May 14, Boat tour on Rio Negro
As we walked to the boat, we passed two Hyacinth Macaws in a tree. Lucas, our host, said they were 30 years old and starting a nest in this tree. When the sun caught them, their blue feathers were a rich color. They were doing a lot of squawking, but also very attentive at cleaning each other. The Macaws are the only bird that can crack open the Acuri nut. Once done, many other animals and birds enjoy the feast.
On the boat tour, we saw all the kingfishers that we had seen on the Cristelino, the Green, Amazon and Ringed Kingfishers. We finally saw one dive in a catch a fish! There are holes along the river bank where they nest. We saw Capibara and babies from a distance, but later caught a group sunning themselves and got some good pictures. These are the largest of rodents. The smaller ones look like rodents; however the big ones look more like hairy pigs.
Three toucans flew over us with their orange beaks shining in the sun, amazing. We saw lots of Caiman sunning themselves on the river banks; no swimming for me. One had its mouth open, see picture. We could hear it hissing as we floated by. There were a couple of Skimmers flying down the river. They skim the surface and catch fish as they fly along. Their lower beak is larger than the upper one.
We saw one striated heron. It’s the smallest of the heron family and this one was only about nine inches tall. A black collared hawk seemed to follow us for a little way and I finally got a good picture of it as it took flight with its almost four foot wingspan.
The yellow headed parrot is on the endangered list, but we were lucky enough to see one sitting in a tree; then we passed a roost of another relatively rare bird, the Boat-billed Night Heron.
While walking in the forest, we saw a “beginner tree” and Lucas pointed out the leaf-cutter ants walking down the tree with their leaves. He explained that the tree is host to fire ants who usually kill the leaf-cutter ants to protect the tree. He tapped on the trunk and the fire ants came out and went to work. The smaller fire ants took on the leaf-cutters who were more than twice their size and killed them within seconds. They would curl up, drop their leaf, then fall off the tree. Isn’t nature amazing?
We finally saw a giant otter move along the bank and slide into the river. It was alone and they usually travel in groups, so Lucas thinks it might be a young male, kicked out from the family group, now searching to start a group of its own. We saw and learned about so many other species, the jabiru stork, tiger heron, peach-fronted parakeet and many others. It was a fascinating morning.
During lunch, we hear the sound of a plane engine. It must be Gerard. We run outside and walk to the landing strip just as he’s on final. Now there are four planes lined up on the strip; this is a new record. Our party is complete with the arrival of Gerard and Margi (our hosts from this Brasilia earthrounders meeting) and Jorge and Malu (earthrounders who hosted the 2005 meeting in Mexico City).
Afternoon outing:
We went out in the jeep again to another part of this 11,000 hectare farm. Two pair of Hyacinth Macaws were flying together and landed in a nearby tree. We were able to get a close look at these beautiful birds. The second kind of nut they eat is the boca iuva and three others were in that tree chomping away. We could hear the cracking of the nuts.
Just as we came out of the bush to a field, there was a giant anteater to our left. It was walking along and poking its nose into holes. We took tons of pictures, then got out of the jeep to get closer. They can’t see or hear very well, it’s their sense of smell that is well developed. So, as long as we stay upwind, it won’t know we are around. It was magnificent to watch, see picture.
As we rolled along, we saw Pampas deer, a savannah hawk perched on a dead branch and Seriema, roadrunners, running ahead of our jeep. Later on there was a majestic looking Roadside hawk looking down on us from on high. Then, just alongside the road was a red-footed land tortoise. We guessed that it was female due to the toenail painting, see picture.
We walked for a little bit to a lake and watched the sunset, then returned to the lodge while searching for nocturnal animals.
As we walked to the boat, we passed two Hyacinth Macaws in a tree. Lucas, our host, said they were 30 years old and starting a nest in this tree. When the sun caught them, their blue feathers were a rich color. They were doing a lot of squawking, but also very attentive at cleaning each other. The Macaws are the only bird that can crack open the Acuri nut. Once done, many other animals and birds enjoy the feast.
On the boat tour, we saw all the kingfishers that we had seen on the Cristelino, the Green, Amazon and Ringed Kingfishers. We finally saw one dive in a catch a fish! There are holes along the river bank where they nest. We saw Capibara and babies from a distance, but later caught a group sunning themselves and got some good pictures. These are the largest of rodents. The smaller ones look like rodents; however the big ones look more like hairy pigs.
Three toucans flew over us with their orange beaks shining in the sun, amazing. We saw lots of Caiman sunning themselves on the river banks; no swimming for me. One had its mouth open, see picture. We could hear it hissing as we floated by. There were a couple of Skimmers flying down the river. They skim the surface and catch fish as they fly along. Their lower beak is larger than the upper one.
We saw one striated heron. It’s the smallest of the heron family and this one was only about nine inches tall. A black collared hawk seemed to follow us for a little way and I finally got a good picture of it as it took flight with its almost four foot wingspan.
The yellow headed parrot is on the endangered list, but we were lucky enough to see one sitting in a tree; then we passed a roost of another relatively rare bird, the Boat-billed Night Heron.
While walking in the forest, we saw a “beginner tree” and Lucas pointed out the leaf-cutter ants walking down the tree with their leaves. He explained that the tree is host to fire ants who usually kill the leaf-cutter ants to protect the tree. He tapped on the trunk and the fire ants came out and went to work. The smaller fire ants took on the leaf-cutters who were more than twice their size and killed them within seconds. They would curl up, drop their leaf, then fall off the tree. Isn’t nature amazing?
We finally saw a giant otter move along the bank and slide into the river. It was alone and they usually travel in groups, so Lucas thinks it might be a young male, kicked out from the family group, now searching to start a group of its own. We saw and learned about so many other species, the jabiru stork, tiger heron, peach-fronted parakeet and many others. It was a fascinating morning.
During lunch, we hear the sound of a plane engine. It must be Gerard. We run outside and walk to the landing strip just as he’s on final. Now there are four planes lined up on the strip; this is a new record. Our party is complete with the arrival of Gerard and Margi (our hosts from this Brasilia earthrounders meeting) and Jorge and Malu (earthrounders who hosted the 2005 meeting in Mexico City).
Afternoon outing:
We went out in the jeep again to another part of this 11,000 hectare farm. Two pair of Hyacinth Macaws were flying together and landed in a nearby tree. We were able to get a close look at these beautiful birds. The second kind of nut they eat is the boca iuva and three others were in that tree chomping away. We could hear the cracking of the nuts.
Just as we came out of the bush to a field, there was a giant anteater to our left. It was walking along and poking its nose into holes. We took tons of pictures, then got out of the jeep to get closer. They can’t see or hear very well, it’s their sense of smell that is well developed. So, as long as we stay upwind, it won’t know we are around. It was magnificent to watch, see picture.
As we rolled along, we saw Pampas deer, a savannah hawk perched on a dead branch and Seriema, roadrunners, running ahead of our jeep. Later on there was a majestic looking Roadside hawk looking down on us from on high. Then, just alongside the road was a red-footed land tortoise. We guessed that it was female due to the toenail painting, see picture.
We walked for a little bit to a lake and watched the sunset, then returned to the lodge while searching for nocturnal animals.
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