Our first full day in Amazonia National Park was one we all looked forward to immensely. And after a 5am breakfast we were soon in the bus and off up the road into the park, however things didn’t quite go according to plan as the bus broke down. Whilst the driver fitted a new cam belt I played a few random owl calls and amazingly called in a pair of Spectacled Owls who posed beautifully in a large cecropia tree on the slope above us.
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| Spectacled Owls |
After around half an hour we were on our way once more and as the day got lighter we saw a pair of Razor-billed Curassows walking along the side of the road, and shortly after Gilberto spotted a group of White-crested Guans in a tree next to the road. So we all jumped out and had superb views of up to 3 individuals.
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| White-crested Guan |
Upon arrival at the Capelinha Trail, which is the farthest of the trails visited, we began walking and spent a good couple of hours seeing some very, very good birds before the ridiculous noise from the cicadas made it impossible to hear any birdsong! Anyway, we got proceedings under way with a Spot-winged Antshrike high in the canopy over the trail, followed by a pair of Spix’s Warbling Antbirds, before walking briskly to a stake-out for Black-bellied Gnateater. Upon arrival, Gilberto proceeded to set up a temporary blind before playing the call once. And in popped the bird. And what a beast! Think of a gnateatear and you immediately picture a tiny round ball of feathers difficult to pick up in the gloomy understorey. Not this beast as its huge and obvious and sat out in the open for a good few minutes, moving from exposed perch to exposed perch for us before exiting stage left and leaving us with happy, smiley, gormless faces!
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| Black-bellied Gnateater |
Buoyed with our success we continued walking further into the forest , seeing bits and pieces such as Broad-billed Motmot, White-fronted Nunbird until we crossed a small stream and Gilberto pointed out a totally awesome White-browed Hawk perched above us. What a bird! At this point the cicada noise grew incredibly loud prompting Pablo to suggest we go elsewhere and our return hike to the bus was enlivened with a Long-tailed Woodcreeper and another Rufous-necked Puffbird.
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| White-browed Hawk |
So we drove to the Park HQ to look for Flame-crowned Manakin, which took all of 5 minutes to find and then wandered along a trail for a little way not expecting to find much in the heat. But a Natterer’s Slaty Antshrike was called in, along with a Ruddy Spinetail at the same spot. And then we became aware there was a fruiting tree next to us and stacks of birds began flying in. Some noisy Dusky-chested Flycatchers were joined by Ochre-bellied, Yellow-breasted and a Streaked Flycatcher, a Forest Elaenia, a Red-legged Honeycreeper appeared, 3 gorgeous Red-necked Aracari’s flew in, an immature Spangled Cotinga appeared, and 3 Santarem Parakeets were spotted quietly feeding right above us. The last new bird here was a White-necked Jacobin before we decided to return to the lodge for lunch. What a morning!
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| Flame-crowned Manakin |
If anything, we raised the quality level this afternoon beginning with a pair of Brown-chested Barbets perched high up above us along a trail, with a Gould’s Toucanet at the same spot. Just around the corner a Banded Antbird performed admirably right in front of us, an Elegant Woodcreeper flew in and then things got really interesting.
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| Banded Antbird |
A Harlequin Antbird began calling just up ahead and we walked off the trail and tried to make ourselves a little more inconspicuous. After a short wait we located it calling away from a horizontal branch amongst some leafy bushes about 30 feet away. Wow!
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| Harlequin Antbird - poor record shot but wow! What a bird! |
As we walked back to the bus Vulturine Parrot called from high up in the canopy and after a bit of manoeuvring we had excellent views of this speciality.
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| Vulturine Parrot |
Back out on the road we had a Dark-billed Cuckoo and Amazonian Pygmy-Owl, before dropping into another side trail where Amazonian Antpitta popped up onto some horizontal vines right in front of us in the fading light and by the nearby bridge a Rufescent Tiger-Heron was stood beside a small waterfall. I can tell you we celebrated with a few caipirinhas this evening!
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