Peru Trip: Animals

I was surprised at how few animals we saw in Peru. Don't get me wrong, you'll see lots of animals here...but most of these pictures are from a handful of days. I'm not really sure what I expected; I guess probably more animals all around, every day. But then, I didn't really do any research before going on the trip, so there's a lesson learned!

Anyway, here are the animals that would hold still for us to take their picture! Lots of monkeys, and a really far off shot of a three toed sloth! Enjoy!

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So, you've probably never seen a Three Toed Tree Sloth...neither had we until we went to Peru. And to be honest, I never did get a good look at any of them, though we saw a couple. They hang out WAY up in the trees, so arent' very easy to see. The shots I got of them aren't all that great, but they give an idea of what it looks like anyway.

You'll see more of the reptilian order later on, but I had to throw this guy in here just because. He was way up in a tree, that I happened to be walking by on the canopy walkway. He was just lying there in the sun, but as soon as I got near, he ran to the other side. Not friendly at all...which is probably okay! I don't know what his full name is, I think Ricardo said something like a hooded ring neck lizzard, or something like that.

Now this next guy was friendly. His name is Charlie and he's a Capybara, a distant cousin to the Guinnea Pig! He lives at the Explorama lodge and loves to have his chin rubbed. We all got turns scratching him and he actually purrs, in an odd sort of way. His hair is very coarse, so we didn't pet him for too long. Luckily, there were lots of us, so even with only 5 minutes per person, he was loving life!







He was having a stimulating conversation with Ralph, I'm sure!

Look at those teath! Good thing Charlie is friendly!

Now this little guy was on Monkey Island, with all the monkeys, but he's really a cousing of the Raccoon, according to Ricardo. He's called a Kinkajou, but goes by the common name Honey Bear, probably because of his coloring. He's nocturnal, but he woke up long enough for us to hold him. He's very friendly and soft, and had fun playing with us and climbing our backs and shoulders! We could easily have brought him home for a pet!

MONKEYS!

Alright, now to the all (or at least, many) of the monkeys on Monkey Island, where we saw lots and lots of monkeys. The island is very aptly named! We got there by boat, and spent a couple hours walking around, playing with the monkeys. All sorts of kinds there, and we had bunches of bananas, which really helped with the picture taking! They were pretty tame anyway, so you can imagine Donna and I had a good time!

These next guys are Marmosets and Tamarins. Very pretty little guys, and the one, a Tamarin, as you'll see, enjoyed his banana and went looking for more!

This is Amerigo, who is a Woolly Monkey.

These next ones are Brown Capuchin monkeys. Very friendly and smart....and some attitude!

This guy here posed for me after a while, though he never did take any banana.

Okay, well, that's all the animal shots I have for now. I don't think I had many better ones on wet film, if any, so this is about it. Hope you liked them!

~Derek

Peru 25 Dec 05 - 01 Jan 06: Birds!

Hi Everyone!

Well, we expected to see lots and lots of birds while traveling through the Peruvian Rainforest, and we did see quite a few. Sadly, my digital camera is slow and not overly powerful, so we didn't get too many stellar pictures of birds. I got a few more wet film pic's of birds, so maybe I'll get those scanned and be able to add them later on...we'll see.

Anyway, we saw birds a couple ways. Around the jungle lodges, there were lots of very friendly birds, mostly parrots and macaques (sp?), as well as some other scavengers, like the vultures. We saw other birds while up in the canopy walkway...which really is the main point of the walkway...to see birds! We did...I just didn't get many digital shots of them. Hopefully I'll be able to add pictures of the Tucans and Blue Tanagers from wet film a little later. Other birds we saw came and went while we were on nature hikes, boat rides, etc.

So, all that said, here are a couple dozen shots of various birds from Peru! Enjoy!

So, this is a good bird to start with! Very cool, looks like something you'd see in the rain forest, huh? Well, he was at the luxurious (electricity AND running water) Explorama Ceiba Tops Lodge that we capped our trip off with. He wasn't very friendly, and flew off soon after I snapped this, but he did enjoy the banana someone gave him.

I saw him later with two of his buddies hanging out by the pool, so I assume he lives in the general area and is used to the lodge guests feeding him.

Don't really know what this bird is, but he was kind of cool looking. Also lived in the area of the Ceiba Tops lodge on the Amazon. That's the luxury spot we ended our Amazon adventure in.

He posed for this...didn't even ask for payment!

This one, too, was at the Ceiba Tops Lodge. Don't know what he was, but had no problem hanging out poolside with the tourists, begging food. And yes, he got some!

Not sure if he was mad, or really liked me!

This owl hung out by the pool at Ceiba Tops Lodge at night, looking for lizards and other yummy things to eat! Didn't see him catch any, but he was the first owl we saw so we were still pretty stoked to see him sitting there!

This is a VERY tall Ceiba tree in the rain forest, and home to a number of Oropendula bird nests. I don't have any pictures of the birds, which is a shame since they're pretty. But, their nests, are amazing! They hang off branches and look like clock pendulums! The birds are loud, and make a very distinct call. And the nests rock back and forth in the wind. After one storm, we found remains of a nest, so we know they're not impervious to storms. Still, only one fell, so...

See the pendulum shape of the nest? Very cool!

This is a Black Tufted (or is it White?) Puff Belly. Or at least, that's what our naturalist guide called him. We saw lots of these guys one morning, from the canopy walk over the Amazon Rainforest while we were staying at the ACTS Lodge in the jungle.

Here he is with a friend.

Same two birds. Must be black tufted, I guess.

And this little guy slept above us in our jungle lodge room at the ExplorNapo Lodge. Cool place; no window glazing, just holes in the wall for windows; no closed off walls, just a common roof line and a gap; no power, water, etc. Still, a cool place, LOTS of fresh air, mosquito nets, and BATS!

This is a Blue Face Parrot. He lives at the Explorama Lodge, just off a small inlet off the Amazon. He was bought from a villager by some tourists, who gave him to the lodge at the end of the their stay. He's quite a character, and almost tame...though he doesn't like shoes, and will bite!

He's not a large parrot, more the size of a small dove. He'd fit a shoulder nicely for any pirate wannabe's! Very pretty markings, and clear, mischievous face.

And as you can see, he DOES get into things. He pulled out Donna's comb, toothbrush and the tube of toothpasts before I got to him. And he managed to put a pretty good hole in the toothpaste tube! Hmmm, maybe that's why we got sick later! Yeah, I wish...

Here's a short return to the Oropendula nests. This is from a different tree, I think at the Explorama Lodge. There were dozens of nests on this tree, and the noise from all the birds was deafening at times!

This guy, a think a Green Macaque, also lived at the Explorama Lodge. He and the Blue Face Parrot were friends, and actually hung out together most of the time. It was really funny to see this bigger bird, easily twice the size of "little blue" literally run to Blue's defense if someone looked to be picking on him. Now that's love!

He would also pose for pictures...for a fee. He loved bananas! He also talks, and was very clear in speaking his favorite lines....."Quiero comer! Quiero comer AHORITO!"

It usually worked, and he ate very well, I'm sure!

These guys, also at Explorama Lodge, are a type of vulture, I think he said Turkey Vultures, but maybe White Faced Vultures. There are 3-5 different types of vultures in the area, so who knows. They wait for meal time to be over and then feast on leftovers that get dumped. They are HUGE, and sat on the roofs of the huts waiting. Kind of creepy!

Finally, the last one...Here's a different type of bird that was wandering around the grounds at the Explornapa lodge. I have no idea what he is, but he and a buddy wandered all around the rooms looking for, I assume, bugs to eat. They weren't very friendly, but at least they are kind of pretty!

So, these are the bird pictures I got. Some good shots, some okay shots. The birds were all very cool to see, and in good weather, I'm sure we could have spent a lot of time just going birding. Early morning and evening were the best times to see them, so we had a few early mornings to get up the canopy walk to see what we could. It usually worked! Of course, it also helped, A LOT, to have a guide who knew where to find the birds and what he was looking at!

Next up, who knows...maybe bugs, maybe plants. Maybe I'll do the animals...there weren't many of them, but those that we did see were pretty cool! LOTS of monkeys! Until then, take care and enjoy!
~ Derek