Macaw Clay Lick — Manu Biosphere Reserve Peru
The macaw clay lick at Blanquillo on the Manu River — the world's largest accessible macaw clay lick, attracting up to 600 scarlet macaws, blue-and-yellow macaws, chestnut-fronted macaws, and mealy parrots simultaneously to the exposed clay bank each morning — creates one of the Amazon's most visually overwhelming bird spectacles. The clay lick's function (the clay's minerals neutralising plant toxins in the parrots' seed diet) and the gathering's social complexity (the birds' pre-lick assembly in the surrounding trees, the periodic mass flight when disturbed, and the gradual return to the clay face) create a behavioural programme observable over 2–3 hours. From the floating hide platform on the Manu River, 400-metre range produces a view of the entire clay face covered in red, blue, and green macaws with the Amazon forest above — one of the neotropical world's most colour-saturated wildlife images.
About this spectacle
Each morning at the Blanquillo clay lick on the Manu River, up to 600 macaws and parrots — scarlet macaws blazing red and gold, blue-and-yellow macaws, chestnut-fronted macaws, and mealy parrots — descend in waves to an exposed clay bank. The experience begins in the trees, where the birds mass and call in raucous pre-lick assemblies, filling the forest with noise before committing to the clay face. Then they land: the entire bank becomes a shifting mosaic of red, blue, and green, the birds shuffling and jostling as they ingest mineral-rich clay that neutralises toxins in their seed diet. Any disturbance sends the whole flock skyward in an explosive burst of colour and sound, after which the cycle of cautious return begins again. Watching from a floating hide platform on the river, visitors have a 400-metre unobstructed view of the full clay face with Amazon canopy rising behind it — a colour-saturated, noise-filled spectacle that unfolds across a two-to-three-hour window at dawn.
When to go
May — Oct, peak Jun — Aug
Getting there
Nearest airport: CUZ. Nearest city: Puerto Maldonado.
Booking options
Goyova doesn't process bookings directly. When you tap "Plan this trip" in the app, you'll see options from our partner providers — accommodation, tours, transport — with affiliate links where applicable. See our affiliate disclosure for details.
More like this.
Peak season Aardvark Night Foraging — Kalahari Botswana
Maun, Central District, BW
Peak season Aardvark Night Foraging — Kalahari South Africa
Upington, Northern Cape, South Africa
Returns Jan 2027 Adélie Penguin Highway — Ross Sea Antarctica
Cape Royds, Antarctica, AQ