This was a much-anticipated day as we were visiting the famous ZF2 canopy tower. It was something of a surprise when our local guide, Pablo, told us last night that we’d need to check out of the hotel at 3.30am bags and all..!! Ouch! Well, we did and were on the road pretty promptly heading more or less in a northerly direction out of Manaus for about 75 minutes before pulling over on a side road. Here a trio of 4-wheel drive trucks were waiting to meet us and take us to the tower. It was an interesting 40 minute drive through the forest as the dirt road was very muddy and slippery and several timers we went sideways as the wheels lost traction, but we all made it unscathed in the end. We had a picnic breakfast at the base of the tower and waited for it to get light before walking up to the top of the 42-metre canopy tower, only to find the whole area enshrouded in mist. A frustrating hour followed as the light gradually increased and the mist thinned out a little. The first bird of the day seen was a pair of Red-necked Woodpeckers almost directly below us, followed by scope views of several calling White-throated and Channel-billed Toucans. Then Pablo drew our attention to a very close Glossy-backed Becard in the canopy of a tree right next to the tower and was almost at eye-level.
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| Black-faced Dacnis |
A flurry of activity ensued with male Black-faced Dacnis, Golden-winged Parakeet in the scope, a close calling Slaty-capped Shrike-Vireo, and a superb Ash-winged Antwren. Phew! Then a Guianan Toucanet was scoped, quickly followed by a Southern Mealy Amazon.
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| Guianan Toucanet |
Another quick flurry of new sightings followed with Yellow-throated Flycatcher, White-lored Tyrannulet, close Flame-crested Tanager, a male Black-capped Becard, Olive-green Tyrannulet, and a fine male Spot-backed Antwren. Pausing for breath we noticed the swifts flying around us at eye-level didn’t have pale rumps and were Chapman’s Swifts, and whilst watching them a Versicoloured Emerald was spotted feeding around a flowering tree below us. David scoped a pair of Blue-headed Parrots shortly after, before Pablo called in a superb Painted Tody-Flycatcher into one of the trees closest to us and just before a group of Marail Guans were found – and they eventually provided fantastic looks through the scope.
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| Marail Guan |
The activity slowed down somewhat from 9am but a steady stream of notable sightings kept us going, and next up was a Grey Elaenia, followed by Paradise Tanager, and the first of many, many Pompadour Cotingas. A great pair of Golden-collared Woodpeckers appeared below us, along with a Yellow-throated Woodpecker, and just before one of the closet trees yielded Guianan Tyrannulet and Zimmer’s (Yellow-margined) Flatbill.
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| Golden-collared Woodpeckers |
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| Guianan Tyrannulet |
A distant Red-throated Caracara was scoped before a group of Green Aracaris appeared, and David spotted both King Vulture and White Hawk perched in the canopy at some distance away. Pablo called in Black Nunbird, several Red-and-green Macaws flew around, a Double-toothed Kite soared overhead, Paradise Jacamar was scoped, a Black-bellied Cuckoo showed well along with a Yellow-green Grosbeak. But the star bird was undoubtedly Crimson Fruitcrow, a pair of which were scoped at length on a forested ridge to the west. What a bird and the cherry on top of a superb morning’s cake!
Black-bellied Cuckoo
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| Green Aracari |
After an ‘interesting’ drive back along the slippery road we made it to our waiting minibus within 80 minutes and were soon on the road towards Presidente Figueraido, getting delayed by a car accident en-route. So we eventually arrived at our pousada where we’d be staying for the next 3 nights at a little after 2pm and went straight down to the restaurant. Later in the afternoon we walked a short distance out into the forest where we had unbelievably close views of Guianan Cock-of-the-Rock. At first we walked past two stunningly bright orange birds within 5 metres of the path who had formed a satellite lek.
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| Guianan Cock-of-the-Rock.... you get the idea.... awesome! |
The main lek was another few hundred metres further on where over 11 males were displaying. It’s an almost unbelievable experience to witness with several males literally sitting on the forest floor and their strange calls echoing through the forest. Wow! We spent some time with these beauties before birding our way the short distance back to the lodge and notched up some really good birds. First of all a Northern Slaty-Antshrike sang above us and allowed good views, then a Bronzy Jacamar gave itself up easily, and we followed this with the bizarre Saffron-crested Tyrant-Manakin and a Black Manakin. It was just a shame the calling Pelzeln’s Tody-Tyrant didn’t come in.
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| Spangled Cotinga |
Back at the lodge we enjoyed some cold drinks whilst scanning the fruiting trees at the back of the restaurant where we saw White-necked Thrush and a fantastic Spangled Cotinga enjoying the bounty. Our search for Little Chachalaca proved fruitless but a few flyover Green Oropendolas kept our list ticking over nicely!
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