The Plum-throated Cotinga (Cotinga maynana) is a species of bird in the family Cotingidae. They are stunning birds and stand out in contrast to the green trees you normally see them in.
They have a very large range throughout Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. We got lucky in the Canopy Tower of Napo Wildlife Center.
Neotropical Birds
Appreciate the brilliant turquoise beauty of these birds!
Along with the parrot clay licks, a visit to the canopy tower will be a highlight of your trip to Napo Wildlife Center. Our visit which was pretty typical involved the usual 5am wake up call (I set my alarm for 4am otherwise I couldn’t eat breakfast so early), a breakfast buffet, then off in the paddleboat across the lake. From there it’s about half a kilometer to the canopy tower through thick rainforest habitat. It’s really exciting to get our first glimpse of the tower!
It’s a long slog up the stairs to the top.
The view is awesome! We were lucky our guide had a scope as many of the birds were at quite a distance. I struggled to find them with my own camera even after the guide had them in the scope.
Let’s start with some mammals, here’s a Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth who was there for our whole visit.
Howler Monkeys
Plumbeous Pigeon
Slate-coloured Hawk
White-thoated Toucan
Many-banded Aracari
Russet-backed Oropendula
Crimson-crested Woodpecker
Those tiny specs are Cobalt-winged Parakeets. I told them to come to the clay lick tomorrow and bring all their friends!
Scarlet Macaws
White Hawk
Orange-winged Amazon Parrots
Look closely, what could that tiny blue speck be?
Maybe a Plum-throated Cotinga?
Or a Spangled Cotinga?
I called this the “Cotinga Tree” because we had both Spangled Cotingas and Plum-throated Cotingas showing up there.
This White Hawk was pretty far away and a good spot by our guide.
This Squirrel Cuckoo was pretty close.
And this shows why you need a really good guide with a really good scope. Do you see anything in this unedited photo?
What if I zoom in and crop out the cute little Black-headed Parrot (Caique)?
I practically had to be dragged off the tower kicking and screaming as the birding was so awesome! Back down on the ground, we had a leisurely walk back to the paddleboat.
Tiny frog
Cool looking tree, forgot what it’s called.
Poor tired husband!
This little Wire-tailed Manakin led me on a merry chase as he wouldn’t stand still for a photo!
Hah, gotcha! And with that, we went back to the lodge for lunch!