For the morning activity it poured! I mean really poured. But we had to do something, so we hiked! Saw interesting toads, frogs and various insects. Most interesting (to me, at least) was a snail that must have been the size of a large fist. Rain stopped in time for drying out, lunch, and then a relatively dry lagoon ride. We rode around in "Lagoon 1", that is, the main lagoon that the lodge is located on. Our naturalist here (pictured left) was Paul, an amazingly knowledgable guy; I was surpsised to learn that he had no formal biology training. I don't recall the name of the guide (pictured below), but he seemed to like the Boston Red Sox. The views for most of these birds was quite short.
Green and Rufous Kingfisher
Cobalt Winged Parakeet
Blue Headed Parrot
Anhinga
Chestnut Fronted Macaw
Neotropical Palm Swift
Short Tailed Swift
White Winged Swallow
Red Bellied Macaw
White Eyed Parakeet
Gray Rumped Swift
White Lored Euphonia
Russet Backed Oropendula
Tropical Kingbird**
Common Piping Guan
The weather was in our favor. We took a ride on "Lagoon 2" and saw the following:
Palm Tanager
Spectacled Chachalaca
Roadside Hawk
Masked Crimson Tanager
Azure Gallinule
Mealy Amazon Parrot
Russet Backed Oropendula**
Black Capped Donacobius
Chestnut Woodpecker
Squirrel Cuckoo
Silver Backed Tanager
Cinnamon Attila
White Throated Toucan
White Eyed Parakeet**
Pale Vented Pigeon**
Greater Yellow Headed Vulture
....and a Three Toed Sloth
Later in the morning (about 11am), we visited the canopy tower and saw:
Plumbious Kite
Slate Colored Hawk
Many Banded Aracari (that's a Toucan!!)
Crown Slatey Flycatcher
Ruddy Pigeon
The Sunday afternoon activity was a ride down the Rio Napo to visit the Kichua "river people". We spent some interesting time conversing with them, indulging in their love potions, and buying some jewelry. While most of you were honing up on your blow-gun techniques, I was more interested in the trees around in the area. Birds encountered were:
Crimson Headed Woodpecker (actually encountered on lagoon ride to the river boat)
Black Fronted Nunbird
Scarlet Crowned Barbet
Yellow Headed Caracara
Tropical Kingbird**
Black Capped Donacobius**
Squirrel Cuckoo**
Dusky Capped Flycatcher
Just carousing around the main lodge, we saw:
Greater Ani
Hoatzin
Sand Colored Nighthawk
Ringer Kingfisher**
Gilded Barbet
White Winged Swallow**
Thrush Like Wren
Yellow Rumped Cacique**
Nik! What's wrong ?
Bill samples the "love" elixer
Hoatzin
Azure Gallinule
