During our 2 night stay at Cristalino, we had 3 guided excursions to different places. This one was on the first morning we were there and we took a small boat a few minutes down river and hiked up a hill. Then we went to a second place that had a watering hole but there weren’t many birds there, mostly butterflies. I didn’t get many photos from this excursion and I didn’t write down the species so just enjoy the pictorial as an example of what to expect!
The Blue-headed Parrot, also known as the Blue-headed Pionus (Pionus menstruus) is a medium large parrot.
They have a huge range throughout Central and South America but there are 3 different sub-species which are have their own geographic ranges:
P.m. menstruus: Trinidad, Guianas, and Venezuela to E Colombia, E Ecuador, and E Peru south to C Bolivia, and Amazonian Brazil.
P.m. reichenowi: E Brazil.
P.m. rubrigularis: S Costa Rica and Panama to W Colombia and W Ecuador.
They are easily seen in Cristalino, the Pantanal, Tambopata and Soberania NP.
I think this one is a food critic!
Every once in a while SPG comes up with these cute online games in which you can win Starpoints or other prizes – and what’s especially nice is that Aussies and other nationalities can play too!
1. ELIGIBILITY: Get in the Game with SPG® (the “Game”) is open only to legal residents of the United States (including the District of Columbia), Canada (excluding Quebec), Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, China, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and Vietnam who are eighteen (18) years of age or older and have reached the age of majority in their respective jurisdictions at the time of entry and are a member of the Starwood Preferred Guest® program (“SPG”) and at all subsequent times throughout the Game Period.
So CLICK HERE, Sign in with you SPG account and have a go, you could win an instant prize or 10,000, 5000 or 1000 SPG points! The last time they had a game like this my husband won 10,000 SPG so anything is possible!
I’m not a sports fan so I just chose 2 teams with birds on them.
Two strikes so far!
Third ball was hit and caught, no points for me this time. But I’ll be back tomorrow to try again and so should you!
We are just a few weeks away from the dreaded American AAdvantage devaluation which will happen on 22 March. If you have any travel plans that are substantially cheaper using the old chart valid until 21 March, best to book now to avoid the last minute rush. American loads awards 330 days in advance so the last potential date of travel is around 22 February depending on when the partner makes inventory available. I’ve covered the worst parts of this devaluation already and Australians really copped it bad!
Thankfully our travel has long been booked for this year but our 2017 trip is out of range for the old chart so we will be stuck with the devalued awards on the one route we will be using AAdvantage on.
Cristalino Jungle Lodge is one of the holy grails for birders and if you plan to go birding in Brazil you should definitely plan to stay here. The location is spectacular and the bird list is amazing!
You arrive there after about an hour boat ride down the Cristalino River. They have several levels of accommodation ranging from standard rooms to special bungalows and since we were on a budget, we got one of the cheaper rooms which was still really nice!
There is a map of the grounds and walking trails but most people stick with their guide. If you aren’t in an organized group, they make a small group with around 6-8 people and assign you a guide. Every day you have a different place to visit, one in the morning and one after lunch and they try to keep groups separated so each place doesn’t get swamped with people.
Even the budget rooms are spacious and attractively furnished. No tv or wifi, you are here to commune with nature!
This is the restaurant where you are served breakfast, lunch and dinner. Drinking water is free.
They have a lounge with maps, guide books and other educational materials where people can relax in the evening and compare notes. Try the excellent Mojitos!
At the time of our visit, a Blue-headed Parrot (Pionus) had been found injured and rescued by one of the staff. My pics came out blurry, but it looked like he had a broken wing so he was very lucky someone found him who wasn’t planning to eat him! 
You are probably best booking Cristalino Jungle Lodge with them direct as I haven’t seen it pop up on any hotel booking engines. They have a secure credit card payment system which I used back in 2012 to pay for our booking.
The Capped Heron (Pilherodius pileatus) is a species of heron in the family Ardeidae. It is in the monotypic genus Pilherodius.
They have a huge range throughout South America and are very cool looking birds that stand out on riverbanks. I saw these Capped Herons on the Cristalino River (red dot) in Brazil.
This clip shows a Capped Heron fishing in the Napo region of Ecuador so it looks like I will see more of this interesting bird soon!
And here’s a whole flock in the Pantanal!
I got an email with the following:
Last year we celebrated 10 years of Velocity. During this time we have built a world-leading loyalty program*.
As we move forward, I wanted to update you on some adjustments we are making to the program, which will come into effect on 1 June 2016.
Points Expiry
We are making some changes to the expiry of Velocity Points.
Firstly, from 1 June 2016 your Velocity Points will not expire provided you earn or redeem Points at least once every 24 months. Previously, the expiry period was 36 months. Any Points earned from eligible activity prior to 1 June 2016 are not affected by this change and will not expire for 36 months.
Secondly, transferring Points between family members or receiving Points from a Family Pooling relationship will no longer be considered eligible activity to prevent your Points expiring. This change will be applied retrospectively. This means, if on 1 June 2016 your only activity within the previous 36 months is Family Pooling or Points transfer between family members, you will be notified that you need to earn or redeem Points before 30 June 2016 in order to prevent your Points expiring.
Despite these changes:
● It is now easier than ever to remain active by earning Points across a broad range of partners including airlines, credit cards, fuel and online shopping. In the past year alone we have welcomed some major partners including BP, HSBC and Le Club AccorHotels.
● We continue to provide you with more time than any other Australian frequent flyer program to keep your Points active.Please take comfort knowing you will be notified via email at least 30 days prior to your Points expiring, giving you ample time to earn or use your Points and keep your account active.
Reward Seat Pricing
New Reward Seat bookings flying Virgin Australia or our partner airlines, made on or after 1 June 2016, will be subject to revised Points pricing. As part of these revisions some destinations are increasing in price and others are decreasing. Please see some examples below^:
This is the first time in over five years that we have made adjustments to Reward Seat pricing. During this time Virgin Australia has undergone significant changes to become a full service airline, providing all guests with complimentary checked baggage allowance, in-flight entertainment, food and beverages.
We remain committed to continue offering you all of the benefits that make us a world-class program, including our award-winning Reward Seat availability*. In addition, the taxes and fees payable when you book a Reward Seat will not be affected by these changes.
For more information on all these changes please refer to our Program Updates.
I look forward to keeping you up to date in the coming months as we introduce exciting new features and benefits, including innovative new ways to earn and use your Points.
Yours sincerely,
Karl Schuster
CEO, Velocity Frequent Flyer
*********************************************************************************
On first glance, the points expiry doesn’t worry me at all. A simple purchase at BP for fuel or shopping, a purchase from the Velocity shopping portal or E-Rewards will reset the expiry.
The increases on most awards is minimal and some are actually going down.
The biggest devaluation is Etihad who have been moved from Table 1 (cheaper awards) to Table 2 (expensive awards) AND devalued on top of that!
I do have a travel plan for 2017 which includes using Velocity for Etihad on one sector so I am going to have to crunch some numbers and see if I can bring it forward. I’ve already been messed up by the American devaluation!
The Mealy Amazon or Mealy Parrot (Amazona farinosa) is among the largest parrot in the Amazona genus, the amazon parrots.
Although I have seen this bird in several places – Cristalino, Panama, Tambopata I don’t seem to have any decent photos so I have to rely on the Wikipedia shots.
All I could get was distant flight shots.
Mealy Parrots have a huge range throughout South America and prefer tropical rainforest environments. Good places to see them are Cristalino, Tambopata, Napo, Panama’s Soberania (different subspecies) and other rainforest lodges.
Noisy flock in Peru
On a clay lick
Yeah, I know – “Getting there is half the fun” seems like a cliche but in this case it’s very true! The adventure starts when you take the shuttle from Floresta Amazonica to the river where you board a shuttle boat to Cristalino Lodge.
There were a few other people in the boat, one of which appeared to be a guide from a large tour operator as he had an American accent but knew literally every bird flying over head and every bird call. He was speaking to his group, but when I heard him say “Mealy Parrots” and point overhead even before the boat left the dock, I knew we were in for a treat!
I did my best to grab some photos as the boat traveled down the river but my shots are pretty bad. At least they may give a hint of what to expect!
I’ve seen a lot of posts (and made a few myself) about surviving economy class flights which have become something many people dread due to over-crowding. This clip from an Australian show – Weekend Sunrise gives an Aussie perspective.
No surprises that Singapore comes out on top, but I am not looking forward to doing LAX-BNE in Qantas economy! It’s pretty much impossible to get business class with miles on this route nowadays so not much choice!
