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An explosion of colors
Cobalt-winged Parakeets, Ecuador, 2021
Category - Forests
In the Amazon, we have many clay licks. These are essential places because they can concentrate large numbers of animals, such as monkeys, peccaries, macaws, and parrots, among others. They go to the clay licks to eat sodium, an essential mineral in their diet, but rare in rainforests far from the sea. The sodium and all the minerals in the clay will help neutralize toxins in their diet and strengthen the eggs during the nesting season. On an expedition in Yasuní National Park, Orellana, we were waiting for Scarlet Macaws, but they were too timid to come down and eat. When finally came that noisy, colorful whirlwind of Cobalt-winged Parakeets (Brotogeris cyanoptera), in a zenithal light filtered by the dense vegetation – in the jungle only about 2% of the sun’s rays reach the ground.
374 mm f/5-6.3 Lens - 1/30 sec at f/18 ISO 100