This morning, we got a very early start, up at dawn, ugh, but it was worth it. From the Wildlife Planet Tours:

“…we’ve made special arrangements for exclusive access to the magnificent system of natural freshwater canals and lagoons that form the delta of the Estrella River. This entire area is a protected habitat for the wide range of flora and fauna characteristic of the humid tropical forest, tropical river delta, and marshland ecosystems…since there are no other lodges here, so the private 280-hectare wildlife sanctuary is usually ours to explore without any other tourists…is teeming with wildlife!”

Yep, that description turned out to be pretty accurate. The weather turned out to be damp, with periods of drizzle, but not so bad as to interfere with our enjoyment or taking of photos. We saw so many beautiful birds, most of them not familiar to us.

Here is the web gallery. Cyndi took good notes, and we tried to label all the birds in this gallery.

One thing that our tour guide, Mario, stressed to us is that, whenever possible, he tries to direct us to the most local level possible. So, instead of contracting out to a ‘major’ river boating company, he found a man and his brother, who actually live on the river. These two guys made their boats by hand, and this is one of the ways they make their living. Each of them sat in the back of their respective boats, and rowed us from there.