BIRD GUIDE: JESUS CIEZA

TOUR DESCRIPTION

Our first day of our 2O days Peru tour started from Cusco airport where Joyce and jonh where picked up, then we visited a nice local feeding spot where we could get O2 good looking endemic hummingbirds, the first one Bearded mountaineer and the second one green and white hummingbird. Some others like Giant hummingbird, a nice female Green tailed trainbearer and some extra birds like Blue and yellow tanager feeding a young one. After this nice feeding spot we had some more stops in Paramo forest for the special Scribble tailed canastero and some extra birds like Plain colored seedeater, the common Rufous collared sparrow and many more. Finally before our lodge Wayqecha, around 7:OO we could see a nice male of Swallow tailed nightjar to end up with a nice dinner at this great lodge.

The following day we started shooting birds at Manu road upper part, where we got a nice Black backed grossbeak by the lodge garden and some Hooded mountain tanagers with Grass green tanager by the main road. Nice time shooting Rust and yellow tanager with Moustached flowerpiercer around and some extra hummers like Amethys throated sunangel and Rufous capped thornbill along with the common Masked flowerpiercer. Later this day we tried Gray breasted mountain toucan and we just had a quick view of it plus the Rufous banded owl calling before dinner.

Our last morning around this lovely lodge where we had the chance to photograph the endemic Urubamba antpitta at only O4 minutes walk from our cabins. The show given by the O2 antpittas that came out was just great and close enough to get some very good shots. Then packed to drive down the road and had our first stop where we could get the very good birds like Gray breasted mountain toucan, the special Leymebamba antpitta, the restricted Chesnut crested cotinga and the shy Gray browed brush finch plus some Plushcap calling and moving around. Our lunch this time was taken by the road facing a nice tropical shower (rain), and after this good time we started moving to another bird spot owned by a local family where we added more cool birds to our list, great colorful species like Versicolored barbet, Golden browed tanager, Wire crested thorntail, Rufous booted racket-tail, Golden collared honeycreeper, Violet fronted brillian, Golden naped tanager and many more. Having good time shooting hummingbirds and tanagers then we went for some more targets like Blue banded toucannet and Andean cock of the rock, giving us nice time to see and shoot them.

Sunday rainy morning with few birds around cock of the rock lodge where we could shoot Many spotted hummingbird, Wire crested thorntail, Green hermit, Fork tailed woodnynph and some other birds around like western fire-eye that was searching for worms around the lodge. Other birds around like Two banded warbler, Stripe chested antwren, Slaty capped flycatcher and a small group of Paradise tanager around but a little far to shoot them. By the time rain stopped we drove up searching for more birds to shoot and this time we were lucky to have O3 Andean motmots and a nice looking male Andean cock of the rock together in a fruiting tree, where some great photos were taken, then some more birds along the upper part of the road with good photos of Masked trogon, slate throated redstar and Golden olive woodpecker.

Today we started with a nice and uncommon umbrella bird that gave us good time to shoot it well. Then we drove down the road to visit a local feeder in order to get and photograph new birds like the cool looking Rufous crested coquette, the uncommon Pale tailed barbthroat, White browed hermit, Golden tailed sapphire, Great billed hermit, Gould’s jewelfront and many more. Then our afternoon was spent shooting the colorful Andean cock of the rock in a leck and right next to the leck, we had the chance to photograph the uncommon Gray wooly monkey that was eating around this lek. Later this day we tried for some owling getting a female Lyre tailed nightjar by the bridge next to the lodge and a small Rufescent screech owl.

This time we left a beautiful Cock of the rock lodge and its nice bird garden to visit another and great place with more hummingbirds to shoot, this time we got the nice looking Rufous crested coquette and some other unusual hummers like Pale tailed barthroat, gould’d jewelfront, blue tailed emerald, Great billed hermit and many more. On the way down we also had the chance to get a very nice view of an immature Black and chesnut eagle perched right by the road gaving us a nice time to photographed it. Later this time we end up with some extra birds like Bearded manakin with not a good view but was calling around then nice lunch at our last lodge along Manu road where we could get more hummingbirds like White necked jacobin, White bearded hermit, Long billed starthroat, Rufous breasted hermit and many more birds around.

Early morning with a new bird feeder, this time we could get some extra birds like Green and Purple honeycreeper. 02 nice honeycreeper along with a colorful black tailed trogon and some more hummers like White bearded hermit, another good time with Rufous crested coquette and many other, this morning was great since we could also get the colorful King vulture and a special spot for the rare Emerald tree boa, gaving us nice time to shoot it. In the afternoon we went for a new road where we had the chance to photograph some woodpeckers and macaws. This afternoon we had blue and yellow macaw, some White eyed parakeet, Crimson crested woodpecker, Orange backed troupial and many more. At the end and on the way back we had Ladder tailed nightjar sitting by the road with good views and chance for photos.

Another nice morning having breakafast facing the hummingbirds plus a nice surprise around with blue throated piping Guan in front of us. Then we

visited the lower part of manu road where we tried to shoot some birds that move around lagoons and second growth where we had a great encounter with the unique Sunbittern right by the road and some other birds around Machuwasi lagoon like Masked crimson tanager, Horned screamer, Lesser kiskidae, Smooth billed any and a big flock of chesnut fronted macaws on the way down to the lower part. Then in the afternoon we went for more macaws and birds along Guadalupe river getting some Dusky headed parakeet, Mealy amazon, a nice group of Chesnut eared aracarí, violaceous jay, some Blue and yellow macaws plus a cool spot for the biggest potoo, Great potoo. Early breakfast to bird and photograph some birds around bamboo and this time we could get a surprise for me since was the first time seing a Spider monkey around this area, then we continued birding the area and got some nice shots from Chesnut eared aracarí, Rufous bellied euphonia, Violaceous jay, Opal crowned tanager. On the way from our bird route we had this nice opportunity to have Western striolated puffbird right in fron of us along with some other birds around calling like Lemon throated barbet, Buff throated foliage gleaner, Bamboo antshrike and many others, then in the afternoon we had a nice time in a cool boat ride along Madre de dios river, we started at the beggining of one the biggest tributary of the Amazon river and on the way down river we could get some cool shots from a nice pair of Fasciated tiger heron plus some extra birds around like Jabiru, White winged swallow and a juvenile of great black hawk. The way back upstream was also nice getting nice views of the proper mountain and hilly forest plus a flock of giant cowbird.

Last breakfast at this lovely place surrounded by bamboo and bird feeders with great hummingbird species, we took the car back to the mountains where we have some stops looking for Quetzal but we just heard it, no photo. But we could get some other birds on the way back untill Cusco city where we had good dinner around the main square.

Once in Cusco city we visited Palcoyo mountains and the Stone forest, this place is located at O3 hours from Cusco and have nice view of colorful mountains plus a nice rocky area designed by nature through the years. All this combined with some local people selling colorful textiles and hundreds of Alpacas. Our highest peak was the Stone forest with 4,973mnsm. To reach all these places and move around took us good time since the altitud and the great view force you to go slow, after this great time up here we went back to Cusco for dinner in a nice restaurant facing the magical Cusco city and some local shopping before bed.

The following morning we went for the second most visited spot around Cusco, the Vinicunca rainbow mountain and this is another cool place with mor colorful mountain and a nice snowy peak surrounding the area, in general we had a very nice time here with nice picture and good weather. Finally we took the car for extra O3 hours to then arrive at Ollantaytambo town where we had an extra night before taking the train to Aguas calientes town. Once at this little town we were able to photograpgh the colorfull couple of Torrent duck and some extra birds around the hotel like Blue naped chlorophonia, Bronzy inca, Common tody flycatcher and others. Then we had a nice morning walking around the famous Machupicchu were we had to wait some time around in order to get some clear and sunny views since Machupicchu is surrounded by sub-tropical forest and rivers, this area sometimes can be foogy in the mornings. Lucky day we did not get any rain and we could get some nice shots from the magical Machupicchu. Train back to cusco after this where we had a nice hotel and the following morning ready to take the plane and know the proper Amazon rainforest in Tambopata.

Our arrival to jungle was cool a bit late in the afternoon since the road to the river was covered by many holes left by rainy season, bute ven like this was enjoyable since we had a nice boat ride previous our final place. Our first day in the proper jungle we visited the Macaws clay lick and the had a nice early boat trip along Tambopata river where we could see some capibaras, turtles and caimans. Plus good numbers of Macaws, parrots, parakeets and many other birds around this famous bird spot like the uncommon Orinoco goose. This early boat given at 4.3Oam gave us also nice time to see the sunrise and how cool boat rides are, having dry season and water level being low makes any boat tour an adventure. The stars of the morning were the colorful Blue and yellow macaws, scarlet macaw, red and green macaw and the big number of Blue headed parrots.

Our afternoon was spent waking around the protected forest around visiting the hanging bridges where we could see White throated toucan, the uncommon Festive coquette, Masked tanager and some Amazonian pygmy owls calling around. Then we visited the tallest tower at Tambopata región where we tried some other birds and had a great time and view from the amazon and the sunset. This time we also had a night walk on the way back from the tower and found a uncommon Black capped flame snake, a colorful snake moving across the path plus some extra frogs and todas. Another day in jungle and this time we went for an early visit to the tower but the morning was cloudy and had to wait for the sun to come out, at the end we could see the colorful Red necked woodpecker, some cool little monkeys like Weddel’s saddle backed tamarin and others. Late in the afternoon we went for a boat ride in order to spot animals and birds by the river and were lucky to get O2 nice Kingfishers such as the uncommon Green kingfisher and the popular Amazon kingfisher. Nice group of turtles laying along fallen branches along the river plus a nice family of the famous Capibaras.

Our final lodge this time a popular place known as Paradise lodge, where after O2 hours by car and 3O minutes by boat we ended up at a different river and bird location. This place is right by one of the biggest tributaries of the amazon river and have the largest canopy bridge where we spent our afternoon trying to shoot the uncommon Black hawk Eagle that was flying around the hanging bridges. Then we also had some closer views of a nice group of Paradise tanagers and others. The following morning we went to visit the most visited place after the clay lick, the popular Sandoval lake that requires to walk at least O1 hour into Tambopata national reserve where chances for some extra animals is big to then take a local canoe and move around searching for more animals.

On the way to the lake we were lucky to spot another snake, this time a beautiful Yellow tailed cribo sunning on a branch right by the main path. Then many Yellow headed side necked turtles around the lake and a young Black caiman plus many other small birds around the lake such as heron, cardinals, hoatzins, kingfishers, flycatchers and others. At our last lodge we also visited the hanging bridges where we photographed some extra birds such as the unique Black faced cotinga, olive oropendola, Black capped parakeet and great view for the nice looking Black hawk Eagle. Our very last day we left the lodge early in order to visit a restaurant located by the river, this place had a very nice view and also a great spot for Brown throated three toed sloth, some weddel’s saddle backed tamarins monkeys and the ranged restricted White throated jacamar, that gave us good time to photographed it. All these was ended up with a nice lunch facing a nice tropical rain.