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An adult male Wire-tailed Manakin was there to greet us on our first morning at Anavilhanas National Park (photo Bret Whitney)

The 2012 running of the Rio Negro Paradise: Manaus tour proved to be fantastic in all regards. As is usually the case in September, weather was fine all along the route, with rain interrupting activities briefly and not seriously only a couple of times -- this despite the fact that "I ain't a weatherman". We were fortunate in having all three major river systems (Negro, Jaú, Solimões/Amazonas) at good levels to permit us to get into all the nooks and crannies (igarapés and paranás, I should say) we wanted to bird. Our little group of birders was sharp and fun, and a fine time was had by all including, of course, your guides :-)

The tour got off to a roaring start in tall, undisturbed terra firme forest at the edge of sprawling Manaus with great scope views of Black-faced Hawk, Dusky Parrot, Amazonian Pygmy-Owl, and Ringed Woodpecker, while an impressive army ant swarm produced tantalizing views for most of us of White-plumed and Rufous-throated antbirds, and Amazonian Barred and Black-banded woodcreepers. We were also thrilled that morning to have fine views of a monster Red-billed Woodcreeper, always a red-letter event! It would turn out to be a extraordinary trip for woodcreepers overall.

Guianan Cock-of-the Rock was, as usual, a mega-highlight of our time around Presidente Figueiredo (and in an immersive way, properly breaking us in to the heat and humidity at this equatorial latitude) -- but a hunting Gray-bellied Hawk (juv plumage that resembles Ornate Hawk-Eagle!), a family of Pelzeln's Tody-Tyrants, and a dashing male Crimson Topaz were just about as good (well, maybe not the tody-tyrant, when it comes to plumage). Camp 41 was hot, and not just for temperature. We started off with a HUGE Harpy Eagle immature that had fledged only a month or so before our visit, and we were lucky to find it easily. It looked grim for Capuchinbird for a couple of hours, but we eventually found a group of males that showed off nicely, their bizarre voices blaring through the forest around us. Also especially memorable at the Camp was the Ferruginous-backed Antbird that paraded in then sat and sang for a couple of minutes as we watched at close range, and a tremendous male Black-throated Antshrike that showed nicely, for the first time in several years (on the tour, I mean). The hammocks were, as always, appreciated to varying degrees among the group, but I've gotta say that the rain we had the night of arrival, which broke a long dry spell, was bad luck because it reallly got the frogs going! What a racket, and all night long for the first two nights! Dona Eduarda's great cooking (incomparable roasted Tambaqui!), lots of cold drinks including pitchers of caipirinhas at the list every evening, and lots of beautiful forest all around us outweighed the noisy frogs by a long shot. But it was sweet to say good-bye and take off for a week in paradise on the boat! Yessss!

Our fantastic crew on the Victoria Amazonica (photo Bret Whitney)

When we boarded the luxurious Victoria Amazonia, Teresa and Bill Paschall were already there, having come in from Austin. Teresa is the Field Guides Tour Manager for most of the Brazil tours, and had been on the boat part of the tour a few years ago. It was Bill's first trip to South America! It was fun to have them on the boat with us, and they brought in some mighty fine Peacock Bass and other fish for top-deck grilling a couple of times. Lunch was served as we started up the beautiful Rio Negro. An afternoon stop at a place we'd never birded before produced two fine views of Amazonian Black-Tyrant, always tough to come by. We awoke next morning to Pavarotti and breakfast on the top deck in the wonderful Anavilhanas Archipelago. What a morning it was! Lots of birds and all seen very well, most folks getting 5-10 lifers, some 30+! Highlights included dazzling male Wire-tailed Manakins, Klages's and Leaden antwrens, Black-chinned and Ash-breasted antbirds, Blackish-gray Antshrike, Green-tailed Jacamar, Zimmer's, Striped, and Straight-billed woodcreepers, Speckled Spinetail (first of a long list of spinetails on the tour), Snethlage's Tody-Tyrant, Varzea Schiffornis, Festive Parrots (red rumps would come only later), and a group of Hoatzins. And we were properly blown away by a Long-billed Woodcreeper just before heading back to the boat to hit the cooler. That, my friends, is what birding is all about. And it was fun to celebrate Marcelo's birthday on the boat (but I really don't think that chimp on the card looked much like me, what with all the teeth and hair).

Next came Jaú National Park. This vast, remote preserve ranks among the most pristine in all of Brazil, with very few people living in it and very little visitation through the year. Rain on the morning of arrival precluded birding our planned stop but we made up for it nicely by stopping at some places we'd never visited before, which was fun as well as productive. Perhaps topping the highlights was the White-winged Potoo that we outsmarted one evening, eventually managing to get it in the scope for prolonged views. We came sooo close to getting a look at Rufous too: After we'd heard it several times, I finally found it perched but it flew seconds before the group arrived to get a look at it aaarrrgh! Ant swarms were better than the past couple of years, and we got to see Chestnut-crested Antbird, always hugely hoped-for at Jaú. Also present were White-plumed and Bicolored antbirds, and a Reddish-winged Bare-eye that refused to do more than sing back to us weakly a couple of times. Pearly Antshrike put in a fine and highly appreciated appearance, as did Bar-bellied Woodcreeper which has been tough to produce in recent years. There was not a sign of Pavonine Quetzal, however, which is unusual at Jaú. We were super-fortunate to pick up Tawny-tufted Toucanet, here at the extreme eastern edge of its range, although it was hard to see clearly through leaves high in a tree.

Then it was down, all the way down, the Negro to the Rio Solimões. It's quite amazing to think of our crew doing that for us -- our guys up all night, in shifts, navigating us steadily and safely down that great river so we would be in place for a fantastic morning of birding on Marchantaria Island at daybreak. I mean, Wow. (And we even managed to stop for some late afternoon birding that finally resulted in good views of the red rumps on Festive Parrots, even if the sometimes-present Amazonian Umbrellabirds didn't show this time around.) Marchantaria was dynamite, lots of species seen well in short order. As predicted, the spinetails were thick and it was fun to see them all well and sort out their distinguishing features. Green-throated Mango was easier than usual but there wasn't a glimpse of Olive-spotted Hummer, one of very few island species that slipped through the net. The area we traditionally visit is now becoming pretty degraded, so I think we'll need to do more exploring by next year -- always fun, but it's going to be a challenge to budget the time for it! We enjoyed a nice view of the "Meeting of the Waters," at the confluence of the Rio Negro with the Solimões/Amazonas off Manaus, and learned of the very different nature of these two magnificent rivers. What a place (I always like to imagine us as a grain of sand speck down there on Google Earth).

We closed out the birding with a brief but memorable stop on the north bank of the Amazonas to see Plain Softtail and a few other birds before heading back up the Amazon toward Manaus. We awoke next morning for breakfast as we cruised into the port of Manaus, then disembarked for a swing through the fish and vegetable markets, followed by a little shopping and a fine tour through the Opera House with Junior as our guide. It was a fun and memorable morning, even as we learned that American Ailrines had cancelled the flight to Miami that evening! It looked nasty for a while, but the able team of Marcelo, Teresa, and, back in Austin, Peggy, got it straightened out for everyone to get home via TAM free of extra charges, and everyone did -- some folks even more quickly than they would have on AA!

Marcelo and I thank you all very much for coming to bird with us around Manaus, and we very much look forward to seeing you again as soon as the opportunity presents itself. Meanwhile, have great birding and other travels, and keep in touch!

Com grandes abraços para todos, Bretche

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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

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BIRDS

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MAMMALS

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ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Outstanding among numerous interesting creatures encountered along the way were Southern Two-toed Sloth (Choloepus didactylus, one carrying a baby at the Hotel Tropical), Bare-tailed Woolly Possum (Caluromys philander, the one we found during the day at the Guianan Cock-of-the-Rock place), Noisy Night Monkey (Autos vociferans, the family at Junior's place; apparently they get rowdy after dark), Spiny Tree Rat (Mesomys hispidus, one at Anavilhanas spotted fairly high in a tree), Giant Tree Rats (Makalata grandis, at least four of these monsters, a record!), Black and Spectacled caimans, several large Green Iguanas, and two truly remarkable insects: White Witch moths (Thysania agripennis, greatest wingspan of any moth; we found at least two!), and the spectacular Red-eyed Planthopper (family Fulgoridae). The massive, spectacularly tall tree we saw a couple of times was the Piquiá (Caryocar sp.)

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Totals for the tour: 424 bird taxa and 15 mammal taxa

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