Trip Reports - Iquitos etc.
Trip Reports - Iquitos, Oxapampa, Sandia, Mollendo & Other Areas
by David Geale
Participants: René-Marie LaFontaine, Geert Spanoghe
Guide: David Geale
Drivers: Lucho Nuñez (Central Peru), Juvenal Ccahuana (Southern Peru)
Oct. 31 - Iquitos
Nov. 01-03 - Allpahuayo-Mishana
Nov. 04-06 - Emerald Forest Camp (Rio Yarapa)
Nov. 07 - Santa Eulalia
Nov. 08 - Marcapomacocha
Nov. 09 - Lake Junin & Huánuco Valley
Nov. 10 - Carpish Tunnel & Tingo Maria
Nov. 11 - Paty Trail
Nov. 12-13 - Bosque Unchog
Nov. 14-17 - Oxapampa & Villa Rica Areas
Nov. 18 - Coast South of Lima
Nov. 19 - Paracas to Abancay
Nov. 20 - Bosque de Ampay
Nov. 21 - Abancay to Cusco
Nov. 22 - Huancané Lakes
Nov. 23-27 - Sandia Area
Nov. 28 - Puno to Mejia
Nov. 29 - Mollendo/Mejia Area
Nov. 30 - Chiguata
Introduction
Tanager Tours was contacted, with two weeks' anticipation, by a pair of Belgian birders who wanted to bird all of Peru in a month! By the time of their arrival, they had decided on the itinerary shown above up until Cusco, although the Oxapampa section was still up in the air. While the improvised nature of the trip resulted in some inefficiencies along the way, travelling with two experienced South American birders allowed us to find some excellent birds, concentrating mainly on the specialties - how else could you go a month in Peru without seeing a Southern Beardless-Tyrannulet!? The trip included four basic areas new to me, for which I did not receive a guide's salary but was more than compensated by an influx of new birds and knowledge that will be invaluable in the future. This report will focus on these four least-known (at least for me) areas: Iquitos, Oxapampa/Villa Rica, Sandia and Coastal Arequipa. Brief mention will be made of visits to well-known sites in Central and Southern Peru.
Iquitos
Due to some airline hassles in Europe, I ended up in Iquitos a day ahead of the two Belgian birders, along with their non-birding companion, who accompanied us for the first couple of weeks - as long as he could put up with the rigours of a birding trip. We used that day to organize the logistics of our visit to a 'lodge' near Iquitos, planning to head there after 3 days in the immediate area of the city.
Allpahuayo-Mishana
When René-Marie and Geert arrived the next day, we headed for the famous Allpahuayo-Mishana Reserve, where we spent two full days and a morning. In general, the birding here was slow, but of course there were many special birds found along the way. Our first forray was immediately behind the visitor's centre where we found very limited varillal (white sand) forest. Pearly Antshrike was the most interesting species we found before deciding to try a different area. Eventually we located some much better looking habitat on trails between kms. 25 and 26, and spent the next two days there. Ancient Antwren and Pompadour Cotinga were notably common, and Grey Elaenia was heard frequently (and seen occasionally). On our final morning, we arrived before dawn to try some potoos, and sure enough a small Nyctibius flew over as we played tape of White-winged - but we'll never be sure.
Brown-banded Puffbird - one very cooperative bird at varillal edge, photographed.
Yellow-throated Woodpecker - one in a mixed flock on the edge of varillal
forest.
Ruddy Spinetail - one party of 3-4 birds encountered at varillal edge.
Short-billed Leaftosser - perhaps the most surprising bird here for me
- one fairly cooperative individual in 'normal' forest just outside the
most humid varillal.
Pearly Antshrike - surprisingly common (to me) here, both in varillal and
other forests.
Ancient Antwren - very commonly heard both in humid varillal and adjacent
forests, and good views obtained of one individual.
Zimmer's Antbird - commonly heard, and seen a couple of times, in the humid
varillal.
Pompadour Cotinga - small flocks (5-6 birds) were encountered regularly
in varillal forest.
Sulphur-bellied Tyrant-Manakin - we were basically looking for Saffron-crested,
but surprisingly our first Neopelma had a striking white eye and
yellow belly!
Saffron-crested Tyrant-Manakin - all subsequent Tyrant-Manakins were of
this species - not rare in humid varillal.
Mishana Tyrannulet - this one gave us trouble, but we had good views of
one on our final morning in somewhat drier varillal forest.
Duidae Fuscous Flycatcher - two individuals; one solitary and vocal
in the drier Chamizal, another in a flock in the humid varillal forest.
Emerald Forest Camp
As we were interested in exploring some unknown territory, we opted for
this rainforest camp on the Rio Yarapa, a tributary of the Amazon reached
in about 4 hours by powerboat upstream from Iquitos. The camp is on the
shores of a small oxbow lake less than a minutes' walk from the Rio Yarapa.
The lake is frequented by many fishermen as well as occasional Agami Herons
and other typical oxbow lake birds - although most large species (eg Hoatzin,
Horned Screamer) seem to be deterred by the human component. The camp has
a rather sloppy and informal trail system (probably basically trails used
by local hunters), but it was quite sufficient to keep us busy for two
full days. We did not find any terra firme forest unfortunately, or army
ant swarms, but good varzea and some very interesting igapó close to our
base kept us occupied. On our final morning, we left fairly early and stopped
at a river island close to the mouth of the Yarapa and found a good variety
of the island specialists. Certainly this area deserves further exploration,
although I suspect that (based on conversations with local people) that
most large birds have been hunted out.
Agami Heron - at least two individuals present along edges of the oxbow
lake.
Zigzag Heron - one bird photographed on the edge of the igapó forest.
Festive Parrot - the only confirmed sighting was a pair in flight over
the Rio Yarapa.
Olive-spotted Hummingbird - common on the river island, many singing from
subcanopy perches.
White-eared Jacamar - regular around the camp clearing, but not seen elsewhere.
Chestnut Woodpecker - notably the most common woodpecker here.
Zimmer's Woodcreeper
One bird, thankfully vocal, was observed in the igapó forest. Although
Straight-billed (also calling) was present around the camp clearing, I
could not distinguish the two species visually. Several Dendroplex were
seen in the igapó, and Zimmer's may be not rare at this site.
Parker's Spinetail - a pair on the river island.
Thamnophilus sp.
The most intriguing sighting here was a pair of Thamnophilus antshrikes
in varea forest near the camp. Both sexes appeared to be entirely uniform
(grey in male, dull brownish in female) and both had pale grey irises.
The song, given at least by the male, was of the speed and rhythm of Plain-winged
Antshrike T. schistaceus (also common here, even in the same flock
as the mystery antshrikes) , but notably higher-pitched and less nasal
sounding - easily immitated by whistling. As no photographs or recordings
were obtained, this will surely remain a mystery until someone else encounters
similar birds.
Castelnau's Antshrike - afamily group of 3-4 birds seen on the river island.
Saturnine Antshrike - a pair in the varea forest, very responsive to playback
both of its own song and that of Dusky-throated Thamnomanes ardesiacus,
which we did not see here. Thankfully these birds showed large and conpicuous
white dorsal patches.
Leaden Antwren - encountered several times in the igapó forest as well
as a pair on the river island.
Ash-breasted Antbird - one vocal and responsive male on the river island.
Black-tailed Antbird - at least two territorial males in the igapó forest
- easily found by its loud song.
Black-and-white Antbird - common on the river island.
Dot-backed Antbird - at least two territories of this striking little antbird
located in the igapó forest.
Spotted Antpitta - two birds heard in the varea forest, but notably unresponsive
to tape.
Cinnamon Attila - one seen in the igapó forest.
Mouse-coloured Tyrannulet - several individuals observed in mixed flocks
in the igapó forest.
Fuscous Flycatcher - one on the river island.
Bicoloured Conebill - a couple on the river island.
Central Highway
Leaving Iquitos, we returned to the familiar (for me) Central Highway, birding the traditional sites between Lima and Tingo Maria. Rufous-breasted Warbling-Finch was fairly easily found at the usual place in the Santa Eulalia Valley, but the White-cheeked Cotingas unfortunately did not cooperate. Diademed Sandpiper-Plover was quickly located along with other local specialties such as White-bellied Cinclodes, Dark-winged Miner and Black-breasted Hillstar. At Lake Junin we opted, due to very low water levels, to walk out to the edge of the deep water. This was an arduous hour and a half of slogging and we all ended up with rubber boots full of water, but we did see two Junin Grebes at quite close range once we reached the edge of the reeds. Further down towards Huánuco we stopped at our reliable gully for Rufous-backed Inca-Finch where we also turned up a Brown-flanked Tanager. The Carpish Mountains along the highway (Carpish Tunnel and Paty Trail) were rather quiet, but we had some productive moments in our two days in the area, including Tschudi's Tapaculo, Bay and Chestnut Antpittas, Plushcap and White-eared Solitaire. A brief stay in Tingo Maria included a visit to the Oilbird cave and several sightings of the endemic Huallaga Tanager. Our final stop was at Bosque Unchog, where we caught up many good birds including with the 'big four' - Golden-backed Mountain-Tanager, Bay-vented Cotinga, Pardusco, and, with some effort, Rufous-browed Hemispingus.
Oxapampa/Villa Rica
Having had more time to do some research on this area since our visit, I am already planning a return trip to do more exploration of this fascinating area. Still, our rather experimental visit produced some exciting birds and we found many sites that gave off a distinct "there's-something-interesting-here" vibe.
Laguna Oconal
Arriving in Villa Rica, this lake just outside the town dominates the vista. We spent a few midday hours there after our arrival, and an hour in the early morning before our departure for Lima. The lake itself harboured an interesting set of waterbirds - more Least Grebes that I've seen anywhere in Peru, Purple Gallinule, Blackish Rail, Muscovy Duck and Cocoi Heron to represent the lowlands, while Puna Ibis, Black-crowned Night-Heron and Common Moorhen gave more of an Andean feel.
Subtropical Doradito - at least two individuals of this enigmatic flycatcher
in the lakeside vegetation.
Pearly-vented Tody-Tyrant - a pair calling and flitting in the scrubby
forest beside the lake.
Olivaceous Greenlet - a first pair of these caught me off-guard, but they
turned out to be quite common in the area.
Black-faced Tanager - another somewhat local bird in Peru that was common
here.
El Pajonál
There is a newly-constructed road linking Villa Rica to Oxapampa; the high point of this road at 2400 m is an uninhabited spagnum bog vegetated by stunted trees and a variety of wonderful orchids. The area seems to be protected by one or two NGOs as it is of some importance for Oxapampa's drinking water. There was a sign hung up in a small tree here saying "Bienvenidos a 'El Pajonál'" - hence my use of this as the name for the area. The stunted forest felt interesting but we found relatively few birds here. The more productive area was slightly further towards Oxapampa where mixed flocks were plentiful, and one of them produced a Creamy-bellied Antwren for Geert, though I was otherwise distracted at the time.
Red-throated Caracara - a remarkably high elevation for this lowland species;
a flock of 5 or 6 birds in the stunted forest.
Black-winged Parrot - possibly seen several times; one flyby flock of 3
identified.
Barred Parakeet - small flocks seen flying over in the early morning.
Swallow-tailed Nightjar - at least 4 males singing all around our campsite.
Rufous-webbed Brilliant - seen on two different occasions along the roadside.
Crimson-bellied Woodpecker - seen frequently (on all three days that we
spent time here) in areas of larger trees.
Tyrannine Woodcreeper - one heard and seen briefly in the taller forest.
Large-footed Tapaculo - a couple heard singing in gullies.
Masked Fruiteater - a pair seen at a fruiting bush.
Red-ruffed Fruitcrow - a fairly common bird here, seen several times in
the taller forest.
Inca Flycatcher - a few in mixed flocks.
Rufous-bellied Bush-Tyrant - a party of 3 birds seen regularly in the same
area at the edge of the stunted forest.
Pale-footed Swallow - abundant.
Spotted Nightingale-Thrush - one bird singing from an inpenetrable thicket.
Tricoloured Brush-Finch - the common brush-finch here, seen repeatedly
in mixed flocks.
Antenna Road
Disappointed not to have heard any interesting Megascops at El Pajonál, we headed up to this traditional site for the Cloud-forest Screech-Owl, camping just beyond the pass but before the antennas. Here a side road led down into productive montane forest, though we found no further Herpsilochmus. The screech-owl was heard calling in the evening, well below the road and our campsite. Perhaps a night walk down the side road would be the best chance of seeing the enigmatic bird.
Hooded Tinamou - commonly heard calling thoughout the area.
Cloud-forest Screech-Owl - at least three individuals calling, all too
distant to tape in.
Bay Antpitta - many calling.
Band-tailed Fruiteater - seen a couple of times along the side road.
Olive Flycatcher - a pair down the side road.
Golden-faced Tyrannulet - commonly heard and seen - a southerly range extension???
Andean Tyrant - one male displaying just above our campsite.
Rufous-tailed Tyrant - pairs seen at various places along the road.
Lima to Cusco to Huancané
Returning from Oxapampa, we changed drivers in Lima, twitched the "Red-gartered" Coot at Pantanos de Villa and headed for Cusco. Over the next four days we caught up with coastal specialists (the most notable being Wilson's Plover at Paracas and Cactus Canastero above Nazca), birded the Abancay area (seeing virtually all specialties of the Ampay forest as well as Pale-tailed Canstero and other local dry valley species) and completed the driver to Cusco, picking up Junin Canastero en route. Arriving in Cusco, we saw the stunning Chestnut-breasted Mountain-Finch before heading south the following day. We made brief stops at Huacarpay, mostly for Streak-fronted Thornbird, and near Pucara for Darwin's Nothura, and spent the afternoon around Huancané tracking down Short-winged Grebe and Andean Avocet before driving on to Putina to begin our Sandia adventure.
Sandia
Although this site always brings immediately to mind Green-capped Tanager, there are many other interesting birds to see here, especially from a Peruvian standpoint. Patches of good forest remain down at least to 1000 m. elevation, and birding the area was productive for 4 days.
Puna habitat en route to Sandia
Leaving Putina, we crossed extensive areas of pristine puna grassland before descending to the town of Cuyocuyo. Not far above this town we encountered a stunted patch of Polylepis harbouring Tawny Tit-Spinetail.
Ornate Tinamou - one individual right beside the car outside of Putina.
Silvery Grebe - a lone individual appearing to beling to the nominate occipitalis
subspecies photographed above Cuyocuyo.
Andean Ibis - rather common in higher areas.
Blue-winged Teal - a pair seen and photographed at a small lake outside
of Putina.
Tawny-throated Dotterel - a loose flock of 10 or so birds in the high dry
grasslands.
Puna Canastero - one studied carefully confirmed to be this species; several
other flushed from the car probably were also.
Tawny Tit-Spinetail - at least 2 pairs in the stunted Polylepis above
Cuyocuyo.
Hellmayr's Pipit - one individual closely studied near Azangaro, not far
from where we saw one 2 years ago. Streaks clearly extending onto flanks,
very "blank faced" appearance.
Sandia Valley
Below the town of Cuyocuyo, the vegetation changes notably, becoming shrub-covered slopes with denser vegetation in gullies. We birded this area for one afternoon, and the area below Sandia to San Jose and beyond for a full day. Descending the valley, the vegetation gradually becomes more and more humid, with lots of Chusquea bamboo locally below San Jose.
Fasciated Tiger-Heron - a lone bird on the river at San Jose.
Andean Condor - amazingly, this bird above San Jose was the only one during
the whole month of the trip!
Puna Thistletail - one individual calling, and seen rather poorly, below
Cuyocuyo. Persumably belongs the undescribed taxon from Limbani.
Puna Tapaculo - common just below Cuyocuyo.
Herpsilochmus sp.
4 km below the road split at San Jose, we heard a Herpsilochmus antwren
sounding very much like Creamy-bellied Antwren. I played canned tape of
that species and the bird responded immediately, flying into a tall tree
just below the road. Although it stayed in the same tree for several minutes,
only poor views were obtained, but certainly it was a Black-capped/Creamy-bellied
type - not Yellow-breasted (no obvious yellow colour on underparts). Unfortunately,
the bird did not subsequently vocalize, so no recording was obtained. As
suggested recently on the BirdingPeru listserv, Black-capped is much more
likely based on the proximity of known ranges, but unfortunately I have
no conclusive evidence to eliminate Creamy-bellied.
Yungas Tody-Tyrant - a recent addition to the Peruvian avifauna that was
one of the most common birds (though tricky to get decent views of - they
did respond to playback of Double-banded Pygmy-Tyrant) from San Jose downwards,
usually in Chusquea bamboo.
Masked Yellowthroat - a few individuals below Sandia.
Green-capped Tanager - quite common anywhere we stopped between Sandia
and San Jose.
Abra Maruncunca
This low pass (about 2200 m.) still has large patches of good montane forest relatively close to the road, and we spent a full morning and a few hours in the afternoon here, hoping mostly for the enigmatic Scimitar-winged Piha. René-Marie saw one while birding alone; the rest of us came up empty. However, the birding generally was quite productive. Flocks were frequently encountered along the road; however, most interesting birds were found on small trails leading to more distant, less disturbed forest patches.
Hooded Tinamou - one seen crossing a narrow forest trail; commonly heard.
White-throated Antpitta - several heard; seen by René-Marie.
Ochre-breasted Antpitta - stunning 3 m. views of this cute bird.
Slaty Gnateater - good views of one individual, with several others heard.
Scarlet-breasted Fruiteater - Juvenal Ccahuana saw one in a flock along
the road; the rest of us heard one.
Tawny-breasted Flycatcher - two individuals seen, both inconspicuously
following mixed flocks.
San Juan del Oro Valley
Beyond the Abra, the road descends to 1000 m. elevation and beyond, with patches of decent forest still remaining locally. We basically only birded the lower elevations on one morning, coming up with a handful of interesting records.
Solitary Eagle - one bird seen soaring, then perched in a distant treetop.
Black-and-chestnut Eagle - also an single individual seen soaring.
Blue-headed Macaw - another solitary flyover.
White-browed Hermit - two individuals feeding at the roadside, one less
than a metre from our knees.
Cabanis' Spinetail - heard and glimpsed on two occasions.
Amazonian Umbrellabird - one individual scoped for good views.
MacConnell's Flycatcher - two adults fussing over a fledgling above Putinapunco.
Chestnut-crowned Becard - notably common between 1200 and 1700 m - four
individuals heard or seen over the course of the morning.
Golden-bellied Warbler - a pair seen just above Putinapunco.
Southern Highlands & Coast
Leaving from Puno, we birded most of the day towards Moquegua, picking up a near-complete set of puna species including Puna Miner, Plain-mantled Tit-Spinetail, Puna Yellow-Finch, White-throated Sierra-Finch and, most importantly, Puna (Lesser) Rhea. We spent the last part of the day driving from Moquegua down to Mejia on the Pacific coast. En route, a few random stops produced Straight-billed and White-throated Earthcreepers, Dark-winged Canastero and a surprising lone Raimondi's Yellow-Finch. We pulled into Mejia in the evening, ready to explore the surrounding area the following day.
Mollendo & Mejia
René-Marie and Geert were keen to organize a pelagic, and we were able to arrange a 4 hour trip which took us 10 nautical miles offshore from Matarani. This proved one of the highlights of the trip, with a good variety of pelagic birds seen in spite of the relatively short time at sea (see list below). In the afternoon, we visited the Lagunas de Mejia, fairly easily finding the local specialty - Red-fronted Coot - though not many other new birds for the trip. Because pelagics from Matarani are infrequent, I will give a complete list of species recorded.
Humboldt Penguin - 20
Buller's Albatross - 1
Salvin's Albatross - 1
Northern Giant-Petrel - 1 Presumably infrequent in Peru - red bill tip
seen clearly.
White-chinned Petrel - 10
Pink-footed Shearwater - 50
Sooty Shearwater - many thousand
Wilson's Storm-Petrel - 5
White-vented Storm-Petrel - 20
Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrel - 1
Markham's Storm-Petrel - 10
Peruvian Diving-Petrel - 5
Peruvian Pelican
Peruvian Booby
Neotropic Cormorant
Red-legged Cormorant
Chilean Skua - 5
Pomarine Jaeger - 10
Parasitic Jaeger - 5
Band-tailed Gull
Grey Gull
Kelp Gull
Franklin's Gull
Swallow-tailed Gull - 3
Elegant Tern
Sandwich Tern - 1
Royal Tern - 2
Common Tern
Arctic Tern - 3
Peruvian Tern - 3
Inca Tern
Yellow-billed Pintail - a lone individual at Mejia.
Red-fronted Coot - according to the park guard, there are only two remaining
after the fire earlier this year. Indeed, we easily found 2 in the largest
lagoon - I suspect there are in fact more.
We finished the trip off with an attempt at Tamarugo Conebill, but of course we were not in the right season. In the Chiguata area we did add Black-hooded Sierra-Finch and, as a final surprise, a White-tailed Shrike-Tyrant.
Click
here to see the complete Species list
The list contains 820 species that I personally observed on this trip.
List Key:
Iquitos column (Iq)
A - Allpahuayo-Mishana Forest
E - Emerald Forest Camp & Adjacent Yarapa River
X - Elsewhere (Rivers, Iquitos city) or multiple sites.
Oxapampa column (Oxa)
O - Laguna Oconal
P - El Pajonál
A - Antenna Road
X - Elsewhere or multiple sites.
Sandia column (Sand)
P - Puna above Cuyocuyo
S - Sandia Valley below Cuyocuyo
M - Abra Maruncunca
J - San Juan del Oro Valley
Other column (other)
pel - Pelagic out of Matarani
X - any site not included above
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