Ucayali River
Sunrise again found us out exploring the riverside vegetation and wildlife, this time up the Ucayali River. Birds were abundant this morning with many colorful sightings including Red-capped Cardinals, Tui Parakeets, and Ringed Kingfisher. Our expert guide, Jesus, even spotted a huge bump on a log, also known as a Great Potoo. This nocturnal bird was a superb sighting! Pink river dolphins once again surrounded us, and a troop of squirrel monkeys delighted us before we returned for breakfast.
We then returned to hike where many of us went ashore last night, at Yururuchi, to hike in some varzea forest. As this is the height of the low-water season, it was very dry underfoot, but a water line was visible on most the trees well over most of our heads. While many of us were focused on a Black-tailed Antbird, a sloth was spotted only a few feet off the ground. This allowed for an amazing close view of a three-toed sloth, that usually are only seen high in the trees. With a slow methodical gait, it leisurely made its way higher into the tree. It was great to see it up close to view its claws and also dense hair filled with algae tinting it green. The end of our hike was on a small oxbow lake filled with gigantic Amazon pond lilies. Some of these massive platters are over 5 feet across, and a few stunning flowers made for fantastic photography.
In the early afternoon an intense thunderstorm rolled through, and it passed in time for an excursion in the skiffs to explore a different area of riverbank. Parrots and parakeets were especially social after the rain, and showed off their presence by making their screaming calls. It seemed that every few snags held a Roadside Hawk drying off its wings, while many swallows were actively filling up before nightfall. Flycatchers were busy feeding along the river edge, including the stunning Vermillion Flycatcher. We returned to a quick recap and another delicious meal aboard Delfin II.
