Brazil - The Amazon - June 2026 - Day 5 - ZF2 Tower and transfer to Novo Airão

I can't remember what time we got up but it was pretty brutal. Bags packed in advance and we off - south on the only road towards Manaus. We probably had just over an hour in the car before the ZF-2 tower turnoff, after which it is a futher 10+ miles west along a track into the forest where the research tower is situated. It's 53m tall, quite staggering, and protrudes well above the canopy. Right at the top are a load of scientific instruments and because of these you have to be accompanied by Amazonian Institute staff. This needs to be organised in advance and a disclaimer signed. There is no lift....

Impressive!

So very early in the morning, still dark, we pulled off the main road and waited for our minder. A big 4x4 pulled up but it was not who we were waiting for, instead it was another guide and two birding clients. Shortly after that the 4x4 we were waiting for arrived and the driver of this got out and got in our car and we got in his - somewhat beefier than our own - and headed a bit further down towards the tower with our original car following us. But only for a short while until the road got a bit wider and there was space for one car to pull over. The slight sticking point was that the driver was scared of the jungle and being left alone in it. I mean the guy lives in Manaus? Anyway Brad bigged him up, said it would OK, gave him a hug and said not to get out or whatever, and off we went.

Excitement was building as it started to get light. The track to the tower is not a good one, I could see why we had swapped vehicles, and the final stretch was essentially a small river. It had clearly been raining a great deal, and the signs for more were rather ominous. At the base of the tower stood a small shelter, and underneath this were the occupants of the first car, two Australian birders on a mega world tour, months and months I seem to remember. Retirees huh. My time will come. Hopefully.

After a bit of coffee and fruit we could wait no longer and started to climb the steps. On and on and on, exhausting for an old guy like me who takes lifts. And then what should happen on the penultimate level? A huge squall blew in is what, and sent us scurrying all the way back down to the bottom to take shelter. Ugh.

I estimate we lost an hour to this storm, but eventually it passed through and we were back on. The second ascent was no less draining than the first but this time we made it to the top and what a view awaited us! The Amazon rainforest to the far horizon in all directions. Words and pictures can't adequately describe it, it is monumental. And it is a long way down!

Selfie king

Five Band-rumped Swift were moving above the canopy, and a large distant blob with two smaller blobs turned out to be our second Harpy Eagle of the trip. The smaller blobs were White-throated Toucans, themselves not exactly small. Huge, it had its wings partially stretched out as it dried off after the rain. It was exciting birding but hard work, birds in the Amazon are not as omnipresent as you would expect. We saw our first Channel-billed Toucan and although not as numerous as White-throated Toucan we ended up seeing four. A lot of the birding was about distant blobs, some of which were variously Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle, White Hawk, Spangled Cotinga and Purple-breasted Cotinga, the latter two we would have liked to have seen a lot closer but the scope views were ok. Occasionally a feeding flock would pass through trees closer to the tower, and these contained at times Black-capped Becard, Glossy-backed Becard, Olive-green Tyrannulet, Amazonian Elaenia, Todd’s Sirystes, Yellow-throated Flycatcher and Slaty-capped Shrike-Vireo. Knocking all of these into a cocked hat rarity-wise, if not on looks, were a pair of Guianan Gnatcatcher which per eBird hardly anyone ever sees. Mega. Various Parrots did flybys, Dusky Parrot, Blue-headed Parrot, Mealy Amazon, Red-fan Parrot, Golden-winged Parakeet and Scarlet Macaw.

White-throated Toucan

Spangled Cotinga

Guianan Toucanet. My mate Claude, or one of his mates, has had a go at this, removing lots of branches. It is scarily fascinating what AI can do - to be covered in another post. This is the only photo I've massaged so far on this trip report.

Rain forced us down again after about an hour, you could see it rolling in from the south-west in good time, but the stoppage was shorter and whilst it meant we had to go all the back to the ground and then back up again we didn't lose that much birding time. Other birds here during the two sessions were Black-eared Fairy, Fork-tailed Woodnymph, Yellow-tufted Woodpecker, Yellow-throated Woodpecker and amazing views of a close Lineated Woodpecker. And last but not least we got excellent views of Guianan Toucanet which was one of the birds that we really needed to see from this tower. What remained of the morning passed all too soon and it was time to go. In fairness activity had really tailed off, but it was already 11.15am and we had a very long drive ahead of us - back to Manaus, over the Rio Negro, and then west unti the road runs out at Novo Airão. By leaving the tower before lunch we could get an hour or so later on in entirely different habitat. We lucked out on the drive back out to the main road with six Grey-winged Trumpeter crossing the access track.

Lineated Woodpecker

Guianan Gnatcatcher. Mega!

It was indeed a long drive, albeit punctuated by a quick buffet lunch near Manaus airport. I am not sure we stopped at all other than that and it was probably a good thing we didn't dally. The road from Manaus to Novo Airão deteriorates quite badly at some stages, and there is probably a 40km stretch with stupid numbers of dangerous potholes that you have to slalom around and that takes ages. Nonethess by about half past four we pulled off the main road at the Ramal da Sombrinha Cor de Rosa to start our first Terra Firma birding.

Duida Woodcreeper and Dwarf Tyrant-Manakin were both new species, as were Gilded Barbet, Black Caracara and White-fronted Nunbird. Actually there was more cross-over than I had been expecting with Black-eared Fairy and Fork-tailed Woodnymph amongst other species we had seen quite a few of north of Manaus. As the day drew to a close we managed to see a pair of Black-tailed Tityra, and two Yellow-rumped Cacique and over 70 Red-rumped Cacique headed off to roost. And we did too, to the Amazoniaa Park Suites. A long day, but a good one.

Brazil - The Amazon - June 2026 - Day 4 - Guiana Shield birding around Presidente Figueredo - Cachoeira da Neblina and Aldeai Mari Mari

The first view. Beyond epic actually.

This morning was epic! Beyond epic actually. We had made the decision the previous evening to try for the Harpy again even though this meant losing a couple of hours of early morning birding (as we would have driven to our first destination in the dark and started at first light). It seemed a worthwhile trade off, especially when we arrived and walked down the short trail to see the bird's self-appointed guardian with a broad grin on his face. Up there, he pointed, physically maneuvring us into a spot where we could see through a gap. Wow. I mean, wow. It was gigantic, sat in a large tree above the canopy peering down at us like a goofy kid. Ooof, what a bird! Exceedingly dangerous if you're a small or even medium-sized mammal, but there was something comical about it, almost cartoon or muppet-like. You don't think that twitching birds will be a thing when you come to South America but we had lucked out here and with the Agami Heron earlier on. Also at this site were Yellow-tufted Woodpecker, Yellow-green Grosbeak, Screaming Piha, and a Paradise Jacamar.

After a good while soaking up this unexpected and literally enormous bonus we returned to plan A, heading east. Before we turned back onto the main road we stopped for some Black-necked Aracari in some trees, and also present were four Giant Cowbird and a Chivi Vireo. A little further on, at a palm swamp, we found a Red-bellied Macaw, Great White Egret, several Greater Yellow-headed Vulture, a White-throated Toucan, Palm Tanager and a Point-tailed Palmcreeper calling unseen from dense vegetation.

Red-bellied Macaw

Even with our little detour we still arrived at the Cachoeira da Neblina before 8am. This is the start of a long track down to a swimming area and a waterfall, though how anyone ever gets that far I have no idea as it was lethally slippery and anyone actually wanting to get the end would fall over half a dozen times before getting anywhere near any water. Two White-necked Jacobin were recorded with a Long-tailed Hermit and the start of the track where we left the car, as well as Grey-breasted Sabrewing and various other things in the trees and more open vegetation. As it was one one long eBird list it is quite hard looking back now to remember what was where but I recall Flycatcher central before we started, with two Swainson’s Flycatcher, two Rusty-margined Flycatcher, two Yellow-throated Flycatcher, a Piratic Flycatcher, a Tropical Kingbird, and also Rufous-browed Peppershrike and Slaty-capped Shrike-Vireo.

Piratic Flycatcher

Cachoeiro da Neblina

Heading into the forest we found one our main targets, a Great Jacamar along with a Paradise Jacamar and a pair of Black Nunbird. As ever we concentrated on trying to get views of skulkers, which generally means things with "ant" in the name. So along this track we recorded Ash-winged Antwren, a Mouse-coloured Antshrike, Northern Slaty-Antshrike, Dusky-throated Antshrike, Cinereous Antshrike, Long-winged Antwren, Grey Antwren, a Spot-backed Antwren and a Rufous-throated Antbird. I don't think I was able to get a photograph of any of them - it is dark in the forest and my lens is f6.3. I am seriously considering splashing out on a f2.8 of some kind, especially as I now have a camera that could really take advantage of it - more on that another time. The camera I had on this trip is not one that is really suitable for any kind of birding other than the most mundane. The Amazon is not mundane....

Grey-crowned Flatbill

A Double-toothed Kite was seen briefly through a gap, and we had good views of Black-tailed Trogon and Green-backed Trogon, and then heard but could not get on a Guianan Violaceous Trogon. Progress was slow, mainly so as to avoid falling over. In a more open area Brad heard another of our targets, a Guianan Red-Cotinga. We managed to see it, but only really as it shot between trees. I think I managed half the bird perched at one point, but this was a fiendishly difficult bird to see properly. Better views were had of a noisy group of four Red-billed Pied Tanager, a seriously cool-looking bird but one that stayed very high up. Other Tanagers were represented by Flame-crested Tanager, Fulvous-crested Tanager, Silver-beaked Tanager, Blue-grey Tanager, and yet more colour from Black-faced Dacnis, Blue Dacnis, Green Honeycreeper and Bananaquit. Somewhere along the track, or possibly just outside as we emerged, I managed to photograph a Grey-crowned Flatbill.

We were driving along the road when we stopped for this Pale-throated Three-toed Sloth. Another driver also stopped and carried it back into the forest.

We had lunch booked at Aldeia Marí Marí (where we had been the previous evening for the White-winged Potoo) and so shortly before midday we returned to the car and headed back towards Presidente Figueredo. During the morning we had gone less than half a mile into the forest in over four hours!

Aldeia Mari Mari

Greater Yellow-headed Vulture

We parked at the top and descended the long steps down to the restaurant which is by the stream. Buff-throated Saltator and Mouse-coloured Tyrannulet were seen from the table, as well as various Flycatchers. After a very satisfying lunch of fish we headed into the low dry forest. This was amongst the most unpleasantgly hot and humid afternoons of the trip, but we had no choice - this is where the Guianan Cock-of-the-rock lek was located and we needed to see them. And what a treat this was - crazy birds. This is the sister species of the Andean Cock-of-the-rock that we had seen in Colombia, and together they make up the genus Rupicola. There were six birds together in the current lek, and a lone bird in what had been the old lek that had refused to move with the times - this was the bird I was able to get stupidly close to.

Guianan Cock-of-the-rock

Also seen in the forest were Ash-winged Antwren, Pygmy Antwren, White-flanked Antwren, three Spot-backed Antwren, a Guianan Warbling-Antbird, Saffron-crested Tyrant-Manakin, a Whiskered Flycatcher and a McConnell’s Flycatcher. 

Black Nunbird

After we emerged from the forest we spent the final hour of light at the top of the hill where there was a good selection of birds on the forest edge. White-lored Tyrannulet, a couple of Pied Puffbird, three Black Nunbird, four Swallow-winged Puffbird, two Bronzy Jacamar and a Paradise Jacamar were seen well, and Plumbeous Euphonia was I think new for the trip at this spot. As the light dimmed Parrots started commuting, with Red-bellied Macaw, Blue-and-yellow Macaw, and Red-and-green Macaw observed. As the light fell futher a Short-tailed Nighthawk was seen with two late Band-rumped Swift.

Marí Marí is pretty close to the Calango Azul so we did not have far to go to reach a refreshing Caipirinha. Only one though as we had a ridiculously early start to head south from Presidente Figueredo to the famous ZF-2 Tower. It's a two hour drive towards Manaus and we needed to meet our guides there before dawn. Alarms set for 3.45am!