Caletas & Corcovado National Park
Back in the rainforest! Before yesterday, I had not been in the rainforest for almost half a year... it was too long! As I walked into the forest I started to hear the black hooded antshrike and I could feel the high humidity. After a few minutes walking I caught the smell of the white throated capuchins. They stank, but I did not find them. This week I am rediscovering the places that we visit. I am enjoying every bird we find and those we only hear; the agoutis eating seeds and the capuchins we only smelled.
Today, the monkeys were waiting for us at Caletas as we disembarked. We went on different walks in the buffer zone of the Corcovado National Park. The long walk yielded great sightings of spider monkeys and toucans. The short walk provided great bird watching opportunities, including spectacular species such as blue dacnis, red legged honeycreeper, roadside hawk, yellow headed caracara, common black hawk and the scarlet macaw. We watched a tarantula wasp fly around a leaf cutter ant nest, but we did not know what it was doing and we prefered to leave it alone. In the afternoon the coatis were foraging in the poor light of the understory, making it almost imposible to get a good picture, yet fascinating to watch them move the thick leaf litter. A male anole bragged extending its spectacular gullap in a territorial or courtship display we witnessed.
As we came back on board two shy humpback whales swam by the ship showing their dorsal fins as their big spout gave away their location.
After dinner, we watched the bulldog fishing bats skimming the surface of the water with their feet.
It’s great to be back!
