Bird Tours Peru - Sandia
Route A3: Sandia
The poorly-known Sandia area is home to an excellent diversity of birds and has more in common with the Bolivian Yungas than most of the Peruvian east slope.
Day 1 – Huancané Lakes to Sandia
We will dedicate this day to high elevation birding, beginning with a few hours in the reed-fringed lakes near Huancané. Here our main target will be the threatened and flightless Titicaca Grebe, while we will also pick up a good selection of other high Andean waterfowl, possibly including Andean Avocet, Andean Ibis and a variety of ducks. Through the day we’ll drive through spectacular puna habitat, looking for Puna Canastero, Hellmayr’s Pipit or even Short-tailed Finch en route. In the afternoon we’ll descend into a steep-sided valley, stopping for Tawny Tit-Spinetail and other goodies on the way to our basic hotel in the town of Sandia.
Day 2 – Sandia Valley
The valley bellow Sandia is home to one of Peru’s most localized birds – the enigmatic Green-capped Tanager. As well as this species, the area can produce a variety of surprises: bamboo patches harbour Yungas Tody-Tyrant and Two-banded Warbler; mixed flocks may include Versicoloured Barbet, a variety of tanagers and even Creamy-bellied Antwren, which we found here in 2006 – a significant range extension for this poorly-known Peruvian endemic. In the afternoon we’ll drive on to San Juan del Oro for another clean but simple hotel.
Day 3 – San Juan del Oro Valley
We’ll spend this day birding the patchy forest below San Juan del Oro. Possibilities are numerous and birding is generally very active; in past visits we have seen Ochre-cheeked Spinetail, Jet Manakin, Upland Antshrike, Rufous-crested Coquette and Bar-breasted Piculet among other more widespread lower montane forest species. In the afternoon we’ll arrive at Curva Alegre, where we’ll set up camp for the night near the Río Tambopata.
Day 4 – to Palmerani
This day we’ll walk the track to the tiny village of Palmerani while our equipment is transported by vehicle. The first part of the trail is through relatively humid forest where we can find a variety of Amazonian species such as Tawny-throated Leaftosser and Yellow-crested Tanager. Moving into slightly drier forest dominated by shade-grown coffee, we are likely to find pairs of Rufous-winged Antwrens, White-bellied Pygmy-Tyrant, hummingbirds including Violet-headed Hummingbird and Grey-breasted Sabrewing, and some good flocks including Guira Tanager and Cinnamon-faced and Bolivian Tyrannulets. This area is poorly-known and has good potential to produce some surprises; one previous visit included sightings of Rufous-headed Woodpecker, Red-billed Tyrannulet and several small groups of Military Macaws. We will camp for the night in Palmerani.
Day 5 - Palmerani
We'll have a full morning in the Palmerani area to hunt for local specialties - especially Yungas Antwren, which we recorded on a previous visit, and Bolivian Recurvebill, which has been seen previously is this almost unexplored area. There are many other interesting birds possible; recorded on our exploration of the area were White-browed Hermit and Large-headed Flatbill. In the afternoon, we'll head back to the main road and drive out to San Juan del Oro for the night in a hotel.
Day 6 - Abra Marancunca
This is a spectacular site and the highest elevation forest we visit on this trip. It is the only site in Perú for the extremely difficult Scimitar-winged Piha, but we're more likely to see other great birds such as Blue-banded Toucanet, Scarlet-breasted Fruiteater, Ochre-breasted Antpitta, White-eared Solitaire and Hazel-fronted Pygmy-Tyrant. Hummingbirds can be seasonally abundant and varied here, with Buff-thighed Puffleg, Brown Violet-ear and Green-fronted Lancebill among the possibilities. In the late afternoon we'll leave this wonderful but threatened patch of montane forest and drive to Sandia for the night.
Day 7 - back to the puna
We'll make an early start from Sandia and bird our way back to Juliaca or Puno, looking for thistletails (we've recorded them, but which species they are is so far unknown), hummingbirds, finches and seedsnipe en route.
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