Our destination for this morning is a tributary of the Marañón River called Pucate. We boarded our skiffs at 0600 am to explore the river and the surrounding forest. We did not have to wait for special sightings because birds were flying around us before we boarded the skiffs! Large billed terns were all around in mixed flocks along with great egrets. There were also Caciques and many types of hawks, just a few of the many birds we saw.
It was an amazing morning because we were riding the skiffs among the best show of wildlife the place can offer! There were so many egret of different types, song birds, herons and river dolphins. It was indeed a spectacular morning.
In the late morning we repositioned the Delfin II for another visit. This time we had a meeting with Carola the shaman of the community who showed us the medicinal properties of the plants and animals of the Amazon basin. It was a nice way to learn the traditions of the local people, their medicines and beliefs.
For the afternoon we had a different plan that included a hike in the primary rain forest. Here, you are in the kingdom of trees some of them small growing in dim light as part of the understory. There are others much taller that make up the canopy which is where most organisms such as insects, birds and monkeys find food and live. Other trees not so common are the tallest of all they are part of the emergent layer. This are trees over a hundred feet tall. Their crowns look like umbrellas and they are the ones that get most of the sunlight in this complex ecosystem.
