Amazon Parrots, Macaws, and Other Birds, Peru

We saw over 1000 macaws and parrots in the Amazon rainforest every morning at the claylick. Then during morning hikes we saw more of them, plus lots of other types of Amazon birds.

13-flying_macaws	14-chestnut_fronted_macaw	15-conure
18-chestnut_eared_aracari_toucan	19-blue_headed_parrot	20-mealy_parrot
21-flying_blue_and_gold_macaws	22-flying_blue_and_gold_macaw	22b-blue_and_gold_macaws_in_tree
23-flying_scarlet_macaw	$All sorts of macaws converge at a small area on the main claylick outside the Tambopata Research Center. The claylick is pretty much a simple cliff face. Somehow all of the birds know that if the clay they eat in the morning will dispell the toxins in the poisonous fruit during the day. They only need to eat clay during the times of the year when the non-poisonous fruit is not available.\n\nMany species of parrot know to do this. How do they all know? When did they learn? How did they discover this amazing property of the clay and propagate it to the rest of the parrots?$ 24-macaw_clay_lick	$All sorts of macaws converge at a small area on the main claylick outside the Tambopata Research Center. The claylick is pretty much a simple cliff face. Somehow all of the birds know that if the clay they eat in the morning will dispell the toxins in the poisonous fruit during the day. They only need to eat clay during the times of the year when the non-poisonous fruit is not available.\n\nMany species of parrot know to do this. How do they all know? When did they learn? How did they discover this amazing property of the clay and propagate it to the rest of the parrots?$ 25-macaw_clay_lick
$All sorts of macaws converge at a small area on the main claylick outside the Tambopata Research Center. The claylick is pretty much a simple cliff face. Somehow all of the birds know that if the clay they eat in the morning will dispell the toxins in the poisonous fruit during the day. They only need to eat clay during the times of the year when the non-poisonous fruit is not available.\n\nMany species of parrot know to do this. How do they all know? When did they learn? How did they discover this amazing property of the clay and propagate it to the rest of the parrots?$ 26-macaw_clay_lick	$Here's a different view of the claylick where a group of parrots are enjoying the morning "feast" on the main claylick outside the Tambopata Research Center. The claylick is pretty much a simple cliff face. Somehow all of the birds know that if the clay they eat in the morning will dispell the toxins in the poisonous fruit during the day. They only need to eat clay during the times of the year when the non-poisonous fruit is not available.\n\nMany species of parrot know to do this. How do they all know? When did they learn? How did they discover this amazing property of the clay and propagate it to the rest of the parrots?$ 27-parrot_clay_lick	28-scarlett_macaws
$This scarlet macaw is a "chico," one of the birds that was hand-raised by the Tambopata Research Center at its inception. It was perched on a rafter of the main dining room, and it was quite tame. Chicos occasionally return to the center for free food, which they get either by donation or theft!\n\nChicos were released into the wild and are thriving. Some have taken wild mates, and amazingly the mates may accompany the chicos on their visits to the TRC. So the Law of Unintended Consequences may be striking here - will the scarlet macaw population grow tamer and tamer over the years because of these released chicos?$ 29-scarlet_macaw	$A closeup of the "chico" that visited us one afternoon, one of the birds that was hand-raised by the Tambopata Research Center at its inception. It was perched on a rafter of the main dining room, and it was quite tame. Chicos occasionally return to the center for free food, which they get either by donation or theft!\n\nChicos were released into the wild and are thriving. Some have taken wild mates, and amazingly the mates may accompany the chicos on their visits to the TRC. So the Law of Unintended Consequences may be striking here - will the scarlet macaw population grow tamer and tamer over the years because of these released chicos?$ 30-scarlet_macaw	31-hoatzin
32-oropendula_nests	33-silver_beaked_tanager	34-paradise_tanager
$This is a good example of how all you really have to do at the Tambopata Research Center is sit on the porch and wait for the wildlife to come to you.\n\nOne type of bird I didn't get any pictures of were the hummingbirds. Peru is home to more than 100 species of hummingbirds (the USA has less than 20, and half of those can only be found in Arizona). I saw several different species visiting the Tambopata Research Center grounds.$ 42-blue-crowned-motmot	43-white_necked_heron	44-manakin
45-jacana	46-flying_jacana