onto the waters of the Napo, to visit a small island.
The main aim here was to see a number of bird
species that specialise in living in the relatively open
conditions and distinctive vegetation found there.
It was interesting to note the succession of
vegetation types working up from the bare sand
of the river edge, through a stage where spikey
grasses predominated (reminding me of marram
grass tussocks on coastal sand dunes).....
then with shrubby broadleafed plants
growing up......
until the middle parts of the island started
to look much more like your bog-standard
amazon rainforest!
...although the grass/bamboo clumps still
thrived: requiring a little "bush-whacking" from
Forrest's machete to keep the trail open!
Islands having been thoroughly "done" we then
headed off in our canoe once again, now to explore
up a side river, rimmed with lush vegetation.
Here we were favoured with a fly-passed (twice!)
by a pair of blue-and-gold macaws, their distinctive
calls alerting us to the approach. Their two visits
meant that first time around I was able to track
them with my binoculars, the second time I was able
to record them with a video-clip (whence cometh this
image!)
