2-7-13 RÍO UCAYALI, PERÚ: The morning skiff ride, at Yanallpa, started with a visit to a blue-and-yellow macaw colony. They nest on top of dead palms. Later we saw red-and-green macaws in flight. They are almost always seen in pairs, mating pairs. We saw new kinds of monkeys, noisy night monkeys are tiny, nocturnal, live in a hollow tree and are really cute. Later there were saddleback tamarinds, and then a glimpse of a tayra, a tree weasel. That excursion had lots more birds, another iguana and another tree sloth. Then back to the boat for a late breakfast.
Some of the pix below are those of other members of the group. We pooled a bunch of our best shots and Walter, the naturalist photog, assembled them, with some of his, for all of us, but none were labeled so I can't give proper credit, but I will add an [*] to the description of pix that are not mine.
Macaws in the morning.
These cuties are 'Noisy Night Monkeys' who live in this hollow tree. We woke them up.*
Parrots and parakeets, like macaws, are almost always seen in pairs.*
Saddleback tamarind, another kind of monkey.*
Local guys doing the morning commute.*
Smallish village, they say the thatched roofs are cooler than the metal ones.
Masked crimson tanager.
During midday, as we motored up the Ucayali, the cabin boys demonstrated Origami towel arranging. Every morning our new towels are left on the beds as swans, candles, gingerbread men, boots—very clever. After lunch there was a talk on medicine in the jungle provided by shamans, still primitive. Modern clinics are the last resort.
The afternoon skiff ride on the Río El Dorado took us up the river, through the woods to a huge pasture, that is really a lake. The bird list included horned screamers, parrots, roadside hawk, cormorants, and sand-colored nighthawks. The pasture/lake had those giant lily pads. We also saw more dolphins, another tree sloth. The outing ended after sunset so we had a taste of the night shift with a caiman, a nocturnal, fresh-water alligator, and more fishing bats.
Horned Screamer, goose sized birds, can you see the white 'horn' on top of the head?
We boated through this forest.
Giant lily pads are up to four feet across.
Tree sloth checking us out.
Four cormorants on afternoon break.
The night shift gets under way.
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