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21-day Southeast Peru 2007 Tour Guide and report written by: EduardoOrmaeche Participants: Brian and Margaret Sykes (Oriental Bird Club) Tour Date: 15 April -5 May 2007 This was the first Birding Ecotours trip of the year and we had a great time birding along one of the most amazing South American locations: Southeast Peru. This was another private tour for two members of the Oriental Bird Club (U.K) Council, Brian Sykes and his wife Margaret Sykes. The participants met the tour guide in Lima in the evening and spent the night at the hotel in Miraflores. The morning after, we went exploring the coastal lagoons south of Lima where we had the opportunity to see our first set of coastal birds such as the Great Grebe, the smart Inca Tern, the endangered Humboldt Penguin and the endemic Peruvian Seaside Cinclodes. We explored the dry desert along the Pan-American Highway looking for the endemic Coastal Miner and eventually we got good views of this bird. The day after, we flew to the city of Cusco and after checking in at the hotel, we headed out of the city to explore the Huacarpay Lake, a place where we had good views of the endemics birds such as the Rusty-fronted Canastero and Bearded Mountainner but also the Giant Hummingbird, which is the largest hummingbird in the world. The lagoons provided views of birds like Yellow-billed Pintails, Speckled and Puna Teals, and many Andean Coots. We had excellent full views of Plumbeous Rail, Andean Lapwing, Andean Gull and Andean Negrito. The morning after, we headed towards the andean town of Ollantaytambo where we took the train to the village of Aguas Calientes, famous for being the gateway to the ruins of Machupicchu. We were fortunate to have an empty wagon only for us and from the window, we had good views of several Torrent Duck along the Urubamba River. This bird was much better seen during the next day around the village of Aguas Calientes providing close up views for all of us. Machupicchu area was good this year, providing again many good birds such as the endemics Inca Wren, Masked Fruiteater, and Green-and-white Hummingbird. We had delightful views of the White-capped Dipper, Speckle-faced Parrot and Dusky-green Oropendola. After a nice introduction with the cloudforest species, we continued with our extravaganza trip, driving through the Andean mountains above Cusco and all the way down to the Amazon along the famous Manu Road. This is a popular route to pass through a variety of ecosystems such as Puna, Elfin Forest, Humid Evergreen Montane Forest and Uppertropical Amazon forest. As soon we reached the treeline of the Manu national park, which had excellent views of several mixed flock species like Scarlet-bellied Mountain-Tanager, White-throated Tyrannulet, D’ Orbigny Chat-Tyrant, Brown-backed Chat-Tyrant, and Grass-green Tanager. We spent one night camping (with all facilities available), below the elfin forest of Pillahuata, from this point the set of birds was absolutely outstanding with great views of Gray-breasted Mountain-Toucan, Red-and-white Antpitta, Crimson-mantled Woodpecker, Marcapata Spinetail, Golden-collared Tanager, Blue-banded Toucanet, Masked Trogon, Golden-headed Quetzal, White-collared Jay and several Andean Cocks of the Rock at the famous lek along the main road. We heard a Swallow-tailed Nightjar calling near our campsite at Pillahuata but the bird was not cooperative in response to the play-back. We visited Manu just by the end of the rainy season and the cold winds that usually come during the second week of May, were just about to begin. When the cold winds blow south-northerly from Southern South America the temperature at the southeast Andes and the amazon of Peru tends to descend dramatically. We had a couple of tough rainy and windy mornings at Manu Road. We found that many usually cooperative birds where quiet this time. Yet we had fantastic views of the gorgeous Versicolored Barbet, a male Wire-crested Thorntail, the endemic Peruvian Piedtail, a multicolored flock of tanagers like Paradise, Golden, Bay-headed, Spotted, Orange-eared, Yellow-throated and Saffron-crowned Tanagers. We reached the Alto Madre de Dios River at the end of the Manu Road and took a boat to the famous Amazonia Lodge. The Lodge’s fame is due to it having a set list of birds of over 500 species. We were surprised to find that the area had been severely flooded just three weeks before our arrival. The river and the streams had covered many trails as well as the whole lodge clearing. However, by the time we arrived, the area was quite dry although some of the trails were muddy. Surprisingly, Common and Great Potto were quiet during our stay. Some of the memorable birds we saw here were a male Rufuos-crested Coquette, the endemic Koepcke’s Hermit, Gould’s Jewelfront, Great Tinamou, Green Honeycreeper, Rufescent Tiger-Heron, and Hoatzin. Perhaps the highlight of the whole trip was the incredible and rare Rufuos-vented Ground-Cuckoo along the famous Jeep track trail at 200 meters from the lodge clearing. The bird was a lifer for all of us!! We returned to Cusco along the Manu Road and we could see the results of the several landslides that had occurred during the rainy season. Even though, sections of the road were covered by mud, fortunately there were workers with caterpillars and trucks to remove the mud and clear the road. Overnight in Cusco. After a half hour flight, we arrived at the amazon town of Puerto Maldonado in the Madre de Dios department where we went to visit the Posada Amazonas lodge. We spent two days at the 40 meter high canopy tower and we had nice views of Curl-crested Aracari, King Vultures, Spangled Cotingas, Bare-necked Fruitcrow and others. With the help of our local guide we visited the Tres Chimbadas Lake looking for the bamboo specialists and again we had amazing views of the entire group of specialists including Rufuos-headed Woodpecker, Peruvian Recurvebill, Bamboo Antshrike, Rufuos-capped Nunlet and White-cheeked Tody-Tyrant. Other memorable birds were a sub-adult Spectacled Owl and Tawny-bellied Screech-Owl, Pale-winged Trumpeters, Band-tailed Manakin, Round-tailed Manakin and Rufuos Spinetail. We visited the small parrot clay lick near the lodge where we had good views of Black-capped Parakeets. After leaving Posada Amazonas, we moved to the famous Explorers-Inn lodge, also located along the Tambopata River. We walked along the Main and Laguna Chica trails where we had good views of Black-faced Annthrush, Plain-winged and Bluish-slate Antshrike, Cream-colored Woodpecker, Elegant Woodcreeper, Musician Wren, Scarlet, Red-and-green, and Blue-and-yellow Macaws and many more. After only two days at Explorers-Inn, we flew back to Lima to visit the Lomas de Lachay, during our last morning in Lima where we had nice views of the endemic Thick-billed Miner, a nice flock of Least Seedsnipe and the Burrowing Owl. During our three week trip, we recorded 466 bird species, including 14 Peruvian endemics, besides several restricted-range species, near endemics and threatened bird species, and 32 species of hummingbirds, 48 species of tanagers, 19 species of parrots and 10 species of toucans and 4 species of owl. Birdlist Birds only heard are indicated with the symbol (H)
Wildlife
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