January 24 2013
This was one of the best, most wonderful, most exciting days of my life. So many birds in such a wonderful place. If you don't like birds, you should probably skip this post (ahem, Stacey) because it will be filled with many many photos of my favorite class of animals: Aves.
Birding Part 1:
Because of the rain, the salt licks were very active. We left early in the morning on the boat to do some wildlife viewing at a salt lick downstream from the station. I was "worried" that it would just be a bunch of mammals, but I was so wonderfully wrong. A variety of animals come to salt licks to eat the clay there; it supposedly lines their digestive tracts so they can eat the semi-toxic plants.
We were tied up near the salt lick for about an hour and a half. I can already feel you judging me, but I'd like to admit that I took almost 400 photos. It was absolutely mesmerizing to watch all of the parrots gather at the salt lick. These photos might look the same, but you should be able to see different individuals in each photo. Additionally, look at the flight feathers and wing structure in the individuals that are in air. Those are the little things about these photos that I appreciate the most.
From what I can tell, the species here are the
Scaly-Naped Amazon Parrot,
Yellow-Crowned Amazon Parrot, and
Blue-Headed parrot. Let me know if you think I've missed something--I'm quite unfamiliar with species of parrots. There was also the ever-present song of the
Cinnamon Attila.
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| cutie in a tree |
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| a pair at the same point in their flight stroke |
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| from tree to tree |
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| not sure what this is, but it reminds me of a space ship :] |
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| nonbirds: monkeys! |
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| more nonbirds: two frogs |
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| aaaaand the start of the salt-lick photos |
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| notice their plumage patterns |
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| the group is growing |
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| lots of them are on the bank. i caught one flying up there. |
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| beautiful red patch |
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| stretching the primaries for a smooth landing |
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| feet! |
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| this is when they decided to leave |
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| flying towards us... so cool! |
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| the first non-parrot i'd seen in a while |
Photos from the rest of this wonderful day will be uploaded later. Sorry for the delay, but I hope you enjoy!
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