While exploring a tributary of the Amazon, we came across a troop of Ecuadorian squirrel monkeys crossing from one side of a river to the other. Single file, they took turns launching themselves from a higher branch on one side, to a lower branch on the other. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 1000, f/5.6 at 1/1250th of a second.

When I first got back from my trip to Peru, I posted a rare dark morph of the southern tamandua. Here’s what they usually look like. Also known as the collared anteater, the lesser anteater, golden anteater, and my favorite, the vested anteater. They get the latter nickname because their coloring often looks like they are wearing a vest. You can’t really tell in this picture, however, because of the angle and the tree being in the way. What you can see is the tamandua’s tongue lapping up termites. You can also see those huge middle claws that help climbing and digging under the bark for insects. Nikon D500 with 500mm PF lens, ISO 800, f/7.1 at 1/400th of a second, Godox v860iii fill flash.

During high water season in the Peruvian Amazon, most of the caiman have dispersed into the flooded rainforest. But there are always a few around, still in the main tributaries. At night it’s easy to spot them due to their glowing eye shine. This caiman was pretty small, but they can grow to more than eight feet long. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 500, f/8 at 1/160th of a second, Godox v860iii flash.

I only managed one photo of a coppery titi monkey on my 2022 trip to Peru. This time I got good looks at a couple more. These guys unknowingly play an important role in the health of the rainforest. They are messy eaters, making them excellent spreaders of seeds. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 1600, f/5.6 at 1/400th of a second, Godox v860iii fill flash.

I saw four different species of woodpecker while in Peru. This is the not-so-imaginatively named, cream-colored woodpecker. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 1600, f/5.6 at 1/125th of a second.

Here’s another new species for me — Geoffroy’s saddle-back tamarin, a subspecies of the brown-mantled tamarin. Tamarins are squirrel sized monkeys. They can be difficult to photograph because they’re pretty quick and usually high in trees. This one stopped for just a second to take a look down at me below in a boat. Captured in Loreto, Peru. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 1600, f/5.6 at 1/200th of a second, Godox v860iii fill flash.

Here’s another one I could be completely wrong about. I think it’s a giant broad-headed tree frog. It was spotted hanging around our lodge one night and I think my guide called it the jungle tree frog. It’s a large frog and it was very accommodating, allowing me to use a simple head lamp worn by my guide to do all the lighting. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 2500, f/5.6 at 1/30th of a second, off camera head lamp.

The mealy parrot is one of the largest parrots in the Amazon, surpassed only by the macaws. It is mainly green and can be found in pairs or large flocks. This one was spotted solo in a tree cavity, although another could have been hiding somewhere in that tree. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/80th of a second.

I saw one owl while in Peru. And I saw him/her on consecutive days. The spectacled owl is a large owl that is widespread throughout the tropics in Central and South America. There are six known subspecies. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/320th of a second, Godox v860iii fill flash.

This one goes out to all the mothers, as there is still ten minutes left in Mother’s Day at the time of posting. Many of the monkeys we saw in Peru were carrying babies. This is an Ecuadorian squirrel monkey. The baby seems almost as big as mom. On my trip to Peru six months ago, I didn’t see any of these squirrel monkeys. This time they seemed to be all over the place. And when you see them, you see a lot of them as they can travel in troops of over a hundred individuals. Nikon D500 with Nikkor 500mm PF lens, ISO 1250, f/5.6 at 1/400th of a second, Godox v860iii fill flash.