Tuesday 1st December. Before first light we paddled across the lake and up a dark creek. I used a little fill-in flash to capture this young Cayman as we slid quietly past.
Cayman
After a few minutes of paddling I stepped off the canoe and we walked a short trail to the Canopy Tower.
| The tower culminates in a platform more than forty meters above the ground in the spreading canopy branches of a giant Kapok tree. On the metal staircase I counted 97 steps up and I'm not sure if this is what made me breathless or if it was the view. So much to see up here. For a start this wonderful Great Potoo was sleeping on a branch of the kapok right by the platform, looking for all the world like it was a part of the tree. After some time it moved its head to one side, giving me the chance of a profile shot. It reminded me of a character from a sci-fi film but I can't quite recall which one. What a great bird, and we were right up close. |  The Canopy Tower |
Great Potoo
Bird Guide Domingo on the Canopy Tower
As we scanned the forest around us the next living creature we picked out was not a bird but a Three Toed Sloth asleep in a tall tree below our platform. I hoped it too might move so we could see its face, but no, it stayed fast asleep and rock still the whole time we were up there, the lazy toe-rag.
Three Toed Sloth
Various Parrots and Yellow & Blue Macaws were flying to-and-fro in the forest beneath and around us. In the trees we started to pick out a variety of exotic rain forest birds. Because of the distance it was not ideal for photography, plus it was raining off and on again, but I post a few examples here for the record. Right away I could see this Crested Oropendola, and a little further away a superb Blue Throated Piping Guan. These were birds up on the tree-tops enjoying the rain.
Crested Oropendola
 Blue Throated Piping Guan |  Mealy Amazon Parrot |
The Plum Throated Cotinga almost shone in the murky light, pity it wasn't as close as the White Tailed Trogon who turned her big blue eyes up towards us.
 Plum Throated Cotinga |  White Tailed Trogon |
Even further away in the distance another Cotinga, this time a Purple Throated Cotinga, a good bird, another lifer and a real find. It was more than a year later that I finally identified this bird with help from a Facebook birder called Mike Boatwright.
Purple Throated Cotinga The Purple Honeycreeper below was perhaps the most stunning bird I saw in a place where stunning birds were common. The way the colours purple, black and yellow stood out from the forest green and brown was quite startling. This was a brief view of what is apparently not an uncommon forest bird , I wish we had seen more.
Purple Honeycreeper
This Lettered Aracari looked quite comical from above, like a circus clown or comic strip character. It was not at all concerned about the steady rain coming down, in fact it may be why it was out in the open, taking a shower.
Lettered Aracari
It could have been the Crane Hawk's bright red eye that attracted our attention, a fine looking bird and another who was up enjoying the rain.
Crane Hawk
This sparkling Pied Puffbird came and sat in the branches of the Kapok Tree and gave us perfect close up views for ten minutes or so....
Pied Puffbird
.....and a nice Yellow Tufted Woodpecker came into the tree too, what a beauty.
Yellow Tufted Woodpecker
.....and then a stunning Gilded Barbet came to join in the show, all very close and very colourful.
Gilded Barbet
Gilded Barbet
The little Blackpoll Warbler was positively bland in comparison, but every bird is equal when it is a new species for ones life list, they all count the same.
Blackpoll Warbler
After ten o'clock the bird activity had dwindled, so we climbed down from the tower and spent an hour or two on the forest trail looking for Manakins, very hard to see but definitely attractive little birds that live in the deep forest.
Domingo & the Kapok Tree
Manakins are small, usually colourful forest birds that are sought after by birders, for one reason they are quite hard to find, and for another they are well known for the pre-nuptial displays that the males perform, see the moonwalk for example here,
The modus operandi is quite simple, walk the dark forest trails until you hear a manakin call, then use playback (recorded birdcalls) to try to entice one into view. We were successful twice this morning and I managed to get poor but recognizable shots of each in the dark undergrowth. The Striped Manakin below is quite a beauty but unfortunately the only shot I managed has a branch obscuring most of the red and white stripes.
Striped Manakin
This male Golden Headed Manakin gave us very good views, this though was the best shot I could manage in very dark conditions.
Golden Headed Manakin
By now it was time to head back to the Lodge for lunch, and for the rest of the day we birded from the canoe, here are some of the birds we saw.
This juvenile Rufescent Tiger Heron clearly shows where the name comes from. However the adults lose all those spots and stripes and they look quite different.
This juvenile Rufescent Tiger Heron clearly shows where the name comes from. However the adults lose all those spots and stripes and they look quite different.
Rufescent Tiger Heron juvenile
The Black Capped Donacobius is quite a striking looking bird. They were quite common around these backwaters.
Black Capped Donacobius
Kiskadees were also common, both Greater and Lesser. The one in this shot is I think a Lesser Kiskadee although it's not easy to distinguish without a size reference.
Lesser Kiskadee
This little Grey Breasted Martin cuts a fine figure on a stake in the pond, enjoying the rainfall.
Grey Breasted Martin
A good looking Ringed Kingfisher watches from an overhanging branch....
Ringed Kingfisher
...and this Capped Heron cuts a fine figure in the creek. I wish I had managed a completely clear shot of this great looking bird, but this was the best I could do.
Capped Heron
Perched on another stake in the pond, a nice Yellow Billed Tern.
Yellow Billed Tern
And last but not least today, one of the Hoatzins that frequent these backwaters. They were quite numerous around here.
Hoatzin
