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...

Brazil - the Cerrado and Pantanal

We’ve just returned from leading an Avian Adventures tour in the Chapada dos Guimaraes and the Pantanal in Brazil.  It’s a country we’ve long wanted to visit and we’ve heard and read so much over the years about the Pantanal in particular that we were determined to see it firsthand.

We flew with British Airways from Heathrow to São Paulo and then on to Cuiabá the capital city of the state of Mato Grosso. From Cuiabá we went by road to the Pousada do Parque for a three-night stay in the Chapada dos Guimarães National Park.

Chapada dos Guimarães National Park is part of the Cerrado, one of the world’s most important savannas from the point of view of biodiversity.  It comprises dry woodlands, gallery forests and palm groves, rolling grasslands and dramatic rock formations with cascading waterfalls.  The Cerrado is Brazil’s most endangered ecosystem, more threatened even than the Amazon.  Already about 80% of it has been cleared for large-scale agriculture and very little of what remains is protected.

Véu da Noiva waterfall 

Unfortunately, our time in the Cerrado was badly affected by some unseasonal weather.  Cold, wet and windy wasn’t what we expected and one of our days there was an almost complete write-off in terms of birding.  However, we did see a good selection of species even if conditions weren’t always conducive to photography.  We also saw one of the ‘special’ mammal species that we had been hoping to find, a Brazilian Tapir – in fact, we saw three or perhaps four different individuals.

Brazilian Tapir

The birds included the tanagers, flycatchers, woodcreepers, antbirds, hummingbirds and various parrots, parakeets and macaws that one would expect in this part of the world.

 Chapada Suiriri

Glittering-bellied Emerald

 Monk Parakeets

Chestnut-eared Aracari

We moved on to the Pantanal with stays at Pouso Alegre, Porto Jofre and Pousada Piuval.  The Pantanal is the world's largest tropical wetland area. It is located mostly within the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, but it extends into neighbouring Mato Grosso and also into Bolivia and Paraguay.  It sprawls over an area estimated at between 140,000 and 195,000 square kilometres and is reported to be home to about 1,000 bird species and 300 mammal species.

Gateway to the Pantanal, the start of the Transpantaneira

It goes without saying that in our short visit we barely scratched the surface but we did see a good selection of the most accessible birds and mammals.  Although we always say that our interest is primarily in the birds, many of the mammals here are truly remarkable and we were thrilled to see Giant Anteater, Giant River Otter, Jaguar, Marsh Deer and another Brazilian Tapir.

There were some fairly impressive birds, too.  The Hyacinth Macaw, for instance, is the largest flying parrot species and the Toco Toucan has a monstrous bill that relative to body size is the largest of all birds.

 Hyacinth Macaw

Toco Toucan

As to be expected in such a huge wetland, herons, ibises, kingfishers and storks were abundant and it was good to see Limpkins and Snail Kites again, two species that feed mostly on apple snails and are therefore often seen together.

On the Rio Claro

 Amazon Kingfisher

 Anhinga

 Striated Heron

Rufescent Tiger Heron

 Wattled Jacana

 Cocoi Heron

Sunbittern

We enjoyed boat trips on the Rio Claro and the Rio Cuiabá and it was from a boat that we saw Jaguars, seven or maybe eight different individuals.  Amongst the world’s cats they are larger than anything other than Tigers and Lions and so impressive beasts.

Jaguar

 Yacare Caiman

Giant River Otter

Snail Kite

Limpkin

Not surprisingly it was also from a boat that we were able to watch Giant River Otters tucking in to a meal of catfish.  Capybaras were also seen mostly along the river banks.  Yacare Caimans were simply everywhere – it is said that 10 million of them exist in the Pantanal.  They can grow to a length of three metres!

Capybara

Also from a boat we saw a Sungrebe, related to the more familiar (to us) African Finfoot.  On sandbanks there were Large-billed & Yellow-billed Terns, Black Skimmers and Collared & Pied Plovers.

Sungrebe

 Pied Plover

Large-billed Tern

Perhaps the most surprising bird species we saw was an Orinoco Goose, a rare vagrant in this part of the world.

Orinoco Goose - just a record shot!

All in all it was a fabulous trip!