CAXIUANA: AMAZONIAN BRAZIL
& THE GOLDEN PARAKEET

Quest for the rare Golden Parakeet and many other Amazonian birds at a remote research station near the mouth of the Rio Xingu in lower Amazonian Brazil.

2008
September 19-29 with Bret Whitney

2009
September 26-October 5 with Bret Whitney

$3360 (2008 fee). 11 days
From Belem. Limit: 8
Good accommodations, long forest walks in generally easy terrain, boats on cool rivers, warm to hot climate. Our staff travel agents can book your air travel for this tour. Contact us at (800) 728-4953 for more information. This tour may be combined with RIO NEGRO PARADISE: MANAUS.

See our 2007 or 2006 or 2005 triplist.

Golden Parakeet, photographed on our 2006 tour by guide Bret Whitney

The Caxiuanã National Forest covers a vast territory near the mouth of the Rio Xingu, one of the six major south-bank tributaries coursing through the heart of the Brazilian Amazon. Deep within Caxiuanã lies the Ferreira Penna Scientific Station of the Goeldi Museum in Belém. The station is a rare point of access in an otherwise trackless, forested region of lower Amazonia. Remote though it is, the station is amazingly well-appointed for researchers (modern laboratories, computers, lecture rooms, and libraries) and birders, offering comfortable, private rooms with laundry service, a good restaurant with plenty of cold drinks, two canopy towers, and an excellent grid of trails right outside the door (and, in this blackwater region, virtually no biting insects!). Caxiuanã is also home to one of the most spectacular and highly prized parrots in the world: the Golden Parakeet. Seeing a flock of six to twelve of these big, golden-and-green, pink-billed “macawlets” flying steadily toward us against the backdrop of endless, verdant forest is a truly unforgettable experience, yet one very few birders have had. The Goeldi Museum has allowed our groups to visit the research station each season since 1997, and we have managed to see the Golden Parakeets well each time. That itself is wonderful…but there is so much more to see at Caxiuanã!

Harpy Eagle, photographed on our 2003 tour by guide Bret Whitney

Not counting full-day boat trips (on a nice boat with bunk beds and good meals) to and from Caxiuanã, we’ll settle into the station for six full days of birding on foot in the terra firme and from smaller boats in the igapó (flooded, blackwater forest) in search of such great birds as, to mention a few: Harpy Eagle (seen fairly regularly at Caxiuanã), the elusive Dark-winged Trumpeter, Cryptic Forest-Falcon, White-winged Potoo, the bizarre Vulturine Parrot, Pearly Parakeet, the mythical Fiery-tailed Awlbill, Racket-tailed Coquette, Crimson Topaz, the recently described Brigida’s Woodcreeper, White-tailed Cotinga, Flame-crested Manakin, and Blue-backed Tanager. The grid system of trails on level terrain makes it relatively easy to find and follow mixed-species flocks and antswarms. Two canopy towers give us exciting access to treetop flocks and canopy raptors, hummers, and cotingas. A cool, post-lunch dip in the river at the floating dock is a pure delight. Join Bret and a small group for a productive and comfortable week of birding in remote Amazonian Brazil.

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CAXIUANA: AMAZONIAN BRAZIL & THE GOLDEN PARAKEET

CAXIUANA: AMAZONIAN BRAZIL
& THE GOLDEN PARAKEET