Day 5, Tuesday, September 10th; The Birds!

Yes, 3:40 am does exist and it is not kind! That is when our alarms went off to ensure we were ready to meet our group and guide at 4 am in the main lodge. This activity is the number one tourist draw for this area of the Amazon jungle. We tourists pay a lot of money for this opportunity to see birds. Known as the Tombopata Chuncho Macaw Clay Lick and is unique. We are wondering why we need to get up this early although it is a long boat trip to the famous clay lick. Later in the morning we are super happy we left as early as we did...

Macaws at the clay lick (using telephoto lens). 

                                        

Frog in our bathroom when we turned on the bathroom light at 3:45 am. Fairly large and then hid behind the mirror frame. We are in the middle of the jungle and all windows have no glass and the side of our room facing the jungle is wide open. Welcome all creatures to our room please!

This is our guide Dennys taking aim with his telephoto lens across the Tambopata River at the birds and then using our cellphone cameras to take incredible pictures. Yes, this picture is out of order.

                 This is our boat and basically only transportation while we are in the jungle.

On the boat on the muddy Tombapata River heading to watch birds. 

Our guides needed to check in here prior to us finishing our trip to the Macaw Clay Lick. Some type of paperwork needs to be filed. 

This was on our boat and provided a reference to travel times although that could vary given if there was some interesting or rare wildlife we would stop, observe,  take pictures etc. 

Our intrepid Captain for today's adventure/journey up and down the shallow Tambopata River. Check out the stick in his right hand. He uses this to stab down and check on depth. Pretty good idea of how shallow the river can be. The navigator up front uses a similar stick....

          Very eerie sun early in the morning. You can see how smoky it is in this part of the Amazon. 

This is the world famous 'Macaw clay lick' located on the Tombapata River. We are only allowed across the river to watch the birds on the other side. You need binoculars or a telephoto lens to get decent closeups. We will not be the only lodge/resort that shows up here. There are important minerals in the soil of the river edge. 

Here we are with our portable chairs and in behind us is another group from another Refugio. To my right in the photo is Charles then Richard and Diane and the lovely Lana. Scott took this picture. I have my notebook ready to write down the day's events. You don't think I have that great a memory?

                   Photo from very early in the morning. Maybe around 06:30? This is Scott's picture.

What a great reference for everyone this morning as we all adore the scenes across the river. Not each of these species showed up, but many were present that morning. 

We are all using flashlights or head lamps to navigate the path from the lodge and then down the stairs to the boat. It is absolutely pitch black here in the jungle as even the moon light won't make it to the ground. We don our lifejackets and many of our group are dressed warm as it can be somewhat chilly with the boat running at full speed this early in the morning. We are told the captain is steering from the back using the trees on the shoreline as a silhouette. There is a navigator up front with a flashlight assisting. We are told to stay where we are in order for the boat to be balanced. 

I thought it was fun being in total darkness on a boat on an Amazon river and occasionally striking rocks. I make a remark after we hit the first rock under the surface "Oh, that's not good!" and was admonished by Lana as it might scare some people. There were already people scared....😉

As time went on it got a little brighter. Navigator up front used flashlight to signal turns for the captain way in the back. Plus, he used his stick to determine depth. As we got more upstream the water gets clearer. 

Lots of trees/stumps in the river and river bank. Sometimes we need to all move up in the boat so the rear of the boat has more clearance. There are "black turkeys" on the shoreline. Baby scorpion on the trail earlier. We arrive at the Clay Lick at 05:55 and it is now light out. 

Using our camera, but Dennys' telephoto lens is a great scene of many green Parrots. These large birds make a lot of noise.

Unfortunately, the sky is smoky here which is no surprise as the burning by farmers creates all this haze and smoky atmosphere.

                                                   Beautiful coloured Macaws!!

Falcon (predator of all birds) up high on a tree waiting for a Macaw as his/her next meal?

After a period of time the Macaws and Parrots left the clay lick and moved into the trees that surround that side of the river.

We love this photo!!!

Randy's Clay Lick Video 1

Randy's Clay Lick Video 2

Believe it or not that is our picture, although we used Dennys' camera to get this awesome photo!

Clay Lick Video 1

Clay Lick Video 2

Clay Lick Video 3

All the birds that are at the clay lick are very noisy and sometimes fly in flocks. For certain, binoculars are a necessity. At least we have stools to sit on. The green birds are Parrots. The coloured birds are Macaws and are larger than the Parrots. There are three to four minerals in the clay lick that draw these large birds. Apparently, the minerals assist with their diets and PH balance. The Macaws can live up to 30 years. There are Parakeets that use the clay lick, but not while we were there. We struck gold with arriving at 05:55 as within about 30-40 minutes much less birds were present and that is when other lodges showed up with their guests. We leave around 07:15 and go upriver again. Enjoy a picnic on the sandbank and leave at 08:10. Turtles lounging on logs. 

It was pretty hot and humid even that early in the morning. Lana and some others sought refuge by going into the green growth behind us to get shade and comfort. We left around 09:30 to head back downriver and towards our lodge. Lots to see on the shoreline as we make the long boat ride back. We saw vultures on the shore and some cormorants on a log. Plus, we saw some Howler Monkeys on the river bank up in the trees. Stopped, used binoculars to capture these elusive creatures. 

Back at the lodge around 11:15 and in our room by 11:35 so considering we were at the meeting spot at the lodge for 04:00 our first activity of the day was around 7 1/2 hours. It was another long hike up those stairs from the river bank and then along the path to the lodge. Drank some cold water and ate some nut bread that was out for us tourists and than back to the room. Yup, it is very hot and very humid here in the Amazonian jungle!

GIVEN WE HAVE COVERED A LOT DURING THE MORNING ACTIVITY WE WILL DIVIDE THIS DAY INTO TWO BLOGS.