What! a lie in.....
A lie in of sorts this morning as our first birding stop was just at the end of the dinning room. Not 50 mtrs away is a Lek for the wonderful Fiery Topaz humming bird. Basically all we had to do was down a coffee and amble over to a little stream that feeds the waterpark and in a not too serious way, hide behind a small bush and wait for it to come and display. As is turned out a Black Billed Thrush was the first bird to show this morning, so we lined up and waited, fifteen minutes later and just as the night turned to day with very low level light we were treated to some fabulous activity from not only a stunning male but also a female and a juvenile male in pretty decent plumage too.
female Fiery Topaz
displaying male Fiery Topaz
The group left them in peace to head to breakfast while I stayed on for a few minutes more and watched the male guarding its territory over the stream, the only interruption was the diminutive Wedge-tailed Woodcreeper that landed in the tree behind. The fifty yard walk back to the dinning room took the best part of an hour as bird life had well and truly come alive. The star was a Point-tailed Palmcreeper that moved between a few palm canopies, but it eventually settled in one and pretty much stayed still for ten minutes not moving at all, the angle for the photo was pretty poor but eventually it moved slightly giving a up a shot. Other birds seen befoe we got our breakfast were Yellow-tufted Woodpecker, Palm Tanager, Sulphery Flycatcher and three Red-bellied Macaws.
Point-tailed Palmcreeper
After breakfast we would spend the morning back in the forest on the nearby Campina trail. Yellow-crowned Tyrranulet, Chestnut-eared Aracaris and a Brown-winged Shiffornis that was incredibly flighty, however we spent a good while trying and actually getting good views after some hard work on a Brownish Twistwing, a good result. I think Pablo heard a Lined Forest Falcon and not sure if he taped it in but indeed in it came flew over our heads and perched a little distance away, every one was happy with the view until if flew back again and perched again for a minute or two. A very good half an hour and we hadn't moved at all. We continued down the track managing to see a few more nice species particularly a Ringed Woodpecker which had been my 2000th species back in 2017 in NE Brazil, better views this time as well. A female Whitcrowned Manakin, Reddish Hermit and Screaming Phia were all we saw before we turned back and headed to the lodge. We bagged our only sighting of the trip with a Rudy-tailed Flycatcher (a lifer for myself) and a Plain-brown Woodcreeper.
strange concrete archway leads to one of the many trails at Cirandeira Bela
if it doesn't scare the wildlife it will the kids.
Vines of the forest
Creepers
and patiently waiting and listening, Jeff, John, Pablo, Ian, Chris, Nick and David
After lunch we again move on to a new location but we had the "luxury" of an afternoon off the hot and humid trails to spend some time at a small port and wetlands enroute to Manaus. It turned out to be a very welcome and productive change. During the transit to Iranduba which is basically a small port and wetlands that sit right on the banks of the Amazon River, we picked up all the easy Egret species, Cattle, Great, Snowy as well as Wattled Jacana while we were in transit. We parked up and scanned the immediate wetland area in front of us where a Savannah Hawk over-looked the area perched atop a large lone tree. A few Fork-tailed Flycatchers moved between wetland bushes and now and again came quite close to the car park bushes, sensibly keeping on the wrong side for us to get clear photo shots. Normal wetland birds could be seen, Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, Striated Heron, Greater Anis in incredible numbers often dropping into the long grasses along with White-headed Marsh-Tyrants. However I picked up a good number of lifers here with half a dozen wonderful Orange-backed Troupial, a confiding Lesser Hornero that gave up wonderful portrait views. Another beauty that gave up close views was a Spotted Tody-flycatcher that sang in a tree alongside the carpark, a Lesser Kiskadee perched and hunted from a few snags and fence posts.
Lesser Hornero
Spotted tody-flycatcher
typical wetland species Lesser Kiskadee
The moment of the afternoon came when a Yellow-headed Caracara sauntered over the carpark and inadvertently flushed dozens of Sand-colored Nighthawks that had been roosting on a warehouse roof, for a second I really thought that Terns had taken off, it was a spectacular scene. A small mixed flock of Yellow-browed Sparrows and the delightful Orange-fronted Yellow-finch briefly landed on the road from their rooftop eaves.Large billed Terns hawked over the Amazon river as two large nigh sleeper cargo boats sailed into port, the Lesser Hornero and a Southern House Wren poked around on the river bank while another life bird was spotted with a few White-throated Kingbirds, probably one that I would have overlooked if on my own.
White-throated Kingbird
Sand-colored Nighthawks
Large billed Tern
Goods travelling up the Amazon River from Manaus
Out of character for the birds that we had been seeing we had three cracking species of Parrot come in. Firstly I think three Tui Parakeets came and fed in a tree in the car park, quickly joined by a small flock of White winged Parakeets then at the other end of the port four Short-tailed Parrots fed on fruit high up right in front of us. I took a small detour to another part of the wetlands and picked up Striaght-billed Woodcreeper, Red Capped Cardinal, Yellow-rumped Cacique, a few Chestnut-bellied Seedeaters and we all ended up with a River Tyrannulet and a Mouse colored Tyrannulet.
Tui Parakeet
Short-tailed Parrots
Mouse-colored Tyrannulet
Straight-billed Woodcreeper
Yellow-rumped Cacique with food
This was a cracking way to spend a couple of hours mid afternoon and I think we got a few species that were unexpected in this kind of habitat.
Back on the road we head to Manaus for an overnight stay at Ibis Hotel, tomorrow we are back on the Amazon River heading to Marchantaria island.
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