Perú, paraíso de las aves: Peru, Manu and Tambopata, parrots on “collpas”

Collpas or Clay licks of Manu National Park and the Tambopata Reserved Zone

Manu National Park is a protected area located in southeastern Peru, partially located in the departments of Cusco and Madre de Dios, in the provinces of Manu and Paucartambo. It has an area of 1,532,806 hectares, is divided into three major areas: the National Park, with 1,155,806 ha; Reserved Zone, with 257 000 ha; and Transition Zone and Cultural Materials, with 120,000 ha. Facilities include cataloging as Biosphere Reserve.

Reserved Zone Tambopata - Candamo, created in 1990, is located to the east and south of Puerto Maldonado, has an area of 1.5 million hectares (3.5 million acres) in the regions of Madre de Dios and Puno

In Manu and Tambopata there are certain places with special characteristics, called Collpas, where many species flock of parrots and other parrots to ingest minerals that complement your diet.

The parrots (Psittacidae) are a family of birds commonly called parrots psittaciformes or parrots, including macaws, parrots and related forms of the Americas and Africa. It is classified within the Psittacoidea superfamily with the other two families of typical parrots: psittrichasiidae and psittaculidae.

The "Collpa" is a Quechua name of the places where many species of animals congregate to eat soil minerals. Scientists believe that this behavior supplementing the diet of these animals. Also it states that ingestion of soil reduces the toxic effects of some wild fruits and seeds. A widely accepted theory is that just looking sodium as selected areas have a high content of the mineral.

In the collpa or clay lick in Manu, you can observe and photograph hundreds of parrots of medium and large macaws and red and green that come to this place to eat. During the months of May, June and July in the clay lick activity it is lower than in the months of August and September.

In the Tambopata Reserve, it is the large clay lick, on the left bank of the Tambopata River, known worldwide for its spectacular and considered the largest in the Peruvian Amazon, because there concur many macaws, parrots and parakeets.

There are also smaller clay lick in the Heath River macaw. The Chuncho lick is a low cliff located along a tributary of the Tambopata, 5 hours upriver from Puerto Maldonado. The Colorado clay lick is an hour upstream from the Chuncho lick, is a cliff of higher altitude.

Some common species seen in these places are blue green and gold macaw, scarlet, red and blue-headed parrots and parakeets. Monkeys, tapirs, deer and capybaras are also frequently seen.

Every morning at 6:00 am, made his fluttering ceremony before starting the "colpeo" which consists of ingesting clay in the river gorge and after 25-30 minutes removing Iran to return the next day. They were also observed macaws groups at other times but not as safe and usually are smaller groups.