The travelers had decided to go visit the old steam “rubber boom” Fitzcarraldo’s boat stranded at Fundo Concepción. This, apart from visiting a botanical garden; rowing around a small lake; and visiting some clay licks, was part of our day. As we headed off to the last stop, the boat, an interesting animal crossed our way. At about 1mt. (3feet) from the trail that led us towards the steam boat, two coral snakes, one of about 1.5mts and another close by of about 20cms. where shedding their skins. It was not only a great sighting but a wonderful opportunity to take a look at how these incredible animals increase their length and size. Of course it not only amazed me but also the 6 other tourists behind me.

Hard work but some one has to do it. Next to our lodge there is a small but very interesting bird clay lick. Here we get to see, especially during the early morning hours, lots of small parakeets; cobalt winged and dusky headed, as well as some parrots; blue headed. Due to this the team of interpreters decided to build a blind so we could take tourists to watch and appreciate this amazing animal behaviour. The job had been done once, boards, palm leaves, nails and all had been already taken. Victor and Moisés were the first but now we were all helping. On this particular morning we decided to once and for all finish as much as we could of the blind. Every body was in charge of something. Taking boards, making measurements, digging the soil to make it even, anything you can imagine. We had leaders, we had workers. We stayed there all morning; we even cleaned our mess at the end!. Even though there is still some work to do and polish what has already been done, all the interpreters are more than happy with what was done in a whole day of work, TEAM WORK!!! Now we are waiting the travelers!.

At around 4:00pm we departed to the Canopy walkway. It was a very sunny and hot day but as always ready to see the wildlife. For this, we didn't have to wait. As soon as we got to tower I I spotted a Plum-throated cotinga perched on top of an Iron wood tree (emergent tree) showing its bright blue and plum colors with the sun shining on it; just amazing! Fortunately not only I got the opportunity, three tourists where able to spot it perfectly.

On a cloudy afternoon at Reserva Amazonica I decided to take a one of the trails surrounding the lodge; trail C. This trail is quite interesting due to the fact it shows mixed vegetation between a very young and open secondary forest, with a radical change to a low primary forest. Through the whole walk you are able to appreciate an example of small vegetation with outstanding enormous trees. Here is where you can have one of the best sightings of the Semicollared Puffbird (Malacoptila semicincta), most noticeable taking as its base location C 200mts. near a beautiful Iron Wood Tree (Shihuahuaco). We are actually talking about a pair that is usually perched on saplings in the understory level. After this, as I was reaching the mark C 300mts. a very noticeable bird of the family of the Cracids: Spix Guan (Penelope jacquacu) was spotted. The guan was foraging between branches, in a very silent mode. This bird in particular, as well as the puffbird, is good indicator of the condition of the forest. This last thought was enough to end the big expectations of the day.

It was around 4pm. I, Victor with the company of 2 tourists was walking through trail C. Just pass the Kapok tree, one of the biggest in the rainforest; I saw a huge giant anteater strolling by. We were all able to notice its long nose and bushy tail. It appeared it didn’t notice us as we all were able to get a very good look at the animal.This wasn’t all. As we kept on going now on trail B, a three toed sloth appeared out of nowhere on top of an iron wood tree. It was as still as a rock but yet we managed to see him and steal a few photographs for out albums. Great day, just GREAT!

A field outing in Puerto Maldonado planned as a preliminary training exercise in bird watching in preparation for the arrival of the instructor Renzo Zeppilli. This way we would not only not only find and identify different birds (ones usually sighted in Reserva Amazónica) but we would also reconnoiter a possible birdwatcher route for tourists.

Route:
The route we chose began at the filling station “La Pastora” Km 3 (about 5minutes from the plaza, near the road to Cusco). We walked in the direction of the Madre de Dios River for approximately 40 minutes. This place has local residents but they are located near the river, the vegetation and scant human activity make this a perfect place to sight birds such as:

1. Purus Jacamar
2. White-throated Jacamar
3. Barred Antshrike
4. Troupial
5. Grayish Saltator
6. Palm Tanagers
7. Blue-gray Tanagers
8. Smooth-billed Ani
9. Tropical Kingbird
10. Black-billed Thrush
11. Blue-black Grassquit
12. Flycatchers

By way of conclusion to this first part, we found a resident bird in PEM, which is much sought by bird buffs (Purus Jacamar). With this field outing we verified where there is a higher probability of finding it.

Once these birds were spotted, we decided to take the rapids route to our final destination, the agricultural plot of the interpreter Efraín Flores. To reach this trail motorcycles had been brought since there are no cars, but also for future use. The birds spotted on this occasion and on several occasions, were:

1. Crimson-crested Woodpecker
2. Golden-olive Woodpecker
3. Anhinga
4. Vultures
5. Flycatchers

Because time was running out, our bird sighting during the second part of the route was very quick. In spite of this, we saw several woodpeckers, some hard to identify because of the light or their location. The place promised more (including the agricultural field in which a lot of activity was heard).

CONCLUSION
On the basis of this experience we considered these outings should be more frequent since the interpreters are friends, they know about and spend their free time learning and teaching themselves in order to improve their work as guides and their interpretive material and make the travelers’ experience interesting.

It was a very good day. On our way to the lake we spotted not one but TWO sloths, hanging from the trees next to where we pick up the canoes. This had everybody going. I kept wondering what could the lake it self have in store for us today. My thoughts were answered as soon as we rowed passed the small channel. Giant river otters, about 7, two of them, I might add, were baby otters!!!! What more could I ask. Suddenly as we turned passed the peninsula two red howler monkeys saluted us from the trees, hoatzins crying like crazy, snake birds drying their wings and a couple of kingfishers flying close to the water as always looking for fish. No need for more words!

This afternoon we set off from the lodge on a birdwatching “expedition”. A beautiful birdsong lead us to a pair of black-billed thrushes below one of the lodges cabins. Movement on the forest edge revealed a flock of tiny cobalt-winged parakeets feeding on the fruit of a Cecropia tree ( Cecropia sp.). We then entered the rainforest to be greeted by our excited lodge manager, Christopher who reported seeing an Amazonian tayra ( Eira barbara ), a member of the weasel family, scuttling across the pathway in front of him only minutes before. Inspired by the possibility of more great sightings we continued on a narrow rainforest pathway towards Inkaterras Canopy walkway. Soon after climbing the thirty metres to the top of the first tower, a pair of Lettered aracari perched metres from us. A new species for the canopy checklist and for two of our observers, they spent close to an hour providing great photographic opportunities. A male, female and two juvenile Gilded barbets were causing a colourful stir in a nearby “caucho macho” tree ( Hevea guianensis ) closely watched by a Yellow-browed tody-flycatcher in song. Flying dart like, Curl-crested aracaris penetrated nearby vegetation to add even more colour and action to a sighting which also included Amazonian and Crested oropendolas, Swallow-winged puffbird, Black-fronted nunbird, Red-bellied macaws and a Cream-coloured woodpecker among others. An amazing afternoon of birdwatching in the rainforest!.

My guests and I departed for Lake Sandoval early this morning at 6:00am. We stopped at the clay lick on the way, and although we didn´t see any birds on the clay bank, 7 blue headed parrots and a whole flock of dusky headed parakeets were perched nearby. As we continued on our boat ride 3 ringed kingfishers and a couple of social flycatchers passed us on their morning feeding forays. Around 20 minutes later we arrived at the start of the trail which was to lead us to Lake Sandoval. Only a few metres into the walk a red-throated caracara was perched on a branch about 20 metres above us. Soon afterwards between 7 and 9 saddle-backed tamarins jumped past us on their search for food. The unmistakeable donkey-like call of a horned screamer led us to its perch, just standing there, way up high as if contemplating the early morning breeze. As we moved on we began to hear the typical macaws and parrots singing as if a great orchestra were taking place. Then we saw them; about 8 couples of blue and yellow macaws, some perched and others displaying the palm clay lick behaviour. Mealy parrots were easily identified as they sang their way past and into the rainforest. We were all speechless!

If you think the fun ended there you are mistaken as the whole lake awaited us. No sooner than we had boarded our canoes and headed onto the lake a noticeable smell of dead fish surrounded us, OTTERS! There they were, a family of about nine individuals feeding on piranhas and catfish. Simply beautiful. As the otters moved off a flock of 20 or more red-bellied macaws flew past us over and over again accompanied by a couple of black vultures taking advantage of the high winds. Paddling around the lake we also saw anhingas (snake birds) drying their wings in the sun, a neotropical cormorant resting, a striated heron flying by, a pauraque (nightjar) camouflaged in the vegetation, several long nosed bats stuck to the bark of a palm hiding from predators and lots of hoatzins looking for food along the banks of the lake. To tell you the truth, today the animals simply loved us!.

My guests and I departed just after six this morning for Lake Sandoval. Soon after making our way onto the lake in our canoe we spotted  a family of eight Giant river otters.  Twenty minutes later we came across two huge black caimans, one of them, which we estimated to be between three and four metres long,  was  feasting on two large Pike fish.. On the other side of the lake we watched a troop of five Red-howler monkeys, a male and female and their three youngsters, as they moved through the trees feeding on fruit. Also joining us on the lake were red-bellied macaws, red-capped cardinals, a ringed kingfisher, a giant egret, striated heron, neotropical cormorants, anhingas and hoatzins. On our trail back from the lake my guests suddenly got frightened at hearing what they thought was a jaguar calling. Fortunately, or not, it turned out to be another troop of red-howler monkeys making sure all the rainforest inhabitants knew this was their territory!.

I was monitoring one of Inkaterra´s trails during the morning. At 11:01 I saw a small bird near the swamps so silently I began to follow it trying to identify the species. At that moment I heard some movement on the other side of the trail so I turned around and looked at the big animal that was at my side. It was a giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla)! It was walking very slowly and silently, its enormous size and weight seemed not to matter at this point, impressive skills. I immediately walked backwards so it could not see me. It worked for a while but the anteaters excellent sense of smell, almost 40 times better than ours, gave me away. A minute or so later it had moved off into the forest.

Five days later, monitoring another trail with Claudia, as part of our project, we came across the giant anteater again. The second sighting was as impressive and amazing as the first. However, the most incredible thing was yet to be seen, the giant anteater was carrying something on its back. Was it extra hair? Could it be some kind of parasite? Then we saw it, we saw it clearly, a BABY ANTEATER!!! This time we reacted: cameras on hand and binoculars to our eyes, but still the giant anteater was quicker. He had seen us. Once again it was very silent and fast at the same time disappearing deeper and deeper into the forest. We´re not sure if it was the same anteater I saw a couple of days ago, but what I do know is that monitoring should go on!!!.