The smaller parrot clay lick at Napo Wildlife Center is located down a short trail near the Anangu Kichwa Village. It’s not visible from the river like the large clay lick so you need a guide from one of the lodges. The visit fee is included if you are staying at Napo Wildlife Center or by paying $15 if you are at one of the other lodges.
Keep an eye out for river birds such as the Roseate Spoonbill
Limpkin
Yellow-headed Caracara
Pied Lapwing
Hoatzin
Green Kingfisher
Landing dock for the clay lick
Well-maintained trail
Crested Owls
Although we began the trip with several tourists and 2 guides, the weather wasn’t looking good for the 2nd clay lick so one guide took us down the trail and the other guide took the other tourists to the village. This was our only chance to see the 3 parrot species that are known to visit this clay lick – Cobalt-winged Parakeet, Scarlet-shouldered Parrotlet & Orange-cheeked Parrot. I knew we had to be patient and wait, so wait we did. There were lots of butterflies but they were hard to photograph.
Finally a few Cobalt-winged Parakeets gathered in the trees but didn’t come down to the clay lick. In good weather, there can be hundreds of parrots crowding the clay lick so we were disappointed not to see the numbers but at least we saw the birds!
The Scarlet-shouldered Parrotlets & Orange-cheeked Parrots never showed up. I didn’t give up easily but finally had to admit defeat when the last Cobalt-winged Parakeet flew off and the surrounding forest grew quiet.
