A Day to Relax

Today was relaxing and calm, and I ventured out from the lodge less than in the past few days.  At 7:00 AM,  the group left in the canoe towards a trail which lead for two hours through the jungle.  In the meantime, I stayed at home, slept in, completed some math, and watched a part of a movie.  This was good for several reasons.  I needed to get some work done, I was wasted from getting up at 5:00 for the last two mornings, I desperately wanted some alone time, and the hike turned out to be hot and a little bit boring.  When my parents came home, I was happy and definitely awake!  The next activity was not until 4:00, so I could relax and kick back for another four hours!  I had finished most of my work while my parents were gone and was relatively free!  I was off to a good day! 

Napo Wildlife Center lodge has its own birding tower just over the dining room.  Lena said that in that tower I could see some different birds than those in the kapok tree.  So in the tower, our group met at four o’clock in the afternoon with our binoculars ready and smiles on our faces.  I mainly saw two species of birds, both draw dropping in different ways.  By far my favorite bird was, again, the amazing toucan.  This time the group saw a family of six Arab Banded toucans, but I only saw five.  The next wonder was the less renowned and less rare, but possibly more spectacular, Hoatzin.   The Hoatzin looks much like a turkey but is a little smaller and brown.  On the top of its head are small feathers sticking up like spikes.  Around its face is a light shade of blue.  This bird normally nests over rivers and lakes.  It is born with small spikes on the joints of its wings which are used for learning how to fly.  The baby Hoatzin jumps out and tries to fly over the water.  When it falls, it only crashes into the water.  It then uses his “wing spikes" to climb back up the foliage to its nest.  When the Hoatzin gets older and learns to fly, this adaptation goes away and the spikes disappear.  The only other bird on planet earth with the “wing spikes” was the Archaeopteryx.

Hoatzin

 After birding, we decided to go on a short expedition in the canoe.  Once we were all loaded in the boat, we set off to explore a small creek flowing from our lagoon.  We did not see very much due to the fact that we had to turn around early because of the rain.  We did, however, see Long Nose bats sleeping on a tree.  I loved how they clung to the tree with their small wings.

Long Nose Bat

When we arrived back at the lodge, excitement and disappointment filled our room.  Tomorrow we leave for Quito and the day after that we arrive in the Galapagos to go diving.  I am excited to see the renowned Galapagos, but am sad to leave the beautiful Amazon.  Tomorrow we leave the lodge at 6:00 AM (If I don’t pass out first!)




RoGeo news:
Rays put the Red Sox in their place, 1-0.  Hey, they did not cream them, but at least they won!  

Thank you for reading Rohan Geographic!