Families: Giant river otters, capybaras…

Tags

anhinga, cacique, caiman, capybara, cocoi heron, curassow, giant river otter, jaguar, kiskadee, piping-guan, roseate spoonbill, sandpiper, skimmer, southern screamer, trogon

Boat excursions from the flotel were every day from 7.00 am until 11.00 am, and from 2.00 pm until 6.00 pm.  This is the view from my window at 6.15 am on Tuesday 22nd September.These Blue-throated piping-guans were there every morning under what we called the cormorant tree (explanation later), but not when we returned.To our utter delight, shortly after setting off today, we came across a family of giant river otters, to our right as we meandered along a wide river.  Ten or eleven individuals in all, including four cubs, which were often carried in the mouths of adults. After a while they decided to cross the river in front of us, in search of one of their holts.

We continued on our way, seeing birds (and other creatures) we recognised, some we hadn’t seen before, and some I’m not sure of.

Unicoloured blackbird, male (confirmed by BL)

Cocoi heron

Caiman

Not so sweet, this size

Collared plover (confirmed by BL)

Mr and Mrs Southern screamer

Semi-palmated sandpiper (ID thanks to BL)

Black skimmers in context

Anhinga

Mr and Mrs Bare-faced curassow

Lesser kiskadee

Blue-crowned trogon (female)

Yellow-rumped cacique (weaves its nest)

Roseate spoonbills

We were always pleased to see these, commonplace though they were.

Team capybara

Grampa?

And in due course we found ourselves, along with Peter and Bianca, in almost exactly the same spot we had all been the previous day.  This time we got much better views of the beautiful female, with her much finer features. How long could she stand that heat? I wondered, and in due course she did move back into the shade.  Peter thought this could be an invitation.

Bianca

Bianca

Hopeful Peter, Bianca turning back to him

As we could hear from her vocalisations, he was smartly rebuffed, and when we moved to go back to the flotel for lunch, they had resumed almost the same positions as before.

A very early start

Tags

Amazon kingfisher, black vulture, caracara, Howler monkey, marsh deer, Pantanal, Porto Jofre, scarlet-headed blackbird, southern screamer, Southwild, Transpantaneira

After a 5.15 breakfast, it was time to load our safari truck with baggage and sleepy bodies, and set off on what was forecast to be a six-hour drive to Porto Jofre, at the end of the Transpantaneiro, where we would almost be at our next accommodation.

Cactus in flower. We did see a bird drinking the nectar at one point

Fortunately, road repairs had been such that the drive not as long as feared. Here one of the dicey bridges is being repaired. (In the dry season you can drive into and out of some of the gullies.)

 

Howler monkeys. The (black) male’s dawn roar may be heard three kilometres away

Marsh deer

Piling in again after a comfort stop

Amazon kingfisher

Scarlet-headed blackbird. In life it glowed even more than this.

Great egret

Southern screamers

Pleased that the drive had not been quite as tiring as we feared, we had to wait a little before our transfer boat was available at Porto Jofre. A few more photo-opportunities.

Porto Jofre

Is the Caracara’s permanent expression more that of puzzlement or of being affronted?

Black vulture

Our boatman helping us load up. Dig those boots!

25 minutes later we had first sight of our ‘flotel’, run by Southwild.

Because we had arrived earlier than expected it was after lunch before we had access to our splendid rooms. (You couldn’t possibly call this a cabin, and is that description appropriate on a boat that goes nowhere anyway?)

Two hours to settle in and rest before we set out for our afternoon boat ride.