeked Tody-Flycatcher (really a tody-tyrant) can be tough, but we nailed it this time around. It was a bummer to dip on Chico’s Tyrannulet for the first time since Bret discovered the species on our 2009 tour. It’s a mistletoe specialist, but it seems that the mistletoe that was once more common has all but disappeared from the site over the past few years (when we have barely eked out finding the tyrannulet on the tours). Right up there with the Zigzag for top vote-getter on the tour was a Crimson Fruitcrow Marcelo spotted for us! Happily, that bird was very cooperative (unusually so), staying put in a tall treetop for all to view repeatedly in the scope. We have seen the species on the tour only three times now! We had nice views of Blue-backed Manakin (endemic, yellow-crowned subspecies regina), and great views of both Snow-capped and Flame-crowned manakins.

Mammals were also very good, especially primates. The recently described Prince Bernard’s Titi Monkey showed nicely a couple of times, as did Common Woolly Monkeys. The Roosevelt is surely the most reliable place Field Guides visits for seeing this big, heavily-hunted (elsewhere) monkey. Treetops dangling with Red Howlers and, once, a big troop of White-bellied Spider Monkeys (check out the video!) were also highly memorable sightings. We again were fortunate enough to spot a Neotropical Pygmy Squirrel. We thrilled to the close presence of Giant Otters, and also spotted a Neotropical River Otter and a Tayra. This was the first year we’ve not seen a Brazilian Tapir somewhere along the route (the clay lick was super-dry), and the only sign of a Jaguar was the deep claw-marks on the back of a huge Red Brocket Deer.

Marcelo and I had a wonderful time birding with all of you, and we are so happy that you all got to meet Ruth as well! It was great fun sharing experiences all along the way, from the opening days near Humaitá through our long week on the fabled Rio Roosevelt. We’ll look for everyone to return to bird more of big, beautiful Brazil with us in the future!

Grandes abraços,

Bret & Marcelo

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

Rubber tree and its scars! This is the tree that made some cities in the Amazon into some of the richest places on earth. Photo by guide Marcelo Barreiros

Tour Manager Ruth Kuhl posed with our great local guides, Anfinete and Cemi.

Our nice group, enjoying birding in the pristine forest of the Pousada Rio Roosevelt area. Photo by guide Marcelo Barreiros.

Our group, just before going up on the Pousada Rio Roosevelt canopy tower. Photo by participant Ruth Kuhl.

Our group doing some birding around Humaitá. Photo by guide Marcelo Barreiros.

Come on Ocellated Crake!! Where are you??! With patience, we had some great views of two individuals near Humaitá. Photo by guide Marcelo Barreiros.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Totals for the tour: 427 bird taxa and 25 mammal taxa