Monday, June 17, 2013

we hit paydirt!

so on the last full day of our Amazon trip we found the money shot! we were up early that morning because it was a long canoe ride to the clay lick on the river where the parrots came to eat minerals to help digestion... we arrived in time but the birds are so skittish that you can't take the canoe close and you have to be really quiet (like safari on with much smaller wildlife and further away than you can go on safari)

first a photo from the river of the parrot clay lick- LOL - see them???



next a much more cropped view so you can actually see them and see WHY you can't see them in the bigger photo-


they look just like the leaves on the surrounding trees!


and since we were  on a rocking boat in the middle of the a river- the photos are blurry but you can still see how many there were who came to lick the clay (the parrot version of Prilosec- LOL)


from here we stopped into a native village (tourist version) where they did a couple of dances for us and showed us demos of various aspects of their lifestyle -










and of course they had handicrafts for sale - LOL - I actually would have bought on of these parakeets as a memento of the our experience but we hadn't had it yet- LOL


we continued up river and along the way spotted a red howler monkey- this photo is also closely cropped - can SO guarantee that you would never have spotted him had I given you the whole photo-  which was the  way it all went there- here is pretty much in dead center as the white branch heads downward and to the left...


two turtles, also seen from a distance and then zoomed in upon-


thank god for cropping of digital photos!


finally on to the pinnacle of our Amazon experience- a hike into the jungle by about a mile and then a wait in a blind about 50 yards from the place where the parakeets gather for the mineral intake and for drinking and bathing in a spring below-

the guide told us they hadn't been here anytime in the last two months when he had brought groups there - but fate smiled upon us and we were treated to one of the most spectacular sights I have ever seen! Look closely in the center and you can see parakeets gathering at clay lick...


and in this one down below at the springs...


the sound was incredible and the show of color was magnificent!



I have a video that I don't know if it can link but I will try- good luck!
 
 
and below the sign at the blind identifying the types of birds who may be there- for us it was all parakeets- apparently the macaws come at some other appointed hour and sometimes at different times of the year-
 

so back to the boat- as usual- this time they are fairly close by having been traveling up river for the hours and hours we have been gone-  more food -





and next post will be on this and that- some nice sunset photos and a few of Ray and Aaron (two of our three traveling companions) kayaking -

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