The 1994 National Geographic article on macaws begins with a vivid description of their activity at the Tambopata Research Center clay lick : "When the morning sun clears the Amazon tree line in southeastern Peru and strikes a gray-pink clay bank on the upper Tambopata River, one of the world's most dazzling wildlife spectacles is nearing its riotous peak. The steep bank has become a pulsing, 130 foot high palette of red, blue, yellow and green as more than a thousand parrots squabble over choice perches to grab a beakful of clay, a vital but mysterious part of their diet. More than a dozen parrot species will visit the clay lick throughout the day, but this midmorning crush belongs to the giants of the parrot world, the macaws."

Clay licks, or "collpas" in Quechua, are simply high concentration deposits of minerals that are hard to come by in the rain forest. For parrots and macaws they come in the form of river bank clay deposits, but mammals sometimes gather around exposed soil in the ground, monkeys lick tree trunks with sediments and butterflies flutter about beaches where nutrient- rich liquids have evaporated. Clay licks are thus a widespread and not so uncommon phenomenon in the rain forest.

Without a doubt the most popular wildlife spectacle around Tambopata Research Center, and the one for which Tambopata is the most famous for is the macaw clay lick, less then 300 meters from the lodge itself. This particular clay lick is a huge, 50 meter tall cliff of reddish clay that extends for about 500 meters along the west bank of the Tambopata River. Although many clay licks are known to exist along the streams and rivers of the Tambopata National Reserve, the one in Tambopata is not only the largest known, but also the only one where blue-and-gold macaws are known to descend to eat clay.

On many clear mornings of the year, literally hundreds of parrots and macaws flock to the lick putting up what has been described by several well traveled celebrities that have witnessed it as one of the world's great wildlife spectacles.

Macaws and parrots not only come to the clay lick to obtain the hard to find minerals that are only present in high concentrations on the lick's soil. It is also thought that parrots eat the clay to neutralize the effects of toxic fruits and seeds that they eat. Finally, some scientists hypothesize that macaws also socialize and exchange information as they gather around the clay lick. Even though descending to the ground exposes the birds to danger, hundreds of parrots do it on most clear days, creating a racket that is audible hundreds of feet away. As they congregate in the crowns of trees surrounding the clay lick, the parrots spend hours at a time screeching, squabbling, gurgling and purring at each other before they decide to descend to eat the clay. Once they are on the lick itself, they concentrate on grabbing choice spots from which to feast on the clay. This is until they sense danger, usually in the form of an eagle, at which point they will depart simultaneously in a spectacular explosion of color and sound.

Six species of macaws and eleven species of parrots, parakeets and parrotlets come to the clay lick at Tambopata Research Center: Red-and-green, Blue-and-gold, Scarlet, Red-bellied, Chestnut-fronted and Blue-headed Macaws; Mealy and Yellow-crowned Amazons; Blue-headed, Orange-cheeked and White-bellied Parrots; Dusky-headed, White-eyed, Cobalt-winged and Tui Parakeets and Dusky-billed and Manu Parrotlets.

The clay lick at Posada Amazonas is smaller and is also located in areas where the forests have been disturbed. Therefore macaws are less common there. At Posada Amazonas some of the parrots and parakeets are commonly seen, but the macaws do not often descend, and if they do, they do so in small numbers.

OBSERVING MACAWS AT THE CLAY LICKS

In order to view the Tambopata Research Center clay lick it is necessary to cross the river at dawn in one of our motorized canoes and find a good spot on the rocky beach in front of the clay lick, on the bank opposite to TRC's. There are three factors which influence the quality of the observation of the clay lick activity: the probability of occurence, the distance of observation, and the diversity and abundance of each species. Although the vast majority of our groups do see a degree of clay lick activity, even three mornings at TRC do not guarantee experiencing it, because parrots and macaws are very susceptible to the weather and do not descend in rainy, cloudy, windy or foggy days or when an eagle is in the vicinity. Depending on where the macaws descend to eat clay and how wide the river is, the distance you will see the clay lick activity can be as close as 50 meters or as far as 300 meters. Usually, in the dry season, it is around 100 meters away, and in the rainy season, with the river swollen, it is around 200. Usually, hundreds of parrots and small green macaws (Red-bellied and Chestnut- fronted) descend to eat clay. It is also common to see about 20-40 large macaws on the clay lick, but not more than that, although it happens. During the months of May and June, large macaws are not frequent visitors of the clay lick, because their diets change, and these are the months when large macaw activity at the clay lick is the scantest. The largest concentrations of large macaws at the clay lick is seen in August and September, when you can get to see hundreds of them descending at once. Nevertheless, as with everything in the rain forest conditions are highly variable and difficult to predict, and just like we have had wonderful activity in certain days of May and June, we have had no activity in certain days of August and September.

In order to view the clay lick at Posada Amazonas it is also necessary to cross the river. Being a much steadier watercourse at this location, the distance from which you see the clay lick varies little: it is usually around 200 meters. The species which visit the clay lick at Posada Amazonas are also different: Red-bellied and Chestnut-fronted Macaws; Mealy and Yellow-crowned Amazons, Blue-headed Parrots and White-eyed Parakeets.

Lesser numbers of parrots descend at Posada Amazonas, but they still gather in the hundreds. The large macaws are also seen at the Posada Amazonas clay lick, but uncommonly and usually less than 10.

PHOTOGRAPHING MACAWS AT CLAY LICKS

The macaw "clay lick" made famous by photographer Franz Lanting in the January 1994 issue of National Geographic Magazine has caused people to arrive at Tambopata with very high photographic expectations. In reality to view macaws and parrots visiting the clay lick you will be located 100 - 200 meters away from the lick on the river bank. Also because the macaws find themselves in a vulnerable position and exposed to attacks by predators, the visitors must stay in a group and will not be allowed to move freely to avoid disturbing the activities at the lick. Even a 500mm lens will not be powerful enough to achieve frame-filling photos. The best chance to photograph macaws at close range will be at Tambopata Research Center, when the ÒchicosÓ (hand reared wild macaws from the TRC project) will visit the lodge. Also the photographer will have a chance to photograph the macaws and parrots at a reasonable distance during their flight to and from the trees across the river to eat the clay. At Posada Amazonas, the viewing blind is located closer (60-80 meters) to the small clay lick and will give the photographers a chance for good images, but, unfortunately, mostly of parrots and small green macaws.