Amazonian Adventures Part 1: San Rafael Falls and Limoncocha

 

It’s been a little over two weeks since my last post, so it’s due time I put a few photos up. Since I was in the Amazon for a whole week, I decided to break the trip up into two posts. And I’ll start out this post with this guy:

That is San Rafael Falls, the largest waterfall in Ecuador at a whopping 160 m (525 feet for the metric-challenged). An that’s the waterfall at its lowest current level, since I took that photo at the end of the dry season. However, there is a hydroelectric diversion project called Coca Codo Sinclair that will divert water away from the falls, reducing the flow by 40-60%. That means that only during the rainy season will the waterfall be as big as you see in that photo. However, the project is supposed to generate 1500 MW, which is quite a bit of power (Source).

After our pit stop at San Rafael and several hours of bus-riding we arrived a Limoncocha, a small Amazonian town that happens to be one of the only places in world where pale-eyed blackbirds live. I unfortunately did not see any during my visit, but I did see these bizarre beauties:

“Beauty” might not be the first word you would use to describe these birds, but horned screamers are now quite rare due to hunting pressure and so are quite sought after by birders like myself. Despite looking like turkeys, they are distantly related to ducks and geese.

I saw those birds on a boat ride around Laguna Limoncocha, which was probably one of my favorite birding experiences of all time. Here are some other cool birds I saw on that voyage:

Juvenile wattled jacanas. Their long toes allow them to walk on aquatic vegetation without sinking.

Limpkin! I spent a whole week in Florida searching for one of these snail-eating birds and saw not a one. I saw three during this one hour-and-a-half boat ride.

Amazonian white-tailed trogon

A pair of capped herons in the rain

A hoatzin, a bizarre leaf-eating bird affectionately known a “stinky turkey.” The young of the hoatzin are the only living birds with claws on their wings.

Black-capped donacobius. They sing in pairs and waggle their tails as they do so. Here’s a video of them in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1BUrimoc5k

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In addition to birds, monkeys clambered in the trees along the lake shore.

 

Squirrel monkey

Red howler monkey. Not sure if he’s taking a nap or scratching his back…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also got the chance to ride around the lake at night, looking for black caimans.

Big ol’ black caiman

In addition to caimans, millions of lightning bug larva line the shores at night, creating what looks like a sliver of the night sky all around the lake. Unfortunately, I was unable to photograph this phenomenon due to lack of a tripod/camera that does really long exposures.

While the lake shore was incredible, the fauna within the village did not disappoint either.

A black-mantled tamarin, called a “bebe leche” (milk drinker) in Spanish due to its perpetual milk mustache.

=P

Orange-backed troupial

A great potoo, a very strange nocturnal bird. Their call is somewhere between a roar and someone yelling “mom.”

Limoncocha also has a large quantity of heliconias in its secondary forests. Heliconias are Neotropical cousins of the banana (which are native to the Old World tropics) and smell just like banana peels. The bracts (red part which covers a small cluster of fruits and flowers) can also double as a bird beak.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That’s about all I have to say about Limoncocha! Later this week I’ll tell you about Tiputini Biodiversity Station, a remote location in the heart of the Amazon.