Explorer's Inn, Tambopata, Peru 1998

Back in 1998 not long after graduating from university I spent a year in South America. For six months I worked as a resident naturalist guide at a jungle lodge in the Peruvian Amazon. I guided tourists on forest walks, canoed on the lake looking for giant otters and spent evenings out in the peki peki motorized river boats searching for caiman. The memories all came flooding back when I saw a field guide to the Birds of Peru on the  Amazon website.  Our small patch of jungle had arguably the greatest diversity of bird and butterfly species in the world. I ordered a copy of the guide and have spent the last few days flicking through the book reminiscing about Hoatzins,  Harpy Eagles, Potoos, and Macaws. It’s amazing to think that I once used to use the calls of Howler Monkeys as an alarm clock.

Princeton Field Guides: Birds of Peru