You hear them before you see them – a cacophony of raucous squawks that seem to encompass the entire park, although the macaw enclosure was just about at the “end” of  the trail.  Macaws are highly intelligent and gregarious and in the wild congregate in flocks up to 100 birds – but even the smaller group in the Viviero das Araras –  Macaw Nursery – made their presence known. I don’t know the exact measurements of the enclosure but it was the biggest of the park. There are lots of high branches, platforms and cubbies  among the trees for the birds to rest in, trees along with lots of space to fly (and dive-bomb the human visitors):

Even a waterfall:

Not only are they loud, but as you can see, these birds possess the most brilliant, feathers – so even if you didn’t hear them – which is pretty unlikely – you still couldn’t miss them,     Interestingly, their colors fit in perfectly with their natural  rainforest habitat – mimicking the brightly colored fruits, flowers and innumerable shades of green of the trees and plants.  Fun fact: the patterns of colors on macaw’s faces are believed to be unique – like our fingerprints.  Also of interest:

• Macaws are monogamous and mate for life
• They are very intelligent and can mimic human speech – they are also quite mischievous
• Macaws are the world’s largest parrots
• Primarily found in the rainforests of Brazil 

Sadly, due to loss of habitat and illegal drug trade, many of the Brazilian macaws are            considered endangered, like the little blue Spix’s macaw mentioned previously. I was thrilled and honored to have the opportunity to see these gorgeous birds and learn about efforts to protect and increase their populations.  Here are some of my favorites:

Not to be outdone, the macaw’s smaller parrot cousins are also brilliantly  colored and also excel in attitude:

  These are actually golden parakeets

I finally dragged myself away from the macaw nursery as I needed to complete the route and get back to the local guide – when I am  taking photos, I can lose track of time, so I wanted to  make sure I wasn’t late.  Next up was a lovely little open air garden with hanging sugar bottles – and as expected, hummingbirds were flitting about – always a great challenge to photograph:

 

The last section was an enclosure  for another set of predators.  These are among my favorite birds to photograph – also a large challenge due to their nocturnal activity  – owls.  These following photos are of a barred owl and the spectacled owl:

 

It was time to drag myself away from these expressive and beautiful birds and finish up the trail in time to meet my guide.  According to the map, all I needed to do was follow the road to its conclusion (see section in khaki):

What the map doesn’t appear to show is another fork in the road  right after the owls – which   led me right back to the hummingbird garden. I then carefully followed the “exit” (saida) signs , passing the owls,  and again ended up in a circle back to the garden.  Not wanted to get caught in an endless loop, I asked a  local gentleman who was part of a large family group:       ¿Onde fica a saida? (I know a teeny bit of Portuguese, having studied important phrases before I visited Portugal). He was very helpful and walked with me back and forth and, after looking at the signs, seeing where they led he replied: “Nåo sei”  (“I don’t know”).  Great.

It was still daylight so I wasn’t panicking, but some anxiety was building – in general I HATE to be late for anything.  Trusting my gut, instead of following the saida signs I instead went towards the  “loca de presentes”  –  “gift shop” and lo and behold, there was the original entrance- which is also the actual exit from the parque.  The map does not show the two roads converging, btw.

Sitting next to the shop was my guide, siting in  an outdoor cafe sipping espresso.  I gladly joined him.  Meanwhile the family that was part of my group, who I expected would beat me to the end, did not arrive for another 30 minutes.  A double WTDGAP!!

Fortunately we arrived back at the hotel with plenty of time to clean up and get ready for a most special dinner – more of that in next week’s post.

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