Across the highway from the helicopter business, we visited a surprisedly large bird sanctuary, recommended by our taxi driver/guide.  We did not expect anything as lovely as what we found. Most of the birds and flowers there are native to the area.  However, a few rarer species from other parts of the world exist there as well.

Surprised, I recalled seeing these exact same flowers on my two trips to Costa Rica.  In fact, I found another photo on an older blog post from one of my Costa Rica trips.

Endangered, many countries where these wonderful parrots live do everything they can to save them.  They pair for life–we found the evidence amusing and enchanting.

Whenever we saw an uneven number together, we looked elsewhere and found the mate drinking or feeding.

Of course, there has to be toucans.  Some even clowned for the tourists.  People clustered all around to watch their antics.

Where you have flowers you have butterflies.

Butterflies love Gaston.

They landed on him, flew to his fingers, let him pick them up without flying away.  I tried, but no luck.

A fabulous morning on the Brazilian side, starting with the helicopter ride and ending here with flowers, birds, and butterflies.