CN Traveler has some amazing resort listed as the reader’s choice for Central and South America. None of them are cheap, but one can always dream!
I was especially pleased to see Punta Islita – home of the Ara Project on the list! Click the image to see all 15 eco-resorts.
I have one of these but it isn’t strong enough for my Canon 60D & 100-400mm zoom lens. They’re good for smart phone cameras though!
The Blue Dacnis or Turquoise Honeycreeper (Dacnis cayana) is a small passerine bird and a member of the tanager family.
This bird has a huge range from Nicaragua to the south of Brazil. I have personally seen them at Cristalino and Laguna de Lagarto in Costa Rica but this is nowhere near an exhaustive list.
Just look at the gorgeous blue on this hungry little guy!
Bird feeders with fruit will attract them.
Madeira Parakeets have a very complicated taxonomy and just about all of my usual resources have something different to say. It looks like they are currently a species on their own merit though they were once a subspecies of the Painted Parakeet and often confused with the Santarem Parakeet which has a range further north in the Amazonia National Park of Brazil.
They are nearly endemic to Brazil with just a small incursion into Bolivia. They are most easily seen from the Canopy Tower at Cristalino.
The only videos I could find are on IBC and I can’t embed them so please view them on that site.
Although I have been to Hawaii a few times I have never really thought about it being a place where there are endangered species until I saw this mini-doco about Hawaiian Petrels. Yet another reason to hate cats!
The chicks are so cute!
I’ve been using the Nikon Monarch 8×42 binoculars for several years now and love them! They are lightweight, have the perfect magnification and very sturdy.
The Paradise Tanager (Tangara chilensis) is a brilliantly multicolored, medium-sized songbird whose length varies between 13.5 and 15 cm. It has a light green head, sky blue underparts and black upper body plumage. Depending on subspecies, the rump is yellow and red or all red. The beak is black and the legs are grey.
This stunning little tanager has a large range in the more remote areas of South America. I saw this little beauty at Cristalino, but you could also see them in places like Tambopata, Manu and the Napo region of Ecuador.
They are even more beautiful in motion!
If you’ve ever wondered how important eco-tourism is to conservation, this video on the Napo Wildlife Center in Ecuador explains it very well. See how this small rainforest community benefits from the lodge by all the jobs created, new schools and a doctor for their community. The profits go directly into the community and not overseas. This is the best incentive to protect their native wildlife, tourists won’t come to look at empty forests!
If only we could get all those places in Africa, Indonesia and anywhere that still has poaching and deforestation happening and get more lodges like this up and running!
If you want to come here, a Star Alliance based award using Aerogal to Coca is only 20,000 United Mileage Plus miles each way! One Chase credit card sign up can get you to this wonderful place!
We will be here next month, I can’t wait!
Some of my resources listed below consider the Cuvier’s Toucan (Ramphastos cuvieri) to be a species on it’s own and some consider it to be a subspecies of the White-throated Toucan (Ramphastos tucanus).
Here’s a close up from Wikipedia.
This beautiful toucan has a large range in South America in Brazil, Peru, Bolivia & Colombia. My first photo was taken at Cristalino in Brazil.
I could only find one video with this bird online which was filmed in Peru.
The Green-thighed Parrot (Pionites leucogaster) is one of the four species in the genus Pionites of the Psittacidae family. Originally the species Pionites leucogaster (also known as the White-bellied Parrot or White-bellied Caique in the aviculture business) contain three subspecies including the nominate race, but recent morphological work suggests the species should be split into three.
Close-up of captive birds
They are almost endemic to Brazil with a small incursion into Amazonian Peru. Although they have a huge range, most of it is remote and inaccessible. They are regularly seen from the Canopy Tower at Cristalino.
Beautiful flock!