When bird watching becomes part of the trip, there is another wonderful experience on the road.
In 2016, the biggest takeaway from my bird watching trip came from Peru, South America, and compared to the first time I passed in December 2015, I came prepared to photograph more than 60 species of birds in the Tambo Bata Amazon Rainforest, Machu Picchu and Puno Plateau regions, of which 43 were the first bird species to be seen.
(Peruvian Bird Watching Map)
This year's "most difficult to shoot award" is none other than hummingbirds. Photographing hummingbirds is an absolute challenge for eco-photographers, the fastest birds in the world to flap their wings: 15-80 times per second, good at hovering, and the only bird that can fly backwards.
In Peru, there is an Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel in the hot water town (Aguas Calientes) at the foot of Machu Picchu Mountain, one of the famous eco-hotels in South America. Built by a combination of local Peruvian designers and artists, the resort covers an area of 12 hectares, even half of the town of Hot Water (no wonder it's called "Pueblo", which means "village" in Spanish), faces the Sacred Mountain of the Incas, overlooks the rushing Vilcanota River, and has 85 rooms wrapped in lush jungle.
Living in such a "big botanical garden", bird watching is naturally not a difficult task. Bird watching tours are available and meet in the garden at six o'clock each morning, led by a nature guide. In order to facilitate close viewing and shooting, the hotel will prepare bananas and other fruits to hang on the branches, and in this bird's "breakfast room", I can see 15 kinds of birds at a time.
In a secluded corner of the garden hangs a "honey absorber" to attract south American "star birds", hummingbirds. The long-known members of the Hummingbird family have finally appeared. The first to appear was the Chestnut-breasted-Coronet, with its sparkling wings as jewels, a light and agile posture that immediately reminded me of the word "elf".
Chestnut-breasted Coronet
绿尾蜂鸟(Green-and-white Hummingbird)
Green Violetear
Booted Racquet-Tail
Hummingbirds are the smallest birds in the world, with about 600 species, and their distribution is limited to the Western Hemisphere, and there are many in South America. Among the large families of birds in South America, it is the only one that can compete with the equally colorful parrot family and is regarded as a "rainforest treasure". During my trip to Cuba at the end of the year, I was also lucky enough to photograph the Cuban Emerald, a common local kingfisher, and interestingly, the slender beak that had evolved to be suitable for sucking honey from flowers could penetrate deep into the flower bud like a thin needle, and the tongue was a thin line. But the one in front of him is lazy to insert honey directly from the root of the flower.
Nectar is rich in glucose, hummingbirds in order to maintain body temperature, as well as timely replenish the rapid flight of energy consumption, must continue to feed, eat tens of thousands of times a day, the amount of food is very amazing. The weight of the food they eat every day is more than half of their own weight.
This year's "Hardest Shot Award" belongs to the Tambopata National Reserve of the Amazon Rainforest, and I specially stayed at the Tambopata Research Center at Rainforest Expeditions Lodge in the depths of the rainforest to see the natural wonders of "parrot licking mud".
It took two days to reach the camp, there are only 18 rooms, the other side of the room is open to nature, feeling like sleeping in the open air. There were only two beds with mosquito nets, bedside tables, a shelf for things, and the bathroom and shower were shared. From the point of view of facilities alone, room rates starting from 300 euros per day are not cheap, but in the depths of the Amazon jungle where supplies are scarce, it is expensive to explore the wildlife world to the greatest extent. A portion of the visitor's income goes to the Tambopata Macaw Project, a long-term research project dedicated to the conservation of macaws. The Amazon tribes in the camp area share the proceeds with the hotel, which incidentally solves the employment of some locals. Around the world, the model of this type of eco-resort is similar.
Scarlet Macaws, which fly through the gallery and are regular visitors, are the largest parrots in the genus Large Climbing Birds, with 17 species in 6 genera. Native to the rainforests of Central and South America, nests are built in trees and cliff holes along river banks.
At 5:30 the next morning, we took a boat to a small island not far away, and the ochre red mud wall on the other side of the river was where parrots used to lick the mud. After waiting for nearly an hour, I watched a ray of light hit the cliff wall, reflecting a warm red, when the sky above me skimmed over three small parrots, and the green feathers and faintly recognizable yellow chest shone with strange brilliance in the sun. Soon, the "big army" was pressed over, the noise was overwhelming, and the yellow-green parrots were in groups, landing in the dense forest above the cliff, seemingly not in a hurry to come down and lick the mud, until the big guys all got together.
Finally the parrots hung their branches, and which mud wall did they land on? Everyone seemed to be in a meeting to discuss and argue, and the guide told me that they chose a different mud field every day. This time, all the parrots who came to the mud were smaller parrots, and they counted, thirty or forty of them. Identify several common species in the Amazon: blue-headed Parrot, Yellow-Crowned Parrot, Orange-cheeked Parrot, and most commonly, the Mealy Amazon. It is now the dry season, but also the off-season for parrots to lick mud, and during the peak season at the end of the year and the beginning of the year, there are even as many as 17 species of mud cliffs every day, and hundreds of parrots come to lick mud.
The next day, we decided to try our luck at another mud cliff and were lucky enough to witness two macaws licking the mud. In the forest on the other side of the river, when the crimson macaw dragged its long tail and floated on the mud cliff, it was very magical, and at this moment, no amount of hard work was worth it.
There are many large birds in the Amazon rainforest, and the "Most Temperamental Award" was won by the Montane Solitary Eagle. This is the most elegant bird of prey I have ever seen. We took a boat along the river, and on the shore, a majestic eagle broke into view, and the moment when we first saw it was unforgettable: all black, with a cluster of white feathers on its head, sharp eyes, and a king's demeanor, which made people awe-inspired. Lonely crowned eagle, a good lonely king.
The "most handsome bird of prey" is the American Kestrel, a medium-sized falcon with bright eyes and handsomeness. They are very common in the highland city of Puno and can be seen near roadside hotels.
The "Best of The Scene Award" was won by a Variable Hawk sub-adult bird that had just caught its prey. Puno, there is a bush behind the "Liberator" hotel where I live, where there are very few people moving, and it has become a paradise for birds. In the evening, in the glow of the setting sun, on a rock, I saw it intently enjoying a great meal—a poor mountain guinea pig.
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Nearby, a burrowing-Owl watched my every move warily.
There are many waterbirds in Lake Titicaca, and some endemic species of birds, such as the Andean silver duck (Puna-Teal), are very common. The "Warmest Award" is picked by the Andean-Coot, where the female feeds the young with aquatic plants and is full of maternal love.
The 2016 "Best Hairstyle Award" was given to White-tufted-Grebe, a cool handsome guy with a mousse haircut.
The "Best Color Matching Award" was given to the "elf" by the water's edge, many-colored reeds (Many-colored-Rush-Tyrant), which like to jump around in the reeds, round and rolling, and the color on their bodies is simply made in heaven, very cute.
Birds in the tropics are mostly brightly winged, and these "angels" in inca gardens are stunning:
Blue-naped-Chlorophonia
Blue-Gray-Tanager
Blue-necked-Tanager
Thick-billed-Euphonia
Peruvian Sierra-finch peruvian bunting
Shot: Canon7DII, 5D III, 5DsR
镜头：EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM、EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM