Peru: Tambopata Reserve – Macaws at Tambopata Reserve

The Tambopata Research Center is primarily focused in studying the macaws – the number of species and their quantities is the highest of any other place in the Amazon. Having seen the birds from far away at the Chuncho Clay Lick, I kind of wanted to get a close look and hoping to encounter them on the forest hikes. And sure enough – up close and personal – beautiful scarlet macaws and equally beautiful blue and yellow macaws. Macaws are parrots but are easily distinguished from all the other parrots by their huge size and long tails. They are very colorful and don’t blend with the environment whatsoever. They are quite loud, talking to each other and scarlet macaws in particular are known to mimic human speech. One straight hour of watching them high up on the canopy and you start losing the feelings in your neck….