On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
On the Road: Week of June 14 (5 am)
Albatrossity – Brazil 2013, part 5
JanieM – China, Part 5 of 8
?BillinGlendaleCA – Galleta Meadows at Anza Borrego
Steve from Mendocino – Hancock Park
arrieve – The GalapagosParis in the Springtime: Week of June 14 (10 pm)
MollyS – Paris to Chartres — The Cathedral’s Interior
randy khan – Springtime in Paris – Versailles
randy khan – Springtime in Paris (well, not really) – A Day in Giverny
MollyS – Monet’s gardens at Giverny, the Clos Normand
MollyS – Monet’s gardens at Giverny France, the Clos Normand #2Inspired by the photos of Paris / France? Send in your photos.
*A bit of poetic license this time around for “Paris”.
? And now, back to Albatrossity.
Albatrossity
The final batch of images from our 2013 trip to Brazil will have some birds, some mammals, a reptile, and an aerial view of the Amazon’s Meeting of the Waters.
After our time in the Pantanal, we headed to Manaus and the Amazon for a couple of days. So here are some shots from our last days in the Pantanal wetlands, and a few from the Amazon rainforest.

A close relative of the Black-necked Stilt familiar to North American birders, this White-backed Stilt (Himantopus melanurus, aka Pernilongo-de-costas-pretas) is also known as the South American Stilt. Featuring the same bubble-gum-pink legs and elegant plumage as its North American counterpart, it frequents shallow ponds and marshes in much of South America.

A common and conspicuous bird across much of Latin America, this Roadside Hawk (Rupornis magnirostris, aka Gavião-carijó) might not be instantly recognizable for some experienced South American birders. It is a subspecies (R. m. saturatus) found only in this part of Brazil, as well as in neighboring Paraguay and Argentina). I had seen this species in other parts of South and Central America, but I puzzled over the ID for quite a while!

On our flight from Brasilia to Manaus, we got a great view of the Meeting of the Waters, where the cold pale sediment-rich Solimões River joins with the warm dark Rio Negro River, just east of Manaus. The waters from these two great rivers flow side-by-side for many kilometers, slowly mingling as they form the Amazon proper.

Upstream on the Rio Negro we stayed again at the Ariau eco-lodge. According to local legend, the lodge location was a suggestion from Jacques Costeau, whose 1982 cruise up the Amazon in his expedition ship Calypso brought him to this place to see the pink freshwater dolphins (Inia geoffrensis, aka Boto). The lodge, since closed, featured many wildlife adventures, including the opportunity to swim with these dolphins. One went out into the middle of the Rio Negro and waited while the guides offered fish to the boto, who were smart enough to take a free handout, and soon appeared, rising from the depths of the tea-dark waters.

Other mammals of the region included several species of bat. This little guy was hanging out one morning along one of the boardwalks.

In the mornings one was often treated to a serenade by the Red Howler Monkeys from the adjacent rainforest. Here’s a link to a video from a lodge in Bolivia, just to give you a hint of this weird cacophony. Generally these are heard, but rarely seen. I was lucky enough to find this large male dangling and feeding above the flooded forest.

Rainforest reptiles are also impressive, although we did not see a lot of them. This substantial green iguana was sunning itself near the dining hall of the lodge, and certainly got my attention! I was hoping to see the giant anaconda that was the star of the 1997 film Anaconda (also starring Jennifer Lopez), since this lodge was the location for that pot-boiler, but no anacondas were seen on this trip, alas.

The Striated Heron (Butorides striata, aka Socozinho) is widley distributed across the entire Southern Hemisphere. The single South American subspecies (B. s. striata) closely resembles the Green Heron that is familiar to North American birders. This handsome specimen had a feather or two out of place, but was otherwise quite spiffy-looking.

Our final bird for this series is one of my favorite birds of all time. The Black-capped Donacobius (Donacobius atricapilla, aka Japacanim) is a vocal contributor to the backdrop of birdsong in this part of the Amazon. One would think that the inclusion of the adjectival “Black-capped” part of the name means that there might be other Donacobius species to see somewhere. Nope. It is the only bird in the genus, and in fact is the sole member of a family that has been classified with other birds as diverse as thrushes, wrens, and mockingbirds. Current taxonomical thinking says that it has affinities with the Old World warblers. Regardless of its ability to confuse taxonomists, it is a strikingly handsome bird, and a good place to end our trip.
Mary G
Swimming with the Boto looks like a horror movie waiting to happen. Thanks so much for sending these in every week, Albatrossity, it makes Monday much more bearable. If you ever run out of photos, which I doubt, just let us have reruns.
raven
The Boto 1987 film
Betty
The howler monkeys do indeed make one strange sound. I have been curious about them since they were featured in Barbara Kingsolver’s book, The Lacuna.
Laura Too
Awesome as usual! Thanks for the links, that howler monkey set my dog off. :)
arrieve
Wonderful as always, Albatrossity. I used to think about taking a cruise up the Amazon but that’s never going to happen now. Thanks for sharing some of what I might have seen.
JanieM
Fascinating as usual — both the critters and the explanations. That Black-capped Donacobius is indeed a handsome bird, and they should all be glad to have their portraits taken by you.
The land animals seem to like being upside down….?
I once knew someone who lived near a meeting of the waters in New Hampshire. She said that some people consider such a place sacred. There’s another one in County Wicklow, Ireland, a place where I once spent a lot of time. It’s cool that you got a shot from the air of the one near Manaus — also amazing that it takes so long for the waters to mingle.
WaterGirl
@Mary G:
I loved this. It made me laugh/giggle out loud.
J R in WV
In Charleston WV there is a similar meeting of waters, where the Elk River flows into the larger Kanawha River. The Elk drains the whole of Clay county, just upstream from Kanawha county, and is thus full of clay mud, while the Kanawha River is much less muddy and a darker green than the Elk River is. Esp when it’s been really rainy.
Clay County is very rural, and has lots of oil and gas well sites and access roads, as well as timbering, both of which create lots of opportunity for mud to wash into the creeks and thus into the Elk.
The birb, etc photos are great as always, thanks Albatrossity.
I have recently got pics of a Barred Owl that perched right outside our kitchen, which I plan to provide to someone at B-J central. Not as sharp as Albatrossity’s pictures in large part because I was shooting through not very clean windows, but still, owls are wonderful sometimes giant predator dinosaurs.