It was dark, breezy, and wet at sunrise this morning, and I’ve got a 9am meeting to attend, so instead of trying to rush through Estabrook cursing the lack of light and time, I’m going to take the opportunity to show you a few more pictures from our trip to the Brazilian Amazon instead.
First, before I forget, here’s one more picture from our half-day excursion from Manaus on day two: this darling little rounded banner butterfly (Pyrrhogyra crameri).
Okay, now back to the boat tour near the Dolphin lodge on day three. If you solve crossword puzzles, you’ve probably already encountered this next bird, at least in print: the ani. As is often the case, however, there are several varieties, and this particular individual is a greater ani (Crotophaga major). We saw several lurking in the low branches at the edges of the flooded forest, and except for the beak, they look like super-sized grackles.
With all that water around, I expected to see herons of some kind, and this capped heron (Pilherodius pileatus) did not disappoint. Except for the blue beak and face, it looks a bit like a yellowish version of the black-crowned night-herons we’ve seen in Estabrook.
At one point in our little boat tour, our guide had to climb out to pull the canoe through a thick floating mat of vegetation and over a submerged log, and that gave me the opportunity to spot this amazing banded sphinx moth caterpillar (Eumorpha fasciatus). It was the size of my middle finger; I kid you not.
One of the birds we saw most often, similar to the ubiquitous American robin in Estabrook, is this striking creature, and one of the reasons I suspect contributing to its frequency is that there are probably a half dozen species that look just like this. Some include the great kiskadee (Pitangus sulphuratus), the lesser kiskadee (Philohydor lictor), the social flycatcher (Myiozetetes similis), and the rusty-margined flycatcher (Myiozetetes cayanensis). Go ahead, click on those links and see if you can tell them apart by their pictures. I’ll wait.
As I mentioned above, there is more than one ani, and this one hiding in the tall grass is called the smooth-billed ani (Crotophaga ani).
As you have probably already guessed, there were also a lot of amazing butterflies around, and we enjoyed a glimpse of this white peacock (Anartia jatrophae) in the interlude between arriving at the lodge and embarking on the boat tour.
There were also plenty of hummingbirds around, but they were a lot trickier to photograph. As far as I can tell, this cutie is a glittering-throated emerald (Chionomesa fimbriata)
Here’s another look that shows off the “glitter” on its throat a little better.
Anyway, near the end of the boat tour, we got super lucky and spotted a white-throated toucan (Ramphastos tucanus) high in the trees, but it didn’t take long for it to amscray. Since we were so close to the equator, at just 3.66° south latitude, the sun set sharply at 6pm, and the daylight was already getting dim, so I had my camera set for the slowest shutter speed I thought I could get away with while handholding in a canoe. Thus, I have no idea how this Hail-Mary picture is even recognizable as a bird.
Finally, a delicious supper was served at 7pm every evening at the lodge, and on our walk back to our cabin, look who we found on the boardwalk railing, this precious Manaus slender-legged tree frog (Osteocephalus taurinus). A perfect ending to an amazing day.
And that wraps up our first day at Dolphin Lodge and our third day in Brazil.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 