Drove some 30 minutes to Manaus port where we boarded our boat for a trip over to Marchanteria Island. This isn’t an ‘island’ as you think of it…. Oh no, it’s a series of flooded areas with cecropia trees and flooded grassland under 6 feet of water and is where a number of Amazonian island specialists reside. The Amazon river at this point is well over a mile across and it’s phenomenal to be honest. Anyway, we managed to find a very good number of the key target species with Red-and-white Spinetail, Rusty-backed Spinetail, White-bellied Spinetail, Dark-breasted Spinetail, Amazonian Black-Tyrant, Brownish Elaenia, Black-and-white Antbird, the rare Green-throated Mango, and eventually everyone saw Lesser Wagtail-Tyrant (this race is a potential split).
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| Marchanteria Island is home to a number of key specialities.... |
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| Amazonian Black Tyrant is just one of the target species here... |
A fine supporting cast provided us with a many and varied list for this morning and here’s just a little selection: Buff-necked Ibis, Collared Plover, Black Skimmer, Large-billed Tern, Black-collared Hawk, Snail Kite, Amazon Kingfisher, White-winged Parakeet, Chestnut-fronted Macaw, Black-bellied Cuckoo, River Tyrannulet, Oriole Blackbird, Yellow-hooded Blackbird, Yellow-browed Sparrow and Lined Seedeater. The journey back to port was a bit interesting as the wind picked up and it was like sailing out in the ocean with large waves buffeting our small boat!
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| Oriole Blackbird |
After lunch in a nice restaurant we drove to a trail, stopping at some roadside flowering trees that Pablo knew held the stunning Crimson Topaz. Sure enough we had views of a cracking male, along with Grey-breasted Sabrewing, Long-billed Starthroat, Black-throated Mango, with several Red-bellied Macaws flying past and landing nearby.
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| Crimson Topaz |
The trail wasn’t far away and it started off quite well with Fork-tailed Woodnymph, Channel-billed Toucan, Chivi Vireo and Chestnut-bellied Seed-Finch. We came across a small flock that held Fulvous-crested and Turquoise Tanagers and we followed this with White-throated Toucan before finding an outstandingly beautiful Pompadour Cotinga feeding in a fruiting tree. Wow!
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| Fulvous-crested Tanager |
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| Pompadour Cotinga - wow!! |
A Yellow-green Grosbeak was next up, followed by Black-tailed Tityra and Guianan Trogon before the forest suddenly got really quiet. The next hour or so was slow going until we found a Chestnut-rumped Woodcreeper, Long-billed Gnatwren, Guianan Warbling Antbird, Guianan Puffbird and a Black-throated Trogon. So not a bad day!
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