Peru - Day 41; Muyuna Lodge

   Today we once again commenced with a 04:30 breakfast before setting off in the boat and into the Amazon. There were a few species in the riverine islands that I had not managed to connect with in Explorama Lodge, so those were our priority for the morning. It took about 45 minutes to reach the first island, with the morning once again hampered by overcast conditions courtesy of last nights rain.

  The first island was very enjoyable. As we arrived there were more than 50 Sand-coloured Nighthawks flying around overhead, although they disappeared as the sun came up. Around 50 Black-billed Thrushes all came out of roost in the reeds, which was enjoyable to watch. Then we got down to work. Parkers Spinetail came out first, although I had seen this species well before, followed by White-bellied Spinetail which was one of the targets here having got such poor views the previous time. Sadly the latter Spinetails arrival coincided with a group of Boto River Dolphins passing, and assured I would see more dolphins I concentrated on the Spinetail. Sadly those were the only Boto I saw today. We finished off on the island with two male Black-and-white Antbirds.

  After a couple of short and unproductive stops we crossed the river and spent an hour birding in the disturbed habitat near to the Comunidad de Fomento, and here we had a lot of success with my two main outstanding bird targets both appearing at almost the same time. First was Bay Hornero, which was very responsive to playback and showed nicely but never out in the open. In the trees above we then spotted a Varzea Thrush, but sadly it did not stick around particularly long. Pleased with these developments, we continued birding a little bit more but failed to find anything of real note.

  We tried one more trail during the morning, but more to check the state of the trail for a different morning. The last hour or so of our excursion was spent trying to track down the two species of dolphin that live in the river here. Although we never refound the Boto, we found several groups of Tucuxi which was the new species for me. Although they came very close to our boat, they were wildly unpredictable as to where and when they would surface, so it took some time to get any kind of decent photo. However, with some patience and luck I finally managed it.

  There was another rainstorm over lunch, but once it passed we took the boat out upriver to try reach a lake deeper in the forest where there were chances for Giant River Otter, and even Amazonian Manatee. Sadly we did not find either of these species, the latter would have been absolutely incredible, but the birding was enjoyable. Hoatzin was a new bird for this phase of the trip, and they are always quirky to see. A male Plum-throated Cotinga was nice to see and we finished off with a flyover Short-tailed Nighthawk.

  Due to the weather and the business of the lodge, we decided to save my final nocturnal activity for the following night.