Central Peru 2010
Satipo, Junin, Ticlio, Carpish-Paty Trail and Unchog
With Callao/Lima Pelagic
My second trip to Peru looked to be short, sweet, full of endemic birds, spectacular scenery and somewhat rustic with camping stays at remote village schools. I again chose to set up with Kolibri Expeditions www.Kolibriexpeditions.com with their excellent guide, Alex Durand and one of the best drivers there is to navigate the Andes, Julio Benitez.
April 27
The gray dawn arrived quickly and sunshine tipped the mountain peaks as we pulled over for breakfast at a roadside restaurant perched on a bluff over a roaring river. We missed identifying a hummer in their garden as we entered and had fresh cheese, eggs and toast and excellent coffee. We had many kilometers to go before Satipo and for me this was the most disappointing part of the trip having to drive all morning looking at the mountains and not being able to get out birding. Turning south off from the main cross-Andes highway the traffic thinned out (less diesel exhaust!) and the road was relatively new and smooth. There was scattered forest habitat on the low mountains but this was mostly now a cleared agricultural area with crops and grazing land. We stopped in the city square at Satipo, and sat in the shade of the park during the afternoon heat, and found out where the rest of the group had been out birding that morning.
We met the others at about 1:30PM on the dirt road to Apaya that started to wind back up into the mountains. They were stopped at a washed out culvert where a bulldozer lay toppled on its side after a crew tried to clear the wash out. This looked like a major project and our hopes dimmed after the long drive. It was good to see my old friend Doug Mcwhirter with his much needed sense of humor and a couple from Utah, Jens ___ and his wife Cathy. They had seen several good birds that morning that we were sorry to have missed including Red-throated Caracara, Wire-crested Thorntail, and Chestnut-eared Aracari. Alex suggested we cross over on foot and bird the road up the mountain until Julio could cross over in the van and meet us. That was a more optimistic option then standing around staring at the bulldozer and the three workers poking at the mud with shovels. It was quiet warm out and the mid day heat seemed like a poor time to go birding but we were kept occupied by more than enough sightings over the next two hours walking. Highlights of the birds seen during the hike here were Speckled Chachalacas, Fasciated Tiger-Heron, Sapphire-spangled Emerald, Bluish-fronted Jacamar, Thick-billed and White-vented Euphonias, Paradise Tanagers, and a Coraya Wren pair. We also enjoyed greeting a group from the local school as they paraded down the road. As the sun dropped lower in the mountains we cheered Julio's arrival and began the three hour drive up the mountains to the village of Apaya.
We arrived well after dark in a small village with no lights, just a few people waiting for us and a couple of dogs with their barking swallowed up by the immense mountains surrounding the village. Gunnar from Kolibri Expeditions www.Kolibriexpeditions.com and the NGO RainForest Partnership www.Rainforestpartnership.org had been working with the villages in the valley to help protect the forests and to encourage eco-tourism. It was through their efforts that the locals had stopped hunting birds and had set aside rooms in their school-house for us. We were here to help document the good birding in the area and to help blaze the trail for more ecotourism to follow as an alternative to forest cutting. http://www.rainforestpartnership.org/project/pampa-hermosa/ The accommodations were quite spartan and we cleaned up the rooms and moved aside desks to roll out our sleeping blankets on the cots provided. We faced the prospect of no showers for three days and a very difficult to use toilet that was a bit of a village spectacle. As of this writing I have seen pictures of three new toilets installed there and showers are on the way!
Fortunately the dogs kept silent the rest of the night and the sound of the nearby waterfall helped to bring on sleep after two days of travel.
April 28
Even when you are exhausted from travel it's not to hard to get up to a morning in Peru with the promise of fantastic birding with Alex as your guide and Julio's coffee and breakfast waiting. Today we left the school and road the two-track up the mountain from Apaya through forest patches with very active flocks and good antpittas. It was sad to see some of the recent clearings and good to be a part of the effort to save the forest here.
In the forest patches that remained the birding was a five-star experience. Some of our first works were tracking down and seeing Bay and Rufous Antpittas in the tangled shrubs and shadows. The canopy flocks started coming through with the improved light and I was delighted to finally see Lacrimose Mountain tanagers after missing it on a few other east slope sites I'd visited in previous South American trips. This bird was common here as well as Blue-capped, Blue and Black, and Saffron-crowned Tanagers. As we walked up the two-track we picked up Plush-capped Finch, numerous Moustached, Bluish, and Masked Flowerpiercers. We stopped at a stake-out and Alex called in the Large-footed Tapaculo which we saw fly across the trail just after admiring a Crimson-mantled Woodpecker perched in the open . At the top of the ridge were some bamboo thickets and some of us were able to see the Eye-ringed Thistletail before the rain started to pour down, a good thing we all had good raincoats and I appreciated my umbrella. This was to be the only time that rain caused any problems with our birding for the rest of the trip.
On the walk back down to the village we had more dazzling tanagers including a Flame-faced and Saffron-crowned at eye level and posing for photos. We also had a pair of Golden-headed Quetzals and yes the hummingbirds,including a Sword-billed, Violet-throated Starfrontlets, and Great Sapphirewings.
The afternoon was another full session birding lower down in the cloudforest and the birds are still active and plentiful. Our evening included seeing flybys of Band-winged Nightjars and hearing Lyre-tailed Nightjar and Rufous-banded Owl.
After diner this evening I went out to the water spigot to wash my hands and nearly stumbled over a boy washing our dishes in the dark. I stayed with him and held my flashlight and helped him finish up. He was working furiously getting the dishes spotlessly clean and I was impressed by seeing someone of his age working so hard out in the dark and the rain. When we finished I checked with Julio and he said that some of the kids in the village help out just to get a bite of some rice and chicken as they often go hungry.
Above looking towards the school-house at Apaya while checking out the tanager flocks.
April 29
Another cold dawn waking up to the beeping watch alarm and fumbling for the flashlight from the cot. Even at the early hour the excitement of another day of birding in Peru hits. Today promises a handful of endemics and newly described birds from the highlands of Carrizoles up through the puna grasslands and down into the lush valley at Andamarca. After grinding up the road in the dark we park at dawn at the Punta Carrizoles (Carrizoles Bridge at ________m and begin birding the high stunted forests seeing White-capped Dippers along the stream and Fire-throated Metaltails in the flowering shrubs. Another Eye-ringed Thistletail appears pleasing those of the group that missed it yesterday. We return to the table set up by Julio for excellent coffee and breakfast of eggs, toast, yogurt, granola and juice.
We drive higher up the plateau past promising looking wetlands but do not stop as Alex says better things are ahead. As we near the village of ______ we stop and climb a rocky hillside with stunted polylepsis and other shrubs and see the Stripe-headed Antpitta watching us in the open then Alex finds a male and female Creamy-crested Spinetail in courtship display, the male somehow fanning his vanilla colored head crest as we watch with great appreciation. Bar-winged Cinclodes seem to be everywhere and we learn this bird. Past the village of ___
We climb higher into the puna grasslands and stop at a lake seeing a flock of Andean Geese, white like the Snow Geese of home but seeming larger and more regal in the mountain setting.
As we near the descent into the deep valley to Andamarca we are stunned at the scenery. A stop near some huts yields mountain finches and more Andean Flickers but the dizzy descent of the road holds our attention. Jens says this is as much relief as you experience in the Himalayas and we are awed at the sight.
As we descend a hundred hairpin curves the land becomes lush with trees and flowering shrubs including a very larger blue lupine and waterfalls in every direction. It is difficult to believe this is not a famous location, a world heritage site, but it is just another corner of this stupendously beautiful country. Julio negotiates a narrow section where a landslide occurred and we grip our seats and look thousands of feet below hoping the fragile looking fill will hold our van. Finally we arrive above Andamarca and stop at a remnant forest. The birds are numerous here including Mountain Velvetbreast, and best of all good looks at our target Black-spectacled Brush Finch an endemic that appears to have only a few acres of habitat left. We stop for lunch here beside a twin waterfall and watch the Mountain Velvetbreast hummingbirds dive down the mountainside. This place is incredibly beautiful and I hope to always remember it as we have to turn around too soon to head back. We survive another crossing of the landslide area and see a White-winged Black Tyrant before our stop for the Thyrothorus wren. In the steep valley the ground cover is dense and lush and walking difficult. After several attempts and tries with recordings we heard the bird but couldn't see it. We were just getting to the point of saying “screw it, let's go back to the van”, when the ever persistant Alex finds a pair singing in the open for all of us to see!
Lupine flower bushes and waterfalls on the way to Andamarca. During the long drive way back up into the high elevation Tom spots Andean Ibis at a lake and we also see a pair of Crested Ducks. A really sweet sight farther down the road is an Aplomado Falcon sitting on a rock near the road. We get fantastic views before it veers off into the valley.
That night, our last in the school-house, we needed more candles. I joined Julio in the walk into the village for the store. It was dark and it looked like all the buildings were empty and not a sole around. Julio motioned to enter one of the dark buildings. I asked him if he was sure and he said “yes, come in” as if it wasn't the most natural thing to just enter a dark building at night to shop. We stepped down into the pitch black building and turned on our flashlights. There behind a wooden bench were a older man and woman delighted to see us. They had no light of any kind on, not even a candle but they did have several candles for us to purchase. We paid our 40 cents and left. Julio said they probably did not want to waste money by burning a kerosene lamp or candles.
April 30
Our last morning in the school-house. We wake up and roll out of the creaky cots and begin packing up, thoughts of real bathrooms and showers and the pleasure of another fantastic day making us almost giddy. After another great breakfast and coffee we head away from Apaya and begin birding down the road from Calabaza. People are up early in this village most at the only restaurant getting ready for the day. We traveled up this way the first evening and the forest looked promising with little cleared land and loads of waterfalls and riverside overlooks.
The birding begins slowly but builds into a crescendo by 9:00. First sights are of the familiar but still exotic Collared Incas and Long-tailed Sylphs visiting roadside blooms. Andean Cock of the Rock lights up the forest early and we track down both Andean and White-eared Solitares. As the clouds close and part we see sections of waterfalls, first some mid section, a thousand feet of cascading water and then we come up to the lower part of the falls and hear the roaring waters just as the upper reaches come into view with parting clouds showing fantastically even higher reaches of thousands of feet of waterfall. Apparently many of the “small” falls have no known name, even these would be the highlight of any national park in the US. Doug seems to be in a sleepy, grumpy mood so we honor him by naming the waterfall after him. This doesn't quite do the job but what happens next does. First is an understory flock with Three-striped Warblers, Yellow-throated Bush-Tanager, Montane Woodcreeper, and then the birding storm hits with birds everywhere! It was every birder for themselves as the birds were streaming by so fast that we were all calling out different species at the same time and there was no way we could each get on every one that was passing by. Tanagers: Golden, Flame-faced, Saffron-crowned, Beryl-spangled and then the sought after Yellow-throated AND Golden-naped as well as a surprise unexpected Golden-collared Honeycreeper. Versicolored Barbet male and female were part of the party and Blue-banded Toucanets.
This was almost mentally exhausting birding but as great as it gets. Farther down the road the birds keep coming and our driver Julio spots a Sunbittern that we stop and photograph on the riverside. Lower in elevation here we are successful in finding the Blackish Antbird but dip on the staked out Chestnut-crowned Gnateater. We pass through Mariposa as the forest thins out seeing a Cliff Flycatcher and pass into agricultural land and we spot a smart Black-capped Donacobius in the reeds on the roadside as a sign of our descent into the lowlands near Satipo.
Back in the town we stop for Chinese food and get to use our cell phones for the first time in several days to the reassurance of our spouses back home. Time to cover some miles in the afternoon but we make a stop by the Rio Perene (river) and see Pied Lapwing on a sandbar. Farther down the road Julio gets concerned about the transmission and makes a stop at a good place for us to bird and for him to get under the van. He somehow fixes the van so we can continue onto El Merced after we are treated to a Black-billed Thrush near the river and a Chestnut-eared Aracari on the hilltop. Julio nurses the broken van back to El Merced just at dark and we avoid the scheduled hotel due to a disco party across the street and head up to the edge of downtown and book our rooms in a very clean, modern hotel tower that best of all is quiet through the night and the showers were delightful. Each evening we review our list of species seen during the day and confirm or reject possibilites based on our books and Alex's knowledge of the birds and ranges of the area. Doug is especially gifted during these sessions at remembering the details and circumstances of the sightings and is perhaps the best prepared of all of us in his studies and expectations.
May 1
During the previous night Julio was able to find a garage and fix the transmission problem to our relief and admiration. We woke up early and headed back up into the higher and dryer Andes destination Lago (Lake) Junin. Because of the transmission problems we miss a morning of birding but we are all so relieved the van is fixed that no one complains. We pass through the highland city of Tarma at 6:30am and the streets are crowded with vegetable and grain dealers, people piling up potatoes and trucks unloading workers. After Tarma the highway climbs higher and the landscape is grassland to the horizon. We make a breakfast stop at a restaurant with a view of the distant Lago Junin and high snow covered peaks of the Cordillera Blanca beyond. The elevation makes us game to try chewing coca leaves and drinking coca tea as a traditional altitude-sickness preventive along with our cheese and bread.
At the entrance to the park we meet another group that will join us for the next several days. Their driver wasn't able to negotiate the steep pitch to the drive into the lake parking area so Martin Reid, and Sheridan Coffey have been birding at the roadside with some frustration and are eager to check the lake with us. As we drive along an old stone wall dozens of Andean Flickers are scared up and we search for Earthcreepers and Cinclodes. The lake is vast, flat and still with the horizon of the snow capped peaks of the Cordillera Blanca and hundreds of waterfowl pattering away from us as we set up scopes. Along the shore Andean Lapwings and a few Andean Gulls cast wary eyes at us. It is still cool enough to keep our winter jackets on but the sun is warm. We all scan the lake calling out Andean Coot, Puna Teal, Andean Duck, and then the important grebes White-tufted, Silvery and then Martin calls out Junin (Puna) Grebe! We all get great looks as one dives near the reeds directly in front of us. Groups of Puna Ibis are flying over as we celebrate another good find and have a more substantial breakfast here.
Birding the shore of Lago Junin
After picking through the waterfowl Alex leads us across the grassy shore in search of Dark-winged Miner and Plain-breasted Earthcreeper which we see along a rock wall. I am happy and can't believe my good fortune in seeing a bird
named Earthcreeper! Common Miners and Bar-winged Cinclodes are all about and we see a couple of Miners actually climb down into a hole looking for ore or perhaps attending a nest? We head back to the van without the Dark-winged Miner but looking forward to the next stop in Polylepsis forest near Atacocha on the way to Huanuco. After an hour drive we stop alongside the river and next to some of the largest Polylepsis trees I have ever seen. The light is intense here at high elevation in mid day but the birds are still active.
We hiked up the grassy hillside across a bridge over a very fast running stream and into the polylepsis forest. Martin stayed back near the car with his scope to look for Andean Hillstars, yet another species I hadn't seen but even more were ahead of us in the forests which seemed more like a grove of old, twisted. apple trees. The trail was extremely slippery and mucky. Sheridan and then Cathy slipped and had bad falls covering their jackets with mud, Fortunately we found Giant Conebills, and after a round of hide and seek we were all able to see Rusty-crowned Tit Spinetail, Line-cheeked Spinetail, two more Stripe-headed Antipittas, and the Black-crested, Yellow-bellied and Tufted Tit-Tyrants. After a careful and fall-free trip back to the van we find that Martin had seen the Hillstar. We watched the mountainside across the road and Alex scrambled up to the flowering bushes several hundred feet up with a couple of us rushing behind but we did not get a good look at this very active hummer.
Trail in Polylepsis forest.
We still had a very long drive to Huanoco and the hotel with another stop for a stake out Rufous-backed Inca-Finch. We made our stop after what seemed like an eternity of bumpy pot-holed highway driving and with relief got the binoculars ready and hiked up the trail into the dry scrub above the highway. Luck was not with us. We do see a Torrent Duck in the river at the stop and then head back on the highway down the valley towards the city of Huanoco.
As we entered the outskirts of the city traffic slowed and eventually stopped. On this two lane highway traffic had swelled with cars and trucks making another three lanes on the shoulders and even driving on the sidewalks. There was an enormous crowd of people making their way to an outdoor stadium for some political event in addition to thousands of people milling around on the fronts of the storefronts and alongside the jammed highway. Motorbikes and the rickshaw like motorcycle-carts cut in and out of the stalled cars and trucks. I mentioned that I felt like I was in India and Jens, who had been there said, “yes this is a lot like India”. We finally made it into the city center and our hotel, where the beautiful receptionist and the pizza dinner were welcome sights after a very long day of travel.
May 2
This morning we get to “sleep in” to what was it, 4:00? We were headed to Carpish Pass and the famous Paty trail, dreams of Yellow-scarf tanager danced in our heads as we fortunately drove out of the city with no traffic and on a very smooth highway. The highway climbed higher and higher up into the misty pass and we drove through the tunnel and parked at a roadside stall on the other side. It was fairly cold and light rain was falling as we set up breakfast and coffee here. The dogs and pigs furnished the entertainment as it was still a bit dark for birding.
With excellent timing the misty rain ended as we finished breakfast and we headed down the trail past the school and onto the Paty trail. This trail begins at an altitude of _____ and drops steeply down the forested mountainside until after a couple of hours of birding and hiking we ended in a cow pasture and decided to head back. This was another excellent bit of habitat but the birds seemed a little more subdued than the abundance at Apaya and Callabaza. We hope for but missed the Masked Saltator but had good looks at Peruvian Tyrannulet, Inca Flycatcher, the smart looking Rufous-crested Tanager, Black-eared Hemispingus and the Rusty-vented Tapaculo. As we huffed our way back up hill Alex nearly hand caught a White-throated Quail-Dove!
Back at the top we took a short birding break and some of us joined the school children on their recess for a game of soccer. I promised myself that I would study and make more progress in my spanish so I could explain to these interested kids why we were hiking the trail with binoculars and scopes. Back at the top near the road a small flock of White-collared Jays was much appreciated and we could hear but not see some Gray-breasted Mountain-Toucans before heading back to the van and driving back to the tunnel.
The Carpish Pass trail begins right at the tunnel and ascends gently up above it for perhaps a mile. The birding here seemed more active perhaps due to the sun breaking through the overcast. There were quite a few Hooded Mountain Tanagers and then one of my trip favorites appeared and let us gaze upon it, the Yellow-scarfed Tanager, a gorgeous sea blue and sun yellow bird that cooperated for all of us! Doug had a picture of this on his trip notebook and it was one of our most hoped for and anticipated birds. More good birds were to follow but we had to walk past a quiet and bird-less viburnum field first. Unfortunately this flower is used for one of the national holidays and grows well on these steep cloud forest hillsides. As we looked at the view across the mountains you could see large areas that were once forested were now whitish patches of viburnum bushes.
Back into good forest and another great bird, the Chestnut Antpitta, climbs in and out of view amungst the mossy roots for us to study and photograph. Farther down the road we find both Barred And Band-tailed Fruiteaters and on the way back down a Rufous-headed Pygmy Tyrant. We returned to the van and head down the mountain past the lifeless viburnum fields and back to dryer habitat near Huanuco. On the way back in the late afternoon Julio pulled off at a stop just across the river from an immense cliff. As we get out we can hear the Andean Swifts and a dueting pair of Fasciated Wrens. Across the road in a field are several Peruvian Meadowlarks that stream across the road to roost in the trees along the river below us. Tom spots a black-chested Buzzard-Eagle soaring above the cliffs for the last flight of the day and we head back to the city.
Tonight we dine at a more typical Peruvian restaurant with peruvian specialties including Purple Corn drink, one of my favorites. The place is full of televisions playing an old Jennifer Lopez video. Alex gives us the bad news that we have to wake up at 2:30 am to get to Bosque de Unchog in time for good morning birding so we all groan and head back to the hotel for a few hours of sleep. The beautiful receptionist remembers my room number and the other guys ask me how I rate? Definitely not from youth or good lucks, she probably just remembered my pitiful attempts at pronouncing room 304 in Spanish.
May 3
The alarm goes off about two seconds after I fall asleep and four seconds after the dogs on the adjacent rooftop finally stopped barking. Our group wearily assemble on the lonely dark street front and we load up the van for another adventure. After a short half hour on paved road we turn off and begin bumping up the mountain and negotiating steep grades and sharp guardrail-less curves.
I put complete trust in Julio and endure with the others for several dark gear-grinding hours. Sometime in the middle of this night/morning drive-dream we stop in a village at a roadblock. We wait several minutes in the quiet and then several men come up to the van and Alex and Julio negotiate, official papers in hand to pass. This is the last village on the top end and they control the private road to Bosque de Unchog. Another sigh of relief as they let us pass and we continue for what seems like even more hours until at long last we stop in the darkness at the top. We all try to make out where we are and Julio is already in action setting up the tables and getting out the coffee. It is frosty cold and dark but there are bird-calls coming from the shadows. We stagger out, some of us still dizzy with car-sickness and hear some Andean Snipe. We are all glad we brought warm clothing as we have some coca tea or coffee and granola and yogurt. Alex warns that the trail is going to be mucky and we have to cross a wetland so Tom and I decide to wear Wellies while the others stick with hiking boots. Mine are a bit too small for my big feet I decide after the first few steps but think its best to keep them for better habitat access later on.
As the dusk breaks it warms up and the sun comes out. We go through a small woodland and open grassy area near someone's trout ponds as their dogs bark at us. It is hard to imagine anyone living up here and having to face the road down the mountain anytime they need supplies. There are good birds out here including Line-fronted Canastero, and Red-rumped Bush-Tyrant, We start to descend into a valley, a spectacular pristine valley with some of the most amazingly shaped trees I've seen. Sheridan is upset as she had arranged for a horse to be here for her to ride back as the trip back up the mountain is difficult and there is no horse here. She decides to continue on hoping for a ride back in the afternoon. As we descend the steep trail from the wetland above we enter an enchanting forest of moss and flat-topped Escallonia trees. It seems exotic and otherworldly here. The birds are also special, rare, endemics and we see our first ones, a group of Parduscos, drab but delightful to see as such a uncommon and hard to see bird. A pair of Coppery Metal-tails appear and sit still for us to admire but they soon are upstaged by two Rufous-browed Hemispingus! This is one of the key birds of the Bosque de Unchog and we watch and photograph the birds until we are sated.
Next we cross over a waterfall and continue through the forest into another opening with more spectacular scenery. The mountains rise up on either side covered with the Escallonia trees and a meadow stretches in front of us colored by green, yellow, and orange grasses and sedges as well as some yellow orchids poking up every few feet. Alex sets us up on a hillside looking over a forested valley where he says the Golden-backed Mountain Tanager is often seen. We find rocks to sit on to keep our rears dry. I see a bird fly up and perch and id it as a Bay-vented Cotinga and get the group on it. A owl calls out below, a Yungas Pygmy-Owl, and Alex locates it just below us. The owl acts as a magnet for other birds to appear in the tree including Yellow-scarfed Tanagers, Brown-backed Chat-Tyrants and Great Sapphirewing hummingbirds make some spectacular dives but no Golden-backed Mountain-Tanagers show up.
Tom at Bosque de Unchog
We spot the man with the horse coming up the trail and Sheridan is greatly relieved. After a very long time of waiting I decide to go down to talk to the man with the horse despite my poor Spanish he seems to understand my questions about the Golden-backs. We share some snacks as he tells me it has been three days of walking and riding from his village to get here and then mentions that the Golden-backs are often seen on the next ridge below. I ask Alex if he minds If I go check it out and he and Tom join me. The others are too bushed and stay back waiting. We hike down the trail another half a mile or so pass some likely looking habitat and Tom decides to watch here while Alex and I continue. On the next ridge down we stop and have a good view of extensive forest covering the adjacent mountainside. After looking for a few minutes Alex quietly says “Brian, here it is!” I can't believe the good words, this is another of the top birds for the trip found. I get great looks in the scope as the bird sits on a bromiliad covered branch. I mention that I can run back to tell the others but Alex tells me to stay and keep on the bird. Alex heads back and it immediately begins to mist over and I watch the golden bird fade in and out of the intervening mist.
Unfortunately the fog strengthens just as Tom appears. We struggle in vain to re-find the bird but the fog continues. When the group finally arrives Martin, desperate to see the bird asks me what “bloody tree” it is in but all there is is fog. We stay in place for two hours waiting for the fog to break and when it finally does there is no tanager there.
I am glowing with the joy of seeing all the target birds but despite the entire groups high success, the missed Golden-backed Mountain Tanager sits like a heavy weight on the walk back to the van. I track down a wren on the way back that turns out to be a White-browed Spinetail, and cross the wet paramo trying to avoid cavernous drop offs while hoping to see some Puna Snipe or Short-billed Pipits. We do see Andean Lapwings and Paramo Pipits on the way back. Julio welcomes us and we dine overlooking the stupendous view we missed in the dark dawn.
On the way back to Huanuco we stop in the dry forest patches on the way down the mountain and find Brown-flanked tanager and see a drive by Curve-billed Tinamou and Collared-forest Falcon. One more night in Huanuco at the _______ Hotel and we prepare for another early morning.
May 4
Up in the dark we load the van and miss saying goodby to the beautiful receptionist. Today will be a long one from Huanuco to Lima with stops on the way for the missed Inca Finch and the high tundra wetlands near Ticlio for Diademed Sandpiper-Plover with loads of other promising birds to keep us cheery for the long drive. The streets are empty in the early dawn and we make good time out of the city and through the area that had the India-like traffic jam.
We ascend into the mountains and park again near the river and the trail for the Inca Finch. Luck is with us, or perhaps better timing as we see two of the Rufous-backed Inca-Finchs on the trail and head back to breakfast by the river. Although we are on the side of the highway this too is a spectacular setting. We see ancient agricultural terraces all the way up the high mountains and homes perched incredibly high on the peaks.
The crew with guide Alex and driver Julio standing after finding the Fufous-backed Inca Finch
We make a brief stop at the Polylepsis forest and some of our group see the Andean Hillstar but I miss it again. Next up for the day are stops along Lago Junin and a very productive wetland along a stream that I would have driven right past. At the lake we again see a Junin Grebe and hundreds of Puna Ibis and track down a Slender-billed Miner in the brush. At the streamside wetland are loads of Ash-breasted Sierra Finches, Bright-rumped Yellow-finches, and Black Siskins but the main prize is a Puna Snipe that holds fast hiding in the grass. Just down the road we see several Vicuna? Alpaca that are grazing in what appears to be wild grassland free of other livestock. From the high plateau around Lago Junin we continue on into the mining area around La Oroya. I have heard dismal descriptions of this area but am surprised at the attractive gleaming white folded mountains bordering the city. We stop for lunch at another Chinese restaurant and head off to the pass at Ticlio. Here there are some sorry sites, mountains blasted out and huge heaps of slag as well as lakes that are devoid of birds ostensibly due to the pollution even though they glint brilliant blue/green in the high thin air sunshine.
We pull off to a large tundra like wetland along a mining road. It is cold here even in mid day and the altitude makes it difficult to climb up and down the hills bordering the wetland. Huge mining trucks lumber by loaded with mine workers staring at us and I wonder if they know how far we have come to tromp around their work-site. Despite the commotion the birding was good with a group of 3 White-winged Diuca Finches, a stately endemic White-bellied Cinclodes and a group of Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe. During our stop here I notice Jens staying off by himself so I went over to see him as we were loading up the van to go and he was walking the opposite direction. He told me he wanted to walk the rest of the way despite my urging him to get back to the van. Something was wrong, he seemed lost so I got some help from Martin and we got him into the van. He seemed fine once in the van but not as sarcastically good humored as usual.
We headed back to the highway and turned off on a dirt road to Marcapomacocha (I wish I knew what that meant) and headed to another very high altitude wetland with a majestic view of snow capped peaks. We filed out of the car and soon Alex cried out, “Diademed Sandpiper Plover !” and the scopes and cameras popped up. A lonely Sandpiper-Plover withstood our intense attention for a long time as we soaked up its rare beauty. After this we pulled away and found a pair of Slender-billed Miners, many Cinerous Ground-Tyrants and White-fronted Ground-Tyrants. A low cloud drifted over and sprinkled us with the most amazing sparkling snow I have ever seen. Like fairy dust it reflected the bright high altitude sunshine with a rainbow of colors. I'll never forget that and the birds we saw this day.
Doug at Marcapomacocha
We had one more stop before the long drive back down the mountains to Lima and I noticed that Jens had not bothered to get out of the car for even the Sandpiper-Plover. We stopped at another mountain side that had flowering vegetation and keen eyed Martin picked up up a Black-breasted Hillstar about 1,000 feet above us. Then Tom I think, found one closer by and everyone saw it perched near a boulder except me. It was supposabey right there but I was the only one that couldn't make it out, payback for the Golden-backed Mountain-Tanager!
Back in the van and we found that Jens had collapsed. We had to support him in the seat and I feared he was having a heart attack or stroke. We rushed out to the highway and wondered how long it would take us to get to the hospital in Lima, hours away down the mountain. He wasn't even talking but responded to us holding his head so he wouldn't bump on the window. Finally as we dropped below 2500 meters elevation he asked where we were and said that he had been a bit tired! He was perfectly fine and we would see the next that he was game for our pelagic trip. We did ask and found out that there were hospitals nearby in La Oroya and Casapalca if something more serious than altitude-sickness had occurred.
May 5
After a somewhat luxurious sleep in the Double-Tree Hotel in Miraflores we joined the rest of the group and headed to the docks in Callao on the ocean-side just north of Lima. I had intended to study a great article on Southern Hemisphere pelagics in Neotropical Birding but had been too tired last night. I was about to pay the price for being unprepared.
We joined a young Peruvian birder from Lima and another American birder from Wisconsin at the boat, a large cabin cruiser with a kitchenette down below well stocked with food and drink. Gunnar Engbloom, the owner of Kolibri Expeditions
www.kolibriexpeditions.com also joined us to add to our pelagic identification prowess. I had promised the group that it probably would be a smooth trip as all three pelagics I had been on before were amazing flat-water journeys. Not today. As soon as we excited the harbor the swells rocked the boat. We had loads of Band-tailed Gulls and Inca Terns already to keep us occupied and looked forward to attaining the end of the Isla San Lorenzo where Gunnar promised we would see Peruvian Diving Petrels and Humboldt Penguins. The Diving Petrels appeared first and then we did see groups of Penguins on the rocks but also saw the waves crashing in from the windward side of the island. We soon entered the open ocean and the boat rocked hard enough to have dishes crashing around the galley and the birders climbing away from the front to avoid the wave splash.
I wondered how long I could hold up and not get sea-sick as we had an entire day out here. I had taken some Meclizine and hoped for the best. The birds seemed fine with the breeze and waves and we soon were seeing Chilean Skuas, and loads of Sooty Shearwaters and White-vented and Hornby's Storm Petrels. The Albatrosses appeared next, one at a time offering us good studies and photo ops including close Waved, Black-browed and Salvin's. Marvin called out Chatham Albatross and those in the know watched it and photographed it but I suffered in non-identification ignorance. Some of the crew gave into the sea-sickness and climbed down below unfortunately missing a wonderful pelagic spectacle. For me without sea-sickness the day went by all to fast as we returned near the islands and drew close to an immense sea lion colony that overpowered us with its smell long before we were close enough to see the animals. There were dozens of penguins here and we got close enough to see a Peruvian Seaside Cinclodes foraging in the sea-weed. There were dozens of Guanay Cormorants, and Red-legged Cormorants, more Inca Terns, Peruvian Boobys and Pelicans. By the end of the day we had tallied 35 species all offshore other than the Cinclodes. Other highlights of the day were South Polar Skua, Sabine's Gull, South American Tern, Cooks Petrel and Wedge-rumped Storm Petrel another wonderful birding day in Peru!
Humboldt Penguins in good numbers on the rocks at Isla San Lorenzo
Summary of the trip
This was my third trip to South America and my second to Peru. My previous trip had been for three weeks and I was still able to pick up close to 100 life birds on this trip! My trip list for 7 full birding days and two afternoons was 324 species very close to what Tom and Doug had totaled. Jens, Cathy, Martin and Sheridan were more fortunate and continued on with their trip to Northern Peru and the Amazon and had a huge list.
I often hear that birders will not consider travel to Peru during the northern winter months of December through April as this is the “rainy season”. My previous trip to northern Peru, Cusco region, and Amazonia in March of 2009 was very successful with no significant rain that prevented birding or traveling. This trip in April and early May as I mentioned above was nearly rain-free except the one morning at Apaya and the rain lasted only for an hour. As write this here in snow covered Michigan I wish I could again visit Peru.
Our trip organization was Kolibri Expeditions ( www.kolibriexpeditions.com).
Our guide, Alex Duran Torres was exceptional. I also enjoyed a trip with him on my previous visit. Alex is tireless in pursuing the birds and he shares the excitement and enjoyment we all have. On both my previous trip and this one I was struck at time on how he would continue working for a difficult bird for us when all of us had given up. This helped us time and time again in seeing birds that I think we would have missed with another guide or company. In addition to his skills at finding the birds he is probably one of the best guides in identification skills for South America.
Our driver Julio Benitiz, is my unqualified best driver of the world. From the horrendous traffic of Huanoco or Lima to the narrowest rocky ridge roads of the Andes I always was confident in his abilities. Best of all he never was upset or frustrated at any circumstance be it a failing transmission or stalled traffic. Julio is the master at quickly preparing a hearty breakfast on the road and we had some of the most scenic meals ever on this trip thanks to him.
Special thanks also to Gunnar Engbloom, founder and owner of Kolibri Expeditions www.Kolibriexpeditions.com for his organization for finding boats to go when others have engine problems, for finding great areas like the Satipo valley and Apaya and working with the local people and Rainforest Partnership www.rainforestpartnership.org/ to preserve some of the most biodiverse forests on the planet. We have already heard of the improvements at Apaya with new restrooms and sleeping facilities and hope some day to return. Gunnar is great with birding identification and helped out on our pelagic with some of the difficult id's and with working out id's from the photographs we all had. He currently has over 1500 species on his Peru list alone!
Species trip list total available from Brian Allen tanager@manistee.com or by mail at 5539 Bar Lake Rd. Manistee, MI 49660 USA
