Peru Adventure Part 2

Traveling the river is an excellent way to see a lot of wildlife. We started out among people, including this family that was dredge mining for gold in the river. They were clearly living on the boat, and the tailings were all up and down the river.


Lot's of turtles sunning themselves on logs in the river, seemingly oblivious to us going by.


A lot of monkeys in the trees, including this Dusky Titi Monkey.


The White Throated Toucan is one of the most beautiful of the jungle birds. It is often the first of the birds to be seen as it likes to perch at the edge of the canopy. This is one of the larger Toucans, being about 2 feet tall. The bill is huge, but weighs almost nothing. Almost always seen in pairs.


There are a number of beautiful herons in Peru, and we began to see them almost immediately.


The black patterning on the neck on this Cocoi Heron identifies it as a breeding adult. Foraging on the river edge for fish etc., this very large bird (about 4 feet tall) is intimidating.


No less intimidating is the bill of the Chestnut Eared Aracari. The smaller Aracari's have the same type of serrated bill that all Toucan's have. About 18 inches not including the bill, they are easy to see, but tuff to photograph as they are foraging in the tops of fruiting trees.


My personal favorite among the heron's is the "Capped Heron". With its beautiful crown, and blue coloration in the beak, it really stands out. Generally found only in the Amazon basin, at about 2 feet tall, with it's long yellow neck it really shows much larger.


The antbirds, antwrens, antpitta's etc. are usually way out under the canopy. The White-Browed Antbird however has somehow found it's place along the dense scrub of the river banks. As a result, we were able to call in this individual and I got a lucky picture. About 5 inches long, (including bill) this bird has a song that is huge!



One bird who's call certainly matches it's size with it's voice is the aforementioned Toucan. When it opens that huge bill and let's it fly, you definitely pay attention.


The Capped Heron on the other hand has a very soft low hoot that is really fun to hear. Very consistent with the elegance of this bird.



Even though this little guy is only half the size of his toucan cousin, the very intimidating nature of his bill makes him one of the really fearsome looking birds of the Amazon. Omnivorous, these beautiful birds spend most of the time high in the canopy with the fruiting tress however and are realy harmless.

Tomorrow, more birds and wildlife from the Amazon basin.