Long-Billed Woodcreeper
I have finally managed to get through all the Sacha Lodge/Amazon photographs, with only a few stragglers left, so as I comb back through them day by day I will try to share the best with you.
Finally settling down into these pictures has buoyed my spirit too, which was broken somewhat by a combination of events. I got sick the last two days of my second trip, which were travel days, basically, off the boat and back to the mainland (I wonder if it was reverse seasickness?), and it took me a week or so after I returned home before I felt like I could eat again. Zapped, everything became more of a chore than usual. And diving back into a cartoonish political sphere didn’t help my mood either. But I think I’m beginning to find some sort of balance again, at least for a while.
Maybe the best medicine was planning to take two short trips next year..something to look forward to.
We visited two clay/salt licks on July 4, where we saw lots of Dusky-Headed Parakeets (above, top) and Cobalt-Winged Parakeets (above, bottom). The Cobalt-Wingeds come to a lick in Yasuni National Park where there is a blind so you can wait for them to gather and witness the pandemonium. Click on the pictures for a better view.
Below, some parrots, which are notoriously difficult to see when in the trees.The Blue-Headed Parrots are in the top of the first picture, but I was lucky enough to get a better shot of two of them below. The Orange-Winged are the two in the lower right and the Mealy has its back to us. I am surprised I managed to get some color off the Chestnut-Fronted Macaws.
Blue-Headed, Orange-Winged and Mealy Parrots
Blue-Headed Parrots
Chestnut-Fronted Macaws
By the second day I was using the flash attachment… And it wasn’t all psittacines.
Scarlet-Crowned Barbet
I don’t know if I ever saw the part of the bird below for which it was named, but Woodpeckers have a way of being named for miscellaneous field marks. There’s enough to identify the Spot-Breasted without seeing the spots on its breast.
Spot-Breasted Woodpecker
A female Hook-Billed Kite on the left and a Gray-Headed Kite on the right, below.
A tarantula on someone’s door back at the lodge later…and a glimpse of an Oriole Blackbird, below.
Let us not forget the black birds. Yellow-Rumped Cacique and Black-Fronted Nunbird…
The picture below was shot from the boat, which is always a challenge for clarity. I begin to wonder how much of the image-stabilization really takes over for me.
Black Caracara
Short-Crested Flycatcher and Gray-Breasted Sabrewing…
I think we had eight species of Woodcreeper on this trip and I added three to my life list. but I haven’t begun to figure out that yet.
Black-Banded Woodcreeper
What a wonderful owl, to be awake and visible during the day…There were actually two of them, but the other one was obscured by vegetation.
Crested Owl
I’ll be back very soon with more from the tropics and beyond.
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Fantastic gallery Lisa! Beautiful birds all…and the fuzzy arachnid you can keep! Thanks for the post! 🙂
Thanks, H.J.!
The parrots look like they’re a lot of fun to watch. It sounds like a great trip, but I’m sure you could have done without the illness…
Thanks, Frank! It wasn’t a bad time to get sick – it was really after the whole thing was over, I got to see and do everything, the only thing I missed really was the final group dinner. Have no idea where the bug came from, it might have been going around the group as I wasn’t the only person to succumb. The parakeets were a riot. 🙂
Wow, AMAZING pictures! Hard to say which birds I love best. Maybe the crested owl, or the blue-headed parrot.
Thanks so much, Jason! I really enjoyed the parakeets because they reminded me of the time when I had a lot of budgies. In all it was a treat to be able to observe them so close. Even with a big lens it wasn’t always so easy.
Good to know you are better Lisa!! Great birdie pics…
Thanks so much! I’m still experiencing a little culture shock. 🌞