Birding on the Napo River
One morning we headed out for a birding expedition on the Napo River. The goal was to look for birds on the shores of the Napo River, especially the Parrots.
It was around 6.30 AM when this shot was taken from the motor boat as we approached the shoreline.
It was getting a little lighter by now and we finally saw what we had come to find, Yellow-fronted and Mealy Amazon parrots on the banks of the river.
The Mealy Amazon parrots are amongst the largest of the Amazon parrots. These parrots are mainly green with the back and nape having a whitish tinge-almost as if the bird had been covered in a thin layer of flour ("meal"), hence its name. These birds are found in pairs or large flocks. We would often see then flying overhead during our Amazon visit. The parrots actually eat the soil at these clay licks. The clay lick is a naturally forming wall of clay on a riverbank caused by erosion from the river. Every morning around dawn (which is why we had to be here early) these parrots flock to this area to eat clay, sometimes hundreds at a time which was incredible to watch.
The parrots have beautiful colours when their wings are spread. It is thought that the parrots consume clay to provide them with a sodium supplement or to neutralize various dietary toxins (maybe from some of the berries they eat).
After a while we left the clay lick to give some other boats a chance to watch the action. We stopped at a sand bank to stretch our legs.
Once back in the boat, we headed down the river to look for some shore birds. We saw a Snowy Egret putting on a great show for us.
At the same place we saw a Roseate Spoonbill. Just like flamingo's, their pink colour is diet-derived, consisting of the carotenoid pigment canthaxanthin.
Eventually we made our way back to the clay licks and found that the parrots had been replaced by Dusky-headed Parakeets. These parrots also digest the mineral-rich soils from the clay lick as a supplement.
A chestnut-capped puffbird is a small, roundish dark brown bird with a short narrow tail and a whitish breast.
This well camouflaged bird is a Ladder-tailed Nightjar that has colours of "ground cover". Even after the bird's location was pointed out to me I wasn't positive that I was actually looking at and photographing the bird (don't forget it was very far away and quite high up). Fortunately, I did actually take its photo.
During our boating on the river, we stopped for a walk in the jungle to look for some owls. I believe Glenn said it would be a short walk but it ended up being quite the hike thorough the muddy trails and humid, hot weather as the guides were relentless in trying to find us some interesting specimens. . I should mention we were not suppose to grab trees because you never knew what might be on the branches. This was the only time where I really got hot. While on the hike, I kept thinking of the poor soldiers carrying heavy gear in what I imagined the geology was like in Vietnam. I don't know why those images kept occurring to me but they did. I was not carrying heavy equipment myself as I had only taken my lighter lens and no tripod on the boat. However, you can see from the images that the guys were carrying there large and heavy lenses.
This photo was taken by Jess- he set up his tripod and we all handed him our memory cards from our cameras so we could have the photo. The photo was taken with a 600mm lens on a cropped camera. The lighting was awful and Jess still was able to get a terrific, sharp shot using manual focus which explains why he is an instructor. The bird is a Crested Owl.
Manfred is also trying to get a photo using one of the guides' shoulder as a tripod.
Domingo and Thea walking through the forest with one of our fabulous guides.
Finally a bird that was close and didn't fly away. During our hike we walked through the local Sani community who provided the staff and guides at the lodge. Being on a birding trip, I decided to photograph their birds as well.
