Monday, November 7, 2022
We awoke to a wall of green outside our windows, as the boat had moored near the shore overnight. From the top deck we observed river dolphins, water birds and songbirds as the sun rose. After breakfast we headed out in motorized skiffs to explore a local creek and a lake-like portion of a side stream. We caught a glimpse of a Pygmy marmoset, the smallest monkey in the world, as well as beautiful birds and more dolphins.
The ship navigated to another location for the afternoon, further north along the Ucayali River. We learned more about the Amazon River, its tributaries and the Pacaya-Samiria reserve through talks by our guides. The geologic history of the region is fascinating and explains some of the species found here: 65 million years ago, the only highlands were to the east and water flowed to the Pacific. About 23 million years ago, both a central mountain range and the Andes along the western coast began to emerge which trapped water and species in the bowl between them. Species like the river dolphins, electric eels and stingrays evolved to live in fresh water, and have remained in the Amazon region after the further uplift of the Andes changed the drainage pattern to discharge in the Atlantic Ocean. The scale of the Amazon River system is astounding. The Amazon River discharges 57 million gallons every second. It has 200 tributaries, 17 of which are more than 1000 miles long, and 10 of which carry more water than the Mississippi.
On our second skiff ride we saw a three-toed sloth, a tayra (a sleek arboreal predator that is very rare to see), and a number of different types of parrots and parakeets. As we approached the boat, two kinds of nighthawk swooped all around us in the dimming light. For the day we saw 67 species of birds, about half of which were new to us.
Pictured: Red-capped cardinal, Pygmy marmoset, speckled chachalaca, yellow-rumped cacique, blue-fronted jacamar, yellow-headed blackbird
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