12 12 12 eBook compressed quality V 3 PDF file April 15 2026 - Flipbook - Page 70
We found our orst three-toed sloth fairly soon, hanging like a hammock
high in a guarumo tree, face completely obscured by a leaf. It was doing
exactly what sloths do best: absolutely nothing. We waited. Five minutes.
Ten. A slight turn of the head, and we caught a glimpse of the iconic sloth
smile (it’s not a real smile, of course, just how their facial structure appears
— but it’s impossible not to anthropomorphize it a bit).
A bit later, it slowly extended an arm to grab another branch. And I do
mean slowly — the motion took perhaps a full minute. Watching a sloth
move is like watching a tai chi master underwater; every micro-step is
deliberate. |rough the long lens, I captured a sequence of that reach: each
frame almost identical to the last, except for the incremental progression of
its arm. In one shot, it paused with its claws wrapped around a thin branch,
looking for all the world like a smiling sage executing a yoga pose.
|e two-toed sloth took longer to ond. We eventually spotted one curled
up in the fork of a giant og tree, nearly invisible among clumps of moss and
vine. Its fur was slightly wet from a bit of drizzle, giving it a spiky, bad-hairday look. Unlike the three-toed, the two-toed sloths are nocturnal and
tend to be more hidden during the day. |is one had chosen a great hiding
spot. We could barely make out its bulbous nose and one eye peeking at
us through a veil of green. We certainly didn’t get National Geographicworthy photos of it — nothing but a furry lump camounaged in green —
but we did get to appreciate the marvel of its stillness.
And then, as if to compensate for the sloths’ reluctance to do anything on
camera, the aracari toucans stepped up to provide some action. A trio of
collared aracaris was moving through the mid-story of the forest, relatively
low. |ese are closely related to the oery-billed aracaris we saw on Day 2
but lack the bright orange bill; instead they have black upper bills and pale68
yellow chests with a red band. |ey’re social and curious. One came down
to an eye-level branch only about 15 feet away from us, cocking its head as
if to ask what we were up to. We couldn’t believe our luck as it sat there,
perfectly still for just a second, and then gave a huge wing-nap and hopped
to a higher perch. For a bird photographer, that’s payday: a close, clear view
in good light with a clean background. |e photos from that moment
show every color and detail of its plumage, from the blue skin around the
eye to the saw-edged line of its beak.
|at day, the sloths did eventually
