It was 4 a.m. in the floodplain of the river that bathes the Mae Maria indigenous land, in the municipality of Bom Jesus do Tocantins, in the state of Para. The birdsong came as a surprise to two ornithological researchers, on the tenth day of their expedition in search of the critically endangered mutum-pinima bird. They could hardly believe their ears, and then what they saw. No researcher had seen the bird up close
