7 species of parrots and much more

 February 16 

We left the lodge before dawn this morning (remember that we have to go everywhere by canoe and you’ll see the challenge!) in order to get to our first destination by 7am. This was a “clay lick”, essentially a clay-rich cliff created by a landslide on the bank of the Napo River.  

Parrots (including macaws and parakeets) require the minerals in clay to offset the concentration of alkaloids in their systems. Many animals require clay as a source of minerals, but in parrots the alkaloid buildup is increased by their habit of eating unripe fruit: the competition for food is so intense that they don’t wait for the fruit to be fully ripe. Parrots will fly 10 miles or more to get to a clay lick. In this case they tend to arrive just after dawn and leave by mid-morning, so we did too. 

We sat in a motorized skiff off-shore to avoid disturbing the birds. We saw four species of parrots this morning: Mealy Amazons (large and pale green), Yellow-crowned Amazons (large and green with large bright yellow forehead patches), Blue-headed parrots (smaller, dark green with indigo heads), and Dusky-headed parakeets (even smaller with a gray head). The parrots used their beaks to break off piece of clay. When they’d had enough they flew off in a flock. In the case of the mealy amazons, the flock was probably 30-40 birds and quite a sight! 

We then travelled to the central Anangu Kichwa village. The history of the Napo Wildlife Center and the village deserves a full blog post, probably on Wednesday which is a travel day. 

In the late morning, after the village visit, we traveled to a second “clay lick”. In this case, a steep leafy hillside inside the forest allows water to pool around clay-rich soils. We walked about a half-mile from the shore to a permanent “blind”, where we sat and waited for the birds. As we arrived at the blind, a flock of scarlet macaws were there, drinking the mineral-rich waters. After they left, we heard a large flock of parakeets chattering high in the trees. We waited for about an hour as the parakeets gradually came down to lower altitude. Then the heavens opened and it poured for about a half-hour. It was fun to watch the parakeets duck under leaves to stay dry. Finally about ten minutes after the rain stopped, the cobalt-winged parakeets came, en masse, to the ground to drink and to nibble on the soil. Two orange-cheeked parrots (which looked enormous next to the parakeets) joined in as well. 

After a late lunch at the “welcome center” at the edge of the Napo property, we headed back to the lodge. As we canoed down the creek, we saw several Golden-mantle Tamarins jumping in banana plants. These tamarins are endemic to just this part of the Yasuni national park, and are the mascots of our lodge. Our naturalist guide had not seen them in quite a while, so he was as excited as we were. 

We also watched a very large troop of Squirrel Monkeys cross the creek on overarching branches and vines. There were several mothers carrying infants across; some of them had to cross back to help monkey toddlers make the crossing. 

As if that wasn’t enough wildlife for one day, we went on a night walk after dinner. We saw 6 types of frogs, several very interesting spiders, and a massive walking stick insect. 

Pictured: mother and child Squirrel Monkeys, Orange-cheeked parrots and Cobalt-winged parakeets, Blue-headed parrots and Mealy amazons at the clay lick, Golden-mantle tamarin running down a banana leaf, map tree frog