Crested Eagle at Cristalino!

I'm at Cristalino Jungle Lodge, having arrived yesterday with my WINGS tour group. This is Day 5 of our 19-day tour, and today we saw what will almost surely be the best bird of the tour: an immature CRESTED EAGLE!

I've seen this species three times before, all quite distant from canopy towers – 2011 and 2012 here at Cristalino, and just this past October at Sani Lodge, Ecuador. But this time I spotted it through many layers of foliage in the canopy overhead, having been alerted by a huge mob of noisy Chestnut-eared Aracaris, Channel-billed Toucans, and a Crimson-crested Woodpecker. We moved down the trail and got a better view of the tree and our local boatman and guide Valdirio spotted it out on an open branch. What a thrill.

It was a very good day even without the eagle. Here are some additional photo highlights:

Blackish Nightjars on a roof in the lodge clearing.

Dusky-chested Flycatcher from the canopy tower.

Great Potoo from the canopy tower, a very lucky find.

Morvina morvus, Morvus Eyed-Skipper.

A puddle party hosting six pierids, two swallowtails, and two daggerwings

A red army ant (Eciton sp.) and its booty, a pupal ant from a just-raided colony.

Red-billed Pied Tanager at the tower.

Santarem Parakeets feeding on açai palms

Swainson's Flycatcher from the canopy tower, where a rare winterer.

Variegated Flycatcher from the canopy tower.