The morning activity was another boat trip on the Rio Negro. The light was really good this time of the morning and as always, Stefan was waiting for us.
This plan was to go up a different part of the river today and I had this funny feeling it would be a "Great" boat trip:
Before we left, a few Buff-necked Ibis were enjoying the nice morning light:
Right away we encountered a Neotropical Otter that was fishing successfully for its breakfast:
The Kingfishers were out in force as well:
This isn't a very good picture, but I am including it because this Ringed Kingfisher seemed to have eyes that were bigger than its mouth. I am not sure how it was going to eat this eel that it caught:
A bit later on, we found another Neotropical Otter. This one didn't pay much attention to us as it swam along the shore and occasionally left the water to roll around and scent mark the sand.
Notice the wound at the end of its tail in this picture. Stefan surmised that it was caused by Piranha. They are reason # 432 why we didn't swim in the river:
As usual, most sandy banks had a Yacare Caiman on them:
We were surprised to encounter a Crap-eating Fox out in the morning. Like most of the other wildlife we encountered, it didn't pay any attention to us:
Here is a look at the Rio Negro:
Boat-billed Heron:
Here is one of the only times that Toco Toucans sat still long enough for a photo:
After the scare a day earlier, the Capybara had wised up and hired a bodyguard:
Blue and Yellow Macaws:
BA has a pair of Hyacinth Macaws that nest there each year. This year I had a hard time getting pictures of the two together. The guides thought that the female was on the nest which is why she was seldom seen. So, I had to settle for a photo of only one of the adults:
Towards the end of the boat trip, we hiked a bit in the forest to a lake to see what was around. We did find a Blue-crowned Trogon and a few other birds but that was about it. None of the birds posed nicely for photos.
Lunch was roast chicken today and it was delicious. We remembered all the meals being excellent during our last visit so it was nice to experience that again.
After lunch I did my usual mid-day walk around the grounds. Yesterday, I saw nothing. But, since you never know what might be out, I still did it today. That was a good call.
I had walked to the restaurant to refill my water bottle and saw some movement in the garden. It was a Six-banded Armadillo. It stopped a couple times to look in my direction but I was pretty sure I was downwind. So, it continued about its business allowing me to get some photos. I LOVE these guys!:
I decided to leave the Armadillo and walk back to the room to tell Karen to come out. Before I got too far, I ran into Ben and I mentioned the Armadillo. That's when he turned and pointed out a Giant Anteater that was just walking into some bushes along the river. Decisions...decisions. Well, first I went and grabbed Karen. I hollered for Bill and Peggy too but there was no sign of them. So, we went back to the Armadillo so that Karen could enjoy it briefly. Once she was appeased, we headed down towards the Giant Anteater. Since it was 3PM now, no one was around and the light was pretty harsh. We stayed downwind and in the shadows as much as possible, as we looked into the bushes to try to figure out where it was. We finally heard it, then spotted it. That allowed us to take a position not too close as it appeared out of the bushes:
Like almost all the other Giant Anteaters we saw during the trip, this one paid no attention to us. We did stay quiet and downwind which helps. It even stopped to scratch an itch:
We followed it at a respectable distance but staying downwind meant taking photos into the light which wasn't ideal:
It trotted across the grass and headed towards the corals:
Just before it headed into the palm trees, we got one last good look:
Our afternoon drive started around 3:30PM. As I was sitting in the back of the truck waiting to start, a group of Guira Cuckoos came to get a drink at the small pond by the lodge:
I think we used up all our great encounters for the day already since the drive was pretty quiet. But, we did manage to see some interesting wildlife.
Pale-crested Woodpecker:
Feral Piglets:
Rusty-collared Seedeaters:
Red-legged Seriema:
We also had another Reg-winged Tinamou that wasn't afraid of us at all. It sauntered around the truck just as the sun was going down:
We had another Tatu (Six-banded Armadillo) but it was pretty shy:
We encountered another Giant Anteater with a baby at dusk and then later right before getting back to the lodge in the dark, we drove past Clawdia with her baby. I didn't even bother taking pictures of either encounter. Before reaching the lodge we had a couple more critters.
Great Potoo:
Brazilian Rabbit:
We once again enjoyed Caipirinhas before dinner but we missed the ones that Rita made which were much better.
Dinner was once again...beef. And, once again, it wasn't very good. But, the pasta and cooked carrots were good. As we ate, a group of cows somehow got into the area under the mango tree so we watched them as we chatted. It wasn't the most memorable meal of the trip for sure. But, what was memorable is that I was tick free today. Yeah!
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