My dream field trip...if only I could bring my classes here! Slightly better than the Franklin Park Zoo :)

"What do you want to see?" our guide Julio asked us.  

Without hesitation, I answered a sloth.  Hard to find was his reply.  Most people wanted to see monkeys.  I did too, but have seen many monkeys in the wild before, or so I thought.  As you can see, we saw monkeys!  

What I didn't realize was how close to the monkeys, in the wild, we were going to get!  Seeing the howler monkeys in a tree, literally a few feet away, calmly feeding on some leaves was amazing.  One of the best wildlife experiences ever.  And that was after we watched one of the coolest species of birds, the northern jacana, gracefully walk on top of lily pads looking for food.  You might have to zoom in to see them, but they are really cool looking.  

So you see, the Jacana are featured in a PBS evolution video that I show every year about the evolution of sexual reproduction.  Jacanas are unique because the female has taken on the male role, and the male has taken on the female role (he stays home and takes care of the kids.)  I love these birds.  We also saw another one of my favorite animals, bats.  But not any bats, these were long nosed bats, and they were sleeping all together in a tree, and they were super small, and they eat mosquitoes!  

We continued to see many other amazing species of birds, from the anhinga, that has to hold up its wings to dry (a neverending source of entertainment for me when I am in Florida for Christmas,)  

to the elusive but beautiful kingfisher, even an owl, called a pootoo, which was camouflaged so well, I will never know how our guides spotted it.  Even adorable, fluffy, baby anhingas, which was quite a sight, and something even our guide had never found.

So what am I looking at with the binoculars?  Oh yes, that would be a sloth.  I am fascinated by these creatures.  They are unique, amazing looking, very mellow, and have been on this planet for a really, really long time.  This one was just chilling in the tree, as they do for the majority of their lives, but when I got a closer look, I saw something truly extraordinary.  Turns out this sloth was not only a female, but was relaxing with her baby!  I could see the baby's claws holding tight to mom when I looked through the binocs. 

Amazing.  A beautiful day, a great boat ride, and an unbelievable show of nature.