Monkeying Around Cuyabeno

Critters in the lodge 

We encountered a few harmless guests in our cabana.  On day one, a 5" long grasshopper was standing guard at (on) our door.  A moth half the size of your hand decided our bathroom was a cozy place for a nap a night or two into our stay.  On the third morning, a girl in our group was startled at breakfast by what our guide described as a harmless insect in the cricket family (it was certainly not the size of any cricket I'd seen before and not an expected breakfast guest).

The guides warned us that we might find some rather exotic critters in our cabanas but the worst anyone in our group encountered was a frog in her bedroom.  Stories from the guides included tarantulas in beds to scorpions in shoes (you can trust that we propped our shoes upside down and doubled checked them before each wear after hearing that story).

Right after arriving at the lodge, I noticed a large cluster of seeds that had dropped from a palm tree between our cabana and the dining area.  I made note of it simply because I'd never seen a palm tree that produces cluster containing hundreds of pecan-sized seeds.  On day two, I discovered that nearly a third of the seeds had been cracked open and eaten during the night.  Our guide informed me that he spotted three "rat-like rodents" with bodies the size of a cat eating them after lights out.  He encouraged me to come outside with a flashlight at mid-night to watch them finish the seeds off. No Thanks!

Monkeys

We spotted several types of monkeys but the squirrel monkeys were greatest in number and didn't even seem to notice our presence.

I was only able to capture a short video of a couple squirrel monkeys before my camera battery died.

The coolest monkeys we encountered were Red Howlers but they stayed much too far away to get pictures.  From time to time we heard their howls as they claimed their territory. They can be heard from several kilometers away and sound sorta like a pulsating aircraft engine.

Tucans

Hmm... these guys were always really high in the canopy or spotted in flight. So, no good pictures :-(

Here is best photo I was able to capture.

Sloths

This is a 2-toed sloth. The guide was fairly excited that he spotted it while it was sleeping (not moving). It isn't really much to look at but there it is.

We were able to float up underneath this 3-toed sloth and snap a couple pictures. It wasn't moving because we had more than likely frightened it by floating so close.  Even though this one wan't moving, we saw one scaling a tree so quickly that I wasn't able to grab the camera quickly enough... so much for these things being slow.

Macaws and Parrots

The larger macaws stayed at a distance (top middle) but the smaller parrots were more easily approached.  The one chewing on the sugarcane was inside of a small tribal settlement. I first spotted it on someone's porch and then later in this tree.

 

Birds

In the local language, this bird's name translates to "broken branch." It caused Luis, our guide, to rock the boat by jumping off his of seat and yelling "YEAHHH! 20,000 points!"  He explained that it is an extremely rare bird to spot.  In 16 years of being a guide, he has only spotted it twice for bird watchers and, in both cases, they broke into tears.  Most people on our boat took several minutes to spot it while Luis was able to spot it from 100 ft while moving down the river at 20 miles per hour. (I promise, there is a bird in the picture.)

The last two pictures are of Hoatzins.  These birds are extremely interesting at first glance because of their almost prehistoric appearance.  They also let us get fairly close without moving.  After a while you notice they are extremely common and you hear tid-bits like they vomit on people as a defense mechanism... and they become less interesting :-)

Critters in the forest

Our trip included a night walk through the jungle which was actually so unsettling that I don't care to recount the event. We also went on a night boat ride in search of caimans and boas which wasn't as bad as the night walk but still had it's moments. Here are some pictures.