Woken up by the alarm, I sorted out what I needed for the day and packed up the case ready to store it until we flew back this afternoon. Nick suggested I changed my sandals for shoes, so I had to open the case and retrieve my shoes and socks, shut up the case and we were ready to go. It was about a 2 hour drive to the Laney Rickman Reserve with a few capybara, nightjars and feral cats. About the last hour was on rough tracks, and very bumpy and dusty. We managed to see a night heron fly across the track. We arrived at the reserve just as the sun was rising. There were lots of birds around, including Rufous Hornero and various tanagers and a pair of Blue and Yellow Macaws flew over calling. There were a group of Howlers in the trees across a damp area which were vocalising and which turned out to be Black and Gold Howlers, another new monkey species for the trip.
As we waited for the others we scanned around and checked out some of the birds then the others turned up and we shared the howlers and some of the birds.
Once we were all collected together we walked to the fence where we could see 2 Blue-fronted Macaws sitting on a nest box in the distance. We were told we could go closer so we slowly walked through some paddocks to another fence where they were a lot closer. We watched them for about 10 minutes then returned to the ranch where breakfast had been set out on a table under a tree.
There was a choice of eggs, toast, fruit and cereals with tea, coffee, fruit juice or coca-col. After breakfast we went for a walk round the ranch, looking for birds, especially free flying Blue-fronted Macaws. As we wandered through the trees and palms we had several sightings of the Macaws flying around, several pairs perched up giving good views. We also found 2/3 Great Rufous Woodcreepers which were working their way up several trees. In the branches we found a Trogon.
Chris played an owl call and we were soon surounded by a mixed flock of birds, including Brown-crested Flycatcher, Greenish Eleania, Bran-coloured Flycatcher, Hummingbird, Fawn-breasted Wren and Rusty-margined Flycatcher.
As we wandered through the trees a small sounder of Collared Peccary walked through, snuffling as they went. they weren't too bothered about us as long as we kept quiet and moved slowly.
We also found a Great Antshrike and a Rufous-tailed Jacamar, which gave great views but was a little dark for photos.
A couple of times we wandered out into the grassland, hoping for an Anteater, but no luck. As we came back, there were Vermillion flycatcher, two Black-capped Donacobius in the reedy area and David found Spectacled Tyrant, which was a tick for Chris. It got hotter so we wandered back into the shade, catching up with the others back at the ranch.
After breakfast under the trees we drove back across the tracks with capybara and egrets plus our last Cayman in a pool, stopping for a .... hawk and a look at a Rufous Hornero nest before visiting the Blue-throated Macaw center, where they are carrying out a captive breeding programme to boost numbers of the Macaw. We were greeted by a couple of the staff who gave us a polished and very informative talk, before taking us round to the breeding area. where there was a large aviary with birds looking to pair up and then we were shown eight amller avialries with paired birds, which would hopefully breed. They have released several birds over the lasy few years and are hopeful that they will be able to stem the decline of this very rare bird.
We had lunch, again under the trees and then had a 2 hour ride back to the hotel, stopping off at an amazing sculpture of a Blue-fronted Macaw, linking it to Trinidad, and a quick look at Trinidad Cathedral before picking up our cases and headed to the airport.
We said goodbye to our guidw and went in for our flight back to As it was a small, domestic airport checking in didn’t take long and we were soon on our way back to Santa Cruz. The way the flights worked, we had a landing at Cochabamba, where we had to deplane, go through security and re-embark in the same seats before the onward flight to Santa Cruz. It was interesting to see the different geography as Cochabamba is more hilly.
We were collected from the airport and taken back to the hotel where we sorted out the luggage, had a shower, packed up ready for the journey home and then gathered at the Ame Café and Bar for dinner. Unfortuntely, John was suffering from a migraine so he met us in the lobby to say goodbye and then went up to his room. We managed to find some Bolivian chocolate as presents before joining the others for the farewell dinner.
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