Avian Adventures in Peru - 1

Peter writes...
Last November I was fortunate enough to visit Peru at the invitation of PROMPERU, the country’s tourism authority.  The plan was that I might at some later date, as a result of that trip, take a group of birdwatchers to Peru for Avian Adventures.  Well, last month that plan came together and I led an Avian Adventures tour to the north of Peru and to the Andes and Machu Picchu.

The tour began with an early morning KLM flight from Birmingham to Amsterdam followed by a 12-hour flight to Lima.  It wasn’t nearly as bad as it sounds with comfortable seats, plenty of legroom and in-flight food and entertainment both of a good standard.  I managed to watch three movies!

We arrived at Jorge Chávez International Airport more or less on time at around 6:00 pm, passed quickly through immigration formalities and picked up our bags without fuss.  Unfortunately, traffic in Lima was dreadful and it then took about an hour to get to our hotel in Miraflores, which is described as “an exclusive residential and upscale shopping district south of downtown Lima”.  However, it had been a long day and by the time we had checked in there was no appetite for anything other than sleep!

To enable us to acclimatise and recover from the long flight we spent our first day in Peru birding in areas close to Lima.  Our local guide was Gunnar Engblom, owner of Kolibri Expeditions.  I had been birding with Gunnar on the last day of the November trip and had met him again recently at the Birdfair at Rutland Water.

We began by driving to a wetland area, Humedales Puerto Viejo.  This provided some easy birding to get us started – ducks, herons, cormorants, shorebirds and just a few passerines.  Highlights were the colourful Peruvian Meadowlark and Many-colored Rush Tyrant, a dozen or so Grassland Yellow Finches and numerous Black-necked Stilts and Wilson’s Phalaropes.

Many-colored Rush Tyrant

 Black-necked Stilts

Later we went to Lomas de Asia, a relatively new birding site that seems set to become a popular destination for visitors to Lima.  Lomas is the name given to fog-watered vegetation in the coastal desert, a region that experiences little or no rainfall and is otherwise devoid of plant life.  Lomas de Asia is essentially a fog oasis.  We spent a couple of hours here during which we saw Burrowing Owls, a Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle, Vermilion Flycatchers and a number of species that weren’t seen again during the tour.  Several of these were attracted to a small reservoir and to various puddles around the parking area.  They included Band-tailed Sierra Finch, Raimondi’s Yellow Finch, Collared Warbling Finch and Chestnut-throated Seedeater.  Particularly notable were the Thick-billed Miners, a species that is endemic to Peru.  Several of them were very confiding and they were probably used to finding food around the picnic site where Gunnar and his driver, Renzo, prepared our second breakfast of the day!  While we waited for food we occupied ourselves trying to identify the various hummingbirds that came by.  Gunnar named them as Amazilia Hummingbird, Peruvian Sheartail and, appropriately, Oasis Hummingbird.  These were just the first three of more than 50 hummingbird species that we would see in the next two weeks.

 Band-tailed Sierra Finch

 Burrowing Owls

 Thick-billed Miner

 Vermilion Flycatcher

 Grassland Yellow Finch

Collared Warbling Finch

From Lomas de Asia we drove back north to Pucusana, a small fishing town where we saw hundreds of small boats anchored in the shelter of the harbour.  They were a colourful sight but thankfully, Gunnar recognised them as a sign that we probably shouldn’t go ahead with the boat trip he had planned – conditions out at sea were a bit rough!  In reality this was no big deal although it did mean that we would have to be content with seeing Humboldt Penguins from a distance, which after only a short while we did.  From the cliff top we also watched Inca Terns, Red-legged Cormorants, Peruvian Pelicans and Peruvian Boobies.  Along the sandy shore were Ruddy Turnstones, Belcher’s & Grey-headed Gulls and Blackish Oystercatcher.  Inca Terns were also hanging around the fish market, even perched on the market stalls in the manner of gulls rather than terns.  They really are unusual birds with their dashing curly white moustaches.  They are placed in the monotypic genus Larosterna, a name that seems to imply a combination of gull and tern.

 Belcher's Gull

 Blackish Oystercatcher

 Inca Tern

Peruvian Pelican

All in all it was an excellent start to our tour; during the day we visited several other sites and recorded about 70 bird species.

More to follow…

Peru Fam Trip - 1

Peter writes:

My recent visit to Peru came about as a result of an invitation from PROMPERU, the country’s tourism authority, for Avian Adventures to send a representative on a short familiarisation trip.  The object was for me to gain some further experience of Peru with particular reference to the birdwatching but also the accommodation, transport, guiding and infrastructure relevant to us offering a tour there.

I was part of a group of eight (three of us from the UK, two each from Italy and the USA and one from Canada) and we were accompanied throughout by at least four local Peruvians.  Without exception, they were a great bunch and a pleasure to travel with.

Apart from hotels in Lima at the start and end of the trip, accommodation was in hotels and lodges operated by Inkaterra, a company at the forefront of ecotourism and sustainable development in Peru.  More than 800 bird species and 100 mammal species have been recorded in the grounds and surroundings of Inkaterra’s seven properties and we got to stay at four of them.

After a night in Lima on arrival we were back at the airport next morning for a flight to Puerto Maldonado, known as ‘the gateway to the southern Amazon jungle’.  When we arrived there just after midday the temperature was a steamy 32ºC. 

From the airport it was just a short way to the Rio Madre de Dios, a river that flows into neighbouring Bolivia and is part of the vast Amazon River watershed.  Here we boarded a boat that took us to the Inkaterra Guides Field Station.  Birds seen from the boat included many Plumbeous Kites, Cocoi Heron, Wood Stork, Snowy Egret, Pied Lapwing, Black Skimmer, Red-throated Caracara and four species of vultures – a very satisfactory start.  In the afternoon we were birding in nearby forest as we walked to a canopy tower and a slightly scary walkway between the trees, 100 feet above the forest floor.  Amongst the birds seen were Russet-backed Oropendola, Buff-throated Woodcreeper, Black-fronted Nunbird, Curl-crested Aracari and several tanager species; mammals included a Night Monkey and a Mouse Opossum.

On the Rio Madre de Dios

Snowy Egret

Wood Stork

Inkaterra Guides Field Station

Mouse Opossum

Next day we took to the river again but only after dragging ourselves away from the amazing number and variety of birds seen around the lodge.  We were at the edge of the Tambapota National Reserve, a vast area of Amazonian rainforest with tanagers, motmots, barbets, parrots, macaws and parakeets, woodcreepers, flycatchers and lots more, all vying for attention and often presenting an identification challenge – in other words great birding!

The boat took us downstream to an oxbow lake, Lago Valencia.  Again it was birds all the way with Amazon Kingfisher, Grey-lined Hawk, Black Caracara, Jabiru, Collared Plovers, Hoatzins and a Ladder-tailed Nightjar among the many highlights.  We walked a forest trail and got up close to enormous Brazil nut trees.  As well as birds there were butterflies to enjoy (and identify later!) and an occasional lizard or monkey.

Grey-lined Hawk

Ladder-tailed Nightjar

Glittering Sapphire

Iphiclus Sister

Giant Ameiva

Blue Morpho

Black Caracara

The following day saw us board the boat again and head off along the river.  However, we didn’t go very far before taking off on foot along a muddy trail that led us to another oxbow lake, Lago Sandoval.  The walk produced Collared Trogon, Plumbeous Antbird, Plain-winged Antwren, Dull-capped Attila and much more.  At the lake we climbed aboard two smaller boats and went looking for Giant Otters.  Around the edge of the lake were Hoatzins, Rufescent Tiger-Herons, Limpkins, Grey-necked Wood-Rail, Striated Herons, Anhingas, Neotropic Cormorants and Sunbitterns.  Long-nosed Bats were found roosting on a tree trunk.  There was a thunderstorm while we were out on the lake and when we returned to the muddy trail it was even muddier!

The trail to Lago Sandoval

 Giant River Otter

 Birding on Lago Sandoval

 Limpkin

 Anhinga

 Long-nosed Bats

 Hoatzin

Grey-necked Wood-Rail

After two nights at the Field Station, we now went to spend a night at the Inkaterra Hacienda Concepción.  We arrived late afternoon when the light was starting to fade but still managed to find a few birds around the grounds as well as Bolivian Squirrel Monkeys and a Brown Agouti.  There was much better birding during the pre-breakfast session the next morning, starting at 5.00 a.m.  Species seen included Yellow-tufted & Red-stained Woodpeckers, White-throated Jacamars, White-browed & Chestnut-tailed Antbirds, Amazonian Motmot, Great Antshrike and Speckled Chachalaca but none of these gained our attention more than a Rainbow Boa, a strikingly-patterned snake that allowed close approach and, in fact, might easily have been stepped on.

 Hacienda Concepción

Rainbow Boa

More of my Peru Fam Trip to follow...