10,000 Birds

JUNE 11, 2011

Big, bold, beautiful parrots full of character and charm, macaws make us long for some of the world’s wildest places and assure us that, as long as they fly free, those magical wild places are still intact. The Hyacinth Macaw is more than just another pretty face; these birds are social with strong family values.

Protection 186

Protection Brazil Parrots Paraguay 186

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2015

Nearly 2,500 square miles of the wildest sections of the Omo Valley are protected in the almost contiguous Omo National Park on the river’s west bank (Ethiopia’s largest park) and Mago National Park on the east bank. Quality time was spent with a friendly Hamar family at their homestead of grass huts surrounding their cattle corral.

Ethiopia 240

Ethiopia Sudan Leopards Birds 240

10,000 Birds

MARCH 18, 2011

UNLESS that is you get yourself down to the internationally-renowned Tambopata Research Centre in southern Peru where literally hundreds of macaws (and other parrots) congregate around a 50 meter high clay bank. At this hour I am a reluctant, under-caffeinated sherpa – and concentration must be given to the dangers of the footpath ahead.

Peru 255

Peru Parrots 2011 Research Center 255

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 30, 2017

We got particularly great looks at Guira Cuckoo at Pousada Piuval, a resort that is also a cattle ranch; they were active all day, even after many of the birds that gathered in the early morning dispersed, often whistling loudly from the fence posts. Favorite Woodpecker: This is a toughie. Let’s go!”

Brazil 148

Brazil Birds Los Angeles Tigers 148

10,000 Birds

JULY 17, 2012

The population of parrotlets they studied was located on one of the many huge hatos (cattle ranches) in the Venezuelan llanos, a vast swath of flat flooded savannah in the central third of the country that drains into the Rio Orinoco. Not good, I think – it will probably be another scorcher. The Auk 108: 863-871.

Eggs 268

Eggs Venezuela Porcupines 2008 268