Brazil - The Amazon - June 2026 - Day 3 - Guiana Shield birding around Presidente Figueredo - Tucumanduba and Ramal do Bacurau

We were on the road well before 6 having had a very early breakfast at the lodge. All good wildlife lodges recognise the need for early starts and the Calango Azul was no different. We were headed east, along the road to Balbine, constructed as I understand it in order to create a dam on the Uatuma River. We stopped well before this at the Ramal do Tucumanduba, passing a Variable Chachalaca en route as it exploded across the road. Luckily we missed it.

We were to spend over five hours walking just over mile along the Ramal do Tucumanduba, this is how intense the birding is. It's a reasonably wide track, enough space for two cars to pass in certain places, and also with spots to pull a car off to allow another to get by. I guess we drove a certain distance down it before continuing on foot, possibly a fallen tree had something to do with this but such is the passage of time (this was in late June, it is now September) I cannot now recall.

Amazonian Pygmy-Owl

In short it was excellent birding the whole way along. Collared Forest-falcon was heard early on, and one of the first birds we saw was a Marail Guan, a new species for this family for me. It is hard for me now to remember what came when, and whilst it would be easy to type out a long list of birds (or get my mate Claude to do that) I will just pick a few highlights. I think we saw 58 species, with Brad adding a further 13 or so, so really quite a birdy walk. The big target here was Blue-backed Tanager, a really difficult bird that few people see and one of our most wanted species. Brad picked it up on call and managed to track it down. Pretty sure there was only one bird, but we ended up seeing it several times. Other notablebirds included Screaming Piha, White-throated Manakin, White-fronted Manakin, White-crowned Manakin and Paradise Jacamar. A Pompadour Cotinga was great, but a female so we missed the full pomp and circumstance - they all count though! Black-spotted Barbet showed well, and Antpeople were represented by two Cinereous Antshrike, a Brown-bellied Stipplethroat, two White-flanked Antwren, two Grey Antwren, two Spot-backed Antwren, two Black-headed Antbird, and a Rufous-capped Antthrush. Whilst these were all shades of charcoal grey, a contrast of riotous colour was provided by Flame-crested Tanager, Fulvous-crested Tanager, Fulvous Shrike-Tanager, Silver-beaked Tanager, Blue-backed Tanager, Spotted Tanager, Black-faced Dacnis, Blue Dacnis, and Green Honeycreeper. Most of the this action seemed to happen high above our heads and the trees in the Amazon are particularly tall - we used neck muscles that rarely get a look in and it was very tiring.

Blue-backed Tanager

Brad

Brad also noted that this was a good spot for Blackish Nightjar and sure enough he found one perched close to the edge of the track. Another bird recolated to the track itself which made for a much nicer photograph - it is amazing how close you can get if you are slow and steady. I no longer lie down to take photographs, especially not in countries that host unfavourable Ants, but had I done so the images could have been epic.

Blackish Nightjar

Blackish Nightjar

Hummingbirds were represented by Straight-billed Hermit, two Black-eared Fairy, a Grey-breasted Sabrewing, a Fork-tailed Woodnymph, a Versicoloured Emerald and a Rufous-throated Sapphire. Alas my Sony 200-600mm lens at f6.3 is basically too slow to get anything decent, this is one of those situations where I wished I still had the Canon 500mm f4. What a lens that was. Then again I would likely have left it in the car, towards the end I hated carrying that thing. There were so many other good birds it is hard to know where to start. I really liked the Yellow-billed Jacamar and Paradise Jacamar, but equally the Black-spotted Barbet, Green-backed Trogon and Guianan Violaceous Trogon were pretty sensational as well. This is just what birding in South America is like. If like me you spend much of your birding life wandering round a lifeless inland patch in the UK, birding in South America can almost be too much, you almost can't believe it can be as good as it is and you end up questioning your life choices. Greyish Mourner is less spectacular, but you have to work so hard to actually find it despite being able to hear it that it becomes much more exciting than it fact is. The same can probably be said of Bright-rumped Attila, another fiendishly difficult bird to track down. There were many more birds seen but I'll spare you - have a look at the eBird checklist instead. You can also see the extra list of birds that Brad heard or saw, and that we were too deaf/slow to get on. He did all the eBirding, and so each night when he submitted them we went through the painful task of deleting everything that we had missed!

We returned to Presidente Figueredo for lunch at Urubiu. Tambaqui anyone? To be fair it was really good at this restaurant, expertly grilled right on the street. The place was hugely popular, no doubt because it was the weekend and the swimming area nearby. After lunch we returned east to a site close to our lodge, the Ramal do Bacurau. The main draw here was a Capucinbird lek, I suspect one that is not generally advertised. There were perhaps five birds making the strangest of sounds, a cow in agony or something along those lines, and when you managed to set eyes on one you realised that they looked even odder than they sounded which is quite saying something. Unfortunately they were very high up and mostly obscured by foliage so I don't have any sparkling photos so that you can see what I mean.

We added another Jacamar to our burgeoning collection along this road, Bronzy Jacamar, as well as another Paradise Jacamar, and a Curve-billed Scythebill was a special treat. In a small clearing about to become a lodge was a Grey-breasted Sabrewing, a pair of Corya Wren, and along the track/road we found quite a few birds on the forest edge, usually quite high up, with Fulvous-crested Tanager, a pair of Silver-beaked Tanager, four Opal-rumped Tanager, Green Honeycreeper and Bananaquit. A miniature chicken was also seen, a Rufous-capped Antthrush that stayed deep in cover. There were also some very noisy Variable Chachalaca in a bush that, much like the bird in the morning, exploded out when we passed and kind of ran/jumped higher up into the trees. The only downside to this track was that it was quite busy with cars as it leads to a swimming hole. As the day drew to a close a veritable convoy of vehicles came streaming out, disturbing the birding each time.

Yellow-billed Jacamar

Grey-breasted Sabrewing

Green-backed Trogon

White-throated Manakin

Just before dusk we spent a quick ten minutes at Ramal Comunidade Marcos Freire. Here we noted a Greater Yellow-headed Vulture with four White-throated Toucan, two Rusty-margined Flycatcher, a Variegated Flycatcher, five Tropical Kingbird, and a Silver-beaked Tanager. Quite a birdy ten minutes! Our final stop for the day was at Aldeia Marí Marí. We were here for a really special bird, White-winged Potoo Brad explained that the post they usually landed on, a dead palm trunk, had fallen over in the last year but that he was hopeful that the birds were still present. Sure enough as it became properly dark they started calling and we were able to locate them in trees. Hardly anyone sees this bird apparently, so we had got really lucky - all you need to do is look at the eBird observations, less than 1000. A Great Tinamou was also heard along with a Short-tailed Nighthawk, and a Common Pauraque was on the road as we drove back to the lodge for a bit of food and a beverage.

Brazil - The Amazon - June 2026 - Day 2 - Marchantaria boat trip and up to Presidente Figueredo

After the storm at Manaus

An early start saw us take a taxi down the CEASA port in Manaus. Our boatman Herculano was coming across the river to pick us up, but just as we arrived and he might have been leaving the most immense electrical storm blew in from the west. Under the corrugated roof of CEASA the noise was deafening, this was not weather to be out on a boat and we had choice but to wait it out. Just as you thought it could not become more intense it did exactly that. Incredible, and actually quite exciting despite being frustrating. The shed we were in was the loading area for the ferry across the Rio Negro and Amazon to connect with the southbound road. For a road supposed to undriveable there was a lot of traffic but I suppose that most of it wasn't going very far, just connecting to the communities on the south side. There were plenty of small boats too, but everyone was simply waiting as the rain thundered down. The gutters became rivers, then torrents - the ground here is sloped down to the river bank for the roll-on-roll-off ferries - low affairs with no superstructure, just a floating platform really. We spent the time we unexpectedly had to have little breakfast as the skies lightened and the rain and wind began to ease. And of course we started to note birds as well. Short-tailed Swift were over the water, a Black-crowned Night Heron flew by as did a Ringed Kingfisher, Large-billed Tern and Osprey. It was still only just gone six so we had probably only lost half hour. Meanwhile Brad and Herculano kept in touch, both wanting to know what the weather was like on the other side that they could not see.

Team Amazon - Bob, Richard & Brad (L-R)

Leaving Manaus

We were on our way by about 6.20am, heading across the water to the Furo de Catalão, a channel through the river islands to the Amazon proper. What was genuine island and what was floating vegetation was hard to distinguish but there were birds everywhere. Black-bellied Whistling-Duck were on a small island with eight Brazilian Teal, and as we approached Nacunda Nighthawks rose and flew ahead of the boat. Wattled Jacana padded along some floating greenery, with Snowy Egret and a Striated Heron, and a Yellow-headed Caracara was overhead. Even out here you get parrots, with two fly-by White-winged Parakeet, two Chestnut-fronted Macaw, and a pair of Festive Amazon in a tree, most of which was probably underwater. An Oriole Blackbird spotted by Richard showed nicely in the early morning sun.

Rio Negro river community

Matupas on the Amazon

A little further on, at a site called Ponta de baixo, Herculano slowed the boat down and we started to bird the Marchantaria properly, seeking out individual species that live here and only here. The floating vegetation here held numerous Yellow-hooded Blackbird, and amongst these Brad was able to tempt out Azure Gallinule and Purple Gallinule, the former a really tricky species. Things were off to a good start. In a quiet lagoon Herculano stopped the engine and switched to an oar. This proved the ideal way to see birds. We tracked down Green-throated Mango and Olive-spotted Hummingbird here, and close by were some roosting Ladder-tailed Nightjar which we were able to maneuvre quite close to. The real specialities here are the Antbirds and Furnarids, and with Brad clearly working to a mental list we gradually added them all. Black-and-white Antbird, Yellow-chinned Spinetail, Red-and-white Spinetail, White-bellied Spinetail, Dark-breasted Spinetail, Straight-billed Woodcreeper and a Zimmer’s Woodcreeper were all seen in vegetation just above the water. There were also Spotted Tody-Flycatcher, a Little Woodpecker, a Spot-breasted Woodpecker, White-winged Becard and Cinereous Becard. It wasn't even 7am.

Yellow-hooded Blackbird

Azure Gallinule

Oriole Blackbird

Festive Amazon

Black-and-White Antbird

Ladder-tailed Nightjar

As we carried on we passed Horned Screamer on the side of the bank, the only ones we were to see. Out on the river we could see more Large-billed Terns and some Black Skimmer, meanwhile the vegetation had perched Cocoi Heron and Straited Heron. The number of parrots continues to astound in this watery landscape, with Short-tailed Parrot, Tui Parakeet, and White-winged Parakeet. It was around here that I also saw my first Hoatzin, a much wanted bird. More furnarids were seen on the edges of the Ilha Nova, including three Dark-breasted Spinetail, two Yellow-chinned Spinetail, Red-and-white Spinetail, White-bellied Spinetail, and two Parker’s Spinetail in some tall reeds. Also excellent views of Lesser Wagtail-Tyrant.

Red-and-white Spinetail

White-bellied Spinetail

Lesser Wagtail-Tyrant

By mid‑morning we arrived at the innundated Ilha da Marchantaria, but we couldn't even land the boat, there was no point getting off. I think I got as far as putting my wellies on but they were not needed. There were more Hoatzin here, along with five Buff-necked Ibis and Great Black Hawk, Savanna Hawk and a Roadside Hawk. We anchored the boat in the strong current for great views of Short-tailed Parrot and the Hoatzin. Further on we took a narrow channel called the Paraná Xiboreninha, a short cut to where we were having lunch. Along here were our first Chestnut-eared Aracari. Good numbers of Flycatchers here as well, with Yellow-browed Tody-Flycatcher, Olive-faced Flatbill, Southern Beardless-Tyrannulet and Yellow-crowned Tyrannulet alongside the ever present Great Kiskadee and White-throated Kingbird.

Hoatzin

Short-tailed Parrot

We parked the boat at the floating restaurant and walked through the shop to the boardwalk. Our timing was excellent and we had the place - the Parque Ecológico Janauari - to ourselves. Two Great Potoo were noted at the start, and as we went deeper in the birding got better and better with Black-fronted Nunbird, two Spotted Puffbird, Crimson-crested Woodpecker, Cream-coloured Woodpecker, two Long-billed Woodcreeper, Striped Woodcreeper, a Straight-billed Woodcreeper, two Zimmer’s Woodcreeper. At the far end of the boardwalk was sheltered lagoon with Amazon water lily pads - the Victoria amazonica species made famous by English aristocrats in the 1800s, and latterly by Kew Gardens. We had a fine buffet lunch at back at the restaurant, our timing once again excellent as we were just finishing when the first boats of Manaus day-trippers started to arrive.

Great Potoo

Black-fronted Nunbird

Striped Woodcreeper

Spotted Puffbird

Tui Parakeet

A Spintail, probably Striped....

We made a quick stop at the Meeting of the Waters, where the black Rio Negro meets the white water Solimoes to become the Amazon. For many miles the northern water remains black, the southern side a muddy brown, they are quite different temperatures as well. Gradaully they blend into one to form the mightly Amazon.

The Meeting of the Waters

Herculano dropped up back at the port shortly after midday and we returned to the hotel to pick up our stuff and pack the vehicle for the trip north to Presidente Figueredo. But first came the big twitch. Agami Heron. I forget how much time we spent, fruitlessly, searching for Agami Heron in the Pantanal - and this is the bird Brad's company is named after!! It was stinking hot in Manaus, and as we made our way to the National Institute of Amazonian Research at the Bosque da Ciência. There is only one pond here and after a quick look at some Amazonian Manatee in a tank we headed straight to it, Richard striding ahead as always when a 'big' bird is in the offing. I don't think we were really expecting it to be there, but surely this was it, under a rock on the left hand side. I casually pointed it out, directions deliberately a little vague to see how many expletives I could get out of him. I wasn't entirely sure myself to be honest, it was under an overhang but for a supposedly invisible bird was essentially out in the open and the only obvious bird in sight although later we would also pick up Black-crowned Night Heron, a Striated Heron and a Cocoi Heron. Richard stayed reasonably calm in the circumstances but nonetheless it was good to see a bit of classic behaviour. The bird stayed in the same spot the entire time we were there, an overhanging rock on a tiny ornamental island the only habitat that, to the bird, felt like a dark cool forest. What it was doing there I have no idea, but juvenile birds presumably disperse and work their way down streams and rivers, and occasionally, like this one, hit civilisation. We tried to work out where we could best photograph it from but the answer was nowhere. A sudden squall forced our retreat to the car, my umbrella helped a bit, but no amount of actual dampness could dampen our high spirits after this unexpected success.

Agami Heron. Look at that bill!

We hit the road at about 3pm for the drive north out of Manaus. Brad made good time, and so at about 4.30pm we pulled into a petrol station on the outskirts of Presidente Figueiredo. These places don't scream birds, but anywhere where you are near the edge of forest is going to be good around here and so it proven. Swifts overhead were Band-rumped Swift and Fork-tailed Palm Swift, and on the southern edge Hummingbirds fed. The star of the show was a Crimson Topaz, but Long-tailed Hermit and Black-eared Fairy were pretty cool too, The real prize here is Point-tailed Palmcreeper, and there were a number of the correct palms in the neighbourhood. We could hear the bird calling, but Brad said the only time we would likely see it would be as it flew between the crowns. How odd then to find it in a bare-branched tree some way from the relevant palms - we got amazing scope views before it flew towards us and vanished into a palm crown before creeping up the top of a frond. Another bird then followed it - excellent! Also here were Yellow-tufted Woodpecker, Lineated Woodpecker, Chivi Vireo, Variegated Flycatcher, Sulphury Flycatcher, Yellow-bellied Elaenia, Small-billed Elaenia and Fulvous-crested Tanager.

Point-tailed Palmcreeper

We pulled into our lodge, the Pousada Paraiso do Calango Azul at around 6pm in a habitat totally different to that we had birding in the morning, with a whole new set of birds. This was the Guianan Shield, and we had two full days in which to try and do it some kind of justice. In the meantime Caipirinhas all round.

Brazil - The Central Amazon - June 2026 - Day 1 - Arrival into Manaus and Iranduba

The flight from Sao Paulo to Manaus was extremely enjoyable. For starters there was virtually nobody on it and we had our pick of seats after take off. This mean that I enjoyed some pretty decent sleep for a couple of hours across a row of three towards the back, making up for sleep I perhaps didn't get on the long haul. Before I did I spent some time looking out of the window at the world below. The green was in pockets, vast tracts cut out. Small shapes moved below. Cattle. This is the reality of the southern Amazon, unrestrained ranching. By the time I woke up, perhaps an hour south-east of Manaus, all you could see was green. The odd river tributary snaking through the landscape in wide bends, but no roads, no sign of habitation or human intervention. There are two roads in and out of Manaus, one from the south and one from the north. The northern one is paved and runs all the way to Venezuela. The southern one is at times virtually impassable. That a city of two million people should lie at the end of it is entirely improbable until you consider the rivers. Manaus is at confluence of the Rio Solimoes and the Rio Negro. Built on the Rio Negro as the black water is less viable for mosquitos, it started life as a fort in the 1600s. The real explosion was the rubber boom towards the 1800s, but when rubber started to be grown elsewhere for cheaper the city fell into decline and it was not until the 1960s that a recovery began that continues to this day. The city continues to grow, an important manufacturing hub, with the products shipped out towards the coast or flown out. As you approach from the air it is scarely beliebable that Manaus is here at all. Of course it is the rivers that made it all possible, these replace highways in the Amazon basin and throughtout our trip we noted small ferries festooned with hammocks plying up and down. The Amazon is so wide that you can't see across it, it is no surprise that some pretty large ships can get as far as Manaus.

Manaus

Brad met us at the airport and we went straight for an early lunch at the Morada do Peixe where were introduced to Tambaqui for the first time - a staple part of the Amazon diet. It's a big fish with really meaty flesh and bones large enough that they are easy to deal with and it is quite delicious. After our marathon trip from London it was good to be sitting around with a nice juice, chatting with Brad for the first time in two years and quizzing him on the plan. Pairs of Scarlet Macaw flew overhead and a Pale-breasted Thrush fed in the grass near a wall. American Black Vulture and Turkey Vulture cruised around, and as we got back in the car three Common Ground Dove were seen.

The shore at Iranduba

Although Richard had been at pains to tell Brad about an Agami Heron at the INPA Bosque da Ciencia we decided it would be best to continue with plan A and head down to Iranduba to bird the Várzea forest. This involves crossing over the Rio Negro on the sole bridge, and heading across the peninsula to the Solimoes (what the Amazon is known as in Brazil before it merges with the Rio Negro downstream of where we were). At this time of year the water is at its highest, a full 15m above the low point. Certain roads were impassable and the water lapped at our feet as we started birding near the small port. Our main target here was Sand-coloured Nighthawk, they roost by the riverbank during the day and sure enough we found three birds on the corrugated roof of a small barge. More Scarlet Macaw were overhead and two Large-billed Tern fished on the river. We had arrived! This was a really birdy area, with a River Tyrannulet loads of Striated Heron in the reeds, Cattle-Egret and Great White Egret in some fields, and a couple of Roadside Hawk in the trees. We had our first views of Wing-banded Hornero and Lesser Hornero here, and about 25 Orange-fronted Yellow-Finch fed along the fence. I got my camera out but it fogged up immediately, a constant issue on the trip for the first few moments after any lengthy car journey. As we birded along the edge of some vegetation we found Common Ground Dove, two Spotted Tody-Flycatcher, several Fork-tailed Flycatcher and a Barred Antshrike, whilst in the air were Short-tailed Swift, White-winged Swallow, Southern Rough-winged Swallow, and Barn Swallow. Parrots here included pairs of Tui Parakeet and White-eyed Parakeet, with three Spot-breasted Woodpecker chasing each other around, a Yellow-rumped Cacique, two Orange-backed Troupial, a Shiny Cowbird, two Yellow-browed Sparrow, three Russet-backed Oropendola, a Red-capped Cardinal, and three Pearly-breasted Conebill. And breathe. We didn't know where to look, there were birds everywhere - that first session abroad after a long journey always seems so good - maybe the bird guides know this and take newly arrived birders to an area which will just blow them away. A sudden downpour brought these marvellous proceedings to a premature end and we had to run back to the car - you can have too much of a good thing, or so say the Birding Gods. As we left the area a veritable cloud of Sand-coloured Nighthawk rose up from larger buildings near the coast road - they had been roosting on the roofs and we had not noted them as we drove in - we estimated 250 birds.

Wing-banded Hornero

Orange-fronted Yellow-Finch

Sand-coloured Nighthawk

Fork-tailed Flycatcher

We had to take an inland road to our next stop as the direct route was underwater. This was no bad thing with a five minute stop on the way yielding two pairs of Least Grebe, Southern Lapwing, Ringed Kingfisher and three White-headed Marsh Tyrant. Remarkably the Grebes were a tick for Richard and they hadn't really been on the list of expected targets at all. Shortly afterwards, at another short stop on the track between Ramal 26 and Caldeirão, we flushed Undulated Tinamou from the roadside. Seeing as there obviously birds here we stopped for maybe a quarter of an hour and pulled out loads of things. White-eyed Parakeet moved overhead with Blue-headed Parrot in smaller numbers, and a Pale-vented Pigeon was with larger numbers of Common Ground Dove and Ruddy Ground Dove. We also got Roadside Hawk here, a Laughing Falcon, Ringed Kingfisher and White-throated Toucan. You simply cannot beat a Toucan for a sense of place. We had arrived.

The river is vast, the far bank isn't even the other side, it is just an island. Fully fledged islands of grasses, some with small bushes growing on them were floating downstream. The bank you can see is just under 2km away. The far side is 9km!

At around half three we arrived back the river at a site called the Estrada do Caldeirão, where we spent the remainder of the birdable day. This was the most birdy site yet. Here Brad deployed his best Owl impression, a high pitched piping whistle repeated at one second intervals. Later when his lips dried out he would use a tape. The results from either method were remarkable with tons of birds coming down to mob this terrible interloper. We pulled in a Barred Antshrike, Long-billed Woodcreeper, two Chestnut-crowned Becard, two White-winged Becard, three Spotted Tody-Flycatcher, two Yellow-browed Tody-Flycatcher, a Southern Beardless-Tyrannulet, three Three-striped Flycatcher and a Social Flycatcher. Additional species we saw along the way without the Owl included Pale-vented Pigeon, Grey-fronted Dove,Greater Ani, Smooth-billed Ani, Green Ibis, Black-tailed Trogon, Black-fronted Nunbird, White-throated Toucan, a Crimson-crested Woodpecker, Buff-breasted Wren, a Black-billed Thrush, a Pale-breasted Thrush, eight Red-breasted Meadowlark, 10 Giant Cowbird, a Yellow-rumped Cacique, two Hooded Tanager, a White-shouldered Tanager, two Silver-beaked Tanager, a Blue-grey Tanager and three Turquoise Tanager. I love Tanagers.

Short-tailed Parrot

Short-crested Flycatcher

White-winged Becard

As the day ended we were treated to a highway of Parrots heading off to roost, including 38 Blue-headed Parrot, 17 White-eyed Parakeet, six Orange-winged Amazon, two Festive Amazon, two Short-tailed Parrot in a tree - a bird we had very much wanted to see well and a real river margin speciality here. There were also six Tui Parakeet and two White-winged Parakeet. Somewhere close to 300 Russet-backed Oropendola crossed over the road heading north to roost. I don't exactly know how many of these birds were new but we ended the day on 88 species having only started birding in earnest at 1.30pm. Elated we returned to our hotel to take stock and get ready for the next day, a boat trip out of Manaus onto the river Amazon.