Amazon Private Reserve & Nauta Caño
We arrived at our destination the night before, and so had a quiet night of it tied up once more to a tree on “terra firme.” This was to allow us a quick start this morning, including an early breakfast to fortify us on our three-plus hour excursion ashore. Worth every minute, and the early hour deeply appreciated since it was a sunny day. We landed on the property of an individual who has kept the forest in really good condition, so much so that it has been given a special status in Peru as a private reserve; for years now, any logging of large hardwoods has been halted.
The rolling terrain and relatively open forest floor makes for an easy study of the understory. This is our last visit to a “terra firme” forest on this trip because starting tomorrow we focus on flood forest ecology instead. The trail inside is long and leads away from the river for quite a distance. In general the path leads upwards, but never steep, and for good reason: the canopy bridge! Constructed in several segments, it allows one to walk just under the rain forest canopy and far above the forest floor. It is only within the last few decades that forest canopy walkways have allowed researchers the opportunity to safely and conveniently study what lives and grows at these heights. For us it was a unique opportunity to do the same, at least for an hour or so. Bromeliads were blooming, epiphytes galore were growing on tree trunks and in the crooks of branches. To simply look down on treetops is a rare thing for most of us!
I happened to take a skiff ride instead, with some folks who chose the alternative to the forest walk and canopy bridges. We sped upriver for just a minute before taking a sharp turn into “Iquitos Quebrada.” This is a creek that only recently, with the rise in river levels, has become accessible to us. It was absolutely delightful, with sightings of hawks, flycatchers, oropendulas and caciques, kingfishers and squirrel monkeys. At one point the forest was so closed in over the stream, our driver had to use his machete to get us through…the epitome of an Amazonian small tributary, ripe for exploration. A rare opportunity for photographing a Morpho butterfly presented itself when one was seen perched on a low bush over the water—with wings open! THAT doesn’t happen in the wild very often.
By mid-afternoon we were tied up downriver just next to the mouth of a wonderful creek/small river called “Nauta Caño.” It leads into the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve and goes for miles. The orientation of the river was ideal, for we had shade from the sun practically the entire way. Capped herons stood around waiting for us to get our cameras ready, although black-collared hawks flew off quickly. We rescued a ringed kingfisher from a fishing net that had just that moment gotten caught by a dive. The fisherman came over to see what the fuss was about, then helped with the release. We got to see his catch of armored catfish, “paco” and red-bellied piranha (teeth and all). A first for me was the lined woodpecker—spectacular coloration, and very cooperative as everyone got to watch it at work for quite a while. Great and snowy egrets by the hundreds were perched all over the trees and shrubs as the storm clouds gathered, then flew in spectacular sunlit flocks with dark clouds as background. As a blustery wind picked up and lightning flashed far away, we turned back towards the ship.
In the end the rain missed us completely and the night walk left as planned. What wasn’t planned were the sightings, as we never know what to expect.
