Brazil - The Amazon - July 2026 - Day 6 - The Anavilhanas on the Rio Negro

Novo Airao is the blue dot. We are in the middle of a vast green area. Note how the Rio Negro water is dark, and the Amazon, below it, is brown.

We made an extremely early start for an extremely cool bird - Spectacled Owl in the tall trees around are accomodation. I would hate to come home from a holiday rested, no that woud be awful, so another 4.30am start it was. Great birds, bigger than I remembered - first encountered with Bob at La Selva in Costa Rica. After good views with my amazing torch we were ready for an early breakfast and then, before first light, a boat trip with a surprise pick-up at the hotel, how cool is that? Just next to our rooms was a steep path culminating in some steps and a small landing area, and waiting there in his nifty little boat was Vermelhinho.

Ealy morning impressionism on the Rio Nego

So just before six we crept along a small creek into a larger one, then skirted around the side of Novo Airão, and as the sun came up we faced the Rio Negro as Band-tailed Nighthawk swooped above us. Words cannot adequately describe how beautiful the Rio Negro is. As we crossed the flat calm water the sky began to lighten, a hundred shades of orange, yellow and red reflecting on the water and the clouds. We were headed for the Anavilhanas islands, flooded at this time of year, and another habitat with unique birds. Four Muscovy Duck - real ones - moved quietly ahead of us as we skimmed fown the Furo do Tamuatá. Pale‑vented Pigeon were in the riverside trees, and Ruddy Pigeon and White‑tipped Dove could be heard further back in the flooded forest. It was going to be a great day. We passed a large gathering of Greater Ani, 100 birds probably, and a Common Squirrel‑Cuckoo slipped away as we slowed down and headed into a secluded smaller channel. Here Vermelhinho cut the engine and switched to a paddle, quietly and skilfully aiming the boat towards some vegetation that Brad thought looked promising. We were here for more Antpeople, specialists of this riverine landscape as they searched for insects in the branches above the water.

Furo do Tamuata

In summary everything we wanted was here. Brad clearly had a plan, a mental list of the birds (and possibly a paper one too!) that were here and only here, and over the course of the next three hours we gradually went through this checklist. There are some really special birds here, species such as Cherrie’s Antwren and Klages’s Antwren, as well as Black‑crested Antshrike, Blackish‑grey Antshrike and Black‑chinned Antbird, and we got lovely views of all of them with the top prize probably going to Cherrie's with three in a bush together. There were Woodcreepers here too, Long‑billed and Striped, with Zimmer’s heard, and a Rusty‑backed Spinetail was in a tangles. Vermelinho was great at propelling the boat quiety into the perfect spot, and in a dark corner we managed to get really close to some Wire‑tailed Manakin. Close to here was a superb and showy Ash‑breasted Antbird just inches above the water, and as some of the trees and other plants flower despite being mostly submerged, that means that there are also Hummingbirds here, with White‑necked Jacobin, Streak‑throated Hermit and Fork‑tailed Woodnymph.

Cherrie's Antwren

Streak-throated Hermit

Wire-tailed Manakin

After we had enjoyed these we paddled on through the trees, again photos cannot really convey how lovely this type of birding was. Green‑tailed Jacamar and two Paradise Jacamar were seen very well, I think the former was the final Jacamar we needed, and an American Pygmy Kingfisher was heard flying away. A Guira Tanager was a real surprise somewhere around here, not sure what it was doing in the várzea but there it was. The full list of birds from the Furo do Tamuatá is here, it was probably the best morning of the whole trip, everything just seemed to fall into place.

Snethlage's Tody-Tyrant

Green-tailed Jacamar

Green-tailed Jacamar

As mid-morning approached we tried a new spot, the Furo da Andorinha. I say mid-morning but it was only half past nine - we had been birding for over three hours already. Birding here was much the same as earlier, but with most of the targets seen we were able to be quite selective about what we spent time on. We had to be extremely patient for a Varzea Schiffornis. It would hurtle across the channel in a flash before disappearing, and at one stage literally flew between Bob and Richard over the top of the boat, probably lower than head height, an orange streak. Eventually we pinned it down but it was one of the hardest birds of the day and good to get on the list after a heard-only at the Furo do Tamuatá. I remember a lot of Klages’s Antwren here, a family group perhaps of at least four birds together (it later turned out, looking at my photos, that there was snake here that they were probably upset about and that we totally overlooked!!), and also two Leaden Antwren and two Ash‑breasted Antbird.

Klage's Antwren. Look to the right!

Zimmer's Woodcreeper

Zimmer's Woodcreeper

We emerged from the forest at about 11am and crossed back over the Rio Negro to Novo Airão. Here we switched our attention from birds to mammals. Just offshore is a floating platform where some Amazon River Dolphin hang out - they get fed. The Flutuante dos Botos (Boto being the local name for the dolphin) is a neat little tourist attraction, and we got off the boat to have a closer look at these incredible creatues with their glistening pink rubbery skin that looks even pinker in the brown clear water of the Rio Negro. I think three animals came for the hand out, and yes it's a bit of a petting zoo despite the dophins being wild, but it was a great half hour. Birds here as we played with the dophins included Large‑billed Tern, American Black Vulture, an Osprey, six White‑eyed Parakeet, some White‑winged Swallow and a Brown‑chested Martin. From here it was a short trip back to the hotel for lunch and a rest given the early start. We would meet back at the boat at around 3pm. As we went back up the creek Band‑tailed Nighthawk were still flying, whilst both Ringed Kingfisher and Amazon Kingfisher hunted along the channel.

Floating Dophin platform

After lunch I spent a couple of hours flopped around the pool (no Ants) and had a snooze. Vermelhinho returned right on time but it was still bloody hot. We sped off down the creek and where this meets the Rio Negro we paused for one of the hardest birds to pin down I can ever remember, a Brown-headed Greenlet in the trees above the boat. But what a looker! Only kidding. Good grief, a ventriloquist of a bird, one moment ahead of the boat, the other behind, and in a watery maze of trunks that was difficult to negotiate. We headed to where it was, then it was where we had been. I think it took near on 40 minutes of painstaking back and forth to get any kind of adequate view! And then we saw it it was the plainest little thing! Whilst we were trying we also recorded Lafresnaye's Piculet and a Dark-billed Cuckoo.

We then headed downstream to the Igarapé da Fazenda, a network of tributaries that spread like the branches of a tree into the jungle. On the main channel before we explored a side one we found one of our main targets for this area, the Green‑tailed Goldenthroat, a pretty Hummingbird that liked to sit close to the water and took me an age to get onto, unlike the Blue‑chinned Sapphire that was a lot more active.

Igarape da Fazenza

We then enjoyed a productive session down one of the narrower stretches, quite choked up and we had to poke our way through. Once into this quiet backwater we were able to find a pair of Orange‑cheeked Parrot, and on the other side, Red‑stained Woodpecker, and as we were looking for a Blue-crowned Trogon, a Ringed Woodpecker called and then showed well. At some stage a Cream‑coloured Woodpecker flew across in front of us but rather than stopping disappeared over the trees and away, and all the way along the main channel were lots of Black‑fronted Nunbird and Swallow‑winged Puffbird. As we negotiated our way out numerous Southern Rough‑winged Swallow fed over the water, and as the light dropped, Band‑tailed Nighthawk too. As we got closer to home a Pied Plover flew across the bow in the halflight, only its wing pattern really standing out (to Brad rather than any of us!).

Turkey Vulture

Ringed Woodpecker

We bade goodbye to Vermelhinho, and able boatman if ever there was one, but the day was not over. After a quick dinner we returned to the Ramal da Sombrinha Cor de Rosa to track down a special bird that lived there, a Rufous Potoo. I found it quite unnerving being in the forest at this time of the day but we came to no harm. I also wasn't expecting to see the bird very well but I kid you not we were able to walk right up to it. I had not brought my camera thinking what was the point but this was a mistake. The bird was tracked down by its heat signature. This is modern day birding, just a small (presumably expensive) device that plugs into the bottom of a iPhone and works with thermal imagery. First of all it's a small white dot as you pan side to side, and gradully you can work towards it and then it is lights on baby! The bird did not bat an eyelid, it is so confident in its camouflage (and so igorant of thermal imaging devices) that it just sits there. Torch, what torch? A sensational day all told.

Band-tailed Nighthawk

Dusk on the Rio Negro