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Macaw and Parrot Clay Licks

The noise and color of 100-300 large macaws and 500-1,500 Amazon parrots and other parrots eating clay along riverbanks in the Peruvian Amazon is surely one of the world's great wildlife spectacles, but there is still quite a bit of confusion about which licks to visit and what the advantages are of visiting different licks.

First, macaw and parrot clay licks are special deposits of clay along riverbanks or sometimes in the forest interior in the Amazon rainforest. The birds flocks to the clay, usually in waves that start at 600 or 630 am and end at 1100 am or noon, to eat thumb-sized lumps each day. The clay appears to detoxify the nasty poisons in their diets of seeds of rainforest trees and vines.

Here is a list of the species of parrots that I personally have seen eat clay at Peruvian licks: Red-and-Green Macaw, Scarlet Macaw, Blue-and-Gold Macaw (only seen at the lick in the upper Tambopata and at a number of the licks in the Lower Urubamba River), Red-bellied Macaw (only at the lick in the upper Tambopata), Chestnut-fronted Macaw, Blue-headed Macaw (only found at a number of licks in the Lower Urubamba, including Sepahua and Pucani), Mealy Amazon Parrot, Yellow-crowned Amazon Parrot, Blue-headed Pionus Parrot, Orange-cheeked Pionopsitta Parrot, Dusky-headed Parakeet, White-eyed Parakeet, Peach-fronted Parakeet (only at the lick in the Heath River on the Bolivia border), Rock Parakeet, Painted Parakeet, Dusky-billed Parrotlet, Tui Parakeet, Cobalt-winged Parakeet, Red-shouldered Parrotlet, and the Amazonian Parrotlet (scientific name: Nannopsittaca d'achilleae---a new species to science, first discovered by me in Manu in 1985).

Ornithologist Bennett Hennessy and others have reported to me that Military Macaws eat clay at one lick in Bolivia and perhaps at a lick in the Manu foothills, but I have not seen any photographic evidence of this (though I hope it is true!).

Of the 120 or so known macaw and parrot clay licks in the Amazon, at least 100 of them are found in the two California's (or two Germanies) of the Peruvian Amazon. Only seven of these clay licks currently are actively offered for visitation, and five of these seven are found in Peru.

The largest known macaw assemblages in the world occur at these clay five "commercial" licks--specifically at the large licks in the upper Tambopata (perhaps one of the most famous, thanks in considerable measure to my January 1994 cover story in National Geographic Magazine) and at the large licks that local Indians showed me in 1999 and 2001 in Mishagua and Pucani in the Lower Urubamba River. Additional large macaw licks offered for visitation can be found 4-5 hours by boat from Puerto Maldonado on the Heath River (currently the most accessible of all large macaw clay licks), and on the Madre de Dios River downstream from the mouth of the Manu River. This last lick, which biologists often refer to as the "Blanquillo Lick", because of the small stream by that name, is currently the world's most visited large macaw clay lick, with nearly 3,000 tourists flocking there annually. The large lick on the upper Tambopata River is currently the second most visited macaw clay lick in the world, and the Heath River lick is now becoming one of the most popular new licks for visits, as it is so easy to reach from the jetport of Puerto Maldonado.

But despite the fact that the three most visited clay licks in the world all are in Madre de Dios Department of Peru, the licks of the Lower Urubamba may soon eclipse those three licks, as the photo opportunities in the Lower Urubamba tend to be much better, as you can shoot pictures from only 15-20 meters away from solid ground, and the macaws are now very tame after several years of intensive protection by the local Indian villages of Sepahua and Pucani, respectively. So although Manu and Tambopata are household words among ecotourists looking for ways to visit excellent macaw clay licks, in fact, watch for Sepahua, Pucani, and Timpia to give the better known licks a run for their money. Whenever a film crew or serious photographer wants the best possible macaw clay lick photography, I don't have to think twice before sending them straight-away to Sepahua and Pucani. Both Sepahua and Pucani communities offer lodging associated with their clay lick treasures!.

By Charles A. Munn, Ph.D., Chairman of the Board, Tropical Nature (a nonprofit nature conservation group---www.tropicalnature.org)

More interesting links:

Macaw Project at Manu Wildife Center     Manu Wildlife Center and The Macaw Clay Licks     Heath River Wildlife Center and The Macaw Clay Licks