The boring catalog page. All the "definitive" lists. Where there is a photographic record, there is an icon in the far right column. Click on an icon and a new window will open. Subsequent selections will display in same window. There are actually two of these windows, a landscape window and a portrait window.

Plate numbers are for the Travellers' Wildlife Guide. Plate# in parenthesis means I think the animal should be there, if only the guide were comprehensive enough. Your mileage will vary.

Comments in blue by my brother-in-law Wayne, my definitive guide to all things bird. For the most part the names I have supplied apply to actual birds, but if they are rare or absent from the region we were in, then there is probably an error. Probably mine or much less likely Edi's :-)

Birds of course	Plate #	Notes and sighting reminders	Photo Ops
Large-billed Tern	P26	Lots of good sightings
White-grey Pelican		Not a good species name. In theory, there shouldn't have been any pelicans where you were. If you saw one, it most likely would have been a Brown Pelican. But even that would have been hopelessly far from home.
Neotropic Cormorant	P26
Snowy Egret	P27
Cattle Egret	P27	outside village
Great Egret	P27
Striated Heron	P28	Not on Edi's list
Wattled Jacana	P31
Hoatzin	P31	Lots of shots--AGT: "bush turkey"
Muscovy Duck	P32
Sungrebe	P32
Turkey Vulture	P35
Black Vulture	P35
Greater Yellow-headed Vulture	P35
Snail Kite	P36	Not on Edi's list. Not likely. Bat Falcon looks very similar, and would be within range.
Plumbeous Kite	P36
Grey-headed Kite	(P36)
Bat Falcon	P37
Orange-breasted Falcon		Not likely. Bat Falcon looks very similar, and would be within range.
Black-collared Hawk	P37
Great Black Hawk	P38
Roadside Hawk	P38
Osprey	P38
Black Caracara	P39
Yellow-headed Caracara
Red-throated Caracara
Pale-vented Pigeon	P40
Blue-and-yellow Macaw	P41
Red-shouldered Macaw	(P41)	Not on Edi's list.
Scarlet Macaw	P41
White-eyed Parakeet	P41
Tui Parakeet	(P42)
Orange-winged Parrot	P43	Not a good species name. Orange-cheeked Parrot is within range. This is what it is called in the Travellers' Wildlife Guide. But to Waynes's point, the orange is on its cheek, not its wing, so possibly mis-labelled?
Dusky Parrot
Short-tailed Parrot	P43
Festive Parrot		Also called Festive Amazon, although either name is fine.
Blue-headed Parrot	P43
Mealy Parrot	P43
Squirrel Cuckoo	P44
Greater Ani	P44	One of my favorites. A black bird with an elegant long train of a tail, one glimpsed irredescent flashes of blue and green when it caught the sun as a group flapped by. Noisy too, the Travellers' Wildlife Guide describes them as "sounding like a metal factory when a flock calls together. "
Smooth-billed Ani	P44	Not on Edi's list.
Black-necked Ani	(P44)	Not a good species name. Probably either Smooth-billed Ani or Greater Ani.
Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl	P45	Good, and awesome bird! A great pity then that we never saw it, but we all heard it distinctly and repeatedly answering Souza's call at night.
Ladder-tailed Nightjar	(P46)	Night. Plump bird sat on a low branch and let us get right up close.
Band-tailed Nighthawk	(P46)
Red-tailed Nighthawk	(P46)	Not a good species name. Without description, I couldn't guess what this might have been.
Short-tailed Swift	P47
White-collared Swift	P47	Not on Edi's list. Theoretically not within range, although I suppose it's possible. But much more likely that I mis-heard.
White-winged Swallow	P48
Purple Martin		Small tree top with birds for leaves. All three martins present.
Brown-chested Martin	P48
Grey-chested Martin		Identified by Wayne from the photos.
White-necked Jacobin	P48
Hermit		Yes, but which one? Rufous-breasted or Long-tailed both in book, both sound and look familiar, but why can't I find a more definitive reference?
Eastern Long-tailed Hermit	P49
Black-tailed Trogon	(P51)
Ringed Kingfisher	P52
Black-fronted Nunbird	P53
Spotted Puffbird	(P53)	Not on Edi's list. Wayno: I wrote "red head(ed) spotted puffbird" Does that make any sense?
Yellow-ridged Toucan	(P54)
Channel-billed Toucan	(P54)
Chestnut-eared Araçari	P55	Not on Edi's list. What a beautiful bird.
Black-necked Araçari	(P55)	Theoretically not within range, although I suppose it's possible. But then what was it instead?
Crimson-crested Woodpecker	P56	Not on Edi's list
Lineated Woodpecker	P56
Spot-breasted Woodpecker	P57
Ringed Woodpecker	P57
Masked Tityra	P62	Not on Edi's list
Bare-necked Fruitcrow	P63	Not on Edi's list
Fork-tailed Flycatcher	P65
Tropical Kingbird	P66	Great views
Streaked Flycatcher	P66
Blue-grey Tananger	P75
Green Oropendola	P78	Not on Edi's list
Olive Oropendola	P78
Crested Oropendola	P78
Yellow-rumped Cacique	P78
Red-capped Cardinal	P79	Not on Edi's list
Orange-fronted Yellow Finch	(P80/81)	Not on Edi's list. Way out of range. Nothing similar within range. Sigh, I guess I won't be counting this one, no matter what it was.

Unlike the other lists, it is possible for multiple players to be in the same image. In that case the image is available in both (all) places. Repetitive but seems the right thing to do.

The Players	Role	Notes and sighting reminders	Photo Ops
A boatload of peeps		Really.
Edivan de Lima Regis	Guide	"Edi" (pronounced "Edgy"). By far the most chatty of the guides, and also the most meticulous. It was he who kept the running whiteboard lists up-to-date.
Alzenir B. Souza	Guide	"Souza" The quieter of our two guides. Souza had a sort of gut-feel approach, one felt as if he understood and was at one with the jungle.
Claudia Mueller Thomson	Guest	You know who. For all the things we have in common, including interest in travel, this is the first time in nearly 20 years we've been able to compromise on destination, living conditions, and action vs inaction, to allow us to travel together. Let us hope there will be others. Many others.	▶
Richard Thomson	Guest	Yours Truly.	▶
Lucy Mueller	Guest	Mother-in-law. Although Wayne (he of the birds above) and I had long ago identified this trip as the way to "check off the Amazon" in the end it was Lucy who got off the sofa and said "I'm going. Are you coming or not?" Thanks Lucy.	▶
Adam Thomson	Guest	Son, squash partner, and travelling companion.
Domenica Puleo	Guest	Friend and colleague. Apart from my mother, the only person I know with no enemies. Everyone basks in her sunshine.	▶
Brian Gourlie	Guest	Friend, squash partner, and travelling companion. aka "BG"	▶
Virginia Gourlie	Guest	Brian's wife, and friend of course.
Barbara Kennett	Guest	"Barb" bumped into the gang at Manaus airport and was immediately adopted. Resident of Sydney Australia, when she's home. Constantly reminded me of Maggie Smith, and I mean that in every way as a compliment.	▶
Mary Clements	Guest	Lucy's cousin and travel buddy, but much more importantly, proof reader. I owe Mary a huge debt (as do you if you read any of the other pages) for having the patience and skills (and courage) to mold my prose into something readable. By a staggering coincidence Mary turned out to have once been married to Virginia's cousin.	▶
Kevin O'Rourke	Guest	Domenica's travel buddy. Took a huge amount of grief for being the resident clown, but his relentless cheerfulness was infectious.
Richard Palmer	Guest	Bill's travel buddy. Often seen quietly reading his book even after every one else had retired. Nothing wrong with that of course.
Bill Kennedy	Guest	Richard P's travel buddy, friend of Domenica. Main claim to fame was realizing that Tamao was having a birthday during the trip, and arranging to share some of their champagne with which to recognize the occasion. Classy touch.
Tamao Nakahara	Guest	"Tama-oh"and Craig along with Barb were the only "non-connected" folks on the guest list. They were clearly somewhat wary of what they'd walked in to at first, but they were troopers and quickly became a valuable addition to the team ...	▶
Craig Wright	Guest	... being the same age as Adam was probably a help (both ways).
Vilma	Cook	What can I say? Excellent. Unbelievable. Everything was fresh, even the cakes that appeared as dessert for lunch every day. There was often a separate smaller plate of something that looked similar: a gluten-free version of whatever it was for Claudia.
Milton	Captain	Very quiet, non-English speaking (not a requirement or a criticism) but a great leader. Often the first to greet the returning canoes and help guests back aboard, and never complained when we crowded the bridge, or even blocked the view by standing in front of it.
Pakito	Marine Hand	"Paki" Really, not Paquito? Pilot, good sport, and best-in-class monkey-spotter	▶
André	Marine Hand	We hardly ever saw these guys, but they were just there. When we got back after the early morning outing the cabins had all been spruced up, beds made ...
Edson	Cabin attendant	... After the jungle walk, all the boots reappeared washed clean of mud and ready to go again. Food appeared, debris disappeared. And on and on.
Francisco	Mechanic	I suspect Francisco earned his keep as the guy hanging off the front of the boat while wielding a chain saw he used to free the anchor when it became tangled in a submerged tree.

There are 524 mammal species in Brazil. 141 of them are bats and they and hordes of the rest are nocturnal. And in such close quarters one doesn't really want to surprise a cat. It would have been great to see any of the giant rodents: agoutis, pacas and best of show capybara, but the chances of seeing any of these shy inhabitants in our brief, noisy and daylight wanders through the forest were slim to say the least. This leaves monkeys, whose arboreal prowess makes them nearly as safe from predators as the birds, and so they can afford to be noisy, and were curious enough for us to be able catch glimpses of them.

Unlike some people who shall remain nameless, my mammals list includes those that took to the air, and apparently even more controversially, even those that returned to the water.

Other Mammals	Plate #	Notes and sighting reminders	Photo Ops
Southern Tamandua	P83
Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth	P83
Fishing Bat	P84	in front of boat
Ghost Bat		night
Long-nosed Bat	P85	night
Brown Capucin	P87
White-fronted Capucin	P87
Squirrel Monkey	P87	Unfortunately, the great close-ups we got of this squirrel monkey troupe (some of whom looked like they were sorely tempted to board the canoes), were because they appear to have been fed by tourists. Edi and Souza were both clearly distressed by this, and mentioned that there was a hotel nearby. I cross-checked this back home: we were on the Rio Ariaú about 35miles from Manaus, and sure enough just a mile or so further down-stream was Ariau Amazon Towers "the only hotel resort built completely at tree top level in the Jungle [... and] the largest tree top hotel in the world."
Red Howler Monkey	P88
Black Spider Monkey	(P88)
Brown-bearded Saki Monkey	P89
Yellow-crowned Brush-tailed Rat	(P94)
Pink Dolphin	P96	We saw lots of these, but only for a tenth of a second at a time.
Grey Dolphin	P96	Same here. Impossible to photograph, not sure why I didn't try harder to capture them on video.

Reptiles	Plate #	Notes and sighting reminders	Photo Ops
Spectacled Caiman	P16	Everybody saw this one, because Edi scooped it out of the water!
Black Caiman	P16	Just a flash, I think I was the only one who glimpsed it, sitting at the front.
Green Vine Snake		The other canoe found it, and somehow managed to radio its location on the featureless and dark river bank with sufficient accuracy that we were also able to find it as we headed for home.
Amazon Tree Boa	P20	night
Green Iguana	P23	Several good sightings. Once you spotted one, it hung around to be observed fairly closely.
Cocha Whip-tail Lizard		night
Giant Gladiator Tree Frog		night

If I was not surprised how few mammals we saw, I was very surprised by how few amphibians we saw. Of the 100 color plates in my wildlife guide, fully 10% of them are devoted to frogs and toads. I suspect we would have seen more snakes too, if we had had more of a focus on the right times and places to see this section of the population. Mary thinks high water and daylight probably played a part, and I agree certainly that we may well have seen more if we'd been out at night and on foot. Perhaps we were too chicken.

Invertebrates	Plate #	Notes and sighting reminders
Blue Morpho Butterfly		Large as a bat, doing bat-things but in daylight.
Fresh-water Snail		You might as well have an entry in the first list that says "bird." There are literally hundreds of fresh-water snails in Brazil. Of all the samples I found in the interweb, I like Apple snails the best, but even those come in a zillion flavors.
Golden Silk Spider		As close as we came to an incident. The web was right across the path, and one more step and Edi would have put his face right into it. Golden Silks have powerful enough jaws and venom to give humans a painful but generally not lethal bite.
Bullet Ant		You never see one of these. You always see dozens ...
Army Ant		... or a whole army.
Monkey Spider		night
Black Tarantula		Not at all confident of the identification--the pic could be something completely different.
Brown (Bird-eating) Tarantula		One of the highlights of the whole trip. Edi coaxed the tarantula out of its hole right at our feet. I even got video!