The trip began with a drive from Rhode Island to Wayne, NJ, and uber to Newark and flight to Panama City then on to Manaus, Brazil. Arriving @2:30am. Got some shut eye in the next 3 hours before a two hour layover in Panama City – had the shortest distance between gates EVER – just two gates away. I started listening to “State of Wonder” by Ann Patchett on the drive to Newark. I have read it before but a lot of it takes place where I am headed, so when someone recommended it,

In addition to the birds, we have a bunch of great mammals - more than I thought. I would have seen more if I went out at night -- but it's really not my good time. Starting with Marine Mammals -- we saw two kinds of River Dolphin -- Gray and Pink, They are fast and I never got photos of either in the "wild", but on the last day we visited a place that feed the Pink ones, so they were more cooperative. The first terrestrial mammal we saw was a Two-toed Sloth, we also saw Th

Here you will find other than Birds and Mammals, kind of broad, but I think it will work. Starting with Insects and the like... because there were SO MANY of them, I did not capture but a few. Please realize the numbers were massive. Wax-tailed Planthopper Wasps (on a nest) Spider on the boat Katydid on Fiona Moth in my hotel room -- yes it started right away One of many Daddy long-legs on the boat -- falling out of the flooded forest Butterfly The Stingless Bees that greet

Too many birds for one post -- that's a good things. Lots of looking to the canopy and to the skies -- the raptors there were magnificent. More Kites than I have ever seen. Raptors - Falcons, Caracara, Hawks, Kites and Vultures crowd the skies -- we even had a mixed kettle that I'm sure had more than 100 birds in it. The Yellow-headed Caracara was the most plentiful Raptor -- we saw multiple daily. Its a beautiful creamy colored bird with intense eyes and lots of personali

Did I mention how biodiverse this area is -- it seems to me the more biodiverse, the more small birds. This area was not an exception. Again I organized them in loose groups, so please forgive any scientific anomolies. There are no Gulls in Amazonia -- none - nada - zilch. So odd for me who spent this morning with hundreds of Gulls and a few terns. They do have terns but not the ones from Rhode Island. There are typically only two species. Large-billed Terns Some pre-sun

Created a song and put together a video synopsis -- Enjoy!

So this morning -- with 3 days to departure I finished by studies for the trip. Thought I would share them before I go. Very excited to explore a new place with some great people. 14 days floating down the Amazon and the Rio Negro out of Manaus. Here are the birds I just might see... I will return with photos