Our Saturday started with a 6:00 a.m. boat ride up Zapote Creek off the Ucayali River. The skies were clear blue with some billowy white clouds and it promised to be another hot morning. However, at this hour the temperature is lovely and it is so wonderful to see the activities of the animals starting their day. As we entered the creek we were greeted by a pink river dolphin fishing and a snowy egret standing sentinel at the river’s edge. Horned screamers could be heard in the distance and parrots and parakeets were flying overhead heading out to forage for the day. However, in one overhanging branch along the way we found an animal who was just going to bed. There was a small hole in a tree trunk and sticking out of it was the head of a cute little yellow-crowned brush-tailed rat. This sweet little rodent is nocturnal and scurries around at night collecting fruits to eat. During the day it retreats to its hole with just its head protruding out which has resulted in the locals calling it the “window mouse.” It even had a fruit it collected tucked under its chin!
After breakfast, we headed back up Zapote Creek. The ground along the creek is higher so the trees are bigger than what we were in yesterday. It is a beautiful creek and floating along in a skiff looking at the magnificent trees lining it was very peaceful. One tree on the riverside was covered in an enormous cobweb. Reni took us over to look at it. This immense web was built by thousands of small social spiders! He collected some of the tiny spiders and then impressed us with how strong the strands of web are. Nature is pretty amazing!
The morning was starting to heat up so we headed back to the boat, stopping along the way for some shopping with the local villagers. Most of us bought some of the lovely handicrafts and added to our memories of the trip.
Our afternoon excursion up the Supay River was under rainy skies fortunately, which made the temperature very comfortable and was a welcome relief. The birds appreciated the overcast afternoon too and were out in great numbers. We saw some gloriously colorful birds like the plum-throated cotinga and the masked crimson tanager. A flock of chestnut-eared aracari, the small toucanettes, landed in a tree above us. What fabulous way to end our last full day in the Amazon.
