Birding Across the World

Urrao, 6/20-21/11

2011-07-30T13:01:00.000-07:00

After a couple days at the great Piha reserve, we had to head back to Medellín, and off to Urrao. We arrived in the north bus terminal in Medellín, and had to head out of the south terminal, a highly inferior terminal in the fact that it didn't have a Dunkin Donuts, our equivalent of the American embassy wherever we went. Today was a solid day of travel, from 6am at the Piha reserve until after dark when we arrived in Urrao. The drive was interesting in that it went through valley after valley that had been denuded of all vegetation to grow coffee. It was a rather shocking illustration of why you should buy shade-grown coffee, the difference in ecological impact is huge.

However, the most notable part of the drive was when we rounded a corner to see a ~50 foot stretch of road that was covered in mud, with more coming down from the bare slope above the road every moment. Rain came down the entire drive to Urrao, so this was something that had happened recently and was still happening. It was mildly unnerving looking upslope and seeing small stones rolling down, and also trickles of watery mud adding to the stuff already on the road. We made a go for it through the mud, but we couldn't get up enough speed to combat the slight upwards angle of the road, and had to retreat back to solid ground. After sitting there for about 40 minutes, the resourceful driver paid a construction worker to drive the tractor that was sitting on the side of the road, and he promptly bulldozed the mud out of the road, and we were on our way - it could have been much worse.

Long-tailed Sylph

Once at the town of Urrao, we went to the hotel we were planning to stay at, which turned out to be one of the best hotels I've ever stayed at in Latin America. The water pressure was so high that the drain had trouble keeping up, the water was hot, internet fast, beds soft, and they gave you free drinking water. What more could you ask for? Up early the next morning we hopped in a 4WD pickup to go to the starting point for our hike to the next spot: the Colibrí del Sol reserve, a place I'll just call it the Urrao reserve from here on out. The Urrao reserve is unique in that it hosts at least 4 species that are pretty much un-seeable anywhere else: the Urrao/Fenwick's Antpitta (a species that still isn't officially described), Chestnut-bellied Flowerpiercer, Paramillo Tapaculo, and Dusky Starfrontlet, the latter being the bird that the reserve is named for, the "Sun Hummingbird". I say at least 4 species, because there are subspecies of Rusty-faced Parrot and Black-throated Flowerpiercer that are possibly future splits, only time will tell. Getting to the reserve requires multiple hours of walking, or you can pay a small fee to ride a horse instead of walking. Andrew and I opted to walk, and after a couple hours of uphill hiking at over 2500m of elevation, we were pretty beat. Of course, what option did we have except to hike 2km more with hundreds of meters more of elevational gain? So thats what we did, after devouring a much needed breakfast at the lodge and dropping our packs off.

Dusky Starfrontlet

In this first afternoon we managed every single target bird at this location, and so we shortened our stay by a day, heading out the next morning rather than spending two nights there. The paramo was beautiful here, with many frailejones, a really interesting local plant that is in the sunflower family, and grows close to head height with impressive thick stalks with yellowish flower clumps at the top, and was quite abundant above treeline here. The forest guard here was very impressive in his local knowledge and service, much like all the other reserves that we visited. He showed us spots for multiple birds where we got them almost instantly, always a good thing.

The always amazing Sword-billed Hummingbird

After our afternoon of getting everything, we had a good evening downing cups of hot chocolate and talking with another traveler there from Georgia, always nice to have a conversation with birds in English with another person while traveling. The next morning we got up to watch the feeding of the Urrao/Fenwick's Antpittas, which was a treat as it always rocks to see antpittas. Almost more notable than the antpittas at the feeding station was an Undulated Antpitta that hopped up onto an exposed branch on the side of the path as we headed back to the lodge! A rarely seen antpitta, this was my first one seen, despite having heard many. Our walk back down was mostly uneventful, despite a fruitless couple hour vigil at the mouth of a forested valley hoping for flyover Rusty-faced Parrots. With an extra day that we didn't expect, we did nothing but hung around in the hotel on the internet for about 24 hours, uploading photos and recordings and talking with people back in the states. Next stop is Las Tanagaras reserve - and thats where I'll pick this up!

Medellín, Arrierito Antioqueño Reserve 6/15-6/18

2011-07-22T07:52:00.000-07:00

Bus to Piha reserve

After our sojourn in the Amazon, it was a mild relief, at least for myself, to be back in the highlands with the cool temperatures that elevation brings. Our next destination was the fantastically named Arrierito Antioqueño Reserve, named for a rare and local species called Chestnut-capped Piha, or called Arrierito Antioqueño by locals. We stuck with "the Piha reserve", but the true name is much more intriguing as far as I'm concerned.

Masked Trogon, Piha Reserve

The Piha reserve is located near Medellín, a few hours away by bus. Of course, Medellín is 13 hours away from Bogotá, so off we went. Now, by this point in time I had spent over 250 hours on buses in Latin America, over 10 days of my life. Andrew was somewhere up around 5 weeks of his life on buses, so he had me beat by a long shot. However, both of us were mildly horrified by the driver of our bus to Medellín. The drive takes you down the west slope of the eastern range of the Andes in Colombia, and then across the dry Magdalena Valley, and back up the east slope of the western range of the Andes, where Medellín sits. Our driver was relatively tame on the initial descent, not going too fast, but once we hit the flat land and straightaways of the valley, all bets were off. Most of the next 5-6 hours were spent in excess of 80 miles an hour, with the speedometer of the bus maxed out at 130kph. The best part is that buses are required by law to have a speed limiter where they can't exceed 80 kilometers an hour, so of course they all just disable the limiter somehow! The limiter is a black box with a digital readout that all the passengers can see, that sits above the rear view mirror. During out trip, some limiters would just be unplugged and be hanging loosely from wires, some would permanently read zero, and some worked, but just let the bus go over 80kph anyways.

Andean Emerald, Piha Reserve

Anyways, we reached Medellín at 11pm, alive, and asked a taxi driver for a good but cheap hotel, where we were soon asleep. Next morning back to the bus terminal early, where we hopped on our bus to the Piha reserve. The Piha reserve was a great place, with good trails, food, and accommodations. The time of year that we were there seemed like it might have been a low point for song activity, most of our targets seemed conspicuously silent, either never heard singing spontaneously, or in the case of the piha itself, heard only once. My personal favorite bird of this location was a stunning male Multicolored Tanager, our only target bird left on our last morning there, and we lucked into one in a flock when we were heading back down from the ridge trail. We had the most birding luck along the ridge trail, especially with mixed flocks. Other highlights included Red-bellied Grackle, the Chestnut-capped Piha, amazing encounters with Purplish-mantled Tanager, Parker's Antbird, and Black-and-Gold Tanagers.

After a couple days there we had to retrace our steps back to Medellín, and then hop on another bus to Urrao, a town where we would base out of to go to the Colibrí del Sol reserve, and where I will be writing about next.

Mitú 6/7-6/14

2011-07-19T08:12:00.000-07:00

White-naped Seedeater, Mitú

After leaving the bountiful hummingbird feeders of Acua Monte we descended into Bogotá, heading to the airport to meet our friend Nick Athanas who would be joining us for the next part of our trip: Mitú, deep in the Amazon. We made it to the airport and met Nick without a hitch, and after Andrew and Nick had a burger at allegedly the best burger place in Colombia, we headed to the gate for our flight to Mitú, where our flight was only delayed by about 40 minutes if I remember correctly, not too bad for South American local travel.

White-browed Purpletuft, Mitú

Now the place we were heading, Mitú, is a pretty special and unique place. The type of habitat it supports there, white-sands forest, has only one other relatively accessible place in this part of the Amazon, and that spot (São Gabriel) is across the border in Brazil. There are a fairly large number of species that only are findable in these two locations, and those were our primary targets on this trip. Mitú is also known as a spot where in 1998 over 1,900 FARC guerilla members attacked the town, killing about 70 people, destroying part of the town, and taking hostages as they retreated after they were repulsed by the Colombian military.

Swallow-winged Puffbird, Mitú

13 years later when we were there, the only sign that anything such as that ever happened is the very robust military presence in the area, with thousands of soldiers around, including patrolmen and guys standing on corners at many intersections, just casual observers, yet obviously armed. Despite, or perhaps partially because of, this military posturing, I personally never felt remotely in danger in our time there, which is always a good thing.

Gray-bellied Antbird, Mitú

Upon landing in the small one runway airport of Mitú, we got out into the stifling mid-afternoon heat and made our way to the tiny terminal. The first sign that we were in a place most tourists don't visit was when we were pulled aside by a high ranking police officer and questioned about our stay, as well as having photographs of us taken next to our passports. Luckily at this point we had found the local guide we had arranged for during our stay there, a guy who went by the name of Nacho. After a few minutes of explaining ourselves, with Nacho's help, we hopped in the back of a converted motorcycle that had a small truck bed, and headed off to our hotel. Nacho's services would prove invaluable during our time there, especially when interfacing with the local tribes and communities in the area, places where he seemed to know everyone. In fact, Nacho just knew everyone in general. He claimed at one point to have been the former chief of police in Mitú, and we don't really know whether or not it was true!

Lettered Aracari, Mitú

Our standard day in Mitú was up before dawn, hop on motorcycles that Nacho would arrange to take us to our birding destination for the day (when they showed up anyways), bird until 4-5pm, come back, shower, buy food and water for the next day, eat, crash. The birding was fantastic, with many rare and local species, and we found almost every single target in our time there. Some of the highlights for the group included getting what are likely the first photos ever of Gray-bellied Antbird, and possibly the best photos taken of a few other species, including Chestnut-crested Antbird, Orinoco Piculet, Brown-headed Greenlet, and White-naped Seedeater. Also on the recording front, Nick and Andrew got the first recordings of Orinoco Piculet, and multiple likely best recordings of other species.

Yellow-bellied Dacnis, Mitú

All in all it was a fantastic place, and I would recommend it as a birding destination, but only if you're up for some pretty hardcore birding, with no creature comforts, lots of walking, and lots of reward for your effort. Nick wrote a great trip report, much more bird oriented of course, but a good read for sure: http://antpitta.com/tripreports/Mitu_Colombia_June2011_Athanas.pdf. His trip report details all sorts of logistics as well, for people interested in traveling there themselves.

After Mitú we headed back to Bogotá, parted ways with Nick, who was back off to Ecuador, and then will be going to Medellín next. As always, pictures from the trip can be seen at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/uropsalis/sets/72157626770172797/.

Parque Nacional Chingaza, Acua Monte 6/5-6/7

2011-07-14T08:53:00.000-07:00

Golden-fronted Whitestart (of the white-faced population), Chingaza National Park

After Laguna Pedropalo, we found ourselves back at the bus station in Bogotá with two options for where to go next. Either we could head to a place called Monterredondo for the very localized and rare Cundinamarca Antpitta, but not much else there, or we could go to Parque Nacional Chingaza, a high elevation spot with elfin forest and paramo. Unsure of which alternative was best, we gave Diego Calderón, a local expert guide, a call. Diego was a huge help and gave us lots of information about both locations, both logistical and bird related, and we decided to go to Chingaza, basing out of the town of La Calera, a town that mostly caters to weekend vacationers from Bogotá.

One bus later we were in La Calera, and the town was completely packed with people, almost certainly due to the fact that it was a Sunday, and a beautiful one at that. Luckily there was still space left at what seemed to be the only hotel in town, and it was a hotel with wifi to boot! The big thing about Chingaza is that it isn't accessible by public transport, so we had to find some form of private transportation for the following day. By asking the hotel owner, an interesting man who spoke Arabic and some English, we arranged to be driven by his cousin the following day, in what ended up being a small truck-like vehicle.

Chingaza was a fantastic place, we were the only people up there for almost the entire day, and the birding was great. Lots of near-endemic species to Colombia occur from that area to just over the border with Venezuela, and Chingaza is the most accessible spot in the world for many of them. Highlights included Brown-breasted Parakeet, Matorral Tapaculo, Bronze-tailed Thornbill, and Blue-throated Starfrontlet (a female carrying nest material - cool!).

The most unfortunate part of the day for me was missing Bearded Helmetcrest, one of my most wanted birds for the whole trip. This species of hummingbird likes to feed on a certain kind of flowers, locally called frailejones, and I found a large patch of those that I thought looked good, and decided to stake them out. After a little while of waiting, Andrew walked off to go record the local subspecies of Tawny Antpitta, a different sounding and looking race, quite interesting. While he was trying to find the antpitta, of course he sees two female helmetcrests, while I'm sitting at the big flower flower patch, without any trace of helmets or crests. So after that, I knew they were out there, and I hadn't had them yet, and that made it all the more frustrating. To cut an even longer story relatively short, I walked for about an hour across multiple ridges and valleys, all through perfect habitat, and never saw one. Ah well, can't win them all. At this point in the day it started to rain, and so we had to cut short our time at this great place.

Back in La Calera, our plans for the next morning were to head to a nearby spot with hummingbird feeders, particularly to see Blue-throated Starfrontlet, an absolutely stunning hummingbird. We had luckily seen a female the day before, but we were hoping to see males at this location, thanks once again to the info given to us by Diego. We had a great time in our morning there at Acua Monte, seeing multiple starfrontlets and a good overall hummingbird show. Some pictures can be seen below from the feeders there.

Blue-throated Starfrontlet, Acua Monte feeders

Great Sapphirewing, Acua Monte feeders

Glowing Puffleg, Acua Monte feeders

Next stop is into the Amazon, and Mitú!

Bogotá, Laguna Pedropalo 6/3-6/5

2011-07-13T11:12:00.000-07:00

Saffron Finch, Laguna Pedropalo

I arrived in Bogotá in the early afternoon of the 3rd, after easy and seamless flights from Boston through Miami. A taxi ride across town to the hotel we were planning on staying at introduced me to the number one theme on the roads of Bogotá: traffic. A close second place for most prevalent road sight would be construction; it seems as though every road with more than one lane has something being fixed or built on it. Andrew arrived sometime after 11pm at the hotel, and I was soon asleep after that.

The next morning found us attempting to get simcards for our Blackberries, something that I had begun to investigate the day before. By getting the simcard of a local company (Comcel), and just paying them, it was orders of magnitude cheaper than paying Verizon for international data. After a couple hours of multiple Comcel technicians fussing over our phones, we were once more on our way, this time armed with the power of the internet in our pockets, something that I have become shamefully reliant on. En route to the Comcel store we happened to see an amusing sight in a small store window: Duff beer! Straight out of the Simpsons, a company in Colombia makes this novelty beer, and sells it at some stores in big cities. Left with no choice, we had to buy one, a picture of which can be seen below. Quite funny.

Duff! There was also a sign at the store that said roughly: "Duff beer, it exists!"

After getting our phones squared away, we headed to the bus station and hopped on a bus west to a small town near Laguna Pedropalo, our birding stop for the next morning. We didn't have that much information to go on for Pedropalo, and that combined with the fact that we were denied access to the trails around the lake, due to bureaucratic problems, led us to miss a couple of our target birds there. It was still a nice day though, mainly walking on dirt roads through farmland with patches of forest. Some highlights included Moustached Brush-Finch, Bar-crested Antshrike, and endemic Indigo-capped Hummingbird.

Moustached Brush-Finch, Laguna Pedropalo

After the morning of birding at Pedropalo we picked up our bags and hopped back on a bus to Bogotá, with our next destination being La Calera, a town just east of Bogotá that is the jump-off point for Parque Nacional Chingaza, where we are next headed.

Colombia - June 3-July 3 2011

2011-07-12T09:40:00.000-07:00

Las Tangaras Reserve, Chocó department, Colombia

It has been a long time since I have even thought of blogging! However, I just got back from a one month long trip to Colombia with my friend Andrew Spencer, and my dad has been trying to get me to write some posts about the trip, and why not.

Since the last time I wrote here, about Peru and Chile, I have successfully been through my first two semesters at college, and also had a ~3 week trip to Ecuador with a few people over the winter, spending a couple days with my parents and then the rest of the time traveling around on buses, something that tends to happen quite often in South America. The focus of the moment is on Colombia though, and I hope to produce 7 or 8 posts in total about the various parts of the trip.

Colombia was a great country, with your standard stunning Andean scenery, cheap overall living, very nice and helpful people, and exceptional birding and natural experiences. Our time there took us across much of the central portion of the country, going east into the Amazon, north to the Medellín area, and west to the western foothills of the Andes in the Chocó department: the humid western lowlands.

In all we had a little over 600 species of birds during our trip, of which slightly over 100 were life birds for me, not a bad total. I believe Andrew got over 50 lifers as well, which is pretty impressive, this being his third trip to the country. Despite Colombia having a bad rap for safety, we never felt in danger in our time in country. There was a large military presence in some locations we visited, especially Mitú, but it always seemed as if they were there to preclude any possible nastiness, rather than there because of a regular need to respond.

Our trip started in Bogotá, the capital of the country: a land of Dunkin Donuts and lots of traffic, and that is where I'll start in the next post.

Chile bird list

2010-03-31T08:13:00.000-07:00

This below list is in taxonomical order, and is generated by eBird (ebird.org). 172 species in total, 88 life birds.

Black-necked Swan	Puente El Estero	4-Feb-10
Coscoroba Swan	Bahía de Caulin	5-Feb-10
Upland Goose	Laguna del Maule and environs	3-Feb-10
Kelp Goose	Islote de Puñihuil (Pingüinera)	5-Feb-10
Ashy-headed Goose	Yaldad	7-Feb-10
Flying Steamer-Duck	Conguillio National Park	9-Feb-10
Flightless Steamer-Duck	Islote de Puñihuil (Pingüinera)	5-Feb-10
Crested Duck	Laguna del Maule and environs	3-Feb-10
Spectacled Duck	Lago Colbún	3-Feb-10
Chiloe Wigeon	Lago Colbún	2-Feb-10
Cinnamon Teal	Lago Tarahuín	7-Feb-10
Red Shoveler	Ancud bridge pond	5-Feb-10
Yellow-billed Pintail	Lago Colbún	2-Feb-10
Speckled Teal	Puente El Estero	4-Feb-10
Rosy-billed Pochard	Lago Colbún	3-Feb-10
Ruddy Duck	Lago Colbún	3-Feb-10
Lake Duck	Lago Tarahuín	7-Feb-10
California Quail	Altos de Lircay (Vilches)	2-Feb-10
White-tufted Grebe	Lago Colbún	3-Feb-10
Pied-billed Grebe	Lago Colbún	3-Feb-10
Great Grebe	Lago Colbún	2-Feb-10
Silvery Grebe	Punta Guabun	4-Feb-10
Chilean Flamingo	Puñihuil area marshes	5-Feb-10
Humboldt Penguin	Islote de Puñihuil (Pingüinera)	5-Feb-10
Magellanic Penguin	Canal Chacao	4-Feb-10
Shy Albatross	Valparaiso Pelagic	11-Feb-10
Black-browed Albatross	Punta Guabun	4-Feb-10
Royal Albatross	Valparaiso Pelagic	11-Feb-10
Southern Giant-Petrel	Valparaiso Pelagic	11-Feb-10
Northern Giant-Petrel	Valparaiso Pelagic	11-Feb-10
Juan Fernandez Petrel	Valparaiso Pelagic	11-Feb-10
White-chinned Petrel	Valparaiso Pelagic	11-Feb-10
Westland Petrel	Valparaiso Pelagic	11-Feb-10
Pink-footed Shearwater	Valparaiso Pelagic	11-Feb-10
Buller's Shearwater	Valparaiso Pelagic	11-Feb-10
Sooty Shearwater	Canal Chacao	4-Feb-10
Little Shearwater	Valparaiso Pelagic	11-Feb-10
Wilson's Storm-Petrel	Canal Chacao	8-Feb-10
Peruvian Diving-Petrel	Valparaiso Pelagic	11-Feb-10
Peruvian Booby	Bahía de Caulin	5-Feb-10
Peruvian Pelican	Canal Chacao	4-Feb-10
Neotropic Cormorant	Drive from La Serena to Santiago	31-Jan-10
Red-legged Cormorant	Canal Chacao	4-Feb-10
Magellan Cormorant	Punta Guabun	4-Feb-10
Guanay Cormorant	Valparaiso Pelagic	11-Feb-10
Imperial Cormorant	Canal Chacao	4-Feb-10
Cocoi Heron	Lampa	1-Feb-10
Great Egret	Drive from La Serena to Santiago	31-Jan-10
Snowy Egret	Lampa	1-Feb-10
Cattle Egret	Drive from La Serena to Santiago	31-Jan-10
Black-crowned Night-Heron	Lampa	1-Feb-10
Black-faced Ibis	Lago Colbún	2-Feb-10
Black Vulture	Drive from La Serena to Santiago	31-Jan-10
Turkey Vulture	Drive from La Serena to Santiago	31-Jan-10
Andean Condor	Laguna del Maule and environs	3-Feb-10
White-tailed Kite	Drive to Temuco	4-Feb-10
Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle	Drive from La Serena to Santiago	31-Jan-10
Cinereous Harrier	Drive from La Serena to Santiago	31-Jan-10
Bicolored Hawk	Bahía de Caulin	5-Feb-10
Red-backed Hawk	Drive from La Serena to Santiago	31-Jan-10
Rufous-tailed Hawk	Lago Huillinco	6-Feb-10
Southern Caracara	Beach near Ancud	5-Feb-10
Chimango Caracara	Drive from La Serena to Santiago	31-Jan-10
American Kestrel	Drive from La Serena to Santiago	31-Jan-10
Aplomado Falcon	Santiago to Valparaiso	10-Feb-10
Plumbeous Rail	Punta Guabun	4-Feb-10
Red-gartered Coot	Lago Colbún	3-Feb-10
Red-fronted Coot	Ancud bridge pond	5-Feb-10
White-winged Coot	Ancud bridge pond	5-Feb-10
Southern Lapwing	Drive from La Serena to Santiago	31-Jan-10
Diademed Plover	Embalse El Yeso	13-Feb-10
American Oystercatcher	Puente El Estero	4-Feb-10
Blackish Oystercatcher	Drive from La Serena to Santiago	31-Jan-10
Black-necked Stilt	Lampa	1-Feb-10
Greater Yellowlegs	Puñihuil area marshes	5-Feb-10
Lesser Yellowlegs	Puñihuil area marshes	5-Feb-10
Whimbrel	Puente El Estero	4-Feb-10
Hudsonian Godwit	Puente El Estero	4-Feb-10
Ruddy Turnstone	Bahía de Caulin	5-Feb-10
Surfbird	Islote de Puñihuil (Pingüinera)	5-Feb-10
Red Knot	Bahía de Caulin	5-Feb-10
Sanderling	Bahía de Caulin	5-Feb-10
Baird's Sandpiper	Puente El Estero	4-Feb-10
South American Snipe	Punta Guabun	4-Feb-10
Gray-breasted Seedsnipe	Laguna del Maule and environs	3-Feb-10
Andean Gull	Lago Colbún	2-Feb-10
Brown-hooded Gull	Lampa	1-Feb-10
Dolphin Gull	Yaldad	7-Feb-10
Gray Gull	Drive from La Serena to Santiago	31-Jan-10
Franklin's Gull	Canal Chacao	4-Feb-10
Belcher's Gull	Drive from La Serena to Santiago	31-Jan-10
Kelp Gull	Drive from La Serena to Santiago	31-Jan-10
Inca Tern	Valparaiso Pelagic	11-Feb-10
Common Tern	Valparaiso Pelagic	11-Feb-10
South American Tern	Canal Chacao	4-Feb-10
Snowy-crowned Tern	Bahía de Caulin	5-Feb-10
Elegant Tern	Valparaiso Pelagic	11-Feb-10
Black Skimmer	Punta Guabun	4-Feb-10
Chilean Skua	Valparaiso Pelagic	11-Feb-10
Parasitic Jaeger	Punta Guabun	6-Feb-10
Rock Pigeon	Drive from La Serena to Santiago	31-Jan-10
Chilean Pigeon	Altos de Lircay (Vilches)	2-Feb-10
White-winged Dove	Drive from La Serena to Santiago	31-Jan-10
Eared Dove	Lampa	1-Feb-10
Picui Ground-Dove	Drive from La Serena to Santiago	31-Jan-10
Black-winged Ground-Dove	Laguna del Maule and environs	3-Feb-10
Burrowing Parakeet	Lago Colbún	2-Feb-10
Austral Parakeet	Altos de Lircay (Vilches)	2-Feb-10
Slender-billed Parakeet	Quelen Bay flats	7-Feb-10
Monk Parakeet	Santiago	31-Jan-10
Great Horned Owl	Lago Colbún	3-Feb-10
White-sided Hillstar	Laguna del Maule and environs	3-Feb-10
Giant Hummingbird	La Campana Granizo sector	12-Feb-10
Green-backed Firecrown	Altos de Lircay (Vilches)	2-Feb-10
Ringed Kingfisher	Drive to Castro	6-Feb-10
Striped Woodpecker	Altos de Lircay (Vilches)	2-Feb-10
Chilean Flicker	Altos de Lircay (Vilches)	2-Feb-10
Magellanic Woodpecker	Altos de Lircay (Vilches)	2-Feb-10
Rufous-banded Miner	Embalse El Yeso	13-Feb-10
Crag Chilia	Embalse El Yeso	12-Feb-10
Scale-throated Earthcreeper	Embalse El Yeso	13-Feb-10
Bar-winged Cinclodes	Laguna del Maule and environs	3-Feb-10
Dark-bellied Cinclodes	Lago Colbún	3-Feb-10
Seaside Cinclodes	Valparaiso Pelagic	11-Feb-10
Thorn-tailed Rayadito	Altos de Lircay (Vilches)	2-Feb-10
Plain-mantled Tit-Spinetail	Lampa	1-Feb-10
Des Murs's Wiretail	Lago Huillinco	6-Feb-10
Sharp-billed Canastero	Laguna del Maule and environs	3-Feb-10
Dusky-tailed Canastero	La Campana Granizo sector	12-Feb-10
White-throated Treerunner	Altos de Lircay (Vilches)	2-Feb-10
Chestnut-throated Huet-huet	Altos de Lircay (Vilches)	2-Feb-10
Black-throated Huet-huet	Lago Huillinco	6-Feb-10
Moustached Turca	La Campana Granizo sector	12-Feb-10
White-throated Tapaculo	La Campana Granizo sector	12-Feb-10
Chucao Tapaculo	Altos de Lircay (Vilches)	2-Feb-10
Ochre-flanked Tapaculo	Lago Huillinco	6-Feb-10
Magellanic Tapaculo	Altos de Lircay (Vilches)	2-Feb-10
Dusky Tapaculo	Lago Colbún	2-Feb-10
Tufted Tit-Tyrant	Altos de Lircay (Vilches)	2-Feb-10
White-crested Elaenia	Altos de Lircay (Vilches)	2-Feb-10
Austral Negrito	Puente El Estero	4-Feb-10
Spectacled Tyrant	Spec Tyrant spot	8-Feb-10
Spot-billed Ground-Tyrant	Conguillio National Park	9-Feb-10
Cinereous Ground-Tyrant	Laguna del Maule and environs	3-Feb-10
White-browed Ground-Tyrant	Laguna del Maule and environs	3-Feb-10
Black-fronted Ground-Tyrant	Embalse El Yeso	13-Feb-10
Black-billed Shrike-Tyrant	Embalse El Yeso	13-Feb-10
Fire-eyed Diucon	Altos de Lircay (Vilches)	2-Feb-10
Patagonian Tyrant	Altos de Lircay (Vilches)	2-Feb-10
Rufous-tailed Plantcutter	Laguna del Maule and environs	3-Feb-10
Chilean Swallow	Drive from La Serena to Santiago	31-Jan-10
Blue-and-white Swallow	Lago Colbún	3-Feb-10
Barn Swallow	Lago Huillinco	6-Feb-10
House Wren	Altos de Lircay (Vilches)	2-Feb-10
Sedge Wren	Yaldad	7-Feb-10
Austral Thrush	Drive from La Serena to Santiago	31-Jan-10
Chilean Mockingbird	Drive from La Serena to Santiago	31-Jan-10
Correndera Pipit	Lampa	1-Feb-10
Gray-hooded Sierra-Finch	Laguna del Maule and environs	3-Feb-10
Patagonian Sierra-Finch	Islote de Puñihuil (Pingüinera)	5-Feb-10
Mourning Sierra-Finch	Laguna del Maule and environs	3-Feb-10
Plumbeous Sierra-Finch	Embalse El Yeso	13-Feb-10
Common Diuca-Finch	Lampa	1-Feb-10
Greater Yellow-Finch	Laguna del Maule and environs	3-Feb-10
Grassland Yellow-Finch	Lago Colbún	3-Feb-10
Rufous-collared Sparrow	Lampa	1-Feb-10
Long-tailed Meadowlark	Lampa	1-Feb-10
Austral Blackbird	Drive from La Serena to Santiago	31-Jan-10
Yellow-winged Blackbird	Lampa	1-Feb-10
Yellow-rumped Siskin	Laguna del Maule and environs	3-Feb-10
Black-chinned Siskin	Altos de Lircay (Vilches)	2-Feb-10
House Sparrow	Drive from La Serena to Santiago	31-Jan-10

Peru bird list

2010-03-31T08:09:00.000-07:00

This below list is in taxonomical order, and is generated by eBird (ebird.org).

Photos from this trip can be seen at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/uropsalis/sets/72157623304351991/

938 species in total, 429 life birds.

Gray Tinamou	Tarapoto Tunnel	24-Dec-09
White-throated Tinamou	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	29-Dec-09
Cinereous Tinamou	Contamana Hills	4-Dec-09
Little Tinamou	Contamana Hills	5-Dec-09
Undulated Tinamou	Contamana Hills	4-Dec-09
Pale-browed Tinamou	Quebrada El Limon	11-Jan-10
Gray-legged Tinamou	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	29-Dec-09
Variegated Tinamou	Contamana Hills	4-Dec-09
Tataupa Tinamou	La Cumbre road	22-Nov-09
Andean Goose	Lago de Junin	20-Nov-09
Muscovy Duck	Contamana River	3-Dec-09
Torrent Duck	Lago de Junin	13-Dec-09
Crested Duck	Lago de Junin	19-Nov-09
Cinnamon Teal	Lago de Junin	19-Nov-09
White-cheeked Pintail	Pantanos de Villa	29-Nov-09
Yellow-billed Pintail	Lago de Junin	19-Nov-09
Silver Teal	Lago de Junin	19-Nov-09
Speckled Teal	Lago de Junin	19-Nov-09
Ruddy Duck	Satipo Rd Lake	24-Nov-09
Speckled Chachalaca	La Cumbre road	22-Nov-09
Andean Guan	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
White-winged Guan	Quebrada El Limon	11-Jan-10
Wattled Guan	Tarapoto Tunnel	23-Dec-09
Salvin's Curassow	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	29-Dec-09
Rufous-breasted Wood-Quail	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	22-Dec-09
Least Grebe	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Pied-billed Grebe	Pantanos de Villa	29-Nov-09
Great Grebe	Pantanos de Villa	29-Nov-09
Chilean Flamingo	Lago de Junin	19-Nov-09
Humboldt Penguin	Lima pelagic	20-Jan-10
Waved Albatross	Lima pelagic	20-Jan-10
White-chinned Petrel	Lima pelagic	20-Jan-10
Pink-footed Shearwater	Lima pelagic	20-Jan-10
Sooty Shearwater	Lima pelagic	20-Jan-10
Wilson's Storm-Petrel	Lima pelagic	20-Jan-10
Elliot's Storm-Petrel	Lima pelagic	20-Jan-10
Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrel	Lima pelagic	20-Jan-10
Markham's Storm-Petrel	Lima pelagic	20-Jan-10
Least Storm-Petrel	Lima pelagic	20-Jan-10
Peruvian Diving-Petrel	Lima pelagic	20-Jan-10
Blue-footed Booby	Lima pelagic	20-Jan-10
Peruvian Booby	Pantanos de Villa	29-Nov-09
Peruvian Pelican	Pantanos de Villa	29-Nov-09
Neotropic Cormorant	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Red-legged Cormorant	Lima pelagic	20-Jan-10
Guanay Cormorant	Lima pelagic	20-Jan-10
Anhinga	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Fasciated Tiger-Heron	Villa Rica to Huancayo	23-Nov-09
Cocoi Heron	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Great Egret	Lago de Junin	19-Nov-09
Snowy Egret	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Little Blue Heron	Pantanos de Villa	29-Nov-09
Cattle Egret	Pantanos de Villa	29-Nov-09
Striated Heron	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Capped Heron	Yarinacocha	7-Dec-09
Black-crowned Night-Heron	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Puna Ibis	Lago de Junin	19-Nov-09
Black-faced Ibis	Satipo Rd Lake	24-Nov-09
Jabiru	Contamana Hills	5-Dec-09
Black Vulture	Pantanos de Villa	29-Nov-09
Turkey Vulture	Contamana River	3-Dec-09
Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture	Contamana River	3-Dec-09
Greater Yellow-headed Vulture	Contamana River	3-Dec-09
King Vulture	Contamana Hills	5-Dec-09
Osprey	Pantanos de Villa	29-Nov-09
Hook-billed Kite	Near La Florida	16-Dec-09
Swallow-tailed Kite	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Pearl Kite	Chiclayo area	15-Dec-09
Snail Kite	Pucallpa	1-Dec-09
Double-toothed Kite	Contamana Hills	5-Dec-09
Plumbeous Kite	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Black-collared Hawk	Contamana River	3-Dec-09
Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle	Thistletail hillside	26-Nov-09
Sharp-shinned Hawk	Tarapoto Tunnel	24-Dec-09
Crane Hawk	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	29-Dec-09
Barred Hawk	Afluente	3-Jan-10
White Hawk	Tarapoto Tunnel	23-Dec-09
Great Black-Hawk	Yarinacocha	7-Dec-09
Savanna Hawk	Chiclayo area	15-Dec-09
Harris's Hawk	Quebrada El Limon	11-Jan-10
Roadside Hawk	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Broad-winged Hawk	La Cumbre road	22-Nov-09
White-rumped Hawk	Abra Patricia	5-Jan-10
Short-tailed Hawk	Pucallpa Airport	2-Dec-09
Red-backed Hawk	Lago de Junin	20-Nov-09
Ornate Hawk-Eagle	Contamana Hills	5-Dec-09
Black Caracara	Pucallpa	1-Dec-09
Mountain Caracara	Lago de Junin	19-Nov-09
Crested Caracara	Quebrada El Limon	11-Jan-10
Yellow-headed Caracara	Contamana River	2-Dec-09
Laughing Falcon	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	29-Dec-09
American Kestrel	Lima to Junin	18-Nov-09
Aplomado Falcon	Lago de Junin	19-Nov-09
Bat Falcon	Tingo Maria to Huanaco	8-Dec-09
Peregrine Falcon	Lago de Junin	20-Nov-09
Rufous-sided Crake	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Gray-necked Wood-Rail	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Spotted Rail	Bagua Chica	6-Jan-10
Blackish Rail	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Plumbeous Rail	La Florida, laguna Pomacocha	16-Dec-09
Purple Gallinule	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Common Moorhen	Lago de Junin	19-Nov-09
Giant Coot	Lago de Junin	19-Nov-09
Slate-colored Coot	Lago de Junin	19-Nov-09
Sungrebe	Contamana River	3-Dec-09
Gray-winged Trumpeter	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	28-Dec-09
Peruvian Thick-knee	Pantanos de Villa	29-Nov-09
Pied Lapwing	Contamana River	3-Dec-09
Andean Lapwing	Lago de Junin	19-Nov-09
Black-bellied Plover	Punta Callao	21-Jan-10
Semipalmated Plover	Punta Callao	21-Jan-10
Killdeer	Pantanos de Villa	29-Nov-09
Diademed Plover	Marcapomacocha area	28-Nov-09
American Oystercatcher	Pantanos de Villa	29-Nov-09
Blackish Oystercatcher	Coast near Huarmey	26-Jan-10
Black-necked Stilt	Pantanos de Villa	29-Nov-09
Wattled Jacana	Contamana Hills	4-Dec-09
Spotted Sandpiper	Pantanos de Villa	29-Nov-09
Solitary Sandpiper	Chao	13-Jan-10
Greater Yellowlegs	Lago de Junin	19-Nov-09
Whimbrel	Punta Callao	21-Jan-10
Ruddy Turnstone	Punta Callao	21-Jan-10
Surfbird	Lima pelagic	20-Jan-10
Sanderling	Punta Callao	21-Jan-10
Semipalmated Sandpiper	Punta Callao	21-Jan-10
Western Sandpiper	Punta Callao	21-Jan-10
Baird's Sandpiper	Lago de Junin	19-Nov-09
Puna Snipe	Marcapomacocha area	28-Nov-09
Andean Snipe	Bosque Unchog	10-Dec-09
Red Phalarope	Lima pelagic	20-Jan-10
Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe	Marcapomacocha area	28-Nov-09
Gray-breasted Seedsnipe	Marcapomacocha area	28-Nov-09
Least Seedsnipe	Lomas de Lachay Natural Preserve	22-Jan-10
Swallow-tailed Gull	Lima pelagic	20-Jan-10
Sabine's Gull	Lima pelagic	20-Jan-10
Andean Gull	Lago de Junin	19-Nov-09
Gray-hooded Gull	Pantanos de Villa	29-Nov-09
Gray Gull	Lima pelagic	20-Jan-10
Franklin's Gull	Pantanos de Villa	29-Nov-09
Belcher's Gull	Pantanos de Villa	29-Nov-09
Kelp Gull	Pantanos de Villa	29-Nov-09
Yellow-billed Tern	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Large-billed Tern	Contamana River	2-Dec-09
Inca Tern	Lima pelagic	20-Jan-10
Sandwich Tern	Lima pelagic	20-Jan-10
Elegant Tern	Pantanos de Villa	29-Nov-09
Black Skimmer	Contamana River	3-Dec-09
Pomarine Jaeger	Lima pelagic	20-Jan-10
Long-tailed Jaeger	Lima pelagic	20-Jan-10
Rock Pigeon	Lima to Junin	18-Nov-09
Pale-vented Pigeon	Contamana River	2-Dec-09
Scaled Pigeon	Afluente	3-Jan-10
Spot-winged Pigeon	Junin to Huanaco	20-Nov-09
Band-tailed Pigeon	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Peruvian Pigeon	Balsas Valley	15-Jan-10
Plumbeous Pigeon	Contamana Hills	5-Dec-09
Ruddy Pigeon	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
West Peruvian Dove	Lima to Junin	18-Nov-09
Eared Dove	Lima to Junin	18-Nov-09
Plain-breasted Ground-Dove	Mocupe	18-Jan-10
Ruddy Ground-Dove	Contamana River	3-Dec-09
Ecuadorian Ground-Dove	Jaen area scrub	7-Jan-10
Croaking Ground-Dove	Bagua Chica	6-Jan-10
Blue Ground-Dove	Yarinacocha	7-Dec-09
Bare-faced Ground-Dove	Rio Chonta (Valqui F1.1)	14-Jan-10
Black-winged Ground-Dove	Lago de Junin	20-Nov-09
White-tipped Dove	Quebrada Upaquihua	1-Jan-10
Gray-fronted Dove	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
White-throated Quail-Dove	Afluente	3-Jan-10
Maroon-tailed Parakeet	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	28-Dec-09
Mountain Parakeet	Rio Chonta (Valqui F1.1)	14-Jan-10
Scarlet-fronted Parakeet	Bagua Chica	6-Jan-10
Mitred Parakeet	Near La Florida	16-Dec-09
Red-masked Parakeet	Quebrada El Limon	11-Jan-10
White-eyed Parakeet	Contamana River	3-Dec-09
Dusky-headed Parakeet	Contamana Hills	4-Dec-09
Chestnut-fronted Macaw	Contamana River	2-Dec-09
Red-and-green Macaw	Contamana Hills	5-Dec-09
Blue-headed Macaw	Tingo Maria to Huanaco	8-Dec-09
Blue-winged Parrotlet	Morro de Calzada	21-Dec-09
Dusky-billed Parrotlet	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	29-Dec-09
Pacific Parrotlet	Maranon Valley	15-Dec-09
Yellow-faced Parrotlet	Balsas Valley	15-Jan-10
White-winged Parakeet	Contamana River	2-Dec-09
Cobalt-winged Parakeet	Contamana River	2-Dec-09
Black-headed Parrot	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	29-Dec-09
Short-tailed Parrot	Contamana River	3-Dec-09
Blue-headed Parrot	Contamana River	2-Dec-09
Red-billed Parrot	Afluente	3-Jan-10
Speckle-faced Parrot	Bosque Unchog	11-Dec-09
Orange-winged Parrot	Quistacocha	27-Dec-09
Scaly-naped Parrot	Near La Florida	16-Dec-09
Squirrel Cuckoo	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Striped Cuckoo	Quebrada Upaquihua	1-Jan-10
Greater Ani	Contamana River	3-Dec-09
Smooth-billed Ani	La Cumbre road	22-Nov-09
Groove-billed Ani	Maranon drive	5-Jan-10
Barn Owl	Mantaro Valley	25-Nov-09
Peruvian Screech-Owl	Bagua Chica	6-Jan-10
Koepcke's Screech-Owl	Satipo campsite	24-Nov-09
Cinnamon Screech-Owl	Abra Patricia	4-Jan-10
Tawny-bellied Screech-Owl	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	27-Dec-09
Crested Owl	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	28-Dec-09
Spectacled Owl	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	27-Dec-09
Band-bellied Owl	Villa Rica to Huancayo	23-Nov-09
Great Horned Owl	Aija area	24-Jan-10
Yungas Pygmy-Owl	Bosque Unchog	11-Dec-09
Peruvian Pygmy-Owl	Bagua Chica	6-Jan-10
Burrowing Owl	Chao	12-Jan-10
Rufous-banded Owl	Abra Patricia	4-Jan-10
Short-eared Owl	Lago de Junin	20-Nov-09
Striped Owl	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Lesser Nighthawk	Pantanos de Villa	29-Nov-09
Common Nighthawk	Contamana River	2-Dec-09
Common Pauraque	Morro de Calzada	21-Dec-09
Ocellated Poorwill	Quebrada Upaquihua	1-Jan-10
Band-winged Nightjar	Satipo Rd Gynoxys forest	24-Nov-09
Scrub Nightjar	Quebrada El Limon	11-Jan-10
Blackish Nightjar	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	27-Dec-09
Swallow-tailed Nightjar	Bosque Unchog	12-Dec-09
Great Potoo	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	28-Dec-09
Long-tailed Potoo	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	27-Dec-09
Common Potoo	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	28-Dec-09
Oilbird	Moyobamba road	22-Dec-09
White-chinned Swift	Abra Patricia	4-Jan-10
Chestnut-collared Swift	Afluente	3-Jan-10
White-collared Swift	Pucallpa to Tingo Maria	8-Dec-09
Short-tailed Swift	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	27-Dec-09
Gray-rumped Swift	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	29-Dec-09
White-tipped Swift	Junin to Huanaco	20-Nov-09
Andean Swift	Rio Chonta (Valqui F1.1)	14-Jan-10
Lesser Swallow-tailed Swift	Pucallpa to Tingo Maria	8-Dec-09
Fork-tailed Palm-Swift	Pucallpa	1-Dec-09
Rufous-breasted Hermit	Morro de Calzada	21-Dec-09
Pale-tailed Barbthroat	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	27-Dec-09
Green Hermit	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	20-Dec-09
Tawny-bellied Hermit	Abra Patricia	18-Dec-09
Koepcke's Hermit	Tarapoto Tunnel	23-Dec-09
Straight-billed Hermit	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	27-Dec-09
Black-throated Hermit	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	20-Dec-09
Gray-chinned Hermit	Morro de Calzada	21-Dec-09
Reddish Hermit	Quebrada Upaquihua	1-Jan-10
Planalto Hermit	Quebrada Upaquihua	1-Jan-10
Buff-tailed Sicklebill	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	20-Dec-09
Green-fronted Lancebill	Abra Patricia	5-Jan-10
Blue-fronted Lancebill	Tarapoto Tunnel	24-Dec-09
Gray-breasted Sabrewing	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	20-Dec-09
Napo Sabrewing	Tarapoto Tunnel	23-Dec-09
White-necked Jacobin	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
Brown Violetear	Tarapoto Tunnel	24-Dec-09
Green Violetear	La Cumbre road	22-Nov-09
Sparkling Violetear	La Cumbre road	22-Nov-09
Black-throated Mango	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Violet-headed Hummingbird	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	20-Dec-09
Rufous-crested Coquette	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
Wire-crested Thorntail	Afluente	3-Jan-10
Blue-chinned Sapphire	Yarinacocha	7-Dec-09
Blue-tailed Emerald	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
Fork-tailed Woodnymph	Contamana Hills	5-Dec-09
Golden-tailed Sapphire	Tarapoto Tunnel	23-Dec-09
Tumbes Hummingbird	Quebrada El Limon	11-Jan-10
Spot-throated Hummingbird	Bagua Chica	6-Jan-10
Olive-spotted Hummingbird	Iquitos River Islands	30-Dec-09
White-bellied Hummingbird	La Cumbre road	22-Nov-09
Amazilia Hummingbird	Quebrada El Limon	11-Jan-10
Andean Emerald	Balsas Valley	15-Jan-10
Glittering-throated Emerald	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	28-Dec-09
Sapphire-spangled Emerald	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Speckled Hummingbird	La Cumbre road	22-Nov-09
Gould's Jewelfront	Tarapoto Tunnel	24-Dec-09
Chestnut-breasted Coronet	Rio Chido Trail	17-Dec-09
Shining Sunbeam	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Black-breasted Hillstar	Lago de Junin	19-Nov-09
Mountain Velvetbreast	Runatullo	25-Nov-09
Bronzy Inca	La Cumbre road	22-Nov-09
Collared Inca	Paty Trail	9-Dec-09
Violet-throated Starfrontlet	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Sword-billed Hummingbird	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Great Sapphirewing	Bosque Unchog	10-Dec-09
Giant Hummingbird	Chucho Acha	26-Nov-09
Amethyst-throated Sunangel	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Royal Sunangel	Abra Patricia	18-Dec-09
Sapphire-vented Puffleg	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Emerald-bellied Puffleg	Near La Florida	16-Dec-09
Greenish Puffleg	Abra Patricia	18-Dec-09
Booted Racket-tail	Afluente	3-Jan-10
Black-tailed Trainbearer	Chucho Acha	26-Nov-09
Green-tailed Trainbearer	Near La Florida	16-Dec-09
Bronze-tailed Comet	Road above San Damian	25-Jan-10
Purple-backed Thornbill	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Tyrian Metaltail	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Coppery Metaltail	Bosque Unchog	10-Dec-09
Fire-throated Metaltail	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Black Metaltail	Rio Chonta (Valqui F1.1)	14-Jan-10
Olivaceous Thornbill	Satipo Rd Gynoxys forest	24-Nov-09
Blue-mantled Thornbill	Satipo Rd Gynoxys forest	24-Nov-09
Gray-bellied Comet	Rio Chonta (Valqui F1.1)	14-Jan-10
Long-tailed Sylph	La Cumbre road	22-Nov-09
Black-eared Fairy	Contamana Hills	5-Dec-09
Marvelous Spatuletail	Near La Florida	16-Dec-09
Oasis Hummingbird	Lomas de Lachay Natural Preserve	22-Jan-10
Peruvian Sheartail	Chao	13-Jan-10
Amethyst Woodstar	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	28-Dec-09
Purple-collared Woodstar	Near La Florida	16-Dec-09
Short-tailed Woodstar	Quebrada El Limon	11-Jan-10
White-bellied Woodstar	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
White-tailed Trogon	Contamana Hills	5-Dec-09
Blue-crowned Trogon	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
Violaceous Trogon	Morro de Calzada	21-Dec-09
Collared Trogon	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	20-Dec-09
Masked Trogon	Paty Trail	9-Dec-09
Black-throated Trogon	Contamana River	3-Dec-09
Black-tailed Trogon	Yarinacocha	7-Dec-09
Golden-headed Quetzal	Abra Patricia	18-Dec-09
Crested Quetzal	Abra Patricia	4-Jan-10
Blue-crowned Motmot	Contamana Hills	5-Dec-09
Broad-billed Motmot	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	22-Dec-09
Ringed Kingfisher	Contamana River	2-Dec-09
Amazon Kingfisher	Contamana River	2-Dec-09
Green Kingfisher	Contamana River	2-Dec-09
Brown-banded Puffbird	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	29-Dec-09
Collared Puffbird	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	29-Dec-09
Striolated Puffbird	Morro de Calzada	21-Dec-09
White-chested Puffbird	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	29-Dec-09
Lanceolated Monklet	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
Brown Nunlet	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	29-Dec-09
Rufous-capped Nunlet	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
Black-fronted Nunbird	Contamana Hills	5-Dec-09
White-fronted Nunbird	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
Yellow-billed Nunbird	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	29-Dec-09
Swallow-winged Puffbird	Contamana River	3-Dec-09
Purus Jacamar	Yarinacocha	7-Dec-09
Yellow-billed Jacamar	Contamana River	3-Dec-09
White-chinned Jacamar	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	27-Dec-09
Bluish-fronted Jacamar	Contamana Hills	5-Dec-09
Paradise Jacamar	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	28-Dec-09
Great Jacamar	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	29-Dec-09
Scarlet-crowned Barbet	Yarinacocha	7-Dec-09
Gilded Barbet	Contamana Hills	5-Dec-09
Versicolored Barbet	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	22-Dec-09
Emerald Toucanet	Near La Florida	16-Dec-09
Chestnut-tipped Toucanet	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	22-Dec-09
Gray-breasted Mountain-Toucan	Paty Trail	9-Dec-09
Lettered Aracari	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	28-Dec-09
Ivory-billed Aracari	Tarapoto Tunnel	24-Dec-09
Chestnut-eared Aracari	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Many-banded Aracari	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	28-Dec-09
Golden-collared Toucanet	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
White-throated Toucan	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	27-Dec-09
Channel-billed Toucan	Morro de Calzada	21-Dec-09
Lafresnaye's Piculet	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	22-Dec-09
Speckle-chested Piculet	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
Ocellated Piculet	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Plain-breasted Piculet	Contamana River	3-Dec-09
Yellow-tufted Woodpecker	Yarinacocha	7-Dec-09
Little Woodpecker	Contamana River	3-Dec-09
Scarlet-backed Woodpecker	Jaen area scrub	7-Jan-10
Red-stained Woodpecker	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	20-Dec-09
White-throated Woodpecker	Tarapoto Tunnel	24-Dec-09
Crimson-mantled Woodpecker	Rio Chido Trail	17-Dec-09
Black-necked Woodpecker	Balsas Valley	15-Jan-10
Golden-olive Woodpecker	La Cumbre road	22-Nov-09
Spot-breasted Woodpecker	Contamana River	3-Dec-09
Andean Flicker	Lago de Junin	19-Nov-09
Scale-breasted Woodpecker	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	28-Dec-09
Cream-colored Woodpecker	Contamana Hills	5-Dec-09
Lineated Woodpecker	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
Red-necked Woodpecker	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	29-Dec-09
Crimson-crested Woodpecker	Contamana River	3-Dec-09
Coastal Miner	Chao	13-Jan-10
Common Miner	Satipo Rd Lake	24-Nov-09
Dark-winged Miner	Lago de Junin	20-Nov-09
Grayish Miner	Lomas de Lachay Natural Preserve	27-Jan-10
Thick-billed Miner	Lomas de Lachay Natural Preserve	22-Jan-10
Plain-breasted Earthcreeper	Marcapomacocha area	28-Nov-09
Striated Earthcreeper	Abra Portachuelo	23-Jan-10
Bar-winged Cinclodes	Lago de Junin	19-Nov-09
Surf Cinclodes	Lima pelagic	20-Jan-10
White-winged Cinclodes	Marcapomacocha area	28-Nov-09
White-bellied Cinclodes	Marcapomacocha area	28-Nov-09
Pale-legged Hornero	Contamana River	3-Dec-09
Lesser Hornero	Iquitos River Islands	30-Dec-09
Wren-like Rushbird	Lago de Junin	20-Nov-09
Rusty-crowned Tit-Spinetail	Rio Chonta (Valqui F1.1)	14-Jan-10
White-chinned Thistletail	Bosque Unchog	10-Dec-09
Eye-ringed Thistletail	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Azara's Spinetail	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Dark-breasted Spinetail	Contamana River	3-Dec-09
Cinereous-breasted Spinetail	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	22-Dec-09
Rufous Spinetail	Rio Chido Trail	17-Dec-09
White-bellied Spinetail	Iquitos River Islands	30-Dec-09
Marañon Spinetail	Jaen area scrub	7-Jan-10
Plain-crowned Spinetail	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Russet-bellied Spinetail	San Damian	26-Jan-10
Necklaced Spinetail	Jaen area scrub	7-Jan-10
Great Spinetail	San Marcos	16-Jan-10
White-browed Spinetail	Bosque Unchog	12-Dec-09
Parker's Spinetail	Iquitos River Islands	30-Dec-09
Creamy-crested Spinetail	Mantaro Valley	25-Nov-09
Ash-browed Spinetail	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Baron's Spinetail	Balsas Valley	15-Jan-10
Red-and-white Spinetail	Contamana River	3-Dec-09
Russet-mantled Softtail	Rio Chido Trail	17-Dec-09
Canyon Canastero	Abra Portachuelo	23-Jan-10
Cactus Canastero	Lomas de Lachay Natural Preserve	27-Jan-10
Streak-throated Canastero	Lago de Junin	20-Nov-09
Line-fronted Canastero	Bosque Unchog	11-Dec-09
Many-striped Canastero	Bosque Unchog	10-Dec-09
Junin Canastero	Marcapomacocha area	28-Nov-09
Creamy-breasted Canastero	Runatullo	25-Nov-09
Rufous-fronted Thornbird	Bagua Chica	6-Jan-10
Streak-fronted Thornbird	Chucho Acha	26-Nov-09
Chestnut-backed Thornbird	Balsas Valley	15-Jan-10
Orange-fronted Plushcrown	Yarinacocha	7-Dec-09
Rusty-winged Barbtail	Abra Patricia	5-Jan-10
Pearled Treerunner	Paty Trail	9-Dec-09
Streaked Tuftedcheek	Paty Trail	9-Dec-09
Montane Foliage-gleaner	La Cumbre road	22-Nov-09
Buff-browed Foliage-gleaner	La Cumbre road	22-Nov-09
Chestnut-winged Hookbill	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	29-Dec-09
Buff-fronted Foliage-gleaner	Afluente	3-Jan-10
Buff-throated Foliage-gleaner	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	20-Dec-09
Sharp-tailed Streamcreeper	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	20-Dec-09
Slender-billed Xenops	Yarinacocha	7-Dec-09
Plain Xenops	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	20-Dec-09
Streaked Xenops	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Plain-brown Woodcreeper	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
White-chinned Woodcreeper	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	28-Dec-09
Olivaceous Woodcreeper	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Long-tailed Woodcreeper	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	20-Dec-09
Wedge-billed Woodcreeper	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	20-Dec-09
Cinnamon-throated Woodcreeper	Yarinacocha	7-Dec-09
Black-banded Woodcreeper	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	28-Dec-09
Straight-billed Woodcreeper	Yarinacocha	7-Dec-09
Striped Woodcreeper	Yarinacocha	7-Dec-09
Elegant Woodcreeper	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	29-Dec-09
Buff-throated Woodcreeper	Contamana River	3-Dec-09
Olive-backed Woodcreeper	La Cumbre road	22-Nov-09
Streak-headed Woodcreeper	Quebrada El Limon	11-Jan-10
Montane Woodcreeper	Rio Chido Trail	17-Dec-09
Lineated Woodcreeper	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	28-Dec-09
Fasciated Antshrike	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	20-Dec-09
Great Antshrike	Contamana Hills	5-Dec-09
Barred Antshrike	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Rufous-capped Antshrike	Near La Florida	16-Dec-09
Lined Antshrike	Afluente	3-Jan-10
Chestnut-backed Antshrike	La Cumbre road	22-Nov-09
Collared Antshrike	Bagua Chica	6-Jan-10
Plain-winged Antshrike	Contamana Hills	5-Dec-09
Mouse-colored Antshrike	Contamana Hills	5-Dec-09
Castelnau's Antshrike	Iquitos River Islands	30-Dec-09
Northern Slaty-Antshrike	Quebrada Upaquihua	1-Jan-10
Variable Antshrike	Abra Patricia	18-Dec-09
Uniform Antshrike	Abra Patricia	4-Jan-10
Pearly Antshrike	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	27-Dec-09
Dusky-throated Antshrike	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	27-Dec-09
Cinereous Antshrike	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	27-Dec-09
Spot-winged Antshrike	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	28-Dec-09
Sclater's Antwren	Contamana Hills	5-Dec-09
Stripe-chested Antwren	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Plain-throated Antwren	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	28-Dec-09
White-flanked Antwren	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
Gray Antwren	Yarinacocha	7-Dec-09
Leaden Antwren	Iquitos River Islands	30-Dec-09
Stipple-throated Antwren	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	27-Dec-09
Foothill Antwren	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	20-Dec-09
Creamy-bellied Antwren	La Cumbre road	22-Nov-09
Ash-throated Antwren	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
Ancient Antwren	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	28-Dec-09
Yellow-breasted Antwren	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	20-Dec-09
Rufous-winged Antwren	Afluente	3-Jan-10
Rusty-backed Antwren	Quebrada Upaquihua	1-Jan-10
Blackish Antbird	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	20-Dec-09
White-backed Fire-eye	Abra Patricia	18-Dec-09
White-browed Antbird	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
Black-faced Antbird	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	29-Dec-09
Black-tailed Antbird	Yarinacocha	7-Dec-09
Peruvian Warbling-Antbird	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
Yellow-browed Antbird	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	28-Dec-09
Long-tailed Antbird	Paty Trail	9-Dec-09
Black-and-white Antbird	Iquitos River Islands	30-Dec-09
Allpahuayo Antbird	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	28-Dec-09
Spot-winged Antbird	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	27-Dec-09
Chestnut-tailed Antbird	Quebrada Upaquihua	1-Jan-10
Black-throated Antbird	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	28-Dec-09
Sooty Antbird	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	27-Dec-09
White-plumed Antbird	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	28-Dec-09
Bicolored Antbird	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	27-Dec-09
Spot-backed Antbird	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	20-Dec-09
Scale-backed Antbird	Morro de Calzada	21-Dec-09
Black-spotted Bare-eye	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	27-Dec-09
Black-faced Antthrush	Contamana Hills	5-Dec-09
Undulated Antpitta	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Scaled Antpitta	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	20-Dec-09
Chestnut-crowned Antpitta	Rio Chido Trail	17-Dec-09
Stripe-headed Antpitta	Abra Portachuelo	23-Jan-10
Pale-billed Antpitta	Rio Chido Trail	17-Dec-09
Rusty-tinged Antpitta	Rio Chido Trail	17-Dec-09
Bay Antpitta	Paty Trail	9-Dec-09
Rufous Antpitta	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Chestnut Antpitta	Paty Trail	9-Dec-09
Thrush-like Antpitta	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	27-Dec-09
Ochre-fronted Antpitta	Abra Patricia	18-Dec-09
Rusty-breasted Antpitta	Paty Trail	9-Dec-09
Rusty-belted Tapaculo	Contamana Hills	5-Dec-09
Ash-colored Tapaculo	Abra Patricia	18-Dec-09
Blackish Tapaculo	Abra Patricia	5-Jan-10
Trilling Tapaculo	Paty Trail	9-Dec-09
Large-footed Tapaculo	Paty Trail	9-Dec-09
Rufous-vented Tapaculo	Paty Trail	9-Dec-09
White-crowned Tapaculo	La Cumbre road	22-Nov-09
Neblina Tapaculo	Bosque Unchog	10-Dec-09
Ancash Tapaculo	Abra Portachuelo	23-Jan-10
Tschudi's Tapaculo	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Marañon Crescentchest	Bagua Chica	6-Jan-10
Elegant Crescentchest	Quebrada El Limon	11-Jan-10
Southern Beardless-Tyrannulet	Quebrada Upaquihua	1-Jan-10
White-tailed Tyrannulet	Chucho Acha	26-Nov-09
White-banded Tyrannulet	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
White-throated Tyrannulet	Bosque Unchog	10-Dec-09
Sulphur-bellied Tyrannulet	Abra Patricia	4-Jan-10
Black-crested Tit-Tyrant	Rio Chonta (Valqui F1.1)	14-Jan-10
Pied-crested Tit-Tyrant	Road above San Damian	25-Jan-10
Yellow-billed Tit-Tyrant	Bosque Unchog	10-Dec-09
Tufted Tit-Tyrant	Runatullo	25-Nov-09
Mouse-colored Tyrannulet	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	20-Dec-09
Yellow Tyrannulet	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	20-Dec-09
Yellow-crowned Tyrannulet	Contamana Hills	4-Dec-09
Forest Elaenia	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	28-Dec-09
Pacific Elaenia	Quebrada El Limon	11-Jan-10
Yellow-bellied Elaenia	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	20-Dec-09
White-crested Elaenia	Rio Chido Trail	17-Dec-09
Lesser Elaenia	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	20-Dec-09
Highland Elaenia	Chucho Acha	26-Nov-09
Sierran Elaenia	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Torrent Tyrannulet	Rio Chido Trail	17-Dec-09
River Tyrannulet	Iquitos River Islands	30-Dec-09
Streak-necked Flycatcher	La Cumbre road	22-Nov-09
Olive-striped Flycatcher	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	20-Dec-09
Ochre-bellied Flycatcher	Contamana Hills	5-Dec-09
Sepia-capped Flycatcher	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
Slaty-capped Flycatcher	Paty Trail	9-Dec-09
Inca Flycatcher	Abra Patricia	5-Jan-10
Mottle-cheeked Tyrannulet	La Cumbre road	22-Nov-09
Ecuadorian Tyrannulet	Afluente	3-Jan-10
Sooty-headed Tyrannulet	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Black-capped Tyrannulet	Rio Chido Trail	17-Dec-09
Tawny-rumped Tyrannulet	Bosque Unchog	11-Dec-09
Mishana Tyrannulet	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	29-Dec-09
Slender-footed Tyrannulet	Contamana Hills	5-Dec-09
Golden-faced Tyrannulet	Afluente	3-Jan-10
Peruvian Tyrannulet	La Cumbre road	22-Nov-09
Many-colored Rush-Tyrant	Lago de Junin	20-Nov-09
Rufous-headed Pygmy-Tyrant	Abra Patricia	5-Jan-10
Tawny-crowned Pygmy-Tyrant	Bagua Chica	6-Jan-10
Gray-and-white Tyrannulet	Quebrada El Limon	11-Jan-10
Lesser Wagtail-Tyrant	Iquitos River Islands	30-Dec-09
White-bellied Pygmy-Tyrant	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Short-tailed Pygmy-Tyrant	Contamana Hills	5-Dec-09
Scale-crested Pygmy-Tyrant	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Flammulated Pygmy-Tyrant	Quebrada Upaquihua	1-Jan-10
Johannes's Tody-Tyrant	Yarinacocha	7-Dec-09
Stripe-necked Tody-Tyrant	Morro de Calzada	21-Dec-09
Pearly-vented Tody-Tyrant	Morro de Calzada	21-Dec-09
Zimmer's Tody-Tyrant	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	29-Dec-09
Black-throated Tody-Tyrant	Abra Patricia	5-Jan-10
Cinnamon-breasted Tody-Tyrant	Abra Patricia	18-Dec-09
Johnson's Tody-Flycatcher	Rio Chido Trail	17-Dec-09
Black-and-white Tody-Flycatcher	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
Rusty-fronted Tody-Flycatcher	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	28-Dec-09
Spotted Tody-Flycatcher	Contamana Hills	4-Dec-09
Common Tody-Flycatcher	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Yellow-browed Tody-Flycatcher	Yarinacocha	7-Dec-09
Olivaceous Flatbill	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	28-Dec-09
Yellow-olive Flycatcher	Yarinacocha	7-Dec-09
Gray-crowned Flycatcher	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	29-Dec-09
Yellow-breasted Flycatcher	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
White-throated Spadebill	Morro de Calzada	21-Dec-09
Ruddy-tailed Flycatcher	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	28-Dec-09
Cinnamon Flycatcher	Paty Trail	9-Dec-09
Cliff Flycatcher	Morro de Calzada	21-Dec-09
Black-tailed Flycatcher	Quebrada Upaquihua	1-Jan-10
Flavescent Flycatcher	Paty Trail	9-Dec-09
Orange-crested Flycatcher	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	20-Dec-09
Ochraceous-breasted Flycatcher	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Olive-chested Flycatcher	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	20-Dec-09
Bran-colored Flycatcher	Quebrada El Limon	11-Jan-10
Euler's Flycatcher	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	20-Dec-09
Olive-sided Flycatcher	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	20-Dec-09
Smoke-colored Pewee	La Cumbre road	22-Nov-09
Western Wood-Pewee	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Eastern Wood-Pewee	Yarinacocha	7-Dec-09
Tropical Pewee	Quebrada El Limon	11-Jan-10
Fuscous Flycatcher	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	28-Dec-09
Alder Flycatcher	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Black Phoebe	Rio Chido Trail	17-Dec-09
Vermilion Flycatcher	Lima to Junin	18-Nov-09
Andean Negrito	Lago de Junin	19-Nov-09
Andean Tyrant	Abra Patricia	5-Jan-10
Rufous-tailed Tyrant	La Cumbre road	22-Nov-09
Riverside Tyrant	Iquitos River Islands	30-Dec-09
White-winged Black-Tyrant	Chucho Acha	26-Nov-09
Drab Water-Tyrant	Contamana River	2-Dec-09
Taczanowski's Ground-Tyrant	Marcapomacocha area	28-Nov-09
Puna Ground-Tyrant	Marcapomacocha area	28-Nov-09
White-fronted Ground-Tyrant	Marcapomacocha area	28-Nov-09
Ochre-naped Ground-Tyrant	Marcapomacocha area	28-Nov-09
Rufous-naped Ground-Tyrant	Lago de Junin	20-Nov-09
Black-billed Shrike-Tyrant	Lago de Junin	20-Nov-09
Rufous-webbed Bush-Tyrant	Abra Portachuelo	23-Jan-10
Pied Water-Tyrant	Contamana River	3-Dec-09
Tumbes Tyrant	Quebrada El Limon	11-Jan-10
Crowned Chat-Tyrant	Bosque Unchog	12-Dec-09
Slaty-backed Chat-Tyrant	Rio Chido Trail	17-Dec-09
Rufous-breasted Chat-Tyrant	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Brown-backed Chat-Tyrant	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
d'Orbigny's Chat-Tyrant	Abra Portachuelo	23-Jan-10
Piura Chat-Tyrant	San Damian	26-Jan-10
White-browed Chat-Tyrant	Satipo Rd Gynoxys forest	24-Nov-09
Long-tailed Tyrant	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Short-tailed Field-Tyrant	Chao	12-Jan-10
Cinnamon Attila	Yarinacocha	7-Dec-09
Citron-bellied Attila	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	28-Dec-09
Dull-capped Attila	Yarinacocha	7-Dec-09
Bright-rumped Attila	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	27-Dec-09
Rufous Casiornis	Quebrada Upaquihua	1-Jan-10
Rufous Flycatcher	Mocupe	18-Jan-10
Dusky-capped Flycatcher	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Short-crested Flycatcher	Yarinacocha	7-Dec-09
Sooty-crowned Flycatcher	Jaen area scrub	7-Jan-10
Pale-edged Flycatcher	La Cumbre road	22-Nov-09
Brown-crested Flycatcher	Morro de Calzada	21-Dec-09
Lesser Kiskadee	Contamana Hills	4-Dec-09
Great Kiskadee	Contamana Hills	4-Dec-09
Boat-billed Flycatcher	Contamana Hills	5-Dec-09
Social Flycatcher	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Gray-capped Flycatcher	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Dusky-chested Flycatcher	Tarapoto Tunnel	23-Dec-09
Lemon-browed Flycatcher	Afluente	3-Jan-10
Golden-crowned Flycatcher	Afluente	3-Jan-10
Baird's Flycatcher	Quebrada El Limon	11-Jan-10
Streaked Flycatcher	Tarapoto Tunnel	23-Dec-09
Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Piratic Flycatcher	Contamana Hills	4-Dec-09
Tropical Kingbird	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Eastern Kingbird	Contamana River	3-Dec-09
Wing-barred Piprites	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
Screaming Piha	Contamana Hills	5-Dec-09
White-browed Purpletuft	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	29-Dec-09
Green-backed Becard	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Barred Becard	Paty Trail	9-Dec-09
Slaty Becard	Quebrada El Limon	11-Jan-10
Cinereous Becard	Yarinacocha	7-Dec-09
White-winged Becard	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Black-and-white Becard	Abra Patricia	5-Jan-10
Black-capped Becard	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	28-Dec-09
Masked Tityra	Morro de Calzada	21-Dec-09
Black-tailed Tityra	Contamana River	3-Dec-09
Red-crested Cotinga	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Chestnut-crested Cotinga	Abra Patricia	18-Dec-09
White-cheeked Cotinga	Abra Portachuelo	23-Jan-10
Bay-vented Cotinga	Bosque Unchog	11-Dec-09
Peruvian Plantcutter	Mocupe	18-Jan-10
Green-and-black Fruiteater	Abra Patricia	18-Dec-09
Band-tailed Fruiteater	Paty Trail	9-Dec-09
Barred Fruiteater	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Masked Fruiteater	Paty Trail	9-Dec-09
Fiery-throated Fruiteater	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
Scaled Fruiteater	Afluente	3-Jan-10
Andean Cock-of-the-rock	Afluente	3-Jan-10
Pompadour Cotinga	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	29-Dec-09
Bare-necked Fruitcrow	Yarinacocha	7-Dec-09
Purple-throated Fruitcrow	Contamana Hills	5-Dec-09
Saffron-crested Tyrant-Manakin	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	29-Dec-09
Sulphur-bellied Tyrant-Manakin	Quebrada Upaquihua	1-Jan-10
Dwarf Tyrant-Manakin	Contamana Hills	5-Dec-09
Green Manakin	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	20-Dec-09
Striped Manakin	Morro de Calzada	21-Dec-09
Fiery-capped Manakin	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
Cerulean-capped Manakin	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Orange-crowned Manakin	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	29-Dec-09
White-crowned Manakin	Contamana Hills	5-Dec-09
Blue-crowned Manakin	Tarapoto Tunnel	24-Dec-09
Band-tailed Manakin	Quebrada Upaquihua	1-Jan-10
Golden-headed Manakin	Morro de Calzada	21-Dec-09
Brown-capped Vireo	Abra Patricia	18-Dec-09
Red-eyed Vireo	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Yellow-green Vireo	Quebrada Upaquihua	1-Jan-10
Lemon-chested Greenlet	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
Ashy-headed Greenlet	Quebrada Upaquihua	1-Jan-10
Dusky-capped Greenlet	Contamana Hills	5-Dec-09
Olivaceous Greenlet	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Slaty-capped Shrike-Vireo	Tarapoto Tunnel	23-Dec-09
Rufous-browed Peppershrike	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
Green Jay	Abra Patricia	18-Dec-09
Violaceous Jay	Pucallpa	1-Dec-09
White-tailed Jay	Quebrada El Limon	11-Jan-10
White-collared Jay	Paty Trail	9-Dec-09
Gray-breasted Martin	Contamana River	2-Dec-09
Peruvian Martin	Mocupe	18-Jan-10
Brown-chested Martin	Iquitos River Islands	30-Dec-09
Tumbes Swallow	Piura footbridge	10-Jan-10
White-winged Swallow	Contamana River	2-Dec-09
Blue-and-white Swallow	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Brown-bellied Swallow	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Andean Swallow	Lima to Junin	18-Nov-09
White-banded Swallow	Tingo Maria to Huanaco	8-Dec-09
Southern Rough-winged Swallow	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Bank Swallow	Iquitos River Islands	30-Dec-09
Chestnut-collared Swallow	Piura footbridge	10-Jan-10
Barn Swallow	Lago de Junin	19-Nov-09
Fasciated Wren	Bagua Chica	6-Jan-10
Thrush-like Wren	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Gray-mantled Wren	Abra Patricia	18-Dec-09
Peruvian Wren	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Plain-tailed Wren	Chucho Acha	26-Nov-09
Coraya Wren	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Speckle-breasted Wren	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	27-Dec-09
Buff-breasted Wren	Contamana River	3-Dec-09
Superciliated Wren	Quebrada El Limon	11-Jan-10
House Wren	Lago de Junin	19-Nov-09
Mountain Wren	La Cumbre road	22-Nov-09
Sedge Wren	Bosque Unchog	12-Dec-09
White-breasted Wood-Wren	Tarapoto Tunnel	23-Dec-09
Bar-winged Wood-Wren	Abra Patricia	18-Dec-09
Gray-breasted Wood-Wren	La Cumbre road	22-Nov-09
Scaly-breasted Wren	Contamana Hills	5-Dec-09
Chestnut-breasted Wren	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Musician Wren	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
White-capped Dipper	Mantaro Valley	25-Nov-09
Tropical Gnatcatcher	Yarinacocha	7-Dec-09
Iquitos Gnatcatcher	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	28-Dec-09
Andean Solitaire	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Gray-cheeked Thrush	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	29-Dec-09
Swainson's Thrush	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
White-eared Solitaire	La Cumbre road	22-Nov-09
Plumbeous-backed Thrush	Quebrada El Limon	11-Jan-10
Pale-breasted Thrush	Morro de Calzada	21-Dec-09
Black-billed Thrush	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Marañon Thrush	Balsas border	7-Jan-10
Great Thrush	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Chiguanco Thrush	Lago de Junin	19-Nov-09
Glossy-black Thrush	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
White-necked Thrush	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	20-Dec-09
Long-tailed Mockingbird	Pantanos de Villa	29-Nov-09
Yellowish Pipit	Lomas de Lachay Natural Preserve	22-Jan-10
Short-billed Pipit	Lago de Junin	20-Nov-09
Tropical Parula	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Yellow Warbler	Iquitos River Islands	30-Dec-09
Blackburnian Warbler	La Cumbre road	22-Nov-09
Blackpoll Warbler	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	28-Dec-09
Cerulean Warbler	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
Masked Yellowthroat	Balsas Valley	15-Jan-10
Canada Warbler	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
Slate-throated Redstart	Abra Patricia	18-Dec-09
Spectacled Redstart	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Citrine Warbler	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Pale-legged Warbler	Chucho Acha	26-Nov-09
Black-crested Warbler	Abra Portachuelo	23-Jan-10
Russet-crowned Warbler	Paty Trail	9-Dec-09
Three-striped Warbler	Abra Patricia	18-Dec-09
Buff-rumped Warbler	Contamana Hills	5-Dec-09
Bananaquit	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Black-faced Tanager	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
Magpie Tanager	Pucallpa to Tingo Maria	8-Dec-09
White-capped Tanager	Abra Patricia	5-Jan-10
Hooded Tanager	Yarinacocha	7-Dec-09
Rufous-crested Tanager	Rio Chido Trail	17-Dec-09
Black-capped Hemispingus	Rio Chido Trail	17-Dec-09
Superciliaried Hemispingus	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Oleaginous Hemispingus	Paty Trail	9-Dec-09
Rufous-browed Hemispingus	Bosque Unchog	12-Dec-09
Drab Hemispingus	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Three-striped Hemispingus	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Gray-hooded Bush-Tanager	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Rufous-chested Tanager	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Brown-flanked Tanager	Paty Trail	9-Dec-09
Orange-headed Tanager	Contamana River	3-Dec-09
Buff-bellied Tanager	Near La Florida	16-Dec-09
Rust-and-yellow Tanager	Chucho Acha	26-Nov-09
Pardusco	Bosque Unchog	11-Dec-09
Bicolored Conebill	Iquitos River Islands	30-Dec-09
Cinereous Conebill	Satipo Rd Gynoxys forest	24-Nov-09
Blue-backed Conebill	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Capped Conebill	Rio Chido Trail	17-Dec-09
White-browed Conebill	Bosque Unchog	11-Dec-09
Giant Conebill	Abra Portachuelo	23-Jan-10
Tit-like Dacnis	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Plushcap	Rio Chido Trail	17-Dec-09
Common Bush-Tanager	Abra Patricia	18-Dec-09
Yellow-throated Bush-Tanager	Afluente	3-Jan-10
Guira Tanager	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
Carmiol's Tanager	Tarapoto Tunnel	24-Dec-09
Flame-crested Tanager	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	29-Dec-09
Yellow-crested Tanager	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
White-lined Tanager	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	20-Dec-09
Red-shouldered Tanager	Morro de Calzada	21-Dec-09
Red-crowned Ant-Tanager	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	27-Dec-09
Hepatic Tanager	Tarapoto Tunnel	24-Dec-09
Summer Tanager	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
Scarlet Tanager	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
White-winged Tanager	Tarapoto Tunnel	24-Dec-09
Black-bellied Tanager	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
Silver-beaked Tanager	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Blue-gray Tanager	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Palm Tanager	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Blue-capped Tanager	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Blue-and-yellow Tanager	Balsas Valley	15-Jan-10
Hooded Mountain-Tanager	Bosque Unchog	12-Dec-09
Golden-backed Mountain-Tanager	Bosque Unchog	10-Dec-09
Lacrimose Mountain-Tanager	Paty Trail	9-Dec-09
Scarlet-bellied Mountain-Tanager	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Blue-winged Mountain-Tanager	La Cumbre road	22-Nov-09
Grass-green Tanager	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Chestnut-bellied Mountain-Tanager	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Yellow-throated Tanager	La Cumbre road	22-Nov-09
Golden-collared Tanager	Bosque Unchog	12-Dec-09
Yellow-scarfed Tanager	Bosque Unchog	12-Dec-09
Fawn-breasted Tanager	Rio Chonta (Valqui F1.1)	14-Jan-10
Orange-eared Tanager	Afluente	3-Jan-10
Silvery Tanager	La Cumbre road	22-Nov-09
Green-throated Tanager	Abra Patricia	18-Dec-09
Burnished-buff Tanager	Morro de Calzada	21-Dec-09
Masked Tanager	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
Blue-necked Tanager	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Dotted Tanager	Tarapoto Tunnel	24-Dec-09
Yellow-bellied Tanager	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
Spotted Tanager	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Blue-and-black Tanager	Rio Chido Trail	17-Dec-09
Beryl-spangled Tanager	Rio Chido Trail	17-Dec-09
Metallic-green Tanager	Abra Patricia	18-Dec-09
Turquoise Tanager	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Paradise Tanager	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Opal-rumped Tanager	Contamana Hills	5-Dec-09
Opal-crowned Tanager	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	29-Dec-09
Bay-headed Tanager	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
Golden-eared Tanager	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Saffron-crowned Tanager	La Cumbre road	22-Nov-09
Flame-faced Tanager	La Cumbre road	22-Nov-09
Green-and-gold Tanager	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
Black-faced Dacnis	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
Yellow-bellied Dacnis	Contamana River	3-Dec-09
Blue Dacnis	Contamana Hills	5-Dec-09
Green Honeycreeper	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
Short-billed Honeycreeper	Contamana Hills	5-Dec-09
Purple Honeycreeper	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
Red-legged Honeycreeper	Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve	29-Dec-09
Golden-collared Honeycreeper	Afluente	3-Jan-10
Swallow Tanager	La Cumbre road	22-Nov-09
Peruvian Sierra-Finch	Lago de Junin	20-Nov-09
Mourning Sierra-Finch	Lago de Junin	19-Nov-09
Plumbeous Sierra-Finch	Runatullo	25-Nov-09
Ash-breasted Sierra-Finch	Lago de Junin	20-Nov-09
Band-tailed Sierra-Finch	Lomas de Lachay Natural Preserve	22-Jan-10
White-winged Diuca-Finch	Marcapomacocha area	28-Nov-09
Cinereous Finch	Chao	13-Jan-10
Great Inca-Finch	Road to Huaylas	24-Jan-10
Rufous-backed Inca-Finch	Road to Huaylas	24-Jan-10
Gray-winged Inca-Finch	Balsas Valley	15-Jan-10
Buff-bridled Inca-Finch	Balsas Valley	15-Jan-10
Little Inca-Finch	Bagua Chica	6-Jan-10
Plain-tailed Warbling-Finch	Abra Portachuelo	23-Jan-10
Collared Warbling-Finch	Chao	13-Jan-10
Blue-black Grassquit	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
Caqueta Seedeater	Yarinacocha	7-Dec-09
Yellow-bellied Seedeater	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Parrot-billed Seedeater	Chao	12-Jan-10
Drab Seedeater	Bagua Chica	6-Jan-10
Chestnut-bellied Seedeater	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Chestnut-throated Seedeater	Bagua Chica	6-Jan-10
Band-tailed Seedeater	Chucho Acha	26-Nov-09
Plain-colored Seedeater	Runatullo	25-Nov-09
Paramo Seedeater	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Dull-colored Grassquit	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Slaty Finch	Abra Patricia	5-Jan-10
Rusty Flowerpiercer	La Cumbre road	22-Nov-09
Moustached Flowerpiercer	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Black-throated Flowerpiercer	Satipo Rd Gynoxys forest	24-Nov-09
White-sided Flowerpiercer	Rio Chido Trail	17-Dec-09
Bluish Flowerpiercer	Abra Patricia	18-Dec-09
Masked Flowerpiercer	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Bright-rumped Yellow-Finch	Lago de Junin	19-Nov-09
Greenish Yellow-Finch	Road to Huaylas	24-Jan-10
Saffron Finch	Maranon Valley	15-Dec-09
Grassland Yellow-Finch	La Florida, laguna Pomacocha	16-Dec-09
Raimondi's Yellow-Finch	Lomas de Lachay Natural Preserve	22-Jan-10
Red-capped Cardinal	Contamana River	3-Dec-09
Tricolored Brush-Finch	La Cumbre road	22-Nov-09
Yellow-breasted Brush-Finch	Near La Florida	16-Dec-09
Rufous-eared Brush-Finch	Abra Portachuelo	23-Jan-10
Black-spectacled Brush-Finch	Chucho Acha	26-Nov-09
Slaty Brush-Finch	Paty Trail	9-Dec-09
White-winged Brush-Finch	Quebrada El Limon	11-Jan-10
White-headed Brush-Finch	Quebrada El Limon	11-Jan-10
Bay-crowned Brush-Finch	San Damian	26-Jan-10
Red-crested Finch	Maranon drive	5-Jan-10
Orange-billed Sparrow	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
Black-capped Sparrow	Jaen area scrub	7-Jan-10
Stripe-headed Brush-Finch	Puente Carrizales	25-Nov-09
Tumbes Sparrow	Quebrada El Limon	11-Jan-10
Yellow-browed Sparrow	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Rufous-collared Sparrow	Lago de Junin	19-Nov-09
Streaked Saltator	Chao	12-Jan-10
Grayish Saltator	Yarinacocha	7-Dec-09
Golden-billed Saltator	Runatullo	25-Nov-09
Buff-throated Saltator	Quebrada Mishquiyacu	19-Dec-09
Slate-colored Grosbeak	Morro de Calzada	21-Dec-09
Golden-bellied Grosbeak	Huanaco Valley	10-Dec-09
Black-backed Grosbeak	Mantaro Valley	25-Nov-09
Peruvian Meadowlark	Huanaco Valley	10-Dec-09
Scrub Blackbird	Lima to Trujillo	14-Dec-09
Oriole Blackbird	Contamana River	3-Dec-09
Yellow-hooded Blackbird	Iquitos River Islands	30-Dec-09
Shiny Cowbird	Iquitos River Islands	30-Dec-09
Giant Cowbird	Yarinacocha	7-Dec-09
White-edged Oriole	Quebrada El Limon	11-Jan-10
Orange-backed Troupial	Morro de Calzada	21-Dec-09
Mountain Cacique	Chucho Acha	26-Nov-09
Solitary Black Cacique	Yarinacocha	7-Dec-09
Yellow-rumped Cacique	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Russet-backed Oropendola	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Green Oropendola	Contamana River	2-Dec-09
Crested Oropendola	Contamana River	2-Dec-09
Plumbeous Euphonia	Tarapoto Tunnel	24-Dec-09
Purple-throated Euphonia	Tarapoto Tunnel	23-Dec-09
Thick-billed Euphonia	Yarinacocha	7-Dec-09
Golden-bellied Euphonia	Contamana Hills	5-Dec-09
Bronze-green Euphonia	Tarapoto Tunnel	23-Dec-09
White-vented Euphonia	Contamana Hills	5-Dec-09
Orange-bellied Euphonia	La Cumbre road	22-Nov-09
Rufous-bellied Euphonia	Tarapoto Tunnel	23-Dec-09
Blue-naped Chlorophonia	Tarapoto Tunnel	24-Dec-09
Thick-billed Siskin	Lago de Junin	19-Nov-09
Hooded Siskin	Lago de Junin	19-Nov-09
Olivaceous Siskin	Villa Rica	21-Nov-09
Black Siskin	Lago de Junin	19-Nov-09
Lesser Goldfinch	Near La Florida	16-Dec-09
House Sparrow	Lima to Junin	18-Nov-09

South American Conclusion

2010-03-31T06:35:00.000-07:00

I have failed miserably in blogging, I admit it. I've even been home for a few weeks, but just haven't gotten around to it. I have no excuses. My apologies.

Since I last blogged all those months ago, many things have happened. I'll try to keep it as succinct as possible. Caution: these following tales may include reckless stories of birding, building dams, British compatriots, and robbery!

After I last wrote from Northern Peru in Pomacochas, we travelled north through the dry Marañon Valley, picking up many more endemics along the way, and into southern Ecuador. We had two reasons for heading into Ecuador, the main one being to renew our tourist visas, because we expected to be in Peru for a time greater than our 90 day visas allowed, and the second being to see Jocotoco Antpitta! Jocotoco Antpitta is a bird that was discovered in 1997, and since then has been trained to come in and feed on worms every morning at a certain reserve in Southern Ecuador. Luckily we were able to witness this, and quite an amazing experience it was, with at least 2-3 birds within 15 feet, and as close as 6-8 feet sometimes.

During our time in Ecuador at one point our funds were down to 57 cents, just the change I had in the bottom of my backpack!

We made a loop of southern Ecuador through Loja, coming back into Peru via the border down of Macará, down into lowland NW Peru. I really disliked NW Peru while we were there, it was hot, dirty, smelly, overpriced, and overcrowded. The rest of Peru was fantastic, but I was happy to get out of NW Peru as soon as possible. The birding there is good however, and lots of good birds were seen.

After the lowlands we went into the central highlands to the Cajamarca area, a lovely town and area, and from there into the Balsas Valley, at the upper end of the Marañon River Valley. This was quite a stunning place, with drop dead gorgeous scenery, and in one day we went from close to treeline down to hot desert with cactus, quite a change.

From Cajamarca it was time to head to Lima once more, where we had a pelagic scheduled to leave on January 20th. We spent a couple days before the pelagic being lazy in Lima, going to see Avatar, eating at Pizza Hut, etc, and it was fantastic.

The pelagic was quite enjoyable, seeing 6 species of storm-petrel, and our first albatrosses (Waved), penguins (Humboldt), and diving-petrels (Peruvian)! We also met someone who ended up joining our group after the pelagic, a British fellow named Simon Mitchell, who had been working in Bolivia for a few months, and had a couple weeks free before he had any commitments.

With Simon now in tow, we rented a car, quite cheap when split four ways, and headed off into the central highlands to the Huaraz area. Huaraz is backed by the Cordillera Blanca, a mountain range that is considered by many to be the most beautiful in the world. We spent a few days in this area, getting such interesting birds as White-cheeked Cotinga, and we also finished the entire family of Inca-Finches! Inca-Finches are an endemic genus to Peru, with five species being represented, which we saw in the order of: Little; Gray-winged; Buff-bridled; Great; and Rufous-backed. Finishing the Inca-Finches is always one of the primary goals during an extended visit to Peru, and definitely near the top of our list.

From the Huaraz area, our next place to visit was a small town called San Damian, midway between the interior road in Huaraz and the coastal highway. Of course, the main theme down there is north-south roads, and we had to head west. This involved a tiny winding dirt road for hours, which was fun at first, but after a while got tiresome. We also had to stop and ask for directions a few times, because we only had a general idea where we were going. Just as it was starting to get a little dark out, after we'd been on roads like this for 3-4 hours, all of a sudden the road was washed out. There had been lots of rain higher up, and now that we were descending down the western slope of the Andes, the stream right next to the road had burst over its banks and flooded the road. So what choice did we have at that point? We built a dam. It took a little over 30 minutes probably, but after hauling rocks from a nearby slope, we managed to reduce the ~8" deep torrent to a slow moving couple inches of water. We kept going down, through a narrow gorge most of the way that was just stunning while lit up by the setting sun. However, a few miles further down, it being mostly dark now, we saw a single headlight coming in the other direction. A guy riding a dirtbike quickly flagged us down and told us that ahead the road was ENTIRELY washed out in multiple places, and completely impassible. Disheartened, we retraced our steps, having to get out a few times so that the lessened weight allowed the car to get over certain parts of the road with just the driver in it. We ended up spending the night in the little town of Aija, where unbelievably I had cell service, so we had the lovely use of the internet. We stayed at the only hostel in town, which also was a restaurant, so we never really had to leave that building.

The next morning we talked with the proprietress, who assured us that people were going down to work on the washout this morning. Dubious, but wanting to believe it, we went back down the road that we had turned back on the night before, this time going for around an hour one way, where we reached a massive spillway that was all sharp rocks, with about 6 switchbacks leading down it. Quite an impressive sight, the whole area being set between two steep cliffs and with a small lake at the upper end. Here was where it had washed out, and not just in one place, but in three or four. We walked around and pondered for close to an hour whether we would be able to repair the road enough using all the rocks around to be able to allow our pitifully low clearance car to pass. Chris was so firmly set against it that I believe he might have caused us bodily harm had we tried it, and eventually all four of us decided, reluctantly, that rather than risk it, we would have to go the long way around. The long way was over 3 hours back to the main road in Huaraz, then AROUND, an extra 150k+, and 8-9 hours of driving. One of the other problems is that the rental car had a milage limit on it, so we had to pay more to drive around as well.

The next morning from the other side we got to San Damian without incident, got the birds, and headed back towards Lima. We deserved the target birds there, Piura Chat-Tyrant and Russet-bellied Spinetail, perhaps more than anyone ever has, having build a dam, driven for a couple hundred kilometers, and spent 3 full days getting to them.

Back towards Lima we spent the night in Huacho, a pretty seedy town. We kept joking, telling each other to "Huacho-self!" during our time there. Turns out someone should have been watching the car instead.

For parking the car at nights they have places called "cocheras" where you pay someone to watch the car for you in a small enclosed lot for the night. Well, the place that we chose for this night either had a blind and deaf watchman, or he was in on it somehow. During the night our driver-side window was smashed in, but unbelievably, nothing was taken! We had money lying out in plain sight, albeit in small amounts, and our bags were in the trunk even. We just got really really lucky.

The most amazing thing about the whole event is that the guy who watched our car denied any responsibility! He claimed that he was there to keep our things safe, and had any of our things been stolen? No. So therefore he felt perfectly fine about his job. We were simply awestruck at his reaction to all this, and eventually got the cops involved, trying to get him to pay for our broken window. What eventually came out of this was a wasted morning, and we drove to Lima and got the window repaired ourselves, which cost a pittance, something like $30 I believe for the window and all the labor.

Now back in Lima we had planned to head the Machu Picchu and southeastern Peru next, but it turned out to be the rainiest rainy season in recent history, and as some of you may have heard, the train tracks to Machu Picchu were entirely washed out in a few places by mudslides, and people even died. As well as all that, thousands of people were stranded in the town by Machu Picchu, and people were getting evacuated by helicopter, and it was something of a national emergency. In any case, most of southeastern Peru was inaccessible and/or unsafe. At a loss for a brief period of time, we quickly decided what must be done. Another country must be visited. Since Ecuador was old hat, and Bolivia needs a visa, we were left with Chile. Mere victims of fate, we had no choice but to go to Chile. Unfortunately Simon had to head back to the UK, so he was unable to join us.

A couple days later our once again three person party hopped the 20 hour bus to the Peru/Chile border, and then crossed over into the lovely country of Chile. It was amazing how many things were instantly different in the much more first-world country of Chile. Of course, everything costs more. We spent one night in the town of Arica, and then got on a 30 hour bus to Santiago, the capital of Chile.

During this bus ride, about 5-6 hours in, the most unfortunate thing to ever befall me happened.

We were stopped in the town of Iquique, our first stop since leaving Arica, and people were getting off and getting on the bus, per usual. The driver was supposed to be at the door, checking peoples tickets that got on, but he had gone to the back to help get out baggage for the departing people. I noticed one person that had gotten on and was sitting in a seat a few rows up, a guy wearing reflective sunglasses that was looking around, seemingly in idle curiosity. Nothing out of the ordinary, right? Another guy got on and sat to the right of me across the aisle, between me and my friend who was in the opposing window seat. A third person came and sat behind me, and unbeknownst to me at the time, pulled the backpack that was under my legs under my seat and right to him. He proceeded to put it on and walk off the bus, right past me, past my unseeing eyes. A lady a few rows behind me came up and started speaking hurriedly to me in spanish, but I just didn't get what she was saying about my bag. And then I looked down at the vacant spot where my bag was, and realized what she was talking about.

I quickly ran off the bus, because after all I knew what these guys looked like, I had watched them get on the bus. They were of course long gone, and I would never see my backpack again. I lost my camera, two lenses, my binoculars, 1600 pictures, over 2 months worth of field notes, my iPod, and many other small trinkets, totaling over $5,000 worth of stuff. They sure picked the right gringo to rip off.

At least I had my blackberry, wallet, and passport on my person, as I do at all times.

More than a little disheartened, we continued on the long bus to Santiago, making a police report when we arrived. I'm still dealing with insurance people now, but it looks like I'll at least get a couple thousand back, if I'm lucky.

Other than that MINOR hiccup, Chile was absolutely wonderful. We spent about 2.5 weeks there, seeing all sorts of wonderful birds and gorgeous places. My favorite location in Chile was Chiloé Island, a place as far south of the Equator as Boston is north. Some of the coolest places that we visited included a penguin colony on Chiloé called Puñihuil, where there were hundreds of Magellanic Penguins, with a few Humboldt mixed in, as well as other fantastic sea life like Marine Otter, and a constant stream of Sooty Shearwaters going by that totaled close to 100,000 individuals during our time there.

We also visited volcanic slopes up in the Andes, where the only rocks are pumice and obsidian, and the forests are Monkey Puzzle Trees and Nothofagus forest, the latter a relative of the redwoods.

The individual highlight of me would have been the pelagic trip that we took out of Valparaiso, where we got to share a boat with a Field Guides trip led by Peter Burke, a great guy and a co-author of the Birds of Chile guide. The pelagic was simply unbelievable, with 3 Southern Royal Albatrosses, 19 Northern Royals, 75+ Salvin's Albatrosses, and tons of other amazing tubenoses. If only I had a camera! I ended up borrowing Andrew's bins for most of the trip (thanks Andrew), and I took pictures with my phone through his scope as well, as much as I could.

We concluded the trip in Santiago, Chris flying out a few days before Andrew and I did. When we left we flew together to Lima, and then spent a day there before leaving on different flights back to the states.

I met my parents in southern California at LAX, and we spent a couple weeks there before coming back to Mass. I've been back in MA since March 5th, and have seen some good birds since then! Unbelievably, I managed to see every state bird that I missed this winter except one, them all having stuck around. Some of the better birds in the past month have included Common Chaffinch, Tufted Duck, Red-headed Woodpecker, and Sage Thrasher.

This spring I will be working at Manomet Bird Observatory again, banding per usual, and as of the moment I'm not sure where my next travel plans will be. Perhaps the Desert SW this summer, and then somewhere in South America this winter. Time will tell.

Below are my personal species lists for Peru and Chile, and pictures from Peru can be seen at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/uropsalis/sets/72157623304351991/

Good birding,

Ian Davies

Manomet, MA

From Quebradas to Quetzals

2010-01-03T17:36:00.001-08:00

Up at five the next morning, our goal for the morning was to hire a car to take us to Quebrada Upaquihua, a name that had evolved in our minds to Quebrada Oompa-Loompa, but we luckily never slipped up and called it that to the locals, not that they could find us any crazier than they already do.
Upaquihua is in the dry Huallaga River Valley, and has some very special birds with some spectacular range extensions, along with some subspecies that are almost surely separate species. Some of the target birds there that occur only there in Peru are Ashy-headed Greenlet and Planalto Hermit, both birds that occur over a thousand miles away at their closest other populations. There are also resident Rufous Casiornis here, a flycatcher that is just an austral migrant to southeastern Peru, except for this population.
Arriving at the coopertivo area, we tried one group of people for hiring a car, and they wanted 250 soles for a half day! One of the more ridiculous rip-off attempts thus far in Peru, while Andrew talked to them I walked across the street to another couple people, asked these guys, and immediately got quoted 120 soles, the price we wanted. Without even bargaining we accepted and were off.
The drive there takes you by the Rio Huallaga, which is supposed to have sandbars on it where you can see Comb Duck regularly, a large and spectacular species of waterfowl. Of course when we were there the water levels were too high and it was simply a huge ocean of chocolate water running down from the highlands, with no sandbars above water.
Driving along the road to Upaquihua, a dirt side road off of the main highway near the small town of Buenos Aires, we had a Planalto Hermit fly in front of the car showing its distinctive rufous rump patch, a good omen. At the trail head there were many birds singing, including some “Huallaga” Slaty-Antshrikes, a subspecies endemic to this area and a possible future split.
Walking down the path we rapidly picked up more birds, with a Mishana Tyrannulet performing wonderfully, the first time that species had done that for us, another pair of Rufous-capped Nunlets, making this the third pair of nunlets we’ve had this trip, normally a very tough group to get even one sighting of. Andrew had only seen any species of nunlet once before this trip, in over 10 trips to the neotropics.
Near the nunlets we picked up a Rufous Casiornis, and found a fruiting tree that had Band-tailed Manakin, of a special Huallaga subspecies, and some Sulphur-bellied Tyrant-Manakins in the same area as well. Further down the path there was a stream crossing where we had a Flammulated Bamboo-Tyrant, also a bird with a disjunct range from southeastern Peru, and a large raptor that Andrew thinks was an adult Ornate Hawk-Eagle, but I didn’t see it well enough to be sure for myself.
Picking up a few more interesting birds in the form of Ashy-headed Greenlet, a female Chestnut-tailed Antbird with a flock, and a couple Reddish Hermits as well as some more Planalto Hermits, we made our way back to the road, birding separately on a couple different trails. Andrew had a Rusty-backed Antwren, a gorgeous member of the antwren family, and some Chestnut-vented Conebills on his own, while Chris and I had nothing new for the trip.
Song was quieting down by now for sure, in this hot dry habitat reminiscent of southeastern Arizona more than anything else. We walked the road for a bit and found a trail leading into another small forested patch where we miraculously flushed an OCELLATED POORWILL onto a nearby branch. Such an amazing view of a gorgeous nightjar, and in such strange habitat for a bird that normally never leaves Amazonian humid primary forest. Stoked after that sighting we went a little bit farther up the hill to try to call in some Rusty-backed Antwrens in a little scrubby area. Lo and behold, a pair of birds responded wonderfully, circling us for at least 15 minutes. Great looks were had, and less than great photos were taken.
More than happy with our morning we headed back to our long-suffering driver, who was basically just sitting on the side of the road for 4-5 hours, and went back to Tarapoto, stopping briefly to buy some cold drinks. We got a drink for our driver, and he asked for some coke, which they only had large bottles of. When we came out with that large bottle of coke his face lit up and he giggled with glee, there is no other way to describe it. I have rarely seen someone so overjoyed at the sight of Coca-Cola.
Back in Tarapoto we hopped a bus to Nueva Cajamarca, a small town with nothing going for it except that it was close to a birding spot. It was a small dirty town with not many amenities, but it somehow had a fancy hotel in the form of the Hotel Alto Mayo, where we paid 50 soles a night for a double with tv, wifi, and nice rooms. One of the better lodging deals of the trip thus far no doubt.
Our target birding location here is near a town called Afluente, and is more roadside birding, in foothill forest that supposedly holds many large flocks. We had two days planned here, but our first night in Nueva Cajamarca was New Years Eve, which was not conducive to sleep. We ended up taking that day off as well, much as we did on Christmas. This time we celebrated with wifi, some Chinese food, and lots of mangos. Chris and I each ate 7 mangos that day I believe. When its 5 for 33 cents, how can you not?
The next day we were off to Afluente, which involved taking a car to a town halfway there and then another car the rest of the way, which delayed us getting there a bit, until about 7am. When we were dropped off, a guy in a taxi almost immediately accosted us and insisted that the forest around the road was his property, and that we had to pay him to be able to bird there. Well we had read many trip reports on this location, and nobody had mentioned the crazy local. He wanted 15 soles/person, just for us to walk along the road. No trails, nothing like that, and we didn’t even believe that it was his land! He supposedly needs the money to conserve the forest, which would be a great cause, if that is really what he does with it. After refusing to pay he started to threaten us, yelling things like “Do you guys want problems!?”
He followed us up the road as we birded, honking continuously every time we stopped to look at a bird, and if we stopped to try to bird a flock, he would stop the car, get out, and keep demanding that we paid him. It crossed all our minds that he is using quite a bit of gas following us in his car, kind of an amusing thought.
At one point when he was following us I conspicuously took down his license plate number, which enraged him so much that he pretty much tried to run me down. Luckily, I had thought that he might do that, and had situated myself near a ditch that I was able to hop over and thus avoid death.
Just after the attempted ramming he went and parked at his house, which was right there and the only house in that stretch of road with the forest, perhaps lending credibility to his story, but by this time we were all so pissed that we didn’t want to give him five cents.
We were out of “his forest” on the other side of his house, but of course we were out of all the forest then. Right as we were turning around he came back, and said that if we just gave him 25 soles he would leave us alone. We said screw it, gave him the money, and never saw him again.
The birding was good there, and the undoubted highlight of the morning was having a pair of Scaled Fruiteaters less than 20 feet away feeding on arboreal snails out in the open just above eye level. Absolutely stunning birds and such cool behavior. They would sit around sluggishly for a little while, and then sally out and “flycatch” a snail from a branch, and proceed to artfully bang it against a branch until they had cracked it enough to be able to get the creature out of its shell. We got to see both the male and the female do this multiple times, in addition to getting to see the male feed the female some tasty snail treats.
Other good birds seen by me included Orange-eared Tanager, Ecuadorian Tyrannulet, Booted Racket-tail, Gray-mantled Wren, and finding a nest of a Golden-eared Tanager was very cool as well. Andrew and Chris went down a trail while I stayed to bird some flocks along the road, and they had Ecuadorian Piedtail and Marble-faced Bristle-Tyrant.
We headed back to Nueva Cajamarca for our last night in that lackluster town, and celebrated Andrew’s birthday by.. eating out? Sure, that sounds as good as anything. Another afternoon of laziness and mangos, and we arranged a taxi that night to come pick us up at our hotel the next morning, at 3am. Only 100 soles for a 3am taxi ride about 50km. Not that bad.
Our destination was the Garcia Trail once more up near Abra Patricia, this time with our goal being owling. We had mixed success, getting the Cinnamon Screech-Owls, and hearing a very frustrating call a couple times that very well may have been Long-whiskered Owlet.. Can’t get them all.
An Ochre-fronted Antpitta started calling right next to us at dawn, and we actually got looks at this one, always nice to see an antpitta. Some other highlights of the morning included a couple each of Crested and Golden-headed Quetzals, the former a new trip bird, and great looks at Royal Sunangel, Bar-winged Wood-Wren, Uniform Antshrike, and Greenish Puffleg. We only got 4 species I think that we didn’t get last time, with the best being the screech-owls and a pair of White-chinned Swifts doing a courtship flight over our heads.
Andrew started feeling sick partway through the morning, so we cut our birding a bit short and headed up the the pass, hoping to be able to stay at the lodge up there. Well, there was nobody up there, and the lodge was seemingly deserted. I guess they don’t have anyone staffing it unless there are reservations in advance. After eating lunch at a roadside restaurant we headed back into the Utcubamba Valley and to La Florida once more, where I am typing this right now.
Tomorrow morning we will go and give the owlet another shot at Abra Patricia, hopefully get a couple other birds, and then head into the Maranon Valley to start getting more new endemics, such as inca-finches and other goodies.
Not sure when my next update will be, but hopefully I’ll be able to get them our more frequently than I have been.

Hope this finds everyone well in this new year,
Ian

To Iquitos And Back

2010-01-03T17:34:00.000-08:00

After arriving in Tarapoto we found ourselves a nice hotel with wifi and air conditioning, living in the lap of luxury for us, and settled in to what would become the hotel we spent the most time sitting around so far this trip.
Early the next morning we headed out to our main birding destination from this town, the Tunnel as it is called, which is just a tunnel on the road to Yurimaguas. The Tunnel has some interesting birds that only occur there and one other place in all of Peru, and their closest other known ranges are in Venezuela and northern Brazil. Those birds are Plumbeous Euphonia and Dotted Tanager, and along with a few other key species, were our main targets at this location. The Plumbeous Euphonia also occurs at the Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve, and the Dotted Tanager also occurs in the Cordillera Azul.
We had two days set aside to bird this location, and for the first day we hopped a mototaxi just before dawn to take us to collectivo “station”, per usual, and got to the tunnel with high expectations. Unfortunately the only way that we knew how to bird the area the first day was from the road, and there is quite a bit of traffic there. We spent most of the morning walking along hot asphalt in the fumes of passing cars, buses and trucks. The birding was fairly good though, with Wattled Guan, White Hawk, Koepcke’s Hermit, Napo Sabrewing, high numbers of Cliff Flycatchers (17), and our long overdue first Andean Cock-of-the-Rocks for the trip.
Toward the end of the morning we discovered a great trail that crested a ridge and led into wonderful forest, with no exhaust, cars, or human activity of any sort. Well, except the teenager that walked by carrying a car battery, heading away from the road, but who really knows what that was all about. Probably carrying the power for some small village.
The next morning we headed straight to the trail first thing, birding a flock en route to the ridge crest, and once we got there I split off from the others to walk the ridge trail, while Andrew and Chris went down the backside of the small mountain as we had the day before. They of course had some birds that would have been lifers for me, but I am personally happy with what I had. Some of the highlights of birding the ridge trail included a confiding flock of 12 Ivory-billed Aracaris that came in to check me out for a while, many White-winged Tanagers, two Gould’s Jewelfronts, quite a fancy hummingbird, and the crowning pair, Dotted Tanager and Plumbeous Euphonia!
The euphonia was loosely associating with a mixed feeding flock, and the tanager was loosely associating with some Yellow-bellied Tanagers in another mixed flock. Andrew had a Dotted Tanager downslope, but Chris sadly never managed to see one. We eventually met up a few hours later, and had some other good birds, including a pair of Blue-naped Chlorophonias and a White-throated Woodpecker to round out the morning, and the day for that matter, as we happily lazed the rest of it away in our air conditioned room, as opposed to roasting in the 95+ degree heat.

The following day was Christmas, and we had decided to take a day off, a present to ourselves one could say. Basically that involved sleeping in, eating copious amounts of junk food, watching copious amounts of sub-par television, and generally enjoying ourselves.. We went out for a fancy dinner, courtesy of my parents, thank them so very much, and after watching the locals celebrating like crazy for a while went to bed.
Christmas is really such a huge deal down here, easily the biggest holiday. Everyone dresses up in their finest clothes, every single store has some decoration of red, green and/or gold, and there are people dressed in santa suits giving rides around and around the main square, in some form of vehicle that has a cardboard shell made to look like a sleigh. I can tell you right now, Latin American Santas are a sight to behold, especially when driving a sleigh-like contraption rapidly in large circles around the plaza.
The square itself gets fancied up, in Tarapoto they put a stage up, had about a 50’ tall fake tree, dressed the light poles as angels, and put as many twinkly objects on the fountain as possible. The church on the main plaza was packed as well, standing room only and spilling out into the street when we were headed back from dinner that night. It likely stayed that way until midnight. The revelry continued all night I’m sure, but we were tired from doing nothing all day, so we had no sleeping troubles at all.
In the morning we were planning to go birding again, but when we woke up we decided to take another day off. Our latest grand plan was to go to Iquitos, a place that we didn’t think we would be able to make it to this trip.
Iquitos is in the deep Amazon, and is the largest city in the world inaccessible by road, quite a claim to be able to make. We were originally planning to fly there from Lima, but when we tried to book our tickets we found out that there is a ridiculous “gringo tax” that amounts to over $200 extra EACH WAY for a flight there. That put it out of our budget and out of our minds, until Andrew out of idle curiosity looked up flights from Tarapoto to there, and found out that they only cost a little over $250 a head, roundtrip.
We decided that that was worth it, and bought tickets for the day after Christmas, departing at 5:45pm for a 1h flight. Of course we had to check out of our hotel by 1, so we spent four hours playing Hearts at the airport in the cafeteria area. Andrew won.
When our plane arrived, a nice small real jet plane, unlike the prop plane we took before, we piled on and took a lovely short flight over the foothills of the Andes into the Amazon as the sun set behind us. There weren’t that many people on the plane, and I had an entire six seat row to myself! This was a lot nicer than the usual crowded buses or coopertivos with people almost sitting on you much of the time.
Arriving in Iquitos after dark, while waiting at the baggage claim we were accosted by a man trying to get us to use his hotel, and after hearing him out, it actually sounded like a good deal. Included taxi to the hotel, and 55 soles a night (less than $20) for three people in two rooms with televisions and fans. The taxi to the hotel turned out to be a nice 8 person Mercedes van, so things were just getting better and better. It turns out it would be the best deal we would get in Iquitos, a city where people mostly expect to give you less for more money. The nighttime view of the fairly dingy city of Iquitos wasn’t much bettered during the daytime, overall it was pretty trashy, hot, and not easy on the eyes.
Our goal here was to bird the Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve, a very fun place name to say, and a very good birding site as we found out. The special thing about this place is the soil that the forest grows on, being very nutrient-poor “white-sand forest”, where the substrate really is pure white sand. There are many species that only occur in white-sand forest, and there is one bird that only occurs in this one reserve in the entire world, with two other species occurring there being endemic to Peru. As it turns out, they all have the local place names, being Iquitos Gnatcatcher (park endemic), Allpahuayo Antbird, and Mishana Tyrannulet. Funny how that works. There are also many other white-sand specialists that we were targeting here, and we ended up doing quite well.
The daily routine here was to get up at about 430 and walk a little over a mile along the road to the trailhead, hearing such birds as Crested Owl on the walk out, it being still quite dark out, and then walk through the forest using headlamps until we reached our destination for dawn chorus, all the while hoping to avoid the snakes that were certainly lurking just out of sight.
We spent two full days and an afternoon at this reserve, and the birding was good enough to justify at least a few more days, likely at least a week. Some of the more thrilling moments of our time there included, but were not limited to: spotting a pair of Brown Nunlets while taking a break on a log, and eventually calling them within 20 feet of us at eye-level at perfect light; at that same spot having a booming Salvin’s Curassow, a pair of Pompadour Cotingas, and hearing a Brown-banded Puffbird as well; discovering a roosting juvenile Crested Owl RIGHT ABOVE the trail, no more than 15 feet away; having a pair of color-banded Allpahuayo Antbirds come within 15 feet or so to check their own voices out that Andrew was playing back to them; and watching a great canopy flock swirl through one tree repeatedly, and finding such birds in it as Paradise Jacamar, Iquitos Gnatcatcher, Mishana Tyrannulet, and Ancient Antwren.
It is also nice to see our own birds from home down there, the coolest of which was a Gray-cheeked Thrush, which undoubtedly migrated from Canada and will do so for hopefully many more years. It’s interesting to think of how many species of bird one of our migrants have seen, I mean, we saw this Gray-cheeked Thrush right near the Allpahuayo Antbirds, which it surely hears daily. How often do you look at a thrush and think “I wonder how many Peruvian endemics this bird has seen?” The truth may be more than you think.
The only downside to this place, besides it being very hot and not having any fans in the rooms, is the fact that the closest dinner spot is oh, about 12k away, which is slightly prohibitive to having a nice meal without walking almost 15 miles roundtrip.
When we got hungry the first night there we decided to try to try to hitch a ride in the right direction while walking to shorten the distance needed to hitch. We had walked almost five miles, trying to hail down every passing vehicle, when a large semi truck finally stopped. After telling him where we wanted to go, by this point anywhere with food, we all hopped on the truck as we could, with Chris and Andrew riding on top of the trailer part, about 25 feet in the air, and me balancing on a small ledge between the cab and the trailer. It was possibly the most fun I have ever had on a moving vehicle.
Arriving at the town about 6k later, we asked at four restaurants that were just closing before we finally found one that was open. Relieved, we ordered omelettes, and some anonymous meat for Andrew, and ended up talking to a nice guy who was at one of the two tables at this eatery, while we waited on a nearby bench for our food. He was curious about our birding, per usual, and proceeded to tell us of all the venomous snakes that frequented the reserve that we were staying at, and how fierce they were and such. Always nice to hear such things about places where you will be hiking at night. We eventually bade him goodbye, ate our food, and took a mototaxi back to the reserve, where we gladly fell asleep almost instantly. A night of adventure.
The list of good birds seen at the reserve goes on and on, but we managed to get almost all of the specialties, with our only big misses being night birds, where we dipped on White-winged and Rufous Potoos, although we lucked out by seeing a Long-tailed Potoo flying around a pasture at dusk. In addition to the birds mentioned above, we had Collared Puffbird, Saffron-crested Tyrant-Manakin, White-plumed Antbird, Pearly Antshrike, White-browed Purpletuft, and “Chamizal” Flycatcher, currently a subspecies of Fuscous Flycatcher, but a certain future split.
After glutting ourselves with many lifers, photographs, and recordings, sweating our body weight daily, and all in all enjoying ourselves immensely, we made our way back to Iquitos and civilization, where we enjoyed such modern conveniences as air conditioning and ice cream. Good stuff.
With only one more objective in the Iquitos area, we got up early the next morning and asked our mototaxi to take us to a place where we could rent a boat for the morning. We arrived at the waterfront right near a market, and humanity was everywhere, especially for early in the morning. The second the mototaxi stopped we had people trying to get us to use their boat, and eventually we settled on one guy who would rent us his boat until 11am for 80 soles, so about $9 a head. We headed out onto the large sluggish river, where we were within 10 or 20 miles of being at the confluence of the Napo River coming in from Ecuador, and the Ucayali, the river that we were on. When they converge they become the true Amazon River. So close, yet so far, to seeing the real Amazon. Some day soon. In any case, the river was still impressive, multiple miles wide, but our goal was to get out to the middle of it, and bird some of the river islands.
River islands are an interesting habitat, simply separated from land by, in some cases, a matter of hundreds of meters, but they have species on them that are never recorded from the mainland, and just hang around on these mostly seasonally flooded islands for their entire lives. There are multiple sorts of islands, each one with different vegetation heights, different vegetation types, and different endemics. The trick is to find a young second growth island, which were flooded while we were there, and on that island we got such specialties as River Tyrannulet, Lesser Wagtail-Tyrant, Lesser Hornero, Parker’s Spinetail, White-bellied Spinetail, Olive-spotted Hummingbird, and Riverside Tyrant, all river island only birds.
The other river islands that should be visited are ones with actual forest on them, rather than the bushes on the young islands, and you want forest that is dominated by trees in the genus Cecropia, a very good type of tree for birds. En route to the Cecropia-dominated island we had nice large flocks of Yellow-hooded Blackbirds and some Large-billed and Yellow-billed Terns. It was slow going, because with the pitiful motor on our boat we were moving at a fraction of a kilometer of an hour.
When we finally arrived at the island, 45 minutes to travel a mile at most, we disembarked after an incredibly ineffectual landing by our driver, where we got stuck on an easily avoidable log for about five minutes. Immediately we started getting more interesting birds, in the form of a couple Fuscous Flycatchers and some Castelnau’s Antshrikes, one of the more glamorous of the antshrikes. We knocked off the targets here as well, even though it was incredibly hot under the pitiless sun. Bicolored Conebill, Leaden Antwren, and Black-and-white Antbird were the new river island birds, and one of my personal favorites that we had was a nice garden variety Yellow Warbler. A soaring Great Black-Hawk threw us for a loop for a while, and some Brown-chested Martins on the way back in the boat were an overdue trip bird.
This was possibly the only day this trip where Andrew got more lifers that I did, being that I visited a river island in Ecuador, and it was a new habitat for him. Chris got oodles as well, with the same being true for him.
Our business done in Iquitos, we had a last lunch and headed off to the airport for another afternoon of waiting, where we imagined we would be sitting around in an air conditioned lounge eating ice cream, as we have in all the other airports this trip.
Of course, we get there, and it turns out that this is a quite old airport, there are about 15 chairs to sit at, and there are over 100 people waiting, easily. We sat on the ground near the ATMs inside and used the wifi for a few hours in the 95 degree weather without any form of respite except some overly sweetened iced tea. The airport was gringo-land for sure, the most white faces I’ve seen in my time down here, likely a sight that won’t be topped until we get to Cuzco.
After an uneventful flight back to Tarapoto, where I once again got an entire 6 seat row to myself, we checked into a different hotel than we had stayed at previously, just across the street. Bad idea, we spent 20 soles less for a place that had no air conditioning, no internet, and was on the fourth floor, as opposed to 20 more for a luxurious almost suite with wifi, powerful A/C, and a minifridge. If you ever go to Tarapoto, I would recommend the Hotel Altamira.
One dinner with excessive amounts of lemonade later, we were off to sleep with the alarm set for five. The story of our birding the next day and from then on deserves its own post.

Take it easy, and Feliz Navidad to all,
Ian

In The Footsteps of Antpittas

2010-01-03T17:32:00.000-08:00

After our hummingbird-related adventures in the La Florida area we headed to the Rio Chido Trail in search of Pale-billed Antpitta, one of the coolest members of one of the best families of birds, in my opinion.
We started out as dawn was breaking, walking up a dirt road off of the main road, as many of our days start. The trail map for this area was less than fantastic, and so for most of the hike out we didn’t have any idea where we were going, and it turned out at the end of the day that we had been birding in an entirely different spot than is in the book! After finding the trail we wound our way through farm fields and denuded hillsides before making our way to a lush valley, after taking a side trail that went through someone’s front yard for a while. Oops.
Once in the real forest the birding started to pick up. The best birds at this location need large stands of bamboo of the genus Chusquea, and we were starting to see it patchily distributed in the understory of the forest, a good sign. We came on some small flocks with birds such as Black-capped Hemispingus, Flame-faced Tanager, and assorted flycatchers, but the first highlight of the day came in the form of a pair of responsive Johnson’s Tody-Tyrants, a small gem of a flycatcher that is endemic only to the small area of Northern Peru that we were in. The pair responded to playback so well that they were within the close focus ranges of our optics, and in perfect light too.
After glutting ourselves with full frame photos and great recordings we proceeded on up the valley, eventually coming out into a field where someone lived in a small house, the only marring in the forest, and behind the house, giant flowing stands of bamboo! Life was good.
While walking up the field towards the bamboo we started to hear some bamboo specialty birds, with Plain-tailed Wrens singing all over, and lo and behold, a Pale-billed Antpitta sang a couple times! We went to the largest patch of bamboo and proceeded up an almost vertical dry streambed to get closer to a singing antpitta. All we ever ended up doing was hearing singing antpittas, a few of them, but try our utmost, we could not get a view.
Lunch was had sitting on an area of mossy rocks in the streambed, in intermittent rain and an occasional passing bird. We began to head back down, but partway down the streambed we ran into a small flock. While piecing through the more common stuff, all of a sudden we saw a small rusty bird… a Russet-mantled Softtail!
Russet-mantled Softtail is more than just an evocative name, the bird it belongs to is one of the harder Peruvian endemics to get, and was something that was in the back of our minds for the days birding, not really expected. We followed the flock for a while, climbing up almost vertical mud to get closer at one point, and eventually had FIVE softtails go by us, with at least one juvenile mixed in, a plumage that is not often seen. The flock also had a couple Grass-green Tanagers mixed in, which are impossible not to enjoy.
Overjoyed with our success, we headed back to La Florida in mostly rain, occasionally heavy, and with few other birds to slow us down, the highlights being Plushcap and Slaty-backed Chat-Tyrant.
The next morning we got up before dawn had even thought about cracking and got a car to take us over the nearby pass to the lower eastern slope of the Andes, part of a place called Abra Patricia, more specifically the Garcia Trail. Abra Patricia is an absolutely phenomenal place for birding, with multiple species having been described to science there, including such enigmatic birds as Long-whiskered Owlet, a bird that wasn’t seen for 20 years after its original discovery, when it flew into some nets that people were using for banding! It was never seen out of nets until the past few years, and even since then not that many people are lucky enough to see it. We will have a chance for that later in the trip, albeit a small one.
Our targets for the day were Royal Sunangel and Ochre-fronted Antpitta, with the antpitta being even rarer than the Pale-billed of the day before. Before the morning was out we had seen both of those birds and many more. The best part of the whole morning was standing at a lookout point on a knife ridge, with flowers nearby that a male Royal Sunangel was visiting, and mixed species flocks with many species of tanagers moving through the trees below us. We had Metallic-green, Straw-backed, Yellow-throated, Silver-backed, Beryl-spangled, and Flame-faced Tanagers from that spot alone. Other spectacular birds that rounded out that great morning included Bar-winged Wood-Wren, within 8 feet, Cinnamon-breasted Tody-Tyrant, another very rare and local bird, and Chesnut-crested Cotinga, possible the worst heard-only bird I have.
Come mid-day the rain had set in, so we headed out to the road, figuring we’d catch a bus down to Moyobamba, our goal for the night. If only it were that easy.
Two hours later of waiting under a little roofed construction by the side of the road we started to build dams using sand and the runoff from the road. Things were looking grim.
Another hour later STILL no buses had come, which is practically unheard of on a major road like this. A small van pulled up at one point, which ended up being driven people who worked at the lodge on the Abra where the owlet is seen, and we got foreboding news that nobody has had the owlet for two months. Ah well.
One good tidbit of information that we got out of this exchange is that there was a restaurant a few kilometers down the road, so we gladly walked there and satiated our hunger, while, of course, watching two buses go by in the direction that we wanted. After finishing our meal we tried to get a bus once again. Two went by in the right direction, but wouldn’t stop for us. At this point we were trying to flag down anything with wheels. Five and a half hours after stopping birding some guy in a very shiny new pickup truck stopped for us, and we gratefully piled into the back, and were treated to a spectacular ride down switchbacks through gorgeous forest as the sun set. A truly memorable experience.
We eventually made it to Moyobamba where we wanted to be, after a collectivo and a mototaxi, and settled in at our new digs, Hospedaje Rumipata.
Treating ourselves to a little more sleep we didn’t wake up until after 5am, and when we got out of our nice little five bed cabin we were greeted by our hostess, an incredibly nice woman who ran the place with her husband and possibly some sons. She offered breakfast, and we gladly accepted, going into the main building on the property, which kind of resembled an antique farmhouse with an almost oriental twist. While sitting down at our table right near the kitchen, we saw a most unexpected sight. There was a monkey in the room. As she came over with our tea, the monkey jumped to her shoulder, and then to Andrew! It turns out that his name is Pepito, he is three years old, and after identifying him using the wondrous power of the internet, he is a Black-mantled Tamarin!
He was the best part about a great place to stay, and he kept us company at breakfast and lunch whenever we ate there. The first morning he spent almost all of the time on Andrew, the next breakfast on my lap, and our third meal with him on both Andrew and me. He didn’t seem to like Chris much, giving him a little nip at one point, and taking a very small leak on his leg at one point as well.
Anyways, back to the birds. The place to bird here is called the Quebrada Mishquiyacu, and has some really interesting foothill specialties. Our highlights in the three days that we birded there were numerous, but some of the best included a pair of Rufous-capped Nunlets coming within about 20 feet at times, a male Fiery-throated Fruiteater out in the open with a blazing crimson throat, Buff-tailed Sicklebill singing its head off 15 feet away in the open, a pair of Rufous-crested Coquettes feeding in a tree above our heads, and some more familiar sights, such as numerous Cerulean Warblers, a few Blackpoll Warblers, and countless Swainson’s Thrushes and Canada Warblers.
One of the four days that we spent in this area was used to go to Morro de Calzada, an imposing outcrop of stone in the middle of the dry Rio Mayo Valley, which is supposed to have some very interesting birds around it. We were fairly underwhelmed, but managed to get some of the birds, although we missed our first couple birds for the trip! Highlights here for me included Burnished-buff Tanager, Scale-backed Antbird, and Striolated Puffbird. Andrew got to hear a Spot-tailed Nightjar that both Chris and I missed. Gotta save some for later I guess.
After having our last meal with Pepito we packed up and rolled out, kind of sad to be leaving the great Hospedaje Rumipata, but also relieved to be on our way to somewhere new. Our last stop in this area was en route to Tarapoto, and was simply a bridge that the road went over.
We stopped, looked down, looked around, and all of a sudden we saw them. Oilbirds. One of the stranger birds out there, a nocturnal bird that breeds colonially in caves, or in this case slot canyons, and feeds on fruit which it finds by echolocation. Very cool birds, and they sound prehistoric on top of all that. The others had seen them before, but they were new to me. After that it was smooth sailing to Tarapoto, and then a couple days of birding “The Tunnel.”

But that’s a story for another blog…

Overdue blog – Part 2 (Bosque Unchog and the north)

2009-12-16T11:32:00.000-08:00

Back on a bus in the morning, another 10 hours or so to Huanuco, the city that boasts “The best climate in the world” on the city limits signs when you enter the town. They actually could be right, it always seems to be the perfect temperature there. It’s a nice town, I enjoyed our stay there both times that we were there. Huanuco was our base to get to Bosque Unchog, one of the more famous locations in Peru.
Bosque Unchog, meaning Unchog Forest, is an area with elfin forest right near treeline on the eastern slope of the Andes. It has many very rare and local birds that are only known from a few locations in the entire world, and Bosque Unchog is the easiest place to get to where you have a good chance of seeing Golden-backed Mountain-Tanager, Bay-vented Cotinga, Rufous-browed Hemispingus, and Pardusco. The only way to get there on public transport is to take a collectivo to a small town called Cochabamba, about 90 minutes from Huanuco, and then hike 8k at 3000m (10,000’), while gaining 650m (2,100’) in those 8k (5mi). It was sunny as well. About 4k in we met a guy heading up as well on a motorcycle, and he offered to come back and take our bags up. We gratefully said yes, and he said he would return after dropping off the stuff he was already carrying at his home at the end of the road, which was our destination. We hiked about 1.5k more before he returned, and sadly he was only able to take two backpacks. Chris held on to his and Andrew and I got ours strapped on the back of his motorcycle, fairly sketchily, and he vanished around the corner with our worldly belongings. I took Chris’s camera bag, and now that all of us were carrying less we felt like new people, and the last few k were a piece of cake in comparison. When we arrived at the end of the road our motorcycle-owning friend was there with our bags, and after paying him ten soles we crested the pass and simply reveled in the beauty. Right at the end of the road there is a small valley with marshy grassland at the base, elfin forest coating both slopes, and the glorious Unchog Mountain standing tall on one side. We made camp above the marshy area and just below the forest, and that would be our home for the next couple nights. Goods had been purchased back in Huanuco, namely spaghetti, rice, onions, tuna, Tang, and tomato sauce. That first night we got some birding done before dark, and I got terrible distant backlit looks at a Golden-backed Mountain-Tanager. Little did I know that that would be the only one that I would see during our time there. For dinner we made spaghetti, which we overcooked, but simple pasta with tomato sauce from a packet has rarely tasted so good. We had a small amount left over which would end up being brunch the next morning. After a mediocre nights sleep we saddled up and headed out. There are three main forest patches at Bosque Unchog, #1 is right by the camping area, and is most known for Golden-backed Mountain-Tanager, while #2 is 1.5 valleys away, and has Rufous-browed Hemispingus, and #3 is even more distant, but is best for Bay-vented Cotinga, as well as lots of good flocks. Two and three turned out to be the best areas by far. On the first day Andrew split off from me and Chris early on, and while we birded the first forest patch thoroughly he headed on down to 2 and 3. We spent most of the morning seeing almost nothing, and we somehow picked up a ~12 year old kid who told us that he knew where the mountain-tanager hangs out. Having seen nothing but a few Parduscos, the easiest specialty to get, we decided to head down towards where we suspected Andrew of having headed, and also that was where the kid said the tanagers were. We picked up a few more birds on the walk down, the best being a heard-only Bay-vented Cotinga. We got to a small area of forest where the kid said he sees the Ave de Oro, or “Bird of Gold” regularly. Despite his assurances we spent a long time watching this area and never ended up seeing the tanager. While birding this patch Andrew came back up the path from the other direction, and of course had seen every single target bird except the tanager. Bay-vented Cotinga he had heard only, lots of Parduscos, Golden-collared and Yellow-scarfed Tanagers, both gorgeous and rare tanagers, and Rufous-browed Hemispingus, the supposed rarest of all of the specialties, a bird that most groups that visit here miss. Saddened, Chris and I could not come up with anything at all that Andrew had not had. We blame it on the fact that he had a pygmy-owl tape to call birds in and we didn’t. We spent the rest of the day looking for the mountain-tanager, nobody had seen hide nor hair of it except my brief crappy look, and we got nothing more except some noise that Andrew and I heard that was most likely it. He got a recording and has yet to compare the sonograms on the computer, so I’m not 100% sure yet.
The second night we attempted to make rice. I mean seriously, how hard can it be? After a meal of slightly undercooked rice that tasted like burning, and a packet of four Oreos each, we called it a night for another mediocre night of sleep, at least for me.
Up just before dawn, we headed out as a pack today, Chris and I hoping to recoup our losses. We went to a spot where you can stand on a rock and look out over the canopy of some forest, a great spot, and had THREE Bay-vented Cotingas feeding, calling, and generally being awesome within as close as 30 feet. Spectacular. While there a mixed flock moved through that contained at least three Golden-collared Tanagers. Two down. Back at the spot where the kid said there were mountain-tanagers, there were no tanagers. However, while Andrew was recording a Tschudi’s Tapaculo, he spotted another (!!) Rufous-browed Hemispingus just sitting in the undergrowth! Most groups don’t even see one, and between us we had seen two by now. It wandered around in the semi-open for a while before disappearing as suddenly as it had been spotted. Now all we needed was Golden-backed Mountain-Tanager and Yellow-scarfed Tanager and everyone would be on the same page. We proceeded on down to patch three, and had a couple small flocks with some nice things like Chestnut-bellied Mountain-Tanager in them, but nothing stupendous. We heard some faint calls coming from the underbrush in front of us, and upon close approach, I saw another hemispingus, this one moving around a bit and calling. Chris and I were able to get nice photos of this one, amazingly the third one of our time there. A little ways further down we ran into a couple flocks that held Yellow-scarfed Tanager, so every goal had been met except the holy grail, Golden-backed Mountain-Tanager. We decided to wander back to the rock outcropping near good forest in the hope that some mountain-tanagers would just wander by, and on the way back stopped at a Swallow-tailed Nightjar nest that we had found earlier in the day by flushed the parent off of it. It had one chick, and when we went to photograph the adult on the nest, instead of the female from earlier there was a nice male! A lifer for both Chris and Andrew, it was quite a way to get such a spectacular nightjar. We all spread out near the rocky area in various states of tiredness, and Andrew definitely picked the best spot. After about 30 minutes of waiting a flock came through, and all of a sudden, from about 30m away, Andrew yells “GOLDEN-BELLIED MOUNTAIN-TANAGER!” No such bird exists, but we both knew what he meant. We made our way there as fast as we could, but it was in vain. The bird had made a cameo appearance, and was never seen again. Some Golden-collared Tanagers within 15 feet were nice, but could not console us. The flock was gone in a matter of minutes, and hope left with it. It was about 12:40pm then, and we decided that we wanted to spend that night back in civilization. After a little bit of searching for the flock we headed back to camp in order to pack up and hike back down to Cochabamba. Of course, the only time that it rained during our time at Bosque Unchog was when we had to pack up. Everything to do with a tent got wet, but we just wanted to get back down at that point. After an 8k hike downhill in rubber boots with a full pack, I was feeling a bit the worse for wear. The only nice part about the hike down was a small group of Brown-flanked Tanagers, and back in the land of internet, as far as my Blackberry was concerned. It’s a scary world when you have internet in places such as that.
A few hours later when we got back to Cochabamba, the problem was then to find a car. Little did we know that what was about to follow would be the most memorable taxi hailing ever. We went to the little store in town to ask when cars left for Huanuco, and they just pointed down the road and said that way. We went around the corner and asked again, and the ladies that we asked pointed across the fields downhill. At first we didn’t get it, but then we saw the last car of the day, about ½ mile away, across the valley that we were in. Our hearts sunk with the realization that we would be spending a night camping on the soccer pitch in town, when all of a sudden one of the ladies started whistling. You have never heard a whistle like this, it could shatter glass from a hundred yards, I swear. After a couple whistles, the car unbelievable slowed and then stopped. While driving, half a mile away, across a small valley, the taxi driver had heard this lady whistle through his open window. Absolutely amazing. We started almost jogging in order to get to the car ASAP, after thanking the “whistle-lady” for her help. In retrospect I wish we had given her money, a skill like that should get recognition. When we made it to the car it turned out to be empty, and we gladly got in and collapsed into the seats, and a couple hours later were in a hotel room. Once in the hotel room we strung up lines to hang our wet tent stuff from, which made the room decidedly humid upon our return from eating copious amounts of food, and drinking liters of juice. Life was good.
The following morning we started what ended up being a bus-saga, the first leg of which was to Lima, at least originally. We had been in the bus for about 9 hours and all of a sudden we just came to a halt. Traffic was not moving at all. We were in an outskirt of Lima, called Chosica, and apparently someone had hit a 5 year old kid, and the road was cordoned off or something. In any case, we would have had to wait 3 or more hours until we would have been able to continue. It was 9pm or so, and we got off the bus, got on a little minibus back to Chosica, and spent the night there. The following morning we took a taxi into Lima to get a bus to Trujillo, another 10 hour bus ride, and this one through one of the driest deserts in the world. It was 3 hours of being stuck in cities and 7 hours of feeling like you were in Saharan Africa, except for the occasional paralleling of the Pacific Ocean. However, all ten hours were comfortable, because of the fact that we had gotten a little bit crazy and spent about $3/hour for a VIP bus instead of $1.50/ hour for the economic version. We also got the front seats on the second floor of a double decker bus, so it was a great ride with floor to ceiling windows, frequent refreshment, and copious amounts of bad movies. The first bad movie was Inkheart, which was pretty terrible, but it looked like a marvel of cinematography next to the two that followed it. After Inkheart was something that we think was called Firehouse Dog, which had a terrible plot that was complimented by bad acting, and the terrible trio was rounded off by some movie that doesn’t even deserve to be called a chick flick, if I recall correctly it was called Aquamarine. We don’t speak of that movie. The first two were watched because there was nothing else to look at but sand, but the final televisional travesty was worse than looking at sand. We arrived in Trujillo after dark, per usual, and took a taxi to a pretty crappy hotel which was overpriced, lessening our already low opinion of the city of Trujillo. We went out for dinner at a Chinese place, something Andrew would do every meal if he had his way, and it was fairly good, except for what we think were guinea pig bones in Chris’s noodles and vegetables. No meat, just bones. That is bad enough as it is, but it is worse considering that Chris eats no meat except fish. He also had his shin viciously attacked by the corner of my bed, so it was not his best night ever.
Our plan the following morning was to go to a spot called Sinsicap, but there is only one bus daily going there, and for some reason it wasn’t leaving that day. So it was 6am, we couldn’t go to where we wanted to go, and overall the day wasn’t so good. We decided the only way to make use of the day was to get on another bus. So we did. This time for 16.5 hours. We ended up traveling over 700 miles in two days, and that is not including Huanuco to Lima, which surely puts the total over 1,000 miles in three days. The 16.5h drive took us through some nice habitat, and I managed a few lifers, namely Savannah Hawk and Pearl Kite, two raptors that I very much wanted to see. Our destination was La Florida, a small town that has a small bird nearby, but undoubtedly one of the coolest birds in the world, at least in my opinion. The bird I am speaking of is the Marvelous Spatuletail. The Marvelous Spatuletail is a hummingbird, and arguably the most amazing of the family, which is saying something. It has a small body, only a few inches, smaller than your garden variety hummers in the US, more like a woodstar body size, but its tail is what sets it apart. It has evolved to have only four tail feathers, as opposed to the usual 10-14 of most birds. The central pair of feathers are like long pins, more than twice as long as the body, and extending straight out from the back. The outer two are a whole different story. They are at least 5 times as long as the body, and curve out like a bow in a semi-circle from the tail base. At the tips they have large round “spatulas” feather tips about half the size of the body of the bird itself. This outer pair of feathers moves independently from the rest of the bird, so when it is perched at rest, they kind of wander aimlessly. Such a wonder to watch. We went to the spot for them this morning, after arriving in La Florida last night, and had at least nine individuals, with at least three and probably four adult males in one spot. They were, dare I say, marvelous? We are going to go back this afternoon to watch them again for a while, because this valley is the only place in the world where they occur, and who knows when we will be back here next?
Other good birds at the spatuletail spot included Purple-throated Sunangel, Buff-bellied Tanager, Purple-collared Woodstar, and Rufous-capped Antshrike.
I write this now sitting on the bed in our hostal, with Andrew asleep on the next bed, and Chris out getting money. I will have been here for a month tomorrow, and depending on how well we do birding tomorrow, I may break 500 species in this first month. Tomorrow we are heading to the Rio Chido trail, a place where the target is Pale-billed Antpitta, one of the coolest antpittas in the world, and a spot that also has good birds such as Straw-backed Tanager and Chestnut-crested Cotinga. From here we head farther east to Abra Patricia, then down to the Tarapoto area, and retrace our steps back through Abra Patricia and the Maranon Valley to Lima on January 20th, where we will take a pelagic before doing the final month in the southern part of the country, the Manu Road, Machu Picchu, and the Cuzco area.
Hope everyone is well and that you have a great holiday season.

Take it easy,
Ian

Overdue blog – Part 1 (Amazonian lowlands)

2009-12-16T11:21:00.000-08:00

I really should have written this quite a while ago, but somehow life always ended up intervening. Many things have happened in the past two weeks, some good, some rather bothersome, but overall they have been two joyful weeks to be a part of.
After I last posted, we spent a great night in Lima, eating a delivered pizza from Pizza Hut, a slice of heaven, or eight slices you could say. Chris Nunes, the third member of our intrepid group, arrived at about 1am in the dorm room that we were staying in, and after groggy greetings we all went back to the land of sleep. That following morning we got on another bus, this time headed to Tingo Maria, a 12 hour ride. Our goal was to get to Pucallpa, an Amazonian city in east-central Peru, and from there go to progressively smaller towns until we were in the wilderness. After spending a night in Tingo, being unable to take an overnight bus to Pucallpa as the road is unsafe, we headed east into the true lowlands, out of sight of the Andes for the first time since I have been in the country.
Pucallpa was a fairly nice city, with fleets of mototaxis outnumbering real cars. Mototaxis, for those of you who don’t know, are small three wheeled contraptions that are basically the front half of a motorcycle with a bench seat in the back over two wheels that complement the front wheel of the motorcycle, and a roof. They travel slowly, and you get dirt blown in your eyes, but it is an enjoyable ride nonetheless. Their most redeeming quality is the price, a 10-15 minute ride tends to cost about a buck.
After asking our mototaxi driver for a hotel with internet, we arrived at La Suite de Petita’s Inn, a nice little place with included breakfast, and wifi that worked intermittently in the rooms. The next day we checked out travel options to our next destination, a small down called Contamana, and ended up flying out in a small six seater airplane for $50 each, after indulging in ice cream, wifi, and air conditioning in the surprisingly modern airport. Chris and Andrew did rock-paper-scissors to determine who got to ride up front with the pilot, somehow I failed to be in the game, but ah well, and Chris won. Lucky devil. It was an awesome experience flying in this little plane, and I no longer consider commercial airline flights real flying. It was about a 30m ride across rivers and pristine forest, as opposed to the other way of getting to Contamana, a 6h+ boat ride, and that would be a fast boat!
Once in Contamana we bought supplies for our upcoming trek, the aforementioned barbet hike, and managed to hire a boat to go down the river just as the light was fading, to Pampa Hermosa, the place where one makes arrangements for guides and boats to get to the Cordillera Azul where the Scarlet-banded Barbet makes its home. Going down the river as the sun was setting was spectacular, and birds abounded. Some of the more interesting ones included a large flock of Canary-winged Parakeets, over 75 each of Large-billed and Yellow-billed Terns, Green Oropendolas, and a few Chestnut-fronted Macaws. After 90 minutes in a “peque peque” pronounced peki-peki, which is just a dugout canoe with a small motor on the back, we arrived at the boat landing for Pampa Hermosa, where there were surprisingly two mototaxis, one of which took us through the gathering dusk for about 30 minutes on a rutted logging road to the town. It being a small town, the taxi driver knew the people that we wanted to talk to about guiding, and he took us right to their house. A knock on the door brought out a shirtless man who we had interrupted from watching his soap opera, but after asking about the barbet, we were invited inside their house. What happened after that was kind of a pow-wow, we all stood around and talked prices and logistics and how many people we would need to help clear the trails, and whether we needed porters, etc etc, and after coming to decisions about all that, an unexpected question was broached. “So you have permission from the park people, right?” Apparently, unbeknownst to us, you have to get permission from the organization that regulates entry to the Parque Nacional Cordillera Azul. We said no, and not thinking it a big deal, set up our tents on their floor, and went to sleep.
When we awoke the next morning, our future guides, Carlos and Arnoldo Ruiz, said that we needed to get permission to be able to go, that there is a checkpoint on the river and nobody is allowed in without the right papers. The organization, CIMA, had a representative in town, so after talking to him, we found out that we needed to go back to Contamana to ask. Chris decided to stay and go birding, and Andrew and I went back, in a more primitive peque peque that took three hours, being upstream and with a weaker motor. More good birds on the way back, Pied Lapwing, Muscovy Duck, Red-and-white Spinetail, and Pied Water-Tyrant to name a few.
After getting back in Contamana we went to the CIMA office, where we were told that we would have to officially submit a written proposal, and it needed to be notarized and faxed to the main office. After going to a notary across the street, we managed to get this proposal for entry written, in Spanish, and get it faxed off to the boss in another town. We were told that by 5pm that day we would hear what we needed to do to be able to go. Already getting pretty pissed and fed up with bureaucracy, we got a hotel room in town, knowing that we couldn’t get back to Pampa Hermosa that day. Of course, Chris was still there, and given the fact that he doesn’t speak that much Spanish, I’m sure it was quite an experience. We managed to call and speak with Chris and tell him what was up, and that we would call back again after we knew what was going on with the permits.
Come five o’clock we went back to the office, and were told what we had to do. It was ridiculous. We had to go to LIMA, and give them 22 days notice before we would be in the park, and we had to have something from Colorado College explaining what we would be doing there, because we had decided to put down that we were all from Colorado College to simplify things. Our chances at seeing the barbet before the rainy season began were out the window. We called Chris and gave him the sorry news, and made arrangements for him to come back the next day.
While in Contamana we had heard from the locals about a macaw clay lick, a place where macaws come to line their stomachs with clay to absorb the toxins in the seeds that they eat, and so Andrew and I decided to investigate the following morning while Chris was coming back by boat.
We ended up taking a mototaxi for a few kilometers, walking for a few, and then repeating that, and ended up only getting about 2/3 of the way to the forest that the lick is actually in, but by lucky change we got a ride back to town by the very people that take tourists to the clay lick. So for the following day we arranged to be picked up at 0430 to go see this spectacle. Chris nor Andrew had ever been to a lick before, and I had only seen parrots and parakeets in Ecuador, no real macaws. Chris arrived back safely that afternoon, and after food and sleep, we were up at 0430, and back in a mototaxi. About an hour later we got to the end of the road, and started hiking. At the beginning it was a nice trail, but as we kept going the trail got more primitive, and then became a streambed, which was slightly treacherous. Nobody got hurt, but Andrew fell and got the battery for his recorder wet, which was almost disastrous. After 90 minutes of walking we made it to the small hide across the stream from this clay bank, and started to wait. It was about 7am, and the guide said that they get there at about 8. It was pretty slow just sitting there, so we played some chess on my iPod, one of the best apps I have, and waited some more. The macaws slowly started to trickle into the trees above the lick, and at first we were excited to see about 12 of them, then 30, then 50, and then it was just deafening. Almost exactly at eight the noise maxed out and all of the birds descended on the clay bank. It was a chaotic swirl of red green and blue, as over 100 Red-and-Green Macaws swarmed over the clay, fighting over the best areas, and generally squabbling. We watched in awe for over an hour, taking hundreds of photos, and this was something that you didn’t need a telephoto lens for. Chris has the new Nikon mid-level SLR, and one of its nice features is HD video, and he got some great footage of the birds feeding on the clay.
After feasting our eyes on this colorful phenomenon, we slowly worked our way back towards the road, through an incredibly unbirdy forest, the most dead for birds forest that any of us has ever been in in the Amazon, and Andrew has spent over 4 months in the Amazon. A few nice birds showed themselves, Short-billed Honeycreeper, Slender-footed Tyrannulet, Bluish-fronted Jacamar, and flyover Jabirus and King Vulture, but mainly it was just eerily quiet.
After a long ride back to town we made arrangements to fly back to Pucallpa the following morning, having spent enough time in Contamana already. The following morning when we got to the airline company that we had made “reservations” at on the previous night, we were notified that there was no plane that day. We went to the other company in town, and their morning plane was, of course, full. So we waited until the afternoon, and at about 1:30pm we finally got back in the air to Pucallpa. Andrew beat me in rock-paper-scissors. Maybe someday I will get to ride in the front.
Back in Pucallpa we went to the same hotel, and had some great internet and some not so great Chinese food. Our last place to visit in this part of Peru is a lagoon just 10k from Pucallpa called Yarinacocha, a nice place with some very cool birds. We got up at dawn again, and back in a mototaxi, headed to Yarinacocha. Upon arrival the local boat owners started clamoring for our business, and picking a boat that looked nice, we headed out across the oxbow lake to the good forest on the other side. The main target bird here is called Black-tailed Antbird, a rare and local antbird, and Yarinacocha is one of the best places to get it. We ended up with over a dozen, so much for rare and local. We also found a Red-and-white Spinetail nest with two parents in attendance, over 10 Purus Jacamars, Slender-billed Xenops, Hooded Tanagers, Pied Water-Tyrants, Cinereous Becard, and many more birds as part of a few nice flocks.
We returned to Pucallpa, bought bus tickets to Huanuco, our destination the next day, and had another nice afternoon of internet and rest.

To be continued in Part 2 (Bosque Unchog and the north)

Marcapomacocha and Lima

2009-11-29T14:28:00.000-08:00

After leaving Huancayo we headed via bus to a fairly small town called San Mateo, at about 3500m (11,500'), right along the main highway from Lima to the highlands. It was to be our base to bird a place called the Milloc bog, a spot that has some very range resticted and habitat specific birds. Upon arriving in the little town we tried to find a taxi diver to hire for the day to take us to the bog, which is also known as Marcapomacocha for a nearby town. We promptly found someone and gave him a downpayment of 20 soles to assure our commitment. After a night in the comfiest beds so far this trip, at 0515 or so we headed onward and upward.
Our main two target birds were Diademed Sandpiper-Plover, a very unique bird with a tantalizing name, and White-bellied Cinclodes, an incredibly range restricted bird, with only 28 individuals known, but the population is extrapolated to 200 or so from likely habitat that has not been seen by birders. One of the things that these birds share is habitat, they need a certain type of bog that only occurs over 15,000' in the Andes. In order to get to the place to see them we crossed a pass that was over 16,000', the highest I have ever been. The scenery on the rutted dirt road to get to these remote valleys was absolutely spectacular, with fog laying like a blanket in the valleys, snow-capped peaks rising over red, green, and gray colored rolling hills and cliffs, as far as the eye can see.
We got to the bog just as the fog was burning off, great timing, and started walking around at about 15,500', something easier said than done. After about 5 minutes of walking around in this strange terrain, we heard something interesting sing, and the second that Andrew yelled "WHITE-BELLIED CINCLODES!" I had just gotten my binoculars on the singing bird. There was a pair of them, and we followed them around for the better part of an hour, getting photographs of the birds doing a song-display, where they wave their wings while singing from atop a rock, and getting recordings of them singing, possibly the best recordings ever gotten of this species. Some other nice birds in that bog included White-winged Diuca-Finch, Gray-breasted Seedsnipe, and three species of ground-tyrant. But that was only the small bog!
We went further on down the road to the top of this talus slope (talus is kind of like shale, but more sketchy to walk on), and down at the bottom, a few hundred feet, there was an expansive bog, taking up an entire valley between a large mountain and some hills, over a mile long.
We made our way down the slope, and told our taxi driver, surely convinced as all others are that we are certifiable, to wait for us at the other end of the bog, where a different road conveniently transects the valley, so that you never have to walk uphill if you have a driver. Right at the bottom of the slope, only a few hundred feet in, all of a sudden there it was. Diademed Sandpiper-Plover. One of the birds I have wanted most in the world for a very long time, almost since I started birding. We ended up having three individuals, two adults and a juvenile, and we continued the tradition of recording and photographing these as well. We spent a few hours at this bog, and the other most interesting thing that happened didn't involve something rare, but something simply aweing.
We were down at the marshier end of the bog, where water was about ankle-calf deep, and since Andrew only had hiking boots he was hopping from hummock to hummock, while I tromped through mindlessly. I had stopped to photograph a Puna Snipe that had been flushed, and while I was looking through the viewfinder, all of a sudden I saw a blur and the snipe was gone. Then the screaming started. Three Aplomado Falcons had appeared out of nowhere, and one had attacked my snipe, and the snipe narrowly escaped with its life. All three falcons were wheeling around within 30 feet of us, screaming their heads off, periodically diving on Andean Lapwings or Andean Gulls, which were also flying around in a panic, and it was just complete chaos. The falcons seemed completely unaware of us, and they were too close to get the whole bird in the frame of a picture most times. One ended up landing on a small hummock about 40 feet away and hung out there for about 5 minutes while we watched it, and then they disappeared as suddenly as they had arrived. Very cool. We thought we had seen the end of it, but about 15 minutes later we heard the calls again, and this time all three of them were way up in the sky, at least 1/2 mile, and all had their talons locked into some bird, and were spiraling down, screaming at eachother, fighting for the bird. One of them broke off a few hundred meters from the ground, but the last two didn't split until they were within a hundred feet of the ground. The victor flew off and landed with his prize, and proceeded to eat it while the other two went hungry.
From there we headed to a nearby lake, saw some of the same stuff, Giant Coots, over 150 Andean Geese, Chilean Flamingos, etc, and then headed back to San Mateo. On the way back, right at the top of the 16,010' pass, we had to stop and pull entirely off of the road for a giant tractor trailer, which happened to be trailing a tractor. Go figure. I tried to use my Blackberry while I was up there, and something happened to it and the screen dimmed and then went blank, and nothing I could do could turn it back on. I thought that I was a goner, until I managed to get it to work again down here in Lima yesterday, not sure what went wrong, nor how I fixed it, but I'll take it. Once the truck and its cargo had passed, we proceeded on our way, stopping at one place for Junin Canastero, a small brown bird that just happens to occur in Peru and only in Peru in the whole world. While searching for this bird, which we found, another car pulled up, and a birder got out, and he happened to be from Colorado! He and Andrew had a great time talking about birding his part of Colorado, a place which apparently has no birders, and marveled at the chance meeting. Unfortunately he was heading in the other direction, so we wished him luck and continued on our way.
When we got back to San Mateo we decided that we didn't want to spend another night, and despite it being after checkout time, the owner let us go, and we got a bus to Lima. They made us take our backpacks on the bus, and I got stuck in the doorway with mine and had to be helped by the salesman on the bus, haha. A few hours later we were securely back in the Lion Backpackers Bed and Breakfast, a decent enough place that has redeeming qualities such as breakfast and wifi. We went out in the local area to eat, and had great trashy American food, I got some pizza from Pizza Hut and Andrew got some monstrous burger from Burger King. It was glorious.
When I woke up this morning, I was sick again. Great. More food poisioning. And I never get sick at home! Hopefully this isn't a trend that will continue. I've been taking some medicine, and am feeling better now, here is hoping that I'll wake up tomorrow all better.
Today, after being lazy all morning and hanging out on the couches on the internet, we took a break from our laziness and headed to a spot in the city limits of Lima, Pantanos de Villa. It's a marshland with a beach next to it, and we had some nice birds. The best bird that you can get there is Peruvian Thick-Knee, a spectacular shorebird that stands about knee-high. We had two pairs of them, and got very close to one pair. We also had Great Grebes, old hat for Andrew but a coveted bird for me. The gull show was also great, with over a thousand Franklin's Gulls and hundreds of Belcher's and Kelp Gulls, and a smattering of Gray-hooded Gulls, a really gorgeous gull.
Now we are back at the hostal, being lazy on couches with internet like we do when we can. Tonight Chris, the third member of our party, comes into town, and he should arrive here by taxi sometime after midnight. Tomorrow we head over the Andes again to spend the night in Tingo Maria, and then travel to road to Pucallpa the day after, a road that is unsafe at night. Pucallpa is a truly Amazonian town, the first time I will have really been in the Amazon so far this trip. Our goal there is to find the right people to set up a trip to the Cordillera Azul, a very remote place. The target bird there is called Scarlet-banded Barbet, and is one of the more remote birds in South America, if not the world. Only three groups of people have EVER seen this bird, and it is one of the focal points of the trip, hopefully. Its world range is 25 sq kilometers, and only on the peak of one mountain, in one mountain range. It is such a special and gorgeous bird that it, out of all the fantastical birds of Peru, graces the cover of the field guide. If we are able to see it, an expedition that involves 1-2 weeks of hiking and camping, we would be only the fourth group in history. The trouble is finding the right people to contact to get the boat to the trailhead, and then getting the local guides and such. That is our main goal in Pucallpa, and hopefully one that we will succeed in. I should be able to post from Pucallpa before we head to the mountains, but we shall see.

Take it easy,
Ian

Satipo Road

2009-11-27T04:32:00.000-08:00

The past few days were quite memorable, with many things seen and heard that will be remembered for a long time.
We ended up hiring a pick-up truck for three days, which came with its own driver, and at the end of three days of constant togetherness, we still never knew his name! He was nice, probably thought we were crazy from the music that we played over the radio in the car, via the very modern MP3 hookup for our iPods, not to mention the fact that about every 500m we would yell "STOP!" to get out and run around in the puna grasslands above treeline, looking for some small brown bird with a name like Creamy-breasted Canastero, or something of that ilk. In any case, he drove well enough, helped communicate with the locals, and tolerated us enough. We also paid for his food during our time together, and he was particularly keen about eating as much as possible, as often as possible.
The road itself wasn't that bad, but it was definitely a long haul. We probably spent more than 20 hours in the car during the few days. On our way over we got caught in an epic hailstorm too, only about the size of tic-tacs, but so much that it covered the ground with about two inches of ice pellets. Very cool. The scenery was breathtaking, with knife-edge peaks, plunging river valleys, and cloud enshrouded ridges everywhere you cast your eyes. The birding was also spectacular, with lots of flocks at the temperate forest we birded near the Puente Carrizales, in english the Bamboo Bridge, and a very high endemism rate, as well as some species that just aren't official yet, being discovered so recently.
The first day our goal was to get to what we thought was the town of Carrizales, in order to camp there in preparation for birding the next morning. Well, after asking many locals for directions, and going by the crude maps that the bird finding guide to Peru gives, we ended up driving in the dark, over an hour past the location of the supposed town. Of course, nobody who gave us directions to "Carrizales" thought to tell us that it was just a bridge and a locale, and nobody actually lived there. We ended up staying near the next town down from there, Calabaza, where we ate in a subterranean restaurant, almost completely in the dark, along with about 5 locals and a TV blaring latin american music videos at deafening volume. It was one of the more interesting meals I've ever had. We camped just up the road, and by we I mean Andrew camped on the side of the road and I slept in the trunk of the pickup, diagonally, and not very well. As we drifted off to sleep we were heralded by a screech-owl, which turned out to be a Koepcke's Screech-Owl, a Peruvian endemic, and not the easiest bird to get.
We woke up at about 0430 the next morning, and proceeded to drive an hour or so back up to Puente Carrizales, hearing Chestnut-breasted Wren along the way, along with Andean Solitaires and Glossy-black Thrushes. Once up at the top, the birding commenced for real, and it was quite superb. Some of the highlights included Fire-throated Metaltail, Sword-billed Hummingbird, Paramo Seedeater, Tschudi's Tapaculo (seen), a male Purple-backed Thornbill, both on our list for one of the best birds of these few days, over 35 Scarlet-bellied Mountain-Tanagers, Drab Hemispingus, and tons of more common hummingbirds, including Tyrian Metaltail, Violet-throated Starfrontlet, and Amethyst-throated Sunangel. As we proceeded down the road to a lower elevation we hit some more flocks, and at one point a Barred Fruiteater flew by and perched near the road. Playback wouldn't bring it in, but it brought another one in, and we got gorgeous views from about 15 feet away at eye level of a female Barred Fruiteater. Just when we thought it couldn't get any better, a male came in and started FEEDING the female, right in front of us. The light was bad, so the pictures aren't crystal clear, but I managed to get a bunch of pictures of the male feeding her. Sometime soon I need to upload some pictures.
After walking the road we got back in the car and headed to higher elevations, hoping for some of the more local birds, but first we needed a stop for lunch and gas. This involved picking up some Quechua woman from the side of the road, giving her a ride to the town nearby, a town of about 15 buildings, and then her manually pumping gas from a barrel into a metal pitcher, which she then covered with a cloth, because of course it was pouring down rain, and running to the car where our driver was covering the opening to the gas tank with a jacket, and pouring the pitcher of gas in, then repeating. This happened about 5 times, and only amounted to about 1/4 tank. Since the town didn't have a restaurant, we shopped at the little store, which had about 8 items, all of them either canned fish, drinks, or crackers. We got some peach nectar, soda crackers, and for the other two meat-eaters, sardines. It tasted great. After a little more birding in the pouring rain, when we got Tit-like Dacnis, we started the journey to our destination that night, the town of Acobamba, above which reside the incredibly local Black-spectacled Brush-Finch, described to science in 2002, and two yet undescribed species, "Mantaro Thornbird" and "Mantaro Wren". En route, during the 6 hour drive, Andrew pulled out his laptop, saying "I bet this is the last thing that our driver just expected me to get out", and checked spots for the third undescribed species in this area, "Millpo Tapaculo". It turns out that the spot was only a few hundred yards down the road from that point, so just in time! We got out, played the recording once, and boom, a few hundred feet away one responded. Of course it was on the top of a 60' cliff, so we just had to get up there. We went up a sloping pasture that took us to the top, and after some effort and playback, saw the bird out in the open from less than 15 feet away, photographed well, and recorded incredibly well. With that under our belt we headed down into the Mantaro River valley, where Acobamba is located. Gorgeous scenery going down all of it, and Creamy-crested Spinetails were the nicest birds we had. We arrived at Acobamba after dark, and were surprised to see a military checkpoint at the entrance to the town, with a gate and four guys with guns standing around, none of them seemingly older than 25. They checked our passports and let us in, per usual, and it turns out that this town has a large military presence, and an outpost that was just swarming wth cadets. We found out why later. We went to the only restaurant in town, which was owned by the same people that had the only hospedaje in town, and we patronized both that night. The meal was quite nice for $1 per person, a plate with tons of vegetables and rice, and no meat! Might be the only time this trip that happens. While waiting for our food, we could see the military building, and also one of the funniest sights I've ever seen. There were a couple cadets out front, and they took turns posing with their guns in heroic poses, while the other one took their picture with a nice digital camera, and then they would huddle over the camera to check out the picture, and usually take some more. So hilarious. More than just a couple people did it too, we figured it must have been a new shipment of soldiers, straight out of school.
After a night at the hospedaje, which was five beds on the second floor of someones house, accessed by steep stairs in a dark alley, we headed up the mountain directly above Acobamba, to a little town called Chucho Acha, above which are "Mantaro Wren" and Black-spectacled Brush-Finch, or so we hoped. We really had no idea where to go, but after asking the store owner in the three-building "town" where the previous gringos with optics had gone, he took us on a trail further up the mountain to a large patch of bamboo, exactly what we wanted. We only had a 20 sole note to pay him, so he was very grateful, 20 soles being at least twice what we would have paid otherwise, and he headed back down to the village, while we hung around and birded. The bamboo patch turned out to not have much of anything, but we struck paydirt on a trail leading downhill past it. At least three Black-spectacled Brush-Finches were singing, and responded to playback of their song for about 30 minutes, while we had gorgeous looks at this perhaps most beautiful of brush-finches, and continued the trend of photographing and recording it. Now we only needed the wren, but they are a bamboo obligate, and things were looking grim in the bamboo department. We walked a bit further town the trail, and while looking through a small flock, we heard a pair of wrens singing! This was great, because it means we could cut another day at our backup spot for the wren and brush-finch. We eventually managed to get incredibly close to the wrens, a pair and a juvenile, and photographed and recorded them as well, partially in the pouring rain. Joyful at our success, we headed back to the car and proceeded back down to Acobamba. On our way back down we picked up a couple locals to give them a lift back to town, and one of the even spoke a small amount of english! One of the surprises of the day, but not as surprised as we were about to be. Tired of the ominous foreshadowing yet?
On our way back into town we passed a small group of soldiers, and out of curiosity asked the locals what they were here for. They replied "For safety". Safety from what we naturally asked, and got the answer "Terrorists". Turns out after some more questioning, that there is a decent terrorist faction in that area, both for political reasons, drug reasons, and some of them are even leftovers of the Shining Path, or Sendero Luminoso. That was slightly sobering.
Glad that we had learned about this on the last day, we started making our way back, with a few stops for the endemic "Mantaro Thornbird", which we finally heard distantly at one place, breaking our streak of photographing and recording every rare species in this area. What can you do. After a lunch of potatoes and rice at a small town, we started the 6 hour drive back to Huancayo. I managed to sleep a bit, but was still awake when we had Giant Hummingbird from the car, and also woke up to take some pictures of the gorgeous vistas. We had one bird that we still wanted to see well, and decided to stop at this likely looking spot for Eye-ringed Thistletail, another endemic to just this area. We almost immediately had one, and eventually got within about 8 feet of this bird, having it singing, walking on the ground, and all in all performing wonderfully for us, and this one caved to the formula of great pictures and recordings. We ended up having a few thistletails at this spot, as well as many "Millpo Tapaculos" and a Fire-throated Metaltail.
The rest of the drive was pretty uneventful, just long. A nice Aplomado Falcon spiced things up at one point, and getting cell service to check my email again was joyous. We made it back to our hotel at about 7pm, and after trying to get charged $70/day for the car instead of $50, we managed to haggle him down to about $20 more than 50 a day. Ah well, we just wanted to get fed and sleep. We went back to the same hotel and restaurant as we did last time we were here, and had a great meal of french fries and salad for me, and fries and steak for Andrew. My parents kindly treated us to this Thanksgiving dinner, and also kindly reminded us of the fact that it was Thanksgiving indeed! Thanks Mom and Dad!
I write this from our hotel room, as we prepare to eat and then head to the Ticlio Pass/Marcapomacocha area to bird tomorrow, hopefully for Diademed Sandpiper-Plover and White-bellied Cinclodes, two very special birds.

Also, as a footnote, here are some things that I didn't cram in the above writings, but deserve mention nonetheless:

A herd of llamas charging down the road towards us, about 35 of them, taking up the entire road.

An old Quechua lady walking calmly down the side of the road, knitting as she went.

A roadblock that was done by three kids that were about 6-8, asking for money. Our driver talked them out of it and let us pass.

Happy belated Thanksgiving to all,
Ian

Villa Rica and Huancayo

2009-11-24T04:36:00.000-08:00

As I write this I am in my bed in our hotel in Huancayo, not to be confused with Huanaco, the last city I updated from. We are currently living in the lap of luxury, and only for a measly 80 soles per night, which equates to $13 per person per night, for a nice hotel with cable TV, hot showers, and wifi in the rooms. Gotta love it.
The past few days were spent in a small town called Villa Rica, which was accessed from Huanaco by a 5 hour bus, a 3 hour collectivo, and another 1.5h collectivo. It's a big country with bad roads. Villa Rica was a surprisingly large town for being in the middle of nowhere, with at least a few thousand people living there. It was also at the lowest altitude that we had stayed at so far, at around 1400m (about 4600'), and the habitat there is more upper foothills and lower subtropics, as opposed to the drier high elevations that we had been at. It was great being at low elevations, no altitude sickness of any sort, but of course I couldn't possibly be well for more than a couple days, so I just had to get food poisoning. The main suspect was a juice I got that was mango with milk. I was a bit tentative about the milk anyways, and now I will avoid it like the plague. Plus it didn't even taste good..!
We had two main target birds while at Villa Rica, namely Creamy-bellied Antwren and Scissor-tailed Nightjar, both birds we had no chance for on the rest of the trip. I'm a huge fan of spectacular nightjars, so I was really hoping to be able to get that bird. We went to the spots at dusk where they are supposed to display, and had no luck. Ah well, some other trip I guess. We were more lucky with the Creamy-bellied Antwren, hearing and seeing that Peruvian endemic, but Andrew was unable to get a recording sadly. There were other good birds around too, many of them Andrew had already had in the south when he was here in Peru two weeks before me, but many were new to me. There was a good tanager show overall, with Turquoise, Paradise, Spotted, Blue-necked, Yellow-throated, Silver-backed, Golden-eared, Saffron-crowned, Flame-faced, and Swallow Tanagers leading the charge, along with many Blue-winged Mountain-Tanagers, and a couple Scarlet Tanagers. Who knows, maybe I saw the same Scarlet Tanagers this summer in MA? No way to know. Some other nice birds included White-eared Solitaire, a stunning member of its family, and some great marshbirds at the marsh right near town. The marsh is fairly large, and at 1400m is kind of an interesting habitat. We had great luck there in the late afternoon, SEEING at least 5 Rufous-sided Crakes, hearing Blackish Rail, getting to see Least Grebe in flight, and having an interesting elevational record of two Yellow-billed Terns, normally a bird that hangs out in the Amazonian lowlands.
Of course, when I was sick I had to miss a couple birds that I wanted, but that is just a given. Andrew went out birding the afternoon that I was far gone, and had two birds that I was hoping to get, namely Bicolored Hawk and Lanceolated Monklet, which he had a family group of, four in total, so close that he was unable to focus his binoculars. Ah well, you can't get them all.
It was quite rainy down in the Villa Rica area, where it rained two of the three mornings that we were there, letting us get out for dawn chorus only once.
Yesterday we headed to where we are now, Huancayo, via a 1.5h collectivo and then a four hour bus. Pretty unexciting for the most part, but a juvenile Band-bellied Ow roostingl in a banana plantation between Villa Rica and La Merced was a nice thing to see, and a life bird. Now we are waiting to get a rental car to be able to bird the Satipo Road better than we could be able to if we camped, which was the original plan. The Satipo Road is a very interesting place, with the elevational range from 4500m (about 15,000'), to just a few hundred meters (less than a thousand feet), making it a very diverse and interesting place to bird. So interesting in fact, that there are at least three and maybe four species on this road that have yet to be described to science! They are recognized as seperate species, but someone has yet to study and officially describe them. There are also some local Peruvian endemics, such as Black-spectacled Brush-Finch, Fire-throated Metaltail, Eye-ringed Thistletail, and Koepcke's Screech-Owl, in addition to many other good birds.
I doubt I'll have internet access for the next few days, but when we come back to Huancayo after birding the road for 4-5 days I should be able to update again.

Take it easy,
Ian

First few days

2009-11-20T05:01:00.000-08:00

The flights went well, I met Andrew at the airport, and after spending a night in Lima, we headed up into the mountains, with our final destination being Lago Junin. The 5 hour bus ride up the Junin was gorgeous, going through gorges with sheer rock faces sometimes thousands of feet high, and the pass over the western side of the Andes, Ticlio Pass (16,000 feet), was surrounded by gorgeous snow-capped mountains. Some of the bird highlights of the bus ride included Andean Goose, Andean Swift, White-winged Cinclodes, and Plain-breasted Earthcreeper. After getting to the town of Junin we walked through town until we got the the 'collectivo' area, the place where taxis hang around and charge a minimal fee to take you to a certain town, but you have to wait for the car to fill all the way up with random people. In this case, 6 of us were in a station wagon, with two people riding in the trunk. Luckily we got the back seat. For this 45 minute ride to Ondores, it cost 3 soles each, or $1. Once at the almost deserted town of Ondores, which is quite close to the Lago de Junin, we made our way to the only hospedaje in town, which cost us 5 soles ($1.66) a night per person.
I had never had any problems with altitude in Ecuador, but I think going from sea level to 13,500 feet, the altitude of Junin, in one day, was just too much for my body. I had a headache basically the entire time we were in the area, wasn't able to sleep, and got short of breath very easily. Our goal bird here at Lago Junin was the Junin Grebe, one of the rarer birds in the world, with only 200-300 left in the world. They are flightless, and only occur on this one lake in the entire world. The normal way of seeing them is hiring a boat, but the office where you do so never opened while we were there. Such is life. However, we managed to find a guy who knew how to walk to the edge of the lake, which was 4 kilometers each way, through mostly shin-deep water, chest high reeds, and mud. I only managed to make it about half of the way out, and by then I was just so spent that I wouldn't have been able to make it back had I continued all the way. I ended up making a small bed out of the reeds, pulled more of them overhead for shade, and slept there for close to an hour. Andrew and our guide continued on to the edge of the lake, and when they got there they still had to walk another kilometer along the edge of the lake until they found a Junin Grebe. But they did, and I'm glad that my infirmity didn't keep Andrew from seeing the bird. After a long walk back all of us were completely exhausted, even our guide. Following a quick lunch, where I actually got a small salad rather than the usual vegetarian fare here: potatoes and rice, we headed back to our room for a nap. When I woke up from the nap I felt completely miserable, and despite wanting to stay around to try for the grebe again in the morning, I really needed to get to a lower elevation. So we packed up, and headed back to the town of Junin, seeing a very cool Short-eared Owl on the way, so different from ours up here. In Junin while waiting for a bus to take us to Huanaco, our lower elevation destination, I had some matte de coca, or tea made from coca leaves, which is the traditional way of curing altitude sickness, at least temporarially. I felt better almost immediately after having it, and that managed to keep me going until the end of the 3 hour bus to Huanaco, which we arrived in at 9:30, not the optimal time to get to a new city. We got a nice hostal right on a nice plaza, and I finally slept, first time since Lima, and now we are at an internet cafe in Huanaco. That pretty much sums up the trip so far!
My phone hadn't been working until now, but after getting some tech support, aka my parents calling the Verizon people and then emailing me the answer, I am back online! Hopefully I'll be able to update this more often now.
We're leaving shortly for Villa Rica, a place that is mostly coffee plantations, but has some really cool birds, including Lanceolated Monklet, Scissor-tailed Nightjar, Creamy-bellied Antwren, Cerulean-capped Manakin, and White-bellied Pygmy-Tyrant.
I'll try to post a bird list sometime soon.

Ian

Last day in the first world

2009-11-16T14:07:00.000-08:00

Well this is it, I just had my last home-cooked dinner for a while, am about to sleep the last night in my bed, and tomorrow night I'll be in a plane, and then in Lima, Peru. It'll be a bit different, but I'm looking forward to it more than just about anything.

As some of you may notice, there is now an option in the upper left-hand corner of this page to subscribe to this blog via email. If that is to your liking, the option is now there!

I also made a map for the places that we will be visiting, and you can see that at this link: map.

I'll try to update as often as I can from down there, I'll be at a place with wifi on the first night, so hopefully I'll post something quickly before I collapse.

In any case, I hope all of you have a great winter, and take it easy.

Good birding,

Ian Davies

Manomet, MA

goshawk227@earthlink.net

www.pbase.com/daviesphoto

http://picasaweb.google.com/goshawk227

http://www.flickr.com/photos/uropsalis/

Peru primer

2009-11-08T13:30:00.000-08:00

Some of you may know, and some of you may not, but in nine days I am going to be going to Peru. For three months. A lot of people may consider that a bit extreme, but after two months in Andean South America last winter, I wish I could go for four! There will be two of us for the entire trip, Andrew Spencer, a friend that I went to Panama with, and myself, and a third guy, Chris Nunes, will be joining us after a couple weeks, and staying for the remaining couple months.

Our goal, per usual, is to see lots of birds. Really imaginative, I know. However, if that is your goal in life, there are few better places than Peru to see hundreds upon hundreds of species of birds. In fact, we expect to see over 1,000 species during our time there, which is to say more than have EVER been seen in continental North America.

I'm hoping to be able to visit a lot of internet cafes while I'm down south, and I also recently got a new phone that will have internet and email capabilities as long as I have cell service down there, so I will be able to update from the field as well!

I will post again soon before leaving, and then hopefully every few days I'll be able to get some blurb on to the internet.

Take it easy,

Ian

Extreme Pelagic

2009-09-06T14:45:00.000-07:00

The first Bridled Tern with his fish

White-faced Storm-Petrel

Every late August for about five years now there has been a deep-water pelagic trip, which is to say a birding boat trip, that heads out to the Gulf Stream waters more than 100 miles south of Nantucket. It, along with a couple other such trips in June and July, have been dubbed the "Extreme Pelagics." They leave at 4am and get back at 9pm, and its a long day on a boat. This year, just for the August one, a new twist was put on the whole trip, by making it an overnight trip, from 5am the first day until 6pm a day and a half later.

I was scheduled on the one in late August, which I've gone on for four years now, and was slated for the weekend of the 22nd-23rd, originally anyways. Of course, the first hurricane of the season that made it up our way rolled through that weekend. So then it was the 29th-30th. And the second storm of the season came through, postponing it yet again. Well, this time the captain couldn't give us another weekend slot, so it was planning on going out on September 3-4th, a Thursday-Friday gig. The only problem for me is that weekdays don't quite work, there being the slight issue that I have to work dawn-dusk 5 days a week, so I had to drop my name from the passenger list with regret. And I thought that was the end of that, that they would go out and find tons of amazing birds and I would be sad that I missed it and cry myself to sleep, all that good stuff. (Note: Crying would not have really happened)

But then while hanging out in the banding room on Wednesday, my phone rang with a call from Rick Heil, one of the leaders on the trip. The trip normally has four leaders, three spotters and a guy on the mic, calling the birds out to the 50-80 birders on the boat. Because of the repeated rescheduling, two of the leaders were unable to make it, and I was offered the position to be one of the leaders! As a couple of my friends kindly put it, "Wow, they must have been desperate." The only slight hitch was that I would be working both of the days. Normally I could have just asked Trevor, our head bander and reigning deity, and I'm sure that he would have said yes and I could have gone. It just so happened that Wednesday was the only day so far in the entire season that Trevor was gone the whole day, at a conference up in Newburyport! No cellphone to contact him by, no number to reach him at, and as a bonus the power was also off on the premises, and there was nobody in the office building at Manomet.

My only method of contact was his home number, which I called and luckily his wife, Linda Leddy, another great human being and former president of Manomet for longer than I was alive, answered. I hung up that phone call with a wifely assurance that it would be it would be fine, and I should just go along with it. Well, a wifely assurance counts for a lot, and despite my agony at not being able to get in contact with Trevor, I part regretfully and part happily called Rick back and accepted the leader position. I still have not seen Trevor, and won't until Tuesday! We'll see how it goes.

As it turns out, the other replacement leader was Mark Faherty, a birder and friend who lives less than 1/2 mile away, the only other birder in White Horse Beach! What are the odds.

Thursday the third:

So after finishing the rest of the banding day on Wednesday, I went to bed early, set the alarm for 3:15, and got as much sleep as possible. A few hours later pre-dawn saw me standing around with about 35 other birders in downtown Hyannis, all of us preparing to be extreme. After leaving a little bit later than scheduled we were on our way, with a couple flyover Black-crowned Night-Herons and a few Least Terns, getting late for the terns, spicing up the harbor area. An hour or so later as we started rounding Nantucket we started getting into some Black Terns, and we saw over 90 Black Terns in the next few minutes, in flocks from 2-20 or so. Nice start. Not much else of interest until we got onto the Nantucket Shoals, an area that can be very productive, and after seeing a small pod of Harbor Porpoises, a life mammal for me, a large cloud of birds was spotted on the horizon, seemingly mostly terns from a distance. As we got closer, it turned out that they were indeed mainly terns, and estimates varied from 2,000-6,000. There were also some shearwaters scattered under them, with the bird highlights from the beginning of the flock being Manx and Sooty Shearwaters, as well as Forster's and Roseate Terns. Just as we were wondering where the jaegers were, a small grouping of them were spotted in the distance, and as we watched they landed on the water. What choice did we have but to head over there as quickly as possible? As we neared the group of birds on the water, a bunch of shearwaters with seven jaegers mixed in, they were originally called out as Parasitic Jaegers, with a couple birds that seemed to be Long-tailed as we got closer. In the initial hour or so after seeing these birds, at different times the flock was thought to be all Long-tailed, no Long-tailed, or any mix of in between numbers. After review of pictures, I think that there were five Long-tailed and two Parasitic, some others think the same, and some think four Long-tailed and three Parasitic. In any case, they put on an AMAZING show after they took off, as they repeatedly made passes at the bow of the boat, coming within 25 feet quite often. It's always a good thing when you can't fit an entire Long-tailed Jaeger in the frame of the picture.

After a nice show on the Shoals, we resumed steaming south, with not much new or different on the way out, a couple Minke Whales, some Short-beaked Common Dolphins, and pretty much the same birds. A couple more Long-tailed Jaegers made appearances, including one dark juvenile.

Our first destination was Hydrographer Canyon, a deep-water canyon that cuts into the continental shelf off of the Gulf Stream, our ultimate destination. I don't remember the exact locations of the best birds, everything got lost in the excitement, but the majority of good birds were had once we got out into the Gulf Stream proper, where there was water that was consistently 79.2 degrees Fahrenheit, and deep too. The birding was really good out there, and of course got good late in the day, when we were running out of light. The undisputed highlight of the first day were THREE White-faced Storm-Petrels, a bird that shows up in the US only a handful of times annually. Four Band-rumped Storm-Petrels were also really good, as well as being a state high count, and a final daily tally of 25 Audubon's Shearwaters was also a state high count. For mammals, there were Offshore Bottlenose Dolphins, Risso's Dolphins (also known as Grampus), and my personal favorite, a Cuvier's Beaked Whale that breached a couple times off of the bow before surfacing once, and then never being seen again, another life mammal. I had also been feeling a bit under the weather as the day progressed, and had to spend some time on the stern during the afternoon. I was feeling better as darkness approached, and thought that I was fine. As soon as the sun set, I knew I was wrong.

Apparently, once I lose sight of the horizon, I'm a goner. It was my first time being seasick. I ended up being the sickest person on the boat that night, and didn't make it inside until almost 11pm. The fact that it was pouring, POURING rain didn't help very much. I ended up sleeping fitfully on a bench with my legs hanging off of the end. What a night.

Friday the fourth:

Dawn, well, dawned. It was still drizzling, so no epic ocean sunrise, nor sunset the night previously, it was kind of damp and gray. I was still feeling a bit fuzzy around the edges in the morning, so I spent a bit more time on the stern in the morning. We woke up in the 79 degree water this day, so the good birds started right off of the bat. By mid-late morning or so I was feeling a bit better, and a phenomenal three MORE White-faced Storm-Petrels and four MORE Band-rumped Storm-Petrels helped for sure, as well as kind birders gifts of scopolamine patches, ginger pills, oyster crackers, and water. Once I felt good as new again I started making my way back up to the wheelhouse on the upper deck, and WHILE I was walking through the boat, a "tropical tern" was announced over the speakers. "Tropical tern" means either Bridled or Sooty Tern, both of which only breed off of the Florida Keys in the United States, and either of which would be a lifer for me. Needless to say, I started almost running on the pitching boat, and was lucky to make it topside alive.

Sure enough, just off of the bow of the boat there was a Bridled Tern sitting on a piece of wood, a typical behavior of this species, and the only piece of wood we saw the whole time we were out there! What are the chances. The captain skillfully maneuvered us within about 40 feet of the bird, a worn and molting adult, and great looks and photos were had by all. The most amazing part of the whole experience was that while we were watching this bird at one point it calmly bent its head, stuck its bill in the water, and came up with a fish! A fish! Apparently this one small fish had chosen the wrong piece of wood to hide under. Eventually the bird flushed and we gave chase, when all of a sudden the captain, not a birder, and without binoculars, goes "hey, there's another one!" and points out the right window. Sure enough, a second Bridled Tern. Seconds later someone calls out another one off of the bow. Three. In the next couple minutes we ended up with a total of five Bridled Terns, yet another high count for the state. Incredible. When it rains it pours.

After this wonderful experience it was getting time to head back for the six hour ride back to port, so we sadly left the warm waters and headed back across the continental shelf through Muskeget Channel, the passage between Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. Birding was very slow on the way back, but it frankly didn't really matter any more. A Pomarine Jaeger that flew with us right off of the bow for a while was great for photo opps. As we were passing through the channel, there was an exposed sandbar with some Gray Seals on it, another mammal for the trip list, and there was a Parasitic Jaeger harassing some Laughing Gulls nearly.

I think everyone was happy with the trip, I don't see how you couldn't be, and most people got at least one new bird I believe! I for one was partially glad to be back on land, but I will look forward to the next trip out there. It sure was one Extreme Pelagic.

I still exist!

2009-08-27T12:32:00.000-07:00

Me with a Red-shouldered Hawk.

First off, my apologies for not updating this for, well, almost six months. I don't really have an excuse, I've been around and had time, but I just never quite got around to it, and I'm sticking to that story.

Since the first day of Panama, I got sick on the second day, spent the rest of the trip in a state of semi-sanity, and ended up missing about 70 species of the trip, getting 336 of the ~410 species that we three people saw.

Since then, I've moved back from DC to my normal home, in Mass, and have worked an entire spring banding season, April 15-June 15, as well as many other things. After banding this spring ended, I worked an internship for the New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance (NECWA), doing surveys of pelagic (ocean-going) seabirds out on Stellwagen Bank, an underwater hill off of Provincetown, MA, that is about 25 miles long, like a 100' tall hill of sand. This geographical deformity creates an upwelling of nutrients at the edges that attracts birds, as well as whales. Because of the whale angle, I was working on commercial whale-watching boats based out of Plymouth, Captain John Boats being the company that I worked on. It was lots of fun, and I got to do 22 whale-watches this summer, which was quite thrilling. As well as seeing about 40,000 birds during those trips, I got to see whales on every trip! For anyone who wants to see whales, Captain John Boats guarantees sightings of whales, and it's $40 for a ticket. Highly recommended. Some pictures that I took during my time on the ocean this summer can be seen at: http://picasaweb.google.com/goshawk227/CaptJohnBoatTrips2009#

Although I did go out on the ocean a lot, I also had lots of time for birding this summer, much of which I spent on Plymouth Beach, mostly looking at shorebirds and terns. One of the cool things about Plymouth Beach is that it is the second southernmost nesting site in the world for Arctic Tern, and, starting this year, the northernmost nesting site in the world for Black Skimmer! Black Skimmers are incredible birds, and the beach was graced with one pair of them this year, the first nesting north of Cape Cod in over 20 years, when they historically nested here on Plymouth Beach back then. Other great shorebirds have been around, and I'm up to 31 species of shorebirds (sandpipers/plovers, etc) for Plymouth County this year. Great birds. Pictures from this summer in Plymouth are at: http://picasaweb.google.com/goshawk227/PlymouthAreaSummer2009#

I also made a few trips out to Western Mass, which was amazing, some really cool birds breed out there, and the habitat is like you're in northern New Hampshire. Some of the better birds included Olive-sided Flycatcher, Common Moorhen, and Black Vulture, all very rare and local in Mass. As a matter of fact, they were all my second personal records ever for the state.

The birding highlight of the summer though would have to have occurred at my feeder in Manomet.

I was sitting at the computer, checking my email, and when I'm at the computer I have a view of the feeders. The birds flushed, from what I'm not sure, but for some reason I happened to glance over. I saw the usuals, but one of the doves had white bars across the wings and a squared off tail. My reaction was "Oh hey look, a White-winged Dove....wait, I'm in Mass, OH MY GOD thats a White-winged Dove."

It was the 7th documented state record of White-winged Dove for Massachusetts, and my 159th species for my yard. It was found on August 6th, it stayed for 7 days at my feeders, and was seen by over 30 different birders who traveled from around the state to come see it. Very cool. Some pictures of it can be seen at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/54107105@N00/sets/72157621842285037/

Now, I'm back working at Manomet Bird Observatory, bandin' birds and takin' names. I'll be working here until November 15th (started on August 15th) with Jess Johnson and Evan Dalton, the same two banders who I worked the spring season with. I also worked with Evan last fall here. Great people, good birders, and two of my closest friends. That still doesn't stop us from competing to see who can see more species in Plymouth County this year though..! I'm going to try to keep the posts coming more regularly, such as whenever I find an interesting bird, or if we band something cool. So far it's pretty much all Gray Catbirds, our bread and butter species here, but we did catch a Red-shouldered Hawk here the other day! Only the third banded here in 40 years, and a bit of a difference from our usual songbirds. For perspective, an average catbird has about an 88mm wing, and weighs about 37g (we are metric here). So about a 3.5 inch long wing and 1.3 ounce weight. Well, this hawk had a 337mm wing (13.25in) and weighed 515g (1.14lb)! Slightly different. The header picture is this individual.

I was supposed to be going on a two-day long boat trip last weekend, but it got hurricaned out, and therefore postponed to this weekend, but it looks like we're going to get pounded again! Supposedly 15-18' waves, 50-75mph winds, and 3-6" of rain in the Plymouth area. Should make for good seawatching from land. Sooty Terns anyone? I'll let you know how it goes.

Take it easy, and good birding,

Ian Davies

Manomet, MA

First day in Panama

2009-03-17T09:28:00.000-07:00

My mom and I arrived in Panama last night with a mostly uneventful flight, only having a 30m delay in leaving Miami. As we stepped off the plane we were hit by a gust of warm hot air: welcome to Central America. As of 10am this morning the temperature was already over 85 and rising.

After making it through customs we got a taxi to take us to our imagined destination, Luna's Castle, which we were mildly disturbed by, judging by the partially clad people hanging over the balcony on the second floor, playing on guitars, singing, and generally carousing. Not a bad place, but we imagined that the amount of sleep gotten wouldn't be as much as we required. So our very nice taxi driver took us to another place, Hotel Latino, which is pretty crude, but at least has wifi downstairs and hot showers. It worked for one night. Of course now, we had to meet up with Andrew and Ethan who were headed for Luna's, unknowing of our abandonment of that hostel. When I got online I found out that Ethan had been stranded in Atlanta by inclement weather, so all that we had to get was Andrew. Luckily he had his wits around him, and checked his voicemail when he got to Luna's, and managed to hitch a ride with the National Police to Hotel Latino for a cool $2.

After all that was all gotten out of the way, and we were finally together, all was good.

This morning we got up at 0645 to head off to the Metropolitan Park in Panama City, and got a taxi there, and after paying the entrance fee to the park, the fun started. We managed to tally about 60-70 species, not sure of the exact number, but we got some great stuff. Some of the tougher birds that we got were Crane Hawk, very rare in the canal zone, Rosy Thrush-Tanager, Indigo Bunting, which is not on the list for the park, and Southern Bentbill. Some of my personal favorites, although not hard, include Green Shrike-Vireo, SEEN, Crimson-backed Tanager, upwards of 15 Bay-breasted Warblers, Lance-tailed Manakins, Slaty-tailed, Violaceous, and Black-throated Trogons all seen from one spot, and Rufous-breasted Wren wasn't too shabby either. There were some fun mammals too, we had Coatimundi, Howler Monkeys, and unidentified Tamarins, an Agouti, and some squirrel.

This afternoon we're heading off to pick up the car, enough taxis for now, and heading off for some more afternoon birding before picking Ethan up tonight at 7:15 from his rescheduled flight.

After that, Pipeline Road tomorrow, most likely Nusagandi the day after, picking up Caity, and then off to the west and to Davíd!

Take it easy,

Ian

DC and Panama

2009-03-15T09:49:00.000-07:00

I've been a bit lax in updating this blog recently, and that is putting it mildly. Since seeing the Ivory Gull in January, ANOTHER Ivory Gull showed up a few days later, on Inauguration Day in fact, and it happened to be in Plymouth, my local area! Needless to say, I saw that bird a total of four times during its stay, and at one point I had seen Ivory Gull 6 out of 8 days!

After those thrilling couple weeks it was time for me and my mom to move down here to Washington D.C., more specifically Arlington, VA, where all three of us have been living in a one bedroom apartment while my dad is working a temporary detail for the FAA in DC.

It's been fun living down here, and birding in 2.5 states with a bunch of good birders and good people, but I will be glad to head back up to Massachusetts and to Manomet, where I will spend the spring banding at Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences, formerly known as Manomet Bird Observatory (MBO). Currently I'm mildly peeved that there is a male Tufted Duck having a blast with his friend a male Eurasian Green-winged (Common) Teal in Sudbury, not too far at all from Medford. All I can hope is that it will stick around until April 9th, when I finally return to where I normally belong!

Birding down here in the DC area has been lots of fun, and it would have not been nearly as productive without the nice and fun birders down here, especially Paul Pisano and John Hubbell, who have been kind enough to cart me around most weekends to god knows where, looking for various and sundry birds from DC to the Chesapeake. Thanks guys, you've really made my stay down here all the more pleasant.

Some of the cooler birds that I've run into while I'm down here include my first Tundra Swans, terrible, I know, and my first Brown-headed Nuthatches, little balls of adorable squeakiness frolicking around on trees. Hard to beat. Other cool stuff, not so awe inspiring for a northerner, but pretty crazy for down here, include a Barrow's Goldeneye, a White-winged Crossbill, and and White-winged Scoter in DC. Slight contrast from seeing over 7,000 White-winged Scoter go by Manomet Point last fall in two hours.

By now you're probably wondering where the "Panama" part of the title comes in. In 24 hours I will be on a plane headed to Miami, with a final destination of Tocumen International Airport, Panama! This all started when I was talking with Andrew Spencer, a mostly young birder from Colorado, who I met at the Ivory Gull, and we happened to be talking about international travel, always a fun topic of conversation. Just for kicks I checked the fares to Panama, and I found that I could get roundtrip airfare for $318! (!!) Needless to say, within three days we had booked plane tickets and were planning a ten day trip to Panama (March 16-26th)! In the next two days we managed to find two more young birders who could also swing a trip on less than two weeks of notice. So with our trip rounded out by Ethan Kister of Ohio and Caity Reiland-Smith of South Dakota, we're headed off for adventures of the birdiest sort.

Our plan is to spend most of the time in "canal zone" as it's known, with 3-4 days over near the Costa Rican birder in the Volcán Baru area, and one day with a short venture east to Nusagandi/Bayano Lake area for some eastern species.

My mom is also going to Panama, but not with us bird nuts. She is flying down with me, and we're all spending the first night together, with the exception of Caity who is arriving a few days later, and then we're splitting off the next morning, and will be apart until the last night, when we're meeting at the place where we spent the first night, Luna's Castle, for our last night in country.

Some of the cooler birds we're hoping for are Black-crowned Antpitta, Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo, and Resplendent Quetzal, along with hordes of others. 400 species is our, mildly unrealistic, goal for the trip, at least from my perspective.

I don't know how much internet access I'll have during the trip, but I will try to stick in a quick post whenever I can.

Take it easy, and good birding,
Ian Davies
Manomet, MA
goshawk227@earthlink.net
www.pbase.com/daviesphoto
http://picasaweb.google.com/goshawk227

Ivory Gull

2009-01-18T13:40:00.000-08:00

Ivory Gull

Back in Massachusetts, after having most of one day to get my act back together, my young birder friend Luke, who some of you may know, came down from Maine to spend the weekend birding around MA. Little did we know that we would be in for one of, dare I say, the worlds most elegant birds.

It was Saturday morning, and Luke and I had decided to head down to the Plymouth area with Jeff Offermann to see if we could find any interesting ducks, of something of that ilk. We had been having some good birds, found a couple patches of open water that housed collectively 108 Gadwall, 2 Lesser Scaup, 10 "American" Green-winged Teal, and 13 Northern Pintail, among other waterfowl, an Eastern Meadowlark, Eastern Towhee, and a couple Harlequin Ducks were probably the highlights. And then, when we were doing some thicket birding along a little side street in Plymouth, Rick Heil called me. I figured that it must have been something good, but when he said "Adult Ivory Gull, Eastern Point", I really wasn't ready for that haha. Needless to say, we instantly decided that a chance at an Ivory Gull is much better then looking at Song Sparrows and Carolina Wrens, and headed up to Gloucester, making the normally 2 hour drive a bit faster then normal.

When we finally got there, and had almost made it down to the parking lot at the end, near where there is a little cove on the right hand side of the road, for those of you not familiar with the area, and as we neared the parking lot, we noticed The Gull coasting around the little cove not 30 feet away at times. It was almost instant birdvana.

We ended up staying there watching the bird for 2.5 hours, despite the negative temperatures, and Luke and I liked the bird so much that we went back this morning to see it again.

Yesterday it had more varied habits, but today it was walking around on the ice about 15-20 feet away at times, so much closer. Yesterday someone went to the fish pier at the base of the harbor, got a couple gutted striper carcasses, and brought them back to throw out on the ice to try and bring the bird in for great views.

Jeremiah Trimble, the finder of this bird, and the hero of the hour, chucked the ex-fish out on the ice, but the bird didn't pay any attention to the fish until someone played a quick Ivory Gull recording, which caused the bird to shoot across the cove to see the source of the disturbance, and when he found no rival, he decided that some fish was a good consolation prize.

In the time that we were there yesterday afternoon, probably close to 70 people came and went, from as far away at CT, and today we had close to 30 in ~90 minutes, and from Maryland, Pennsylvania, and who knows where else. I can only imagine that with this bird showing well two days in a row, the crowd will do nothing but grow.

More pictures of the bird can be seen at: http://picasaweb.google.com/goshawk227/IvoryGull#.

Lists from the last couple days below.

Good birding,

Ian

Plymouth (0800-1200):

Canada Goose 615
Mute Swan 10
Gadwall 108
American Black Duck 125
Mallard 237
Northern Shoveler 1f
Northern Pintail 13
Green-winged Teal (American) 10
Ring-necked Duck 3
Lesser Scaup 2
Common Eider (Atlantic) 52
Harlequin Duck 2
Surf Scoter 27
White-winged Scoter 21
Long-tailed Duck 8
Bufflehead 24
Common Goldeneye 27
Hooded Merganser 7
Common Merganser 13
Red-breasted Merganser 35
Wild Turkey 7
Common Loon 7
Horned Grebe 8
Red-necked Grebe 3
Great Cormorant 12
Great Blue Heron 3
Red-tailed Hawk 3
Killdeer 1
Sanderling 16
Ring-billed Gull 93
Herring Gull (American) 69
Great Black-backed Gull 18
Rock Pigeon 18
Mourning Dove 13
Belted Kingfisher 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 6
Downy Woodpecker 6
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 5
Blue Jay 61
American Crow 35
Black-capped Chickadee 14
Tufted Titmouse 7
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Carolina Wren 3
Eastern Bluebird 7
Hermit Thrush 2
American Robin 85
Northern Mockingbird 3
European Starling 35
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 9
Eastern Towhee 1
Savannah Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 14
Swamp Sparrow 1
White-throated Sparrow 16
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 13
Snow Bunting 5
Northern Cardinal 11
Eastern Meadowlark 1
House Finch 11
American Goldfinch 8
House Sparrow 45

63 species

Cape Ann--Dog Bar Breakwater (1310-1540):

American Black Duck 8
Bufflehead 4
Red-breasted Merganser 6
Common Loon 1
Great Cormorant 2
Ivory Gull 1
Ring-billed Gull 8
Herring Gull (American) 400
Iceland Gull (Kumlien's) 12
Glaucous Gull 1
Great Black-backed Gull 200
American Crow 4

12 species

Cape Ann--Dog Bar Breakwater (0900-1030):

Canada Goose 15
Gadwall 12
American Wigeon 1
American Black Duck 8
Mallard 5
Common Eider (Atlantic) 15
Bufflehead 35
Common Goldeneye 6
Red-breasted Merganser 28
Common Loon 7
Great Cormorant 4
Ivory Gull 1
Ring-billed Gull 22
Herring Gull (American) 580
Iceland Gull (Kumlien's) 40
Lesser Black-backed Gull 1
Glaucous Gull 3
Great Black-backed Gull 285

17 species

These reports were generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

Ecuadorian conclusion

2009-01-18T12:38:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the tardiness of this post, I never had time when I had internet access in Ecuador in the last two weeks, and since I've gotten back I've been busy as well!

The last two weeks ended up being spent in Otavalo, to the detriment of my birding. Although it's a wonderful city with the best native market I've ever seen, there isn't really much bird diversity. However, there are some nearby lagoons that ALMOST made it worthwhile from a birding perspective haha.

Most of the time there we spent in town, with a few little excursions, most notably to the Cascada de Peguche and Lago San Pablo. Cascada de Peguche is this very cool waterfall about 15 minutes away from Otavalo, with nice woods on the fairly short path to it. Also, good birds, including Rufous-chested Tanager, Black-backed Grosbeak, and a nice Rose-breasted Grosbeak, a reminder of home! Lago San Pablo is an absolutely beautiful spot, and great birds. The number of waterfowl and wading birds is superb. We had about 250 Yellow-billed Pintail, and almost 150 Andean (Slate-colored) Coot. The scenery is spectacular, with hills rising up all around you, lovely patchwork farmland, and two 19,000'+ volcanoes guarding the valley. It is a place not to be missed. You can also see a bird there with one of the best names ever, that bird being the Subtropical Doradito.

The highlight by far of the last couple weeks of my time in Ecuador was going to Antisana Ecological Reserve. It was the most beautiful place I have ever seen in my life, and the birds, although not diverse, were breathtaking as well. Staggering numbers of Carunculated Caracaras (207) and Andean Gulls (228) highlighted the day, as well as 4 Black-faced Ibis, one of the only two places where they occur in Ecuador, an adult Andean Condor, and other great paramo specialties with such vivid names as Streak-backed Canastero, Stout-billed Cinclodes, and Plumbeous Sierra-Finch. Sadly Janet wasnt able to join us for the whole time, she started having altitude troubles when we got up near 14,000 feet, and so we had to take her down to one of the guard stations, where she befriended the guard and his dog during the time we spent up on the grasslands :D

The numbers of the trip ended up being 720 total species, of which 593 were lifers.

Undoubtedly the best experience of my life, and I cannot wait to return. My goal is to make it back sometime this summer, or perhaps winter at the latest, and to bird the southern highlands of Loja, and get down to the coast near Guayaquil as well. I would say to anyone who asked that Ecuador is my favorite place I have ever been, and I would recommend it without reserve. It's cheap, the people are unbelievably nice, it seemed just as safe as most places, and the birds and wildlife are seemingly unparalleled.

My final batch of pictures can be seen at:http://picasaweb.google.com/goshawk227/EcuadorNovember152008January152009.

And the total list of species seen is below.

Good birding and best of luck to all,

Ian Davies

Medford, MA

Highland Tinamou
Great Tinamou
Cinereous Tinamou
Berlepsch's Tinamou
Little Tinamou
Undulated Tinamou
Bartlett's Tinamou
Curve-billed Tinamou
Torrent Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Yellow-billed Pintail
Speckled Teal
Ruddy Duck
Speckled Chachalaca
Andean Guan
Wattled Guan
Sickle-winged Guan
Dark-backed Wood-Quail
Pied-billed Grebe
Silvery Grebe
Neotropic Cormorant
Anhinga
Zigzag Heron
Rufescent Tiger-Heron
Fasciated Tiger-Heron
Cocoi Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Cattle Egret
Striated Heron
Capped Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Boat-billed Heron
Black-faced Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Greater Yellow-headed Vulture
Andean Condor
Osprey
Hook-billed Kite
Swallow-tailed Kite
Double-toothed Kite
Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle
Cinereous Harrier
Semicollared Hawk
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Barred Hawk
Roadside Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Red-backed Hawk
Ornate Hawk-Eagle
Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle
Black-and-chestnut Eagle
Collared Forest-Falcon
Buckley's Forest-Falcon
Black Caracara
Carunculated Caracara
Yellow-headed Caracara
Laughing Falcon
American Kestrel
Bat Falcon
Orange-breasted Falcon
Peregrine Falcon
Gray-breasted Crake
Virginia Rail
Azure Gallinule
Common Moorhen
Slate-colored Coot
Pied Lapwing
Andean Lapwing
Collared Plover
Wattled Jacana
Spotted Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Least Sandpiper
South American Snipe
Noble Snipe
Andean Gull
Yellow-billed Tern
Large-billed Tern
Rock Pigeon
Pale-vented Pigeon
Band-tailed Pigeon
Plumbeous Pigeon
Ruddy Pigeon
Eared Dove
Common Ground-Dove
Ruddy Ground-Dove
Black-winged Ground-Dove
White-tipped Dove
Pallid Dove
Gray-fronted Dove
Sapphire Quail-Dove
White-throated Quail-Dove
Ruddy Quail-Dove
Maroon-tailed Parakeet
White-eyed Parakeet
Dusky-headed Parakeet
Chestnut-fronted Macaw
Military Macaw
Scarlet Macaw
Blue-and-yellow Macaw
Red-bellied Macaw
Barred Parakeet
Blue-winged Parrotlet
Pacific Parrotlet
Cobalt-winged Parakeet
Scarlet-shouldered Parrotlet
Black-headed Parrot
Rose-faced Parrot
Orange-cheeked Parrot
Blue-headed Parrot
Red-billed Parrot
Speckle-faced Parrot
Bronze-winged Parrot
Orange-winged Parrot
Scaly-naped Parrot
Mealy Parrot
Yellow-crowned Parrot
Hoatzin
Little Cuckoo
Squirrel Cuckoo
Striped Cuckoo
Greater Ani
Smooth-billed Ani
Tropical Screech-Owl
Tawny-bellied Screech-Owl
White-throated Screech-Owl
Spectacled Owl
Cloudforest Pygmy-Owl
Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl
Mottled Owl
Black-and-white Owl
Black-banded Owl
Rufous-banded Owl
Rufous-bellied Nighthawk
Sand-colored Nighthawk
Common Pauraque
Ladder-tailed Nightjar
Swallow-tailed Nightjar
Lyre-tailed Nightjar
Great Potoo
Common Potoo
Andean Potoo
White-chested Swift
Spot-fronted Swift
Chestnut-collared Swift
White-collared Swift
Short-tailed Swift
Band-rumped Swift
Gray-rumped Swift
Lesser Swallow-tailed Swift
Fork-tailed Palm-Swift
Pale-tailed Barbthroat
White-bearded Hermit
White-whiskered Hermit
Tawny-bellied Hermit
Straight-billed Hermit
Great-billed Hermit
Stripe-throated Hermit
Gray-chinned Hermit
White-tipped Sicklebill
Green-fronted Lancebill
Napo Sabrewing
White-necked Jacobin
Brown Violetear
Green Violetear
Sparkling Violetear
Violet-headed Hummingbird
Green Thorntail
Blue-chinned Sapphire
Western Emerald
Blue-tailed Emerald
Green-crowned Woodnymph
Fork-tailed Woodnymph
Violet-bellied Hummingbird
Golden-tailed Sapphire
Olive-spotted Hummingbird
Andean Emerald
Glittering-throated Emerald
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird
Speckled Hummingbird
Ecuadorian Piedtail
Fawn-breasted Brilliant
Green-crowned Brilliant
Empress Brilliant
Violet-fronted Brilliant
White-tailed Hillstar
Buff-tailed Coronet
Chestnut-breasted Coronet
Velvet-purple Coronet
Shining Sunbeam
Ecuadorian Hillstar
Mountain Velvetbreast
Bronzy Inca
Brown Inca
Collared Inca
Buff-winged Starfrontlet
Sword-billed Hummingbird
Great Sapphirewing
Giant Hummingbird
Gorgeted Sunangel
Tourmaline Sunangel
Golden-breasted Puffleg
Greenish Puffleg
Purple-bibbed Whitetip
Booted Racket-tail
Black-tailed Trainbearer
Tyrian Metaltail
Viridian Metaltail
Blue-mantled Thornbill
Mountain Avocetbill
Long-tailed Sylph
Violet-tailed Sylph
Wedge-billed Hummingbird
Purple-crowned Fairy
Purple-throated Woodstar
White-bellied Woodstar
Little Woodstar
Gorgeted Woodstar
White-tailed Trogon
Violaceous Trogon
Collared Trogon
Masked Trogon
Black-throated Trogon
Black-tailed Trogon
Blue-tailed Trogon
Golden-headed Quetzal
Crested Quetzal
Blue-crowned Motmot
Rufous Motmot
Broad-billed Motmot
Ringed Kingfisher
Amazon Kingfisher
Green Kingfisher
Green-and-rufous Kingfisher
Black-fronted Nunbird
White-fronted Nunbird
Yellow-billed Nunbird
Swallow-winged Puffbird
White-eared Jacamar
Brown Jacamar
Yellow-billed Jacamar
White-chinned Jacamar
Coppery-chested Jacamar
Scarlet-crowned Barbet
Gilded Barbet
Lemon-throated Barbet
Red-headed Barbet
Toucan Barbet
Emerald Toucanet
Crimson-rumped Toucanet
Gray-breasted Mountain-Toucan
Plate-billed Mountain-Toucan
Black-billed Mountain-Toucan
Chestnut-eared Aracari
Many-banded Aracari
Collared Aracari
Golden-collared Toucanet
White-throated Toucan
Chestnut-mandibled Toucan
Choco Toucan
Channel-billed Toucan
Lafresnaye's Piculet
Rufous-breasted Piculet
Olivaceous Piculet
Yellow-tufted Woodpecker
Black-cheeked Woodpecker
Little Woodpecker
Scarlet-backed Woodpecker
Yellow-vented Woodpecker
Bar-bellied Woodpecker (Western Hemisphere bird #1000)
Smoky-brown Woodpecker
Choco Woodpecker
White-throated Woodpecker
Crimson-mantled Woodpecker
Golden-olive Woodpecker
Spot-breasted Woodpecker
Scale-breasted Woodpecker
Chestnut Woodpecker
Cream-colored Woodpecker
Ringed Woodpecker
Lineated Woodpecker
Powerful Woodpecker
Crimson-crested Woodpecker
Guayaquil Woodpecker
Black-tailed Leaftosser
Stout-billed Cinclodes
Bar-winged Cinclodes
Pale-legged Hornero
Lesser Hornero
White-chinned Thistletail
Azara's Spinetail
Dark-breasted Spinetail
Rufous Spinetail
Slaty Spinetail
White-bellied Spinetail
Plain-crowned Spinetail
White-browed Spinetail
Parker's Spinetail
Red-faced Spinetail
Ash-browed Spinetail
Streak-backed Canastero
Many-striped Canastero
Orange-fronted Plushcrown
Spotted Barbtail
Pearled Treerunner
Streaked Tuftedcheek
Point-tailed Palmcreeper
Scaly-throated Foliage-gleaner
Montane Foliage-gleaner
Lineated Foliage-gleaner
Chestnut-winged Hookbill
Buff-fronted Foliage-gleaner
Uniform Treehunter
Black-billed Treehunter
Striped Treehunter
Streak-capped Treehunter
Flammulated Treehunter
Buff-throated Foliage-gleaner
Olive-backed Foliage-gleaner
Plain Xenops
Streaked Xenops
Tyrannine Woodcreeper
Plain-brown Woodcreeper
Wedge-billed Woodcreeper
Long-billed Woodcreeper
Cinnamon-throated Woodcreeper
Strong-billed Woodcreeper
Amazonian Barred-Woodcreeper
Black-banded Woodcreeper
Straight-billed Woodcreeper
Striped Woodcreeper
Buff-throated Woodcreeper
Black-striped Woodcreeper
Spotted Woodcreeper
Olive-backed Woodcreeper
Montane Woodcreeper
Brown-billed Scythebill
Fasciated Antshrike
Great Antshrike
Barred Antshrike
Lined Antshrike
Plain-winged Antshrike
Mouse-colored Antshrike
Castelnau's Antshrike
Uniform Antshrike
Russet Antshrike
Bicolored Antvireo
Dusky-throated Antshrike
Pacific Antwren
Plain-throated Antwren
White-flanked Antwren
Slaty Antwren
Gray Antwren
Dugand's Antwren
Gray Antbird
Blackish Antbird
White-backed Fire-eye
Black-faced Antbird
Peruvian Warbling-Antbird
Yellow-browed Antbird
Long-tailed Antbird
Black-and-white Antbird
Silvered Antbird
White-shouldered Antbird
Plumbeous Antbird
Sooty Antbird
Immaculate Antbird
Bicolored Antbird
Spot-backed Antbird
Dot-backed Antbird
Black-spotted Bare-eye
Black-faced Antthrush
Black-headed Antthrush
Rufous-breasted Antthrush
Striated Antthrush
Undulated Antpitta
Giant Antpitta
Moustached Antpitta
Scaled Antpitta
Plain-backed Antpitta
Chestnut-crowned Antpitta
Chestnut-naped Antpitta
Yellow-breasted Antpitta
White-bellied Antpitta
Rufous Antpitta
Tawny Antpitta
Thrush-like Antpitta
Ochre-breasted Antpitta
Slate-crowned Antpitta
Ash-colored Tapaculo
Blackish Tapaculo
Long-tailed Tapaculo
Nariño Tapaculo
Spillmann's Tapaculo
Paramo Tapaculo
Ocellated Tapaculo
Brown-capped Tyrannulet
Southern Beardless-Tyrannulet
White-tailed Tyrannulet
White-banded Tyrannulet
White-throated Tyrannulet
Rufous-winged Tyrannulet
Sulphur-bellied Tyrannulet
Tufted Tit-Tyrant
Yellow Tyrannulet
Subtropical Doradito
Yellow-crowned Tyrannulet
Gray Elaenia
Yellow-bellied Elaenia
White-crested Elaenia
Mottle-backed Elaenia
Sierran Elaenia
Torrent Tyrannulet
Streak-necked Flycatcher
Ochre-bellied Flycatcher
Slaty-capped Flycatcher
Rufous-breasted Flycatcher
Variegated Bristle-Tyrant
Marble-faced Bristle-Tyrant
Ecuadorian Tyrannulet
Sooty-headed Tyrannulet
Ashy-headed Tyrannulet
Golden-faced Tyrannulet
Ornate Flycatcher
Bronze-olive Pygmy-Tyrant
Rufous-headed Pygmy-Tyrant
Black-capped Pygmy-Tyrant
Scale-crested Pygmy-Tyrant
Rufous-crowned Tody-Flycatcher
Golden-winged Tody-Flycatcher
Spotted Tody-Flycatcher
Common Tody-Flycatcher
Black-headed Tody-Flycatcher
Fulvous-breasted Flatbill
Yellow-olive Flycatcher
Orange-eyed Flycatcher
Gray-crowned Flycatcher
Golden-crowned Spadebill
Cinnamon Flycatcher
Cliff Flycatcher
Tawny-breasted Flycatcher
Flavescent Flycatcher
Handsome Flycatcher
Olive-chested Flycatcher
Bran-colored Flycatcher
Smoke-colored Pewee
Western Wood-Pewee
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Acadian Flycatcher
Black Phoebe
Vermilion Flycatcher
Drab Water-Tyrant
Plain-capped Ground-Tyrant
White-tailed Shrike-Tyrant
Streak-throated Bush-Tyrant
Smoky Bush-Tyrant
Masked Water-Tyrant
Slaty-backed Chat-Tyrant
Rufous-breasted Chat-Tyrant
Brown-backed Chat-Tyrant
Long-tailed Tyrant
Cinnamon Attila
Citron-bellied Attila
Bright-rumped Attila
Dusky-capped Flycatcher
Short-crested Flycatcher
Pale-edged Flycatcher
Lesser Kiskadee
Great Kiskadee
Boat-billed Flycatcher
Rusty-margined Flycatcher
Social Flycatcher
Gray-capped Flycatcher
Lemon-browed Flycatcher
Golden-crowned Flycatcher
Piratic Flycatcher
Sulphury Flycatcher
Tropical Kingbird
Eastern Kingbird
Dusky Piha
Screaming Piha
Barred Becard
Cinnamon Becard
White-winged Becard
Black-and-white Becard
One-colored Becard
Masked Tityra
Black-tailed Tityra
Red-crested Cotinga
Green-and-black Fruiteater
Orange-breasted Fruiteater
Black-chested Fruiteater
Scarlet-breasted Fruiteater
Scaled Fruiteater
Andean Cock-of-the-rock
Plum-throated Cotinga
Olivaceous Piha
Bare-necked Fruitcrow
Purple-throated Fruitcrow
Dwarf Tyrant-Manakin
Golden-winged Manakin
Green Manakin
White-bearded Manakin
Club-winged Manakin
Striped Manakin
White-crowned Manakin
Blue-crowned Manakin
Wire-tailed Manakin
Golden-headed Manakin
Brown-capped Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Dusky-capped Greenlet
Olivaceous Greenlet
Lesser Greenlet
Black-billed Peppershrike
Green Jay
Violaceous Jay
Turquoise Jay
Beautiful Jay
White-winged Swallow
Blue-and-white Swallow
Brown-bellied Swallow
White-banded Swallow
White-thighed Swallow
Southern Rough-winged Swallow
Bank Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Donacobius
Band-backed Wren
Thrush-like Wren
Rufous Wren
Sharpe's Wren
Plain-tailed Wren
Coraya Wren
Bay Wren
House Wren
Mountain Wren
Sedge Wren
White-breasted Wood-Wren
Gray-breasted Wood-Wren
Scaly-breasted Wren
Wing-banded Wren
Chestnut-breasted Wren
White-capped Dipper
Long-billed Gnatwren
Tropical Gnatcatcher
Andean Solitaire
Slaty-backed Nightingale-Thrush
Swainson's Thrush
Pale-eyed Thrush
Hauxwell's Thrush
Bare-eyed Thrush
Lawrence's Thrush
Black-billed Thrush
Chestnut-bellied Thrush
Great Thrush
Glossy-black Thrush
White-necked Thrush
Tropical Mockingbird
Paramo Pipit
Tropical Parula
Yellow Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Cerulean Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
Olive-crowned Yellowthroat
Canada Warbler
Slate-throated Redstart
Spectacled Redstart
Golden-bellied Warbler
Black-crested Warbler
Russet-crowned Warbler
Three-striped Warbler
Buff-rumped Warbler
Bananaquit
Magpie Tanager
Rufous-crested Tanager
Black-capped Hemispingus
Superciliaried Hemispingus
Oleaginous Hemispingus
Black-eared Hemispingus
Gray-hooded Bush-Tanager
Rufous-chested Tanager
Orange-headed Tanager
Cinereous Conebill
Blue-backed Conebill
Capped Conebill
Giant Conebill
Plushcap
Black-backed Bush-Tanager
Common Bush-Tanager
Dusky Bush-Tanager
Short-billed Bush-Tanager
Yellow-throated Bush-Tanager
Guira Tanager
Ochre-breasted Tanager
Fulvous Shrike-Tanager
Scarlet-browed Tanager
White-shouldered Tanager
White-lined Tanager
Summer Tanager
Scarlet Tanager
Silver-beaked Tanager
Flame-rumped Tanager
Blue-gray Tanager
Palm Tanager
Blue-capped Tanager
Blue-and-yellow Tanager
Hooded Mountain-Tanager
Lacrimose Mountain-Tanager
Scarlet-bellied Mountain-Tanager
Blue-winged Mountain-Tanager
Grass-green Tanager
Buff-breasted Mountain-Tanager
Yellow-throated Tanager
Fawn-breasted Tanager
Orange-eared Tanager
Golden-naped Tanager
Black-capped Tanager
Gray-and-gold Tanager
Golden-hooded Tanager
Blue-necked Tanager
Rufous-throated Tanager
Spotted Tanager
Blue-and-black Tanager
Beryl-spangled Tanager
Metallic-green Tanager
Blue-browed Tanager
Turquoise Tanager
Paradise Tanager
Opal-rumped Tanager
Bay-headed Tanager
Golden-eared Tanager
Saffron-crowned Tanager
Flame-faced Tanager
Green-and-gold Tanager
Blue-whiskered Tanager
Golden Tanager
Emerald Tanager
Silver-throated Tanager
Black-faced Dacnis
Yellow-bellied Dacnis
Scarlet-thighed Dacnis
Blue Dacnis
Scarlet-breasted Dacnis
Green Honeycreeper
Purple Honeycreeper
Golden-collared Honeycreeper
Swallow Tanager
Plumbeous Sierra-Finch
Ash-breasted Sierra-Finch
Blue-black Grassquit
Variable Seedeater
Caqueta Seedeater
Lesson's Seedeater
Black-and-white Seedeater
Yellow-bellied Seedeater
Chestnut-bellied Seedeater
Chestnut-bellied Seed-Finch
Band-tailed Seedeater
Plain-colored Seedeater
Rusty Flowerpiercer
Glossy Flowerpiercer
Black Flowerpiercer
White-sided Flowerpiercer
Deep-blue Flowerpiercer
Bluish Flowerpiercer
Masked Flowerpiercer
Grassland Yellow-Finch
Red-capped Cardinal
Pale-naped Brush-Finch
Tricolored Brush-Finch
Slaty Brush-Finch
White-winged Brush-Finch
Rufous-naped Brush-Finch
Orange-billed Sparrow
Chestnut-capped Brush-Finch
Stripe-headed Brush-Finch
Black-striped Sparrow
Yellow-browed Sparrow
Rufous-collared Sparrow
Grayish Saltator
Buff-throated Saltator
Black-winged Saltator
Slate-colored Grosbeak
Yellow-shouldered Grosbeak
Golden-bellied Grosbeak
Black-backed Grosbeak
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Blue-black Grosbeak
Red-breasted Blackbird
Scrub Blackbird
Oriole Blackbird
Giant Cowbird
Yellow-tailed Oriole
Epaulet Oriole
Orange-backed Troupial
Mountain Cacique
Scarlet-rumped Cacique
Yellow-rumped Cacique
Russet-backed Oropendola
Crested Oropendola
Casqued Oropendola
Thick-billed Euphonia
Golden-rumped Euphonia
Golden-bellied Euphonia
Bronze-green Euphonia
White-vented Euphonia
Orange-bellied Euphonia
Blue-naped Chlorophonia
Chestnut-breasted Chlorophonia
Yellow-bellied Siskin
Hooded Siskin
Olivaceous Siskin

720 species

West Slope

2008-12-29T12:30:00.000-08:00

Scarlet-bellied Mountain-Tanager

After spending a few days in Quito, the last time that I was able to update this, last Monday, a week ago today, we hired a driver to take us to Mindo via Yanacocha Reserve and a few other places. I dont know if my mom will ever forgive me for that drive.
The birding was great, starting off up around 12,000 fasl I believe, with lots of high altitude birds, with gaudy names such as Supercillaried Hemispingus and Undulated Antpitta. The prize for there though has to go to the absolutely stunning Scarlet-bellied Mountain-Tanager (above), one of the birds of the trip for sure. From there we headed down the western slope of the Andes, on the worst road either of us had ever been on. Some parts of it were basically mud puddles up to 1.5 feet deep that enveloped the whole road, for up to 15 feet at a stretch. We were thankful that we had a great driver and a nice big 4x4. Other times the whole road was rutted out a few feet deep except for two raised areas where your tires would go, and if you deviated slightly, you'd be there for a while. But hey, the birds were good.
After a couple hours more on the "road" we got to our second stop, Tony Nunnery's house/feeders, which are unbelievable for hummingbirds. I got 13 life hummingbirds at this one stop. Booted Racket-tails, one of the cutest little hummers, were beyond abundant, with at least 30, and they were joined by Violet-tailed Sylphs, a hummingbird with a, get this, violet tail that can be up to a foot long, compared to their little 3 inch body. These were my first real superb hummer feeders, and they were a sight to remember. Highly recommended.
We proceeded on with a quick stop at Bellavista Lodge, where we found food and lodging to be too expensive for our tastes, and then after another hour or so on the bumpy road, we were onto blessed pavement. Joyous times. Our driver had arranged a snack for us at this lovely little place called Mindo Loma, a restaurant and hotel, and we feasted on cheese and fried plantains there while the feeders abounded with Velvet-purple Coronets, one of the most beautiful hummingbirds, in my opinion. Of course it had been raining by then for a few hours, but when we got to Mindo, our spirits were undampened.
Also, I would really like to recommend our driver and his company, Fausto Gómez of Tzanza Tours, for their great service and very reasonable pricing. He only charged $90 for what ended up being over 8 hours, and that included a four-wheel drive car, birding stops at which he let us take as long as we wanted, and even a little snack break at Mindo Loma.

Since then I've been birding as much as possible, big surprise there, and luckily on the first night we were introduced to some local birders by the owner of our hotel, Susan of Caskeffesu, and they've kindly driven me around pretty much every day since then. We've visited Rio Silanche, Mirador Rio Blanco in Los Bancos, Milpe Reserve, Bellavista, and many places in between in the last week. Thank you so much Gary and Karen Schiltz.
Highlights have been many, but Rio Silanche and Milpe Reserves, both owned by the Mindo Cloudforest Association have been the best birding so far. Our visit to Silanche was nothing short of spectacular, where from the canopy tower there we had a flock come through that had almost all the specialties of the area, and almost all of them beautiful birds as well. Blue-whiskered, Scarlet-browed, Emerald, Bay-headed, Blue-naped, Golden-hooded, and Gray-and-gold Tanagers, as well as Scarlet-breasted, Scarlet-thighed, Yellow-tufted, and Blue Dacnises. At times the colors were almost enough to make your eyes hurt. The best Ecuadorian bird though was a Bay-breasted Warbler that we had on the entrance road, not thinking of it much, but when we looked in the field guide, there are only three records listed for Ecuador! :O Quite a surprise, but I'm 100% sure thats what it was.
Our visit to Milpe was almost equally birdy, albeit without so many glamour birds, even though there were more then a few. Some of the better birds included the lekking Club-winged Manakins there, always hard to beat, Golden-winged Manakin as well, Brown-billed Scythebill, Guayaquil Woodpecker, Rufous-throated Tanager, and the always nice Ornate Flycatcher, even if it is common. The best part of Milpe was this absolutely huge flock that we hit, that we were able to bird for over two hours, while only having to move down the trail a slight ways. I'm sure we only began to tap into the diversity in that flock, especially without knowing many of the calls.
Another good time was when while driving up to Bellavista we ran into Kai and Phil, a couple of friends of mine who some of you may know, and we ended up picking them up and birding with them for the rest of the afternoon. Lots of fun.
One of the better places we've been while we've been in Mindo, and a place that my mom actually came with me to, was Angel Paz's antpitta show. Some of you may have heard of this, but if not, it is this reserve that a native, now former, rancher made, where Angel has three species of antpitta that he has taught to come in for food on a daily basis, and one of them to actually eat out of his hand. Couple that with a dawn trip to a Cock-of-the-Rock lek, and you have another memorable day. When we were there we were lucky to be able to see all three species of the antpittas that he has there: Giant, Yellow-breasted, and Moustached. To be more specific, we saw Maria, Cariño, Willie, and Susan. One of Angel's quirks is that he has named the antpittas, and so Maria and Cariño are Giant Antpittas, mother and son as a matter of fact, and Willie is a Yellow-breasted, while Susan is the shy and retiring Moustached Antpitta. You've got to see it to believe it.
For all you listers out there, my species total is just under 700, with 691 now, and if I can make it to the south of the country, with some luck I might be able to make it out of here with over 900 species. To put that in perspective, in two months of not-so-hardcore birding here, it is possible to see as many or more species then have ever been recorded in all of continental North America. It is truly amazing. It's getting hard to find species here around Mindo though anymore, I need truly hard stuff now like Yellow-collared Chlorophonia and Long-wattled Umbrellabird for the most part. Today I managed to scrape up a Double-toothed Kite and a couple Olive-crowned Yellowthroats however.

Christmas was kind of anticlimactic here, it's kind of hard to believe that its actually December 25th when you're up to your ears in tanagers and it's in the 70s. In any case, Feliz Navidad and a happy new year to all!

I'm still unsure what I'm going to be up to for the last couple weeks here, my mom and her friend Janet are going to be doing touristy stuff in Quito and Otovalo, which is famed for its native market, and that is not my cup of tea at all. Right now I'm hoping to be able to take a 15h+ bus to the southern part of the country and go to a couple Fundacíon Jocotoco reserves, on my own, but as of yet nothing is concrete, and we'll see how that goes. If I manage that, 900 is for sure attainable, if not, I'll be lucky to end with 750.

As usual, photos are up on my Picasa, the link is: http://picasaweb.google.com/goshawk227/EcuadorNovember152008January152009#

Good birding,
Ian Davies
Currently Mindo, Pichincha, Ecuador

Species from the west slope:

Sickle-winged Guan
Dark-backed Wood-Quail
Great Egret
Cattle Egret
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Hook-billed Kite
Swallow-tailed Kite
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Roadside Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Laughing Falcon
American Kestrel
Rock Pigeon
Band-tailed Pigeon
Ruddy Pigeon
Eared Dove
Pallid Dove
White-throated Quail-Dove
Maroon-tailed Parakeet
Pacific Parrotlet
Rose-faced Parrot
Red-billed Parrot
Bronze-winged Parrot
Little Cuckoo
Squirrel Cuckoo
Striped Cuckoo
Smooth-billed Ani
Cloudforest Pygmy-Owl
White-collared Swift
Lesser Swallow-tailed Swift
White-whiskered Hermit
Tawny-bellied Hermit
Stripe-throated Hermit
White-necked Jacobin
Brown Violetear
Green Violetear
Sparkling Violetear
Green Thorntail
Western Emerald
Green-crowned Woodnymph
Violet-bellied Hummingbird
Andean Emerald
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird
Speckled Hummingbird
Fawn-breasted Brilliant
Green-crowned Brilliant
Empress Brilliant
Buff-tailed Coronet
Velvet-purple Coronet
Brown Inca
Collared Inca
Buff-winged Starfrontlet
Great Sapphirewing
Gorgeted Sunangel
Golden-breasted Puffleg
Purple-bibbed Whitetip
Booted Racket-tail
Black-tailed Trainbearer
Tyrian Metaltail
Violet-tailed Sylph
Wedge-billed Hummingbird
Purple-crowned Fairy
Purple-throated Woodstar
Little Woodstar
White-tailed Trogon
Collared Trogon
Masked Trogon
Blue-tailed Trogon
Golden-headed Quetzal
Crested Quetzal
Rufous Motmot
Ringed Kingfisher
Red-headed Barbet
Toucan Barbet
Crimson-rumped Toucanet
Plate-billed Mountain-Toucan
Collared Aracari
Choco Toucan
Olivaceous Piculet
Black-cheeked Woodpecker
Scarlet-backed Woodpecker
Smoky-brown Woodpecker
Choco Woodpecker
Crimson-mantled Woodpecker
Golden-olive Woodpecker
Powerful Woodpecker
Guayaquil Woodpecker
Pale-legged Hornero
Azara's Spinetail
Rufous Spinetail
Slaty Spinetail
White-browed Spinetail
Red-faced Spinetail
Spotted Barbtail
Pearled Treerunner
Streaked Tuftedcheek
Scaly-throated Foliage-gleaner
Lineated Foliage-gleaner
Buff-fronted Foliage-gleaner
Uniform Treehunter
Striped Treehunter
Streak-capped Treehunter
Buff-throated Foliage-gleaner
Plain Xenops
Streaked Xenops
Plain-brown Woodcreeper
Wedge-billed Woodcreeper
Strong-billed Woodcreeper
Black-striped Woodcreeper
Spotted Woodcreeper
Montane Woodcreeper
Brown-billed Scythebill
Uniform Antshrike
Russet Antshrike
Pacific Antwren
Slaty Antwren
Immaculate Antbird
Black-headed Antthrush
Rufous-breasted Antthrush
Undulated Antpitta
Giant Antpitta
Moustached Antpitta
Chestnut-crowned Antpitta
Yellow-breasted Antpitta
Rufous Antpitta
Tawny Antpitta
Blackish Tapaculo
Nariño Tapaculo
Spillmann's Tapaculo
Ocellated Tapaculo
Brown-capped Tyrannulet
Southern Beardless-Tyrannulet
White-tailed Tyrannulet
White-throated Tyrannulet
Rufous-winged Tyrannulet
Tufted Tit-Tyrant
Yellow Tyrannulet
Gray Elaenia
Yellow-bellied Elaenia
Streak-necked Flycatcher
Slaty-capped Flycatcher
Golden-faced Tyrannulet
Ornate Flycatcher
Black-capped Pygmy-Tyrant
Scale-crested Pygmy-Tyrant
Common Tody-Flycatcher
Black-headed Tody-Flycatcher
Tawny-breasted Flycatcher
Bran-colored Flycatcher
Smoke-colored Pewee
Western Wood-Pewee
Acadian Flycatcher
Black Phoebe
Streak-throated Bush-Tyrant
Masked Water-Tyrant
Dusky-capped Flycatcher
Rusty-margined Flycatcher
Golden-crowned Flycatcher
Tropical Kingbird
Cinnamon Becard
Black-and-white Becard
One-colored Becard
Masked Tityra
Green-and-black Fruiteater
Orange-breasted Fruiteater
Scaled Fruiteater
Andean Cock-of-the-rock
Olivaceous Piha
Golden-winged Manakin
White-bearded Manakin
Club-winged Manakin
Brown-capped Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Lesser Greenlet
Turquoise Jay
Beautiful Jay
Blue-and-white Swallow
White-thighed Swallow
Southern Rough-winged Swallow
Band-backed Wren
Bay Wren
House Wren
Mountain Wren
Gray-breasted Wood-Wren
Scaly-breasted Wren
Tropical Gnatcatcher
Andean Solitaire
Slaty-backed Nightingale-Thrush
Swainson's Thrush
Bare-eyed Thrush
Great Thrush
Glossy-black Thrush
Tropical Parula
Blackburnian Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Slate-throated Redstart
Spectacled Redstart
Golden-bellied Warbler
Russet-crowned Warbler
Three-striped Warbler
Bananaquit
Superciliaried Hemispingus
Cinereous Conebill
Plushcap
Dusky Bush-Tanager
Yellow-throated Bush-Tanager
Guira Tanager
Ochre-breasted Tanager
Scarlet-browed Tanager
White-shouldered Tanager
White-lined Tanager
Summer Tanager
Flame-rumped Tanager
Blue-gray Tanager
Palm Tanager
Blue-capped Tanager
Scarlet-bellied Mountain-Tanager
Blue-winged Mountain-Tanager
Grass-green Tanager
Fawn-breasted Tanager
Black-capped Tanager
Gray-and-gold Tanager
Golden-hooded Tanager
Blue-necked Tanager
Rufous-throated Tanager
Blue-and-black Tanager
Beryl-spangled Tanager
Metallic-green Tanager
Bay-headed Tanager
Blue-whiskered Tanager
Golden Tanager
Emerald Tanager
Silver-throated Tanager
Black-faced Dacnis
Scarlet-thighed Dacnis
Blue Dacnis
Scarlet-breasted Dacnis
Green Honeycreeper
Purple Honeycreeper
Swallow Tanager
Blue-black Grassquit
Variable Seedeater
Yellow-bellied Seedeater
Plain-colored Seedeater
Rusty Flowerpiercer
Glossy Flowerpiercer
Black Flowerpiercer
White-sided Flowerpiercer
Masked Flowerpiercer
Tricolored Brush-Finch
White-winged Brush-Finch
Rufous-naped Brush-Finch
Orange-billed Sparrow
Stripe-headed Brush-Finch
Black-striped Sparrow
Rufous-collared Sparrow
Buff-throated Saltator
Black-winged Saltator
Golden-bellied Grosbeak
Scrub Blackbird
Yellow-tailed Oriole
Thick-billed Euphonia
White-vented Euphonia
Orange-bellied Euphonia
Yellow-bellied Siskin