Birdwatching 8.1.2018

Second birdwatching trip for 2018.

January 8, 2018
I was with the German couple Kube for this day. They had spent years traveling in Central-America and this was their first trip to South-America. They were quite excited and anxious to know what the jungle of Kabalebo had to offer them. We had a morning and afternoon hike and also visited the Sandcreek.

The Guianan Streaked Antwren was first heard before seen. They are small energetic birds and barely sit still in one place. Here you see the female as she was following the male.
Smooth-billed Ani's were enjoying the morning sun in the bushes and Red-billed toucans were loud and active during morning time.

One tree, 2 different couples seen: Orange-winged Amazons and Gray-lined Hawks were seen resting. While the Amazons were quite noisy, the Hawks stayed under the radar; quiet.

Some of the birds were not cooperating with us. The Amazon Kingfisher for instance turned its back and when we spotted this Anhinga in the middle of the river, it flew away the moment it noticed us.

But there were also those that made it up for us. A young Rufescent Tiger Heron was seen at the edge and even demonstrated a stunning view of its wings' patron.

Cocoi Herons never disappoint either and it was interesting to see how it looks like while flying away.

We also spotted these 2 Spectacled Caimans on a giant rock. They were enjoying the early morning sun. Both were cautious of our presence but did not make a move. 

Right on top of a fallen tree near the river we spotted this Green Anaconda resting. What you see is just a fraction of its length, it was at least 6 meters long, but the majority was well hidden under all the sticks and branches.

During our hike, it was a bit difficult to photograph the birds as they liked to hide between the dense vegetation. The monkeys on the other hand were not so shy and gave us the opportunity to take a picture. First one was a Common Squirrel Monkey and seconds later we looked right into the Brown Bearded Saki Monkey's eyes. It was also my first picture of this monkey species too.

Once again we spotted an Osprey with its catch; a fish. One thing that I noticed that day is that the Large Macaws were not active and we barely saw a couple. Just when I was thinking about the reason why, we saw this guy; the Harpy Eagle. It is known that they also hunt on parrots and macaws besides monkeys and iguana's. That explains their absent for the day.
Here is what we saw together on this day:

Even though we did not see a lot, the Kube's were quite content. Most of the animals we spotted were also first timers for them. Like for instance: Guianan streaked antwren, Brown Bearded Saki Monkeys, Anaconda and the Harpy Eagle.

You may also like the following post:

birdwatching 4.1.2018