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July 6 - 18, 2025 The
rainforests of Amazonia are the richest and most extensive on Earth.
At the heart of this vast bioregion lies the state of Amazonas, Brazil,
which has more intact rainforest than anyplace on Earth. At the city
of Manaus, the world’s
largest river, the Amazon, meets its largest tributary, the Rio Negro.
During this natural adventure, we’ll explore the unique ecologies of
these two rivers and learn about their important roles in shaping the
evolutionary history and biogeography of the region.
The
extensive tracts of undisturbed habitat in the area harbor a unique variety of
distinct ecosystems, and on this trip we’ll spend time in igapo, terra firme,
white sand forest, the rainforest canopy, and the Amazon's unique
and dynamic river islands. Our home base in Manaus is the Novotel Manaus where we'll have several opportunities to enjoy the birdy grounds. We've seen over 50 species of birds around the hotel, including 7 parrot species, green and black-necked aracaris, southern mouse-colored tyrannulet, golden-bellied euphonia, variable chachalaca, wing-banded seedeater, orange-fronted yellow-finch, turquoise tanager, and much more. From Manaus, we’ll take a boat trip to Ilha Marchantaria and other islands where river island specialists abound. While we should see black skimmer, large-billed and yellow-billed terns, collared plover, and southern lapwing, we’ll focus on the specialties, which include white-bellied, red-and-white, and Parker’s spinetails, river tyrannulet, black-and-white antbird, pearly-breasted and bicolored conebills, green-rumped parrotet, short-tailed and festive parrots, riverside tyrant, lesser hornero, olive-spotted humingbird, and others. At a floating restaurant, we'll have a buffet lunch and enjoy their flooded forest boardwalk where we'll hope to see long-billed, straight-billed, and striped woodcreepers, great potoo, and common squirrel monkey. We’ll also visit the famous “meeting of the waters” where the black water of the Rio Negro mixes with the cloudy Amazon. Gray river dolphin, also called the Tucuxi, is possible in this area. As
we leave Manaus, we'll make an early start to visit MUSA and the Adolfo Ducke
Reserve. This large patch of pristine rainforest, right on the edge of a
city of two million people, has some nice trails and an excellent canopy
tower. Though tower visits vary, we've had good luck here with Guianan
puffbird, Guianan woodcreeper, Todd's sirystes, black-spotted barbet, green
aracari, Guianan toucanet, black-faced hawk, red-necked woodpecker, buff-cheeked greenlet, Guianan
tyrannulet, dusky and Caica parrots, scarlet and blue-and-yellow macaws,
black-bellied cuc From the Ducke Reserve we head north to the terra firme and white sand forests of the Presidente Figueiredo area. This region, north of the Rio Amazonas and east of the Rio Negro, is known for its Guianan Shield endemics. Our first stop will be at the Hotel Iracema Falls where we'll stay two nights. Though the lodging is on the basic side (but with good food, AC, and a pool), the grounds and the adjacent forest have great birds, including white-thighed swallow, the moriche race of epaulet oriole, crimson topaz, great jacamar, sulphury flycatcher, plumbeous and golden-sided euphonias, black-headed antbird, black curassow, Marail guan, waved woodpecker, rufous-bellied antwren, rufous-tailed xenops, and many more. We'll
then travel to the nearby Pousada Aldeia Mari Mari, a nice lodge with both terra firme and white sand
forest. While the lodge is famous
for its lek of Guianan cock-of-the-rock, it also has other special birds such as
white-winged potoo, sapphire-rumped parrotlet,
olivaceous schiffornis, variable chachalaca, green and black-necked aracaris, black-spotted barbet, golden-collared woodpecker, Guianan
trogon, paradise tanager, ash-winged antwren, golden-spangled piculet,
black-spotted barbet, Gui Near
these two lodges, we'll
have good access to white sand forests where we'll look for specialties such as Guianan
slaty-antshrike,
saffron-crested tyrant-manakin, rufous-crowned elaenia, black manakin,
red-shouldered tanager, Pelzeln's tody-tyrant, and bronzy jacamar.
Among the mammals in the area are black spider monkey, Guianan saki
monkey, golden-handed tamarin, and red-rumped agouti. We then travel west to the Anavilhanas Archipelago, a series of vast river islands in the Rio Negro. From our home base at the Amazonia Park and Suites, we’ll spend time in nearby terra firme and take several boat trips in search of river island and igapo specialists. Among the many species possible are some widespread species such as festive parrot, greater ani, dusky antbird, white-crowned and golden-headed manakins, long-billed woodcreeper, white-throated toucan, mouse-colored and Amazonian antshrikes, paradise and green-tailed jacamars, gilded barbet, golden-green, yellow-throated, and waved woodpeckers, black-faced and dusky antbirds, and screaming piha. The less common birds, including several regional specialties, include black-faced hawk, yellow-crowned manakin, opal-rumped tanager, black-chinned, white-cheeked, and ash-breasted antbirds, Cherrie’s, leaden, and Klage’s antwrens, Zimmer's woodcreeper, spot-backed antwren, and blackish-gray and black-crested antshrikes. While in the Anavilhanas area, we’ll also have chances to see several mammals, including Spix’s night monkey, Guianan saki monkey, black agouti, and both pink and gray river dolphins. During the last twenty years, I've spent almost two years in Brazil exploring and learning about its diverse habitats and biodiversity and sharing the experience with many nature enthusiasts. In addition to learning about bird behaviors and ecology on this trip, we’ll also learn about plants, mammals, reptiles and amphibians, insects, and the fascinating relationships between them.
Guianan
Cock-of-the-rock and Ferruginous-backed Antbird by Misty Vaughn
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warbling antbird, black nunbird, and capuchinbird.
