Birding Peru 5-17 August 2018 Lau Jia Sheng (Author), Ang Bao Jun

Photo 1: Jon, the Rusty-Tinged Antpitta

Introduction

Chancing upon a reasonably priced birding trip to Columbia, it struck me that it was possible to realise my dream of visiting South America. After some discussion with Bao Jun, we decided to go for it because this may turn out to be our once-in-a-lifetime window of opportunity. This happened in end of May and within three months, we were birding in Peru, the land of the Incans and the land where the Amazon meets the Andes.

The trip would not be possible without the service from Kolibri Expeditions (Email: [email protected]). Their offering of different multi-days short tours covering the entire country of Peru allowed us to put together an ambitious tour to cover the following in 13- days: (i) birding sites from both North and South Peru, (ii) Machu Picchu, which is one of the 7 New Wonders of the World, and (iii) varied habitats ranging from the sea-level Pacific coast to the dry hillslopes of the West Andes to the high-elevation (>4000m) punas of Andes to the cloud montane forest of the East Andes to the tropical Amazon hill forest. We wanted a trip of the lifetime and we certainly got it. No regrets.

In total, we saw a total of 538 species of birds, including 58 species of hummingbirds, 17 species of parrots, 28 species of antbirds and allies, 5 species of antpittas, 72 species of flycatchers and allies, 5 species of manakins and 57 species of tanagers. Of which, 24 are endemics. A further 35 species were seen by our guides or heard only.

Itinerary

Day 1, 5 August 2018: Arrival at Lima Airport. Morning birding at La Punta district and boat trip to Palomino Islets. Afternoon flight to Cusco. Night at Ollantaytambo.

Day 2, 6 August 2018: Visit Machu Picchu. Night at Ollantaytambo.

Day 3, 7 August 2018: Early morning birding at Hotel Pakaritampu. Travel to Cock of the Rock Lodge with birding enroute. Night birding near Cock of the Rock. Lodge Night at Cock of the Rock Lodge.

Day 4, 8 August 2018: Early morning visit to Cock of the Rock lek. Morning birding at Cock of the Rock Lodge. Travel to Amazonia lodge with birding enroute. Night at Amazonia Lodge.

Day 5, 9 August 2018: Early morning visit to small parrot lek. Birding at Amazonia Lodge. Night birding at Amazonia Lodge. Night at Amazonia Lodge.

Day 6, 10 August 2018: Early morning birding at Amazonia Lodge. Travel to Wayquecha Lodge with birding enroute. Night at Wayquecha Lodge.

Day 7, 11 August 2018: Morning birding at Wayquecha Lodge. Travel to Cusco Airport with birding enroute. Flight to Tarapoto via Lima. Night at Tarapoto.

Day 8, 12 August 2018: Morning birding at Aconabikh. Birding in the surroundings of Tarapoto. Travel to Wakanqi Lodge with birding enroute. Night birding at Wakanqi Lodge. Night at Wakanqi Lodge.

Day 9, 13 August 2018: Morning birding at Wakanqi Lodge. Travel to Hotel Brisas with birding enroute. Night birding in the vicinity of Hotel Brisas. Night at Hotel Brisas.

Day 10, 14 August 2018: Early morning birding at Huembo Lodge. Morning birding at San Lorenzo. Afternoon birding at Fundo Alto Nieva and Afluentes. Night birding at Fundo Alto Nieva. Night at Fundo Alto Nieva.

Day 11, 15 August 2018: Morning birding at Owlet Lodge. Birding at white-sand montane forest. Night birding at Fundo Alto Nieva. Night at Fundo Alto Nieva.

Day 12, 16 August 2018: Morning birding at Arena Blanca. Travel to Tarapoto Airport with birding enroute. Flight to Lima. Night at Lima.

Day 13, 17 August 2018: Birding at Santa Eulalia. Depart from Lima Airport.

Location and Habitats

Lima and surrounding 1. La Punta District – Mudflats 2. Palomino Islets – Pelagic, Islands with nesting seabird colonies 3. Santa Eulalia – Arid montane valley of West Andes

South Peru Tour 1. Machu Picchu – Montane forest of East Andes 2. Hotel Pakaritampu – Garden in the arid puna of East Andes 3. Acjanacu Pass – Remnant polylepis forest and dry puna of East Andes 4. Cock of the Rock Lodge – Submontane cloud forest of East Andes 5. Amazonia Lodge – Mixed Amazonian rainforest 6. Pillcopata – Low hill forest of East Andes 7. Wayquecha Lodge – Elfin forest and montane cloud forest of East Andes 8. Huacarpay Lake – Montane lake

North Peru Tour 1. Aconabikh – Low hill forest of East Andes 2. Wakanqi Lodge – Hill forest of East Andes 3. Huembo Lodge – Arid puna of East Andes 4. San Lorenzo – Montane forest of East Andes 5. Fundo Alto Nieva – Montane white sand forest of East Andes 6. Owlet Lodge – Montane white sand forest of East Andes 7. Arena Blanca – Low hill forest of East Andes 8. Morro Calzada – Limestone forest of East Andes

Detailed Day-to-Day Account

Day 1, 5 August 2018: After spending 26 hours in the plane, we arrived in Lima with great excitement. The sun was nowhere to be seen – so was our guide. Fortunately, the birds were still active amidst the foggy weather. Our first bird for the trip was the West Peruvian Dove, which was common everywhere in the city, including the airport. Photo 2: Our first hummingbird of the trip. The beautiful Amazilia Hummingbird. Finally, our guide Alejandro picked us at the airport and took us to La Punta with a short stop for breakfast enroute. La Punta was a rich man’s estate with hundreds of yachts. Being near the sea and a short drive from the airport, it was a convenient place to give us a brief introduction to the coastal birds of Peru, a habitat that we will not cover for the rest of the trip. Key highlights were two cute-looking Franklin Gulls amongst a flock of Andean Gulls, a couple of Spotted Sandpipers and a fishing Peruvian Booby. In addition to the coastal birds, we saw our first hummingbird of the trip – the beautiful Amazilia Hummingbird. The sparkling green on the head and neck sides really dazzled even in the gloomy weather!

The morning was not to be ended without the gorgeous Inca Tern and the iconic Humboldt Penguin. A short boat ride away, we found ourselves staring at guano-covered cliffs filled with thousands of seabirds, including the beautiful Red-Legged Cormorants, the Guanay Cormorants, Peruvian Boobies, Belcher’s Gulls, Kelp Gulls and our targets.

Photo 3: (From left to right) A couple of Humboldt Penguins and the gorgeous Inca Tern

Besides nesting seabirds, the Palomino Island is also famous for its South American Sealion colony and we were not disappointed. Literally, we saw an island of sealions.

Photo 4: Sealions from the shoreline to the top of the island... How is this not an island of sealions?

Photo 5: Guano-covered island filled with breeding seabirds. Apparently, all the earth on the island is from guano and those buildings were used previously by guano-collectors.

Returning to the theme of birds, we were still missing our final target, the endemic Surf Cinclodes, a unique maritime passerine. Circling the islands, our boatman duly found us one cooperative individual who preferred to run rather than to fly around the rocks, out of our line of sight. More Inca Terns on our return journey rounded up our wonderful morning.

Photo 6: The endemic Surf Cinclodes being chased by a large crab

We rushed for our flight to Cusco but was still an hour late. This meant that the rest of the daylight hours was spent driving to Ollantaytambo from Cusco airport. We did not do any birding and had an early night rest instead. Dinner was a simple meal of alpaca and deep-fried guinea pig meats – nothing fanciful.

Photo 7: (For left to right) Alpaca steak, deep-fried Guinea Pig and the famous Coca Tea made from the same raw ingredient as cocaine.

Day 2, 6 August 2018: Photo 8: Aguas Calientes Catching the earliest train in the rain, we were on our way to Aguas Calientes, the gateway to the wonders of Machu Picchu. Aguas Calientes is a small tourist town of stone-walled shop houses, cobbled pathways and stone bridges, nestled in the midst of steep forested mountains. We can’t wait to see Machu Picchu.

Photo 9: Gorgeous Andean Motmot!

Unfortunately, it was raining and foggy. Our guide, Antonio, knowing better, brought us to do some birding along the railway tracks to wait out the rain and fog. We were duly rewarded with sightings of both Brown-Capped and Red-Eyed Vireos, a couple of Andean Motmots, a Beryl-Spangled Tanager, a juvenile Fasciated Tiger-Heron, a Variable Antshrike, which was our first encounter with a member of the antbird family, a Golden-Crowned Flycatcher, a pair of responsive Sclater’s Tyrannulets, a pair of Marble- Faced Bristle-Tyrants, a female Long-Tailed Sylph, a male Booted Racket-Tail and several endemic Green- and-White Hummingbirds, including one hovering in mid-air trying to catch some flies. The best bird though was a pair of beautiful Torrent Ducks seen swimming in the torrent under the torrential rain – no pun intended.

Photo 10: Birding along the railway tracks

Photo 11: Torrent Ducks in the middle of a torrent in a torrential rain

As the rain was abating and the fog was clearing, we boarded the bus to Machu Picchu. We were overwhelmed. First, by the huge turnout of local tourists and second, by the sheer audacity of the architecture of Machu Picchu. This forgotten palace or temple or research center was literally built at the cliff’s edge and managed to survive the Spanish and time – simply unbelievable! Birds were few and we missed the endemic Inca Wrens but added the American Kestrel and our only White-Winged Black-Tyrant.

Photo 12: Photograph of Machu Picchu in the sea of clouds from the popular viewpoint

The journey back to Aguas Calientes Photo 13: Too quick. Don't blink - Gould's Inca. took longer than expected due to the hour-long queue-line for the bus. Fortunately, we were in time for our buffet lunch and some good birds, namely a gorgeous male Gould’s Inca, several Blue-Grey Tanagers, a White-Capped Dipper and more Torrent Ducks, including a juvenile. Train was delayed by at least an hour, giving us more time to photograph the brightly-colored Slate-Throated Redstart and Blue- Necked Tanager. On the flipside, the train delay meant that we could not do some birding at the grounds of the Pakaritampu Hotel in the late afternoon. Oh well, maybe the endemic Bearded Mountaineer was not meant to be…

We did go to Pakaritampu Hotel when we were back at Ollantaytambo but only for dinner. Dinner was lovely and the news of morning sightings of the endemic Bearded Mountaineer in the hotel grounds ended the day with some hope for us. We decided to give the hotel grounds a go in the early morning and sacrifice some birding time on the way to the Cock-of-the-rock lodge. We cannot butter our breads on both sides, or can we?

Day 3, 7 August 2018: Photo 14: Check out my beard. - Bearded Mountaineer Today was a race against time with so many targets to find and so much distance to cover. We started the day at the grounds of Pakaritampu Hotel. Needing to leave by 8am, we were about to lose all hope when our guide Antonio spotted a largish bird perched on the overhanging cable line. To our relief, it was none other than the endemic Bearded Mountaineer. It was not the prettiest of the hummingbirds but it was huge and had a dazzling beard which it duly showed off to us. Incredible! Other noteworthy birds seen in the hotel compound were a pair of the brilliant-looking Green-Tailed Trainbearers, a giant Giant Hummingbird, a couple of White-Bellied Hummingbirds, a couple of Rust- and-Yellow and Blue-and-Yellow Tanagers, a couple of Rusty and Black-Throated Flowerpiercers and a couple of Golden-Billed Saltators.

Photo 15: Birdy garden of Pakaritampu Hotel surrounded by tall arid mountains

Satisfied with our start, we lost no time to get moving. Before lunch at Paucartambo, we had several short birding stops along the Urubamba River, near the 1st mountain pass. Most stops were planned by our guide Antonio but we made an unplanned one too. At the unplanned stop, we actually saw all the localised endemics found only in this part of the Andes. Within ten meters from our vehicle, we lured out the endemic Rusty-Fronted Canastero and stared at another endemic, the beautiful Chestnut-Breasted Mountain-Finch. Remarkably, the unplanned stop was called by Bao Jun for a hummingbird that we could not find. Wow!

Photo 16: (From left to right) The beautiful Chestnut-Breasted Mountain-Finch and skulky Rusty-Fronted Canastero

At the planned stops, we had other great sightings such as flocks of Puna Ibis, a charismatic Andean Flicker, several neat-looking Mountain Caracaras, a Common Miner, several Cream- winged Cinclodes, a couple of not-shrike-looking Black-billed Shrike-Tyrants, flocks of the pretty-looking Peruvian Sierra-Finches, numerous Hooded Siskins, a Rufous-webbed Bush- Tyrant and a Shining Sunbeam. A pair of range-restricted Streak-Fronted Thornbird was, however, less cooperative, flying from bush to bush without giving us great views.

Photo 17: (Clockwise from top left) Birds of the high Andean Puna: Puna Ibis, puna race of the Andean Flicker and the view of the overgrazed Andean Puna

Photo 18: Chestnut-Bellied Continuing our journey, we reached the Acjanacu pass and Mountain Tanager stopped for some birding. Apart from a Brown-Backed Chat- Tyrant, White-Banded Tyrannulets and Rufous-Collared Sparrows, we saw or heard nothing else for a good half-hour. Times like these often lead to doubts and questions like are we at the right place or is the habitat too degraded? We will never know the correct answer but an out-of-the-blue birdwave was definitely more than welcomed. In the birdwave, we had our main quarry, the endemic Creamy- Crested Spinetail with its punky white crest, and other goodies such as a pair of White-browed Conebill, our first mountain-tanager in the form of the highly-responsive Chestnut-bellied Mountain-Tanager, several neat-looking Moustached Flowerpiercers, more Brown-backed Chat- Tyrants and White-banded and White- Throated Tyrannulets. Having seen all of the four possible endemics, the rest of the drive to the Cock-of-the-rock lodge was somewhat less stressful – for our guide Antonio.

Photo 19: Moustached Flowerpiercer of the albilinea subspecies.

Note the light blue shoulder and absence of rufous / white on breast.

As we journeyed down the Manu road, we Photo 20: The giant of the tanagers, the Hooded Mountain- Tanager, versus the medium-sized Scarlet-Bellied Tanagers. found ourselves in montane cloud-forests, The montane elfin forests of Manu NP are literally fruiting an entirely different landscape from the arid with these colorful balls of feathers! grassy hill slopes before the Acjanacu Pass. This change of habitat meant that we got to enjoy new birds from the montane cloud- forests. These included several beautiful Scarlet-bellied and striking Hooded Mountain-Tanagers, a brilliant Golden- Headed Quetzal (pronounced as “cat-zer”), several Andean Guans, close to a handful of higher-elevation hummingbird species like Amethyst-throated Sunangel, Rufous- capped Thornbill, Tyrian Metaltail and Chestnut-breasted Coronet, a Blue-banded Toucanet that was spotted from the eyes located at the back of Antonio’s head, a gorgeous Gray-breasted Mountain-Toucan (again by those eyes) and our first woodcreeper, the Montane Woodcreeper. To round up the day, we tried for the displaying male Lyre-tailed Nightjar at its known stake-out but only our guide Antonio saw it while we only eard the bird calling. Thankfully, we did not have to leave empty handed when our guide Antonio somehow managed to find a beautiful Rufous-banded Owl by the road. What a day it had been!

Photo 21: (From left to right) Golden-Headed Quetzal, Rufous-Caapped Thornbill and Rufous-Banded Owl

Day 4, 8 August 2018:

Before sunrise, we were up and ready for a very special bird. Our guide Antonio led us to a wooden ledge by the side of the road in the dark and told us to remain still and quiet. When the sun ray finally permeated the canopy, we found ourselves staring at a handful of bobbing bright orange heads making a din. This was the lek of the amazing Andean Cock of the Rock.

Photo 22: The iconic Andean Cock of the Rock...

Photo 23: A record shot of the skulky White-Crowned With the fantastic display completed in less Tapaculos that do not have the white crown. Hmmm... than half-hour, we did some birding by the road before heading back to the lodge for breakfast, adding a pair of singing Gray- breasted Mountain-Wrens, a Many- Spotted Hummingbird, several Orange- bellied Euphonias, several Smoke-coloured Pewees (without the wing bars) and a pair of responsive White-crowned Tapaculos (without the white crown).

Breakfast was a spread and so were the birds that were attending the feeders by the breakfast area. For the entire duration of breakfast, we had non-stop action. At the hummingbird feeders, we had a total of ten species of hummingbirds, consisting of a Green Hermit, several Sparkling Violetears, a lone female White-crested Thorntail, several Long-tailed Sylphs, several Bronzy Incas, several Booted-racket Tails, many Violet-fronted Brilliants of all ages, several buzzing White-bellied Woodstars, several Fork-tailed Woodnymphs and many Many- spotted Hummingbirds (pun intended).

Photo 24: (From left to right) Violet-Fronted Brilliant and Sparkling Violetear

On the fruit feeders, we had a flock of Russet-backed Oropendulas, several Golden, Golden- Eared, Blue-Grey and Silver-Beaked Tanagers, several Yellow-Throated Chloropingus and several gorgeous Orange-Bellied Euphonias.

Photo 25: (From left to right) Golden-Eared Tanagers, Golden Tanager and male Orange-Belied Euphonia

Feeding on the scraps that had dropped on the ground were several Yellow-Browed Sparrows, Andean Slaty Thrushes, Chiguanco Thrushes, a couple of Swainson’s Thrushes and a Brown Tinamou.

Photo 26: (From left to right) Male Silver-Beaked Tanager, male Andean Slaty Thrush and Brown Tinamou

Lastly, at the fruit trees surrounding the feeders, we had a couple of Versicolored Barbets, several Blue-necked, Paradise, Bay-headed, Spotted and Orange-eared Tanagers and several Buff-Throated Saltators. Besides birds, we also had great views of Brown Agoutis, Bolivian Squirrels and a family of Brown Capuchin Monkeys. From the country where feeders are fined, this was truly an eye-opener.

Photo 27: (From left to right) Male Versicolored Barbet of the nominate versicolor subspecies, Paradise Tanager of the chilensis subspecies and a young Brown Capuchin monkey

Photo 28: (From left to right) The famed hummingbird and fruit feeders of Cock of the rock lodge

Birding at Cock of the rock lodge was definitely Photo 29: Yungas Manakin of the yungas more than the feeders, so we requested our guide Antonio to take us to the trails and he did just that despite the little time we had. We walked part of the manakin trail, probably less than a hundred meters. However, we saw plenty of birds, including two manakin species, the Yungas and the Cearulean-Capped Manakins, a couple of - Montane Foliage-Gleaners, a pair of Plumbeous Pigeons, a Scale-Crested Pygmy-Tyrant, a Yellow- Breasted Antwren, a Streaked Xenop, several Paradise Tanagers and a pair of Fawn-Breasted Tanagers. This looked like a better-than-expected quick introduction to the birds found in the mid- elevation cloud-forest. To think that we actually saw what we saw in less than two hours. Amazing!

Leaving Cock of the rock lodge, we made several birding stops on the way to Atalaya port. Our first stop was just outside Paradise Lodge, where we saw the Azara´s Spinetails, a pair of Streaked Flycatchers checking out a disused Oropendula’s nest, a Piratic Flycatcher and a pair of Two-banded Warblers.

Photo 30: Streaked Flycatcher of the solitarius subspecies inspecting a potential nest site in the form of the distinctively long bulbous Oropendula's nest

Photo 31: Ornate Flycatcher – one has Next, we stopped at a place called “Quita Calzon”, located at to see the other flycatchers to appreciate its “ornate” characteristics an elevation of 1000m. We birded the forest before heading to a stretch of overgrown clearing with bamboo. At the forest, we saw the beautiful Yellow-Throated Tanager, several Golden-Bellied Warblers and a pair of Ornate Flycatchers. Apparently, the flycatchers were exceptionally rare along the Manu road and Antonio could not help but record a couple of shots from the back of my camera. At an overgrown clearing, we had several White-eyed Parakeets, a pair of Bamboo and Chestnut-Backed Antshrikes, a couple of Magpie Tanagers, a male Chestnut-bellied Seedfinch, a Southern Emerald Toucanet and several Crested Oropendulas. Out of the blue, we heard a seemingly common birdcall and our guide Antonio told us that it was actually the localized endemic Black-Backed Tody- Flycatcher. The bird responded to tape and came up to us. Alas, I was looking at the wrong bird (a McConnell’s Flycatcher) in the correct direction and only Bao Jun and our guide Antonio had great views of it. Arghhh…

Photo 32: (From left to right) Two-Banded Warbler, Golden-Bellied Warbler of the chrysogaster subspecies and the culprit that distracted me from the endemic Black-Backed Tody-Flycatcher, the McConnell’s Flycatcher. Phylloscopus warblers are still much harder to identify.

Photo 33: An arboreal Spix Guan feeding on fruits Our third and final stop was at the town of Chonta Chaca. In the town area, we saw several Social and a Short-Crested Flycatchers, several Violaceous Jays, several Black-billed Thrushes, a Ruddy Pigeon and a passing White-Chinned Woodcreeper. Beyond the town was a pasture where we had a couple of Spix’s Guans amongst several Speckled Chachalacas on the fruiting trees, a Southern Lapwing, several Smooth-Billed Anis, a family of Little Woodpeckers and a family of Yellow-Tufted Woodpeckers, a pair of Red-Throated Caracaras and a pair of Pale- Vented Pigeons on the overhead cables.

With little time to spare, we did not stop to bird Photo 34: White-Throated Toucan returning to roost with its supper along an interesting stretch of roadside forest known by the town of Pilcopata and hurriedly boarded the boat at Atalaya to reach Amazonia lodge before sunset. Once on the braided river, our journey was at the mercy of the rapids and the skills of the boatman. In such circumstances, we gladly accepted the opportunity to do some riverside birding and were rewarded with sightings of a flying White-Throated Toucan with a fruit in mouth, a distantly perched King Vulture, a Cocoi Heron and several Fasciated Tiger-Herons.

Finally, we arrived at Amazonia lodge and it was already getting dark. Still, we managed to get some last birds of the day like the Peruvian endemic, the Koepcke´s Hermit, a female Gould´s Jewelfront, a couple of Violet-headed Hummingbird, several Gray-breasted Sabrewing, Sapphire-spangled Emerald and Golden-tailed Sapphire hummingbirds and a pair of Black-Fronted Nunbirds. This was a nice welcome for our two-night stay at the Amazonia Lodge. Really looking forward to exploring the foothills of the Amazon rainforest. Photo 35: Viewpoint of Peruvian Amazon Day 5, 9 August 2018:

Happy birthday, Singapore!

With a full day ahead at Amazonia Lodge, we decided to spend the morning at a small parrot clay lick and a small lake near the lodge before birding the trails after lunch. Alas, the day did not go as planned. Our boat to the clay lick did not arrive on time while the afternoon was practically washed-out. We can’t help but imagine what the day could have been…

Pre-dawn, armed with our torches, we walked along caiman-infested streams (we actually saw the eye- glow of one individual) to the river bank to wait for our boatman. As we waited, the place got brighter and we saw a returning Ladder-Tailed Nightjar and a Drab Water Tyrant. Dawn had arrived but our boatman was still on his way.

Nevertheless, we continued with the plan. Our boatman brought us to the small parrot clay lick and along the way, we enjoyed sightings of returning Sand-colored Nighthawk that somewhat resembled the Small Pratincole in flight. We were late and it was no surprise that groups of tourists had already seen the parrots visiting the clay lick. Nevertheless, the birds that others had seen have to be seen by us to be counted. Photo 36: At least 4 species of parrots in this photo... Focusing on the clay, our first bird was a Blue- Throated Piping-Guan. Next, we spotted a flock of different-sized, different-coloured parrots hanging quietly on a narrow section of the clay wall lining the river. In the flock were several conspicuous Blue-Headed Parrots sporting their namesake, several larger Yellow-Crowned Parrots, a pair of even larger Chestnut-Fronted Macaws and the smallish Dusky-Headed Parakeets that were being dwarfed by the previous three species. What an amazing sight!

However, we were not done yet. In the trees above, we found some Mealy Parrots and Chestnut-Fronted Macaws in addition to the previously mentioned parrot species. In the sky above, we observed several Blue-and-yellow Macaws and Scarlet Macaws flying past the clay lick. Well, that must be it for a small clay lick. Photo 37: (From left to right) Blue-Headed Parrot, Mealy Parrot and the similar-looking Yellow-Crowned Parrot

Suddenly, for whatever reason, all the parrots Photo 38: Blue-Headed Parrots and Chestnut- Fronted Macaws visiting the clay lick from the clay wall, from the trees and from the nearby vicinity took flight, forming a large dark cloud. There must have been several hundreds of parrots in that cloud. The cloud performed an aerial display, circling the clay lick multiple times before descending into the canopy. How is this even a small parrot clay lick when there are hundreds of parrots?!?

According to our guide Antonio, a small parrot clay lick refers to a clay wall where smaller-sized parrots, as compared to the macaws, feed on to satisfy their regular craving for clay. Till now, we had definitely misunderstood the term. When a flock of Chestnut-Fronted Macaws decided to land on the clay wall and fed alongside close to half-century of the “small” Blue-Headed Parrots, things changed. Now, we must be talking about a small macaw clay lick. We had watched documentaries on the phenomenon of clay-feeding macaws in the Amazon and here, on this day, we are watching it - live - before our eyes. Unbelievable.

Photo 39: (Left) The iconic Burrowing Owl As we were making our way back to the boat, Antonio spotted a Burrowing Owl perched on stranded dead branches. I tried to approach the bird to get better frame but the bird had none of it and flew away – much to the anger of other tourists. That was a pretty embarrassing experience.

Photo 40: Panoramic view of the clay lek

Scrambling back to the boat, we had an uneventful ride back, seeing only the usual Swallow- winged Puffbirds, egrets, herons and cormorants. The walk back to the lodge, however, yielded a pair of stunning Sunbitterns. We had flushed the pair while crossing a stream and the bright upperwing patch – reminiscent of a sunspot – was a real sight to behold. The sunbittern has to be the most beautiful bittern for me.

Photo 41: Forest stream where we flushed the sunbitterns

Since it was still morning and lunch was not ready, Photo 42: The prehistoric-looking Hoatzin Antonio brought us for a short walk around the lodge and to a small lake. During the walk, we had the chance to admire the incredible strength of the leaf-cutting ants (See photo below); some were observed carrying leaf cutting that was more than ten times its size! Besides the ants, we also had a wonderful opportunity to observe the strange-looking Hoatzins that had gathered by the lake. This iconic Amazon inhabitant is apparently the only bird in the world that feeds entirely on leaves. Other noteworthy birds seen during the walk were a singing Lemon-throated Barbet, an Olivaceous Woodcreeper, a Cinnamon-throated Woodcreeper that was sharply spotted by Bao Jun, a pair of responsive Plain Softtails, a Speckled Spinetail, a large flock of tanagers at the lodge’s feeder consisting of Masked Crimson, Palm and Blue-gray Tanagers, a Yellow-crowned Tyrannulet, a White-bellied Tody-Tyrant, a White-winged Becard, a Hauxwell's Thrush and a pair of Buff-rumped Warblers that was residing at a shed located beside the lodge. Unfortunately, the weather took a turn for the worst and the last bird we saw before the heavy downpour was a Black-Tailed Trogon (See photo on the right) with its bright red belly standing out in the gloom.

Photo 43: (Clockwise from bottom left) (From left to right) Cinnamon-Throated Woodcreeper, Leaf-Cutting Ants and their heavy load of leaves, Speckled Spinetail and Plain Softtail

The rain came and stayed. Before lunch, it was raining. After lunch, it was still raining. Even after our afternoon nap, it was still raining. While we were waiting for the rain to stop, the activity at the hummingbird feeders continued. We were entertained by the lowland bullies, the White-necked Jacobins, who tried to hoard the free drink, chasing away smaller hummers (short-form for hummingbird) like the Blue-tailed Emeralds and the dazzling Golden-tailed Sapphires and larger hummers like the endemic Koepcke's Hermit and the Gould's Jewelfront. When it seemed like the bullies were having their way, as always with nature, they had competition and the much-larger Gray-breasted Sabrewings proved to be more than their match. Given their higher frequency to rest, the Sabrewings opened small windows of opportunity for the other hummers to get a sip. Nevertheless, there were still hummers who chose to stay out of the fight and get their daily drinks from the flowering plants lining the lodge. These hummers included a female Rufous-crested Coquette, several Violet- headed Hummingbirds and a couple of bee-sized Amethyst Woodstars that had replaced the White-bellied Woodstars of the highlands. All in all, we had a decent total of 9 hummingbirds.

Photo 44: (Clockwise from top left) The dazzling Golden-Tailed Sapphire, the Blue-Tailed Emerald, the bathing male White- Necked Jacobin and the Sapphire-Spangled Emerald

In addition to the hummers, we also had the company of a Gray-cowled Wood-Rail that had found security in the rain to forage openly in the compound of the lodge and a pair of probable nesting Blue-headed Parrots. Photo 45: (From left to right) Double-Toothed Kite following the Squirrel Monkeys When the rain had finally lightened to a drizzle, it was already approaching dusk. Still, we managed to squeeze in some birding in whatever daylight hours remaining and were rewarded with sightings of a troop of adorable Squirrel Monkeys and their feathered companion, the Double-toothed Kite, a responsive Chestnut-capped Puffbird that appeared only after we had abandoned all attempts to call one out of the silence, a small flock of dacnis, consisting of Black-faced, Yellow- bellied and Blue Dacnis and a singing Blue-black Grosbeak that had us playing hide-and-seek in near-darkness.

Eventually, the eventful day had to end and we did it with a sumptuous dinner and a good look at a cooperative Tawny-bellied Screech-Owl that Antonio had found just behind our room.

Photo 46: Tawny-Bellied Screech Owl perched right behind our room.

Day 6, 10 August 2018:

With a long day of travel ahead, as a true birder, we just have to make it longer by starting our birding in the darkness of pre-dawn and ending it under the starry night. Thankfully, it turned out to be a great decision because at pre-dawn, we got a chance to see the Long- Tailed Potoo flying over us, allowing us to appreciate its namesake. What a start!

After bidding our hosts and polished breakfast plates farewell, we decided to spend some time at the jeep trail before our boat ride back to the port of Atalaya, hoping to have a go at the Amazonian Antpitta that we had heard calling when we first arrived at the lodge.

At the start of the trail, we had great views of a Rusty- Photo 47: A beauty of the tapaculos, the Rusty- Belted Tapaculo belted Tapaculo and it was a real beauty. Walking through a patch of open canopy, we saw several Social Flycatchers and even had a surprisingly prolonged view of the restless and skittish Yellow- Browed Tody-Flycatcher high up on a tree. Entering the forest proper, we managed to lure in a singing Black-faced Antthrush which resembled more like a crake with its tail cocking and preference to walk in the thick undergrowth rather than hop. Just when we were about to turn around and head over to our pick- up point, we heard the call of the Amazonian Antpitta and it was really close. Taking our chance, Antonio brought us closer to the bird and tried to play tape to get it to come out. Alas, the bird was more than happy to sing from its perch and when it finally decided to stop, it flew overhead and called behind us in the distance. Arghhh… what a letdown!

In a way, we had what we expected and the walk back to the pick-up point helped to distract us from our disappointment with new birds in the form of a responsive Thrush-like Wren and our only Jacamar of the trip, the Bluish-fronted Jacamar. There was still so much to see in the forests of Amazon and we hope to be back someday…

Maybe the feeling of having to leave was too overwhelming, we simply went through the motion of taking the boat ride back to Atalaya. The usual egrets and herons just drifted pass us as the landscape changed from secondary forest to tall sugarcane-like grasses to civilisation.

Pillcopata, here we come. Antonio introduced Pillcopata to us as the part of Manu road where birding groups usually run out of time to explore and has great potential for surprises. Well, we are similar to those birding groups, except that for our case, the running out of time applied to all the other parts of Manu road too. Despite the little time we had, we enjoyed great sightings of a responsive Scaly-breasted Wren, a gorgeous Blue-crowned Trogon, a butterfly getting swallowed by a Bluish-fronted Jacamar, several pretty Olive Oropendolas foraging on a dead tree, our “first foliage-gleaner”, the Buff-throated Foliage-gleaner, a Swallow-Tailed Kite and the best bird, a pair of the rare Blue-headed Macaws, which Antonio had tried in vain to show us throughout the trip.

Photo 48: (Clockwise from top left) Bluish-Fronted Jacamar swallowing a butterfly, gorgeous-looking male Blue-Crowned Trogon, Buff-Throated Foliage-gleaner, pretty-looking Olive Oropendola checking out an epiphyte and an inquisitive Scaly- Breasted Wren

Between these sightings, we were interrupted by the sudden appearance of a “large” birdwave involving a total of 11 species. It had a strange mix of insectivorous and fructivorous species namely a Plain-winged Antshrike, a Stripe-chested Antwren, several Yellow- breasted Warbling-Antbirds, a pair of White-browed Antbirds, a pair of Black-throated Antbirds, a small party of the locally scarce Yellow-bellied Tanagers, a pair of Bay-headed Tanagers, several Black-faced and Blue Dacnis, a couple of Purple and Green Honeycreepers and several White-vented and Rufous-bellied Euphonias. For birders with no experience on identification of Neotropical birds, the birdwave certainly did not help at all but we couldn’t care less, who wouldn’t be overawed by such a colourful display? It was simply amazing!

Photo 49: (Clockwise from top left) Female and male White-Browed Antbirds, male Plain-Winged Antshrike, Rufous-Bellied and White-Vented Euphonia. Key differences between the Rufous-Bellied and White-Vented Euphonias are (i) more extensive dark breast, (ii) dark forehead and (iii) orange vent instead of white.

Lunch came next and we were expecting a simple box of food because we were told that we were going to get boxed lunch to maximise birding time in the field. Well, we got more than we expected, we had boxes of lunch, packed with snacks, fruits and juice. Now, what is for dessert?

After lunch, we headed to some pastureland close to the town of Patria. Although the habitat would be considered degraded to the purist, we were trying to see as many bird species as possible and there are birds that thrive Photo 50: Greater Yellow-Headed Vulture only in the savannas. Upon arriving, we saw a large vulture in the sky which we initially dismissed it as the common Black Vulture. However, Antonio was certain that it was something else and he spent the next minute explaining the subtle differences between the underwing of the Greater Yellow-Headed Vulture and the other commoner vultures. So, a Greater Yellow-Headed Vulture it was.

Next, Antonio spotted a Little Ground-Tyrant on the ground Photo 51: Male Vermilion Flycatcher which is a species that seems to show up at the site only during the months of the austral winter. Taking a short walk to some “woodier” habitat, we saw another Roadside Hawk, several brightly colored Vermilion Flycatchers and another Austral migrant, the Bran-colored Flycatcher. Just when it was becoming quiet, I picked up a soft ‘tac’ sound coming from a low-hanging bushy tree. It sounded like the call of a wintering robin or thrush back home but we were not at home and the call sounded similar to the native insects in the area. Maybe I was mistaken? Since there was nothing much around, we decided to spend some time peering through the leaves and we were glad that we did so because it turned out that the call was coming from a pair of White-lined Antbirds instead of some hidden insect. Just before leaving, we saw a striking Black Caracara with its yellow facial skin standing out against its overall dark plumage. A nice farewell to our short stop.

Photo 52: Mr and Mrs White-Lined Antbirds

Photo 53: Strikingly beautiful Blue-Necked Tanager Since I have yet to put my bins on the endemic Black-Backed Tody-Flycatcher, we made another short stop at the place where the rest had seen the bird on Day 4. Unfortunately, the bird did not show up and we had to make do with a Sepia- capped Flycatcher, a beautiful Blue-necked Tanager and an Epaulet Oriole.

Our next stop was the feeders of the Cock of the rock lodge which we did not see anything new – just the usual hummingbird and tanager species. Moving on, we stopped at the “tallest waterfall of Southern Peru” to twitch a roosting female Lyre-Tailed Nightjar.

As the day was coming to the end and we still had considerable distance to travel to reach the Wayquecha lodge, we did not make any more birding stops, apart from the necessary toilet breaks. Despite the hectic travel, we managed to have good views of a Cinnamon Flycatcher and a Band-winged Nightjar in the dark. Truly, we had dawn-to-dusk birding today.

Photo 54: (From left to right) Female Lyre-Tailed Nightjar and Band-Winged Nightjar

Day 7, 11 August 2018:

The cold weather and the high elevation had made it a terrible night at Wayquecha lodge for us. Compared to the other lodges we had stayed during the trip, it had better toilet facilities and more comfortable beds. However, it lacked a heater in the room and that undone all its positive. What a shame!

Having had a terrible night of sleep, we opted to spend the morning birding at the easy-going “Zorro” Trail. The pace was deliberately slowed to help us cope with the altitude but the birds did not follow the script and we got a fast-paced birding instead.

At the trail’s entrance, we bird in the stunted elfin forest and enjoyed views of several Rufous- breasted Chat-Tyrants, Rufous-bellied Bush-Tyrants, a Bolivian Tyrannulet, several Great Thrushes, a flock of Andean Parakeets, a single White-crested amongst the Sierran Elaenias, several Black-faced Brushfinches, several Blue-and-black and Grass-green Tanagers, Scarlet- bellied Mountain-Tanagers and Masked Flowerpiercers. Signalling us to keep quiet, Antonio played some tape and a flock of brown spinetail-like birds suddenly popped up, flew across our path and perched on a big rock to check us up, giving us incredible views of the localized Puna Thistletails.

Photo 55: (Clockwise from top left) Puna Thistletail, Rufous-Breasted Chat-Tyrant, Grass-Green Tanager and Black- Faced Brushfinch As we headed further down the trail, we observed increasingly taller trees, where the foliage was above us. In such a habitat, we encountered a pair of Band-tailed Fruiteaters, a female Barred Fruiteater, several Pearled Treerunners, several White-banded, several White- throated and a Tawny-rumped Tyrannulets, a pair of Dusky-capped Flycatchers and several higher elevation hummingbirds, such as the Amethyst-throated Sunangel, the Rufous- capped Thornbill, the Tyrian Metaltail and the range-restricted Violet-throated Starfrontlet.

Photo 56: (From left to right) Male Band-Tailed and female Barred Fruiteaters

Reaching the lowest point of the trail, the trees were now much taller than us and had enough room to support thick undergrowth of bamboos and tangles. This is where we found another set of birds, namely the Citrine Warbler, the Gray-browed Brushfinch, the Black-throated Tody-Tyrant and the Stripe-faced Wood-Quail. For the last species, a family flock had come out on the trail to feed and was well-spotted by Antonio before they could retreat into the undergrowth. Mountain chickens!

Photo 57: (From left to right) Stripe-Faced Wood-Quail, Gray-Browed Brushfinch and Citrine Warbler

Photo 58: Puna Teals Since we have a long drive ahead, we decided to end the morning birding without the endemic Red-and- White Antpitta. The drive to Cusco airport did not really go as planned. We were supposed to drive on the new highway but unexpected road works and strikes prevented that. We were supposed to drive straight to the airport but somehow Antonio and our driver managed to squeeze in a short stop at the high-elevation Lake Huacarpay. This allowed us to add a few more species to our growing list and in the process, we successfully crossed the 300 species for the southern Peru section of the tour. At Lake Huacarpay, we saw Puna, Cinnamon and Yellow-Billed Teals, Slate-colored Coot, Andean Lapwing, Cinereous Harrier, Wren-like Rushbird, Yellow-winged Blackbird and a Plumbeous Rail that was only not seen by me because I was looking elsewhere. This nicely concluded our memorable birding in South Peru.

Photo 59: Birding from the tower at Huacarpay Lake

Many thanks to our guide Antonio and our driver Wilbur for giving us a wonderful introduction to birding on the legendary Manu road and the Amazon. Thank you!

Day 8, 12 August 2018:

After the bad experience from the previous night, we were really keen to get the Northern Peru section of the tour going. At dawn, we were on the observation tower in Aconabikh, waiting for the morning flocks, which didn't really come. Overlooking a clearing, we spotted a pair of Gilded Barbets, a Turquoise Tanager, a pair of Lettered Aracaris, a Chestnut-Bellied Seedeater, a Buff-throated Saltator, a White-Tipped Dove and a Swallow-Tailed Kite. Additionally, we had a short lesson on swift identification, observing the subtle differences between the Short-Tailed and Grey-Rumped Swifts.

Photo 60: (From left to right) Mr and Mrs Gilded Barbets and female Lettered Aracari

Back at the ranger station, we had some birding while Photo 61: Gorgeous male Gould's Jewelfront waiting for our breakfast, which yielded an Ochre- Bellied Flycatcher, the giant of the tanagers, a Magpie Tanager, and a pair of Yellow-Crowned Tyrannulets. Breakfast was simple but wonderfully prepared by our capable driver Manuel. Having filled our stomachs, we headed over to the renowned hummingbird feeder to fill our appetites for birds and it did not disappoint. From the feeder, we saw the gorgeous male Gould's Jewelfront, a dazzling Blue-Fronted Lancebill, a beautiful Black-throated Mango and the star of the show was none other than the endemic Koepcke's Hermit. Besides the hummingbirds, we also saw a pair of Peruvian Warbling-Antbirds.

Up next, our guide Carlos and the local ranger brought us on a loop trail to bird the hill forest in the reserve. We were not sure what we were looking for but we just followed. Right at the entrance, we found a small swarm of army ants. Our guide Carlos got really excited and told us to wait for the birds. In my mind, I was skeptical. Honestly, who would have thought that an army ant swarm of the size of a small dining table would attract the army ants-tending birds?

Photo 62: Female Hair-Crested Antbird of the We waited and waited some more. Suddenly, a White- buff-crested brunneiceps subspecies Plumed Antbird appeared and moved off. Next, a Hair- Crested Antbird appeared and moved off. A Black- banded and Plain Brown Woodcreepers also appeared above us and moved off while a pair of Common Scale- Backed Antbirds appeared and moved off. All this while, the swarm of army ants kept growing and moving, closing down on our position that was at least 10 meters from the original position of the ant swarm. It was simply incredible. Photo 63: Trail full of army ants

After a wonderful encounter with the army ants, we continued with the trail and was introduced to the resident Pale-tailed Barbthroat that frequents the trumpet-like flowers blooming in the dark understorey and the lek of the Golden-headed Manakins. The latter was a real beauty, sporting an all-black body and a bright yellow head. Other noteworthy birds seen along the trail were a Red-necked Woodpecker, a pair of Rufous-backed Antwrens foraging in the twines with a Carmiol's Tanager and a pair of Black-faced Antbirds. We were surprised that this place was not even considered a major attraction of the tour! Photo 64: (Clockwise from top right) Pale-Tailed Barbthroat feeding on its favourite flowers, Red-Necked Woodpecker and a pair of Golden-Headed Manakins resting at the lek

Since we were still waiting for our luggage to arrive Photo 65: Male Black-Faced Dacnis in Tarapoto airport at 1pm, our guide Carlos took us to a nice restaurant along the highway to the airport. Apparently, the restaurant sells monkey meat too, which none of us tried. We went for more conservative meats like fish and they were good too. While we were waiting for our meals, we enjoyed the company of a Great-billed Hermit, a Masked Tanager and a Black-faced Dacnis. Having eaten good food and enjoyed good vantage point, now, we just need some good birding.

Photo 66: (From left to right) Amazing view of the valley, Grilled fish with peruvian staples and Fish and Chips

Carlos did his best and took us for a short walk along a section of the highway. Surprisingly, the traffic did not chase away the birds and we saw a flock of Rose-fronted Parakeets feeding above us, an Olive-striped Flycatcher, a Yellow-browed Tody-Flycatcher, a Yellow-breasted Flycatcher, a pair of Cliff Flycatchers nesting on their namesake, a brightly-colored Fiery- capped Manakin, several Yellow-bellied Tanagers, Purple and Green Honeycreepers and Purple-throated and Thick-billed Euphonias. We even heard a Dotted Tanager calling but the bird was a no-show. Although we have been birding on Manu Road for the past few days, I would only call what we did today as our first true roadside birding in Peru because of the traffic.

Photo 67: (From left to right) Thick-Billed Euphonia, Yellow-Bellied Tanager and the brightly-colored Fiery-Capped Manakin

Photo 68: Localised Pearly- Soon, it was time to collect our luggage but it was still not ready. Vented Tody-Tyrant We needed to wait until 3pm. That means more birding around Tarapoto for us. Maybe to make us feel better, Carlos decided to take us to some of his secret spots for some very localised species. First, he brought us to a section of water body - with an overhanging tall tree - which was being used by domestic ducks and the surprisingly rare Comb ducks. Usually rare species come in pairs and we found it where we had parked our vehicle: a singing Pearly-vented Tody-Tyrant, another very localised species in Peru. Other noteworthy birds seen were a singing Striped Cuckoo and a Yellow-headed Caracara riding on cattle.

Next, he brought us to an inconspicuous tree overlooking another water body and nonchalantly played some tape. It worked and a bird popped up from the vines at the base of the tree, singing in response. Bao Jun and I knew the name of the bird but we had no clue how it looked like until it had showed up. The nicely-patterned Rusty-backed Antwren was not a bird that we were expecting to see because it was one of those very localised species in Peru. As with all rare species, it had to come in pairs and it came in the form of an odd hermit feeding on some trumpet flowers right in front of the tree. Given its bill, coloration and choice of habitat to show up, it was none other than the very localised Planalto Hermit. According to Carlos, he did not plan to show us that hermit because of its irregular appearance. While the thing about rare birds appearing in pairs was a joke, something must be going on between Carlos and a single tree beside a water body. We shall see…

Photo 69: An unexpected lifer, the nicely-patterned male Rusty-Backed Antwren

Besides the antwren and hermit, we also saw a bird that I would like to see but I did not know we can actually see one during this tour. It was the Limpkin, an odd freshwater wader that looks like a mix of a heron, an ibis and a stork. So odd that it is actually placed in its own family and stranger still, it is described to look more like a mix of a large rail and a crane!?! Since we were not going to bird in the freshwater lakes of the Amazon, I was not expecting one. However, it seems that they too like a water body with a single overlooking tree…

Unfortunately, Carlos did not know the secret spot where our Photo 70: (From top to bottom) Oilbirds and their home, the steep luggage is hanging out. When it was 3pm, the airport staff told us ravine that they will only be arriving tomorrow. With no chance of getting our luggage today, we decided to proceed to our accommodation for the night, only stopping at a bridge overlooking a steep ravine. Our purpose? To see the colony of the strange oilbirds that is residing in the ravine. Oilbird is one of the few fruit-eating bird species that forages at night and amongst those few species, the only one that uses echolocation like bats to locate their roosting spots in the dark caves or steep ravines. It was really interesting to see the birds moving around in such tight enclosed spaces where sunlight does not reach. They were either crawling around or flying from one ledge to another but never crashing against the steep walls of the ravine. While we were admiring the oilbirds, another spectacle was taking place above us. Thousands of White-collared Swifts had gathered overhead and were streaming to their roost somewhere in the hills. What a sight! Photo 71: Band-Bellied Owl Having made our all-important stop, we allowed Manuel to drive us straight to the lodge - and straight past it. Of course, Carlos had already gotten our permission to have a later dinner so that we can try for the Band-bellied Owl at his secret spot. At the spot, it was pitch-dark and completely silent. No calls. After a couple of playback, we got a response and two birds flew straight up the tree right in front of us and did their territorial wing display or wing flapping. There we go, a pair of angry Band-bellied Owls for our life list!

Dinner was simple because we had more owls to see. Next in Photo 72: Stygian Owl the list was the Stygian Owl. This used to be a mythical owl with little information on where to find it or how is it surviving. Things seems to have improved slightly from those days. Now, we know that the owl likes to catch bats from the tall buildings in the nearby town and that was how we found it, perched on top of the radio tower watching the bats flying past. This meant one more owl for the night.

We tried a few spots for the Striped Owl but we could not find any. With Carlos’ knowledge, we were pretty close to seeing the last of the hat trick of owls but nature always has her way. Nevertheless, the day went pretty well with lots of exciting encounters and we just hope that things will only get better – as always with a birder’s positivity. Day 9, 13 August 2018:

Today was a special day. We were going to be birding at Carlos’ house, the Wakanqi lodge, and at his grandfather’s hills until Manuel returns with our luggage from the airport. Apparently, this arrangement was only possible because of our luggage’s misadventure and it may well turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Photo 73: The smallest passerine of the world, the Short-Tailed Pygmy- Tyrant At dawn, we started our hike up to the ridge. Starting at the trail entrance, we passed through Carlos’ orchards, where we saw the beautiful endemic Black-bellied Tanagers, a couple of Masked Tanagers and a Streaked Xenops. Waiting at a patch of bare deciduous trees, Carlos called in a pair of Short-tailed Pygmy-Tyrants and a Yellow Tyrannulet. As the side of the trail starts to form a declining slope, we saw a beautiful Orange- billed Sparrow skulking on the slope and a Lafresnaye's Piculet feeding in the trees. The range-restricted Cinereous-breasted Spinetail was calling on the opposite slope but refused to reveal itself.

Photo 75: (From Top to bottom) Wing- Reaching the patch of fruiting trees where Carlos had wanted Barred Piprite and an unexpected find, the Lanceolated Monklet to show us the fruiteaters, we were disappointed to see that the trees were unattended. However, there were still some bird activities in the surrounding trees, so we stopped to check them out. First, we saw a couple Photo 74: (From top to bottom) Inambari Woodcreeper and female of Squirrel Cuckoos. Next, we Swallow Tanager called in a pair of Wing-barred Piprites and a pair of Golden- headed Manakins showed up too. Responding to Carlos’ tape, a White-bellied Pygmy-Tyrant sang on top of us while a pair of Inambari Woodcreepers and a Lanceolated Monklet appeared too – but unannounced. Carlos and I tried to find a non- backlighted angle of the latter and in the process, found a birdwave taking place in the canopy of a tall tree at eye-level to our position. On the many occasions where we rested our strained necks and arms from photographing the monklet, we checked out the birdwave and recorded Lesser and White-crested Elaenias, Sooty-headed and Mishana Tyrannulets, Blue-necked, Paradise, Bay-headed, Swallow and Yellow-backed Tanagers, Orange-bellied Euphonia, Bananaquits and the ubiquitous Green and Purple Honeycreepers. There were plenty of other birds in the birdwave that appears different from the aforementioned species but we were only able to identify the birds that Carlos was looking at. Even so, we could not locate the singing Painted Manakin that he saw deep in the undergrowth. One can be standing at the same position as another, looking in the same direction as another, listening to the same surrounding as another and yet, no two person has the same experience. I guess that is the thrill of birding!

Photo 76: Black-and-White Tody- Continuing further along the trail, we reached a pretty quiet Flycatcher gully. With a flash of his tape, Carlos somehow managed to reveal a pair of territorial Foothill Antwrens and Black-and- white Tody-Flycatchers from the gully. We nearly walked away with just an all-green manakin feeding inconspicuously in a small fruiting tree (a Green Manakin?), a Peruvian Warbling-Antbird and an Olive-striped Flycatcher.

Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to reach the ridge to find the endemic Ash-throated Antwren. We did, however, see plenty of nice birds and a nice male Lined Antshrike climbing up a vine was a fitting farewell to our birding on this trail.

Back at Wakanqi lodge, we spent an hour at the hummingbird feeders and were duly rewarded with great sightings of the male Rufous-crested Coquette, an interesting matchups between the bullies of the lowland, the White-necked Jacobin, and the bullies of the highland, the Sparkling Violetear, wonderful opportunities to study the differences between the Great- billed Hermit and the smaller Black-throated Hermit, the less aggressive cousin of the Sparkling Violetear, the Brown Violetear, and new ones for us, namely the Long-billed Starthroat and the “no white chin” White-chinned Sapphire. Violet-headed Hummingbird, Gray-breasted Sabrewing, Fork-tailed Woodnymph, Sapphire-spangled Emerald and Golden-tailed Sapphire hummingbirds made up the rest of the glittering supporting cast. 13 hummingbirds in one hour was definitely our highest tally so far.

Photo 77: (From left to right) Frontal and side views of the ornamental Rufous-Crested Coquette and the silent surprise, the Long-Billed Hermit, which came in and perched motionlessly on a bare branch

Photo 78: The Wakanqi Lodge

Other noteworthy birds seen in the lodge compound were Photo 79: In my opinion, the most beautiful woodpecker, the Yellow-Tufted Woodpecker a Ruddy Ground-Dove that visited the feeders, the ever- pleasing Yellow-tufted Woodpeckers, a Boat-billed Flycatcher and a party of Rufous-fronted Thornbirds. All in all, we had a really great introductory session to birding at Wakanqi Lodge this morning.

Unlike our morning birding, our luggage was half-good. When Manuel reached the airport, the staff told him that only one of our luggage had made it and the other was going to arrive some other time. This meant that for the rest of the tour, Bao Jun and I will have to survive on one luggage. This is bad…

After our lunch break, we began our long drive to the furthest point from Tarapoto in this tour, the town of Pomacochas. Not wanting to waste the rest of the daylight on traveling, Carlos planned a short stop for the endemic Royal Sunangel of yesteryear. We were told that the short stop will be at a new site that was recently found by him and he has seen it there on the few visits that he has made. To the new site, here we come.

Photo 80: Scenery at the new birding site

It was close to dusk when we arrived at the new site. The habitat seems pretty strange, white sand forest at high elevation. The tall standing palms and white sand reminded me of the beach except that we are at more than 2000 meters above sea level and staring into a sea of forest and palm trees instead. When our intensive scan of the palm trees, which was the preferred perch of the Royal Sunangel according to Carlos, did not yield any hummingbird, we knew that we had missed our chance for the day. Just when it looked like a wasted trip, a female Royal Sunangel flew across our path, probably returning to her roost. It was brief but it was the timely encouragement that we need. Other birds seen at the site were several Pale- footed Swallows, a Yellow-throated and a Silvery Tanager and a couple of Capped Conebills that resembled the Royal Sunangel. We left the new site with strong evidence to accompany our good impression. Photo 81: In the silent night, the star performer appeared... The amazing White-Throated Screech-Owl As per the previous night, a day’s birding with Carlos does not end without an owling session. Now, far from his home, it was remarkable that he still has his own stake-outs. In pitch darkness, he led us to the edge of a hill slope and played some tape. We waited and waited. There was no movement or call. When doubts started to creep into our heads, the owl started to make its move. It first flew up from the hill slope before flying across our view to perch on a bare tree right in front of us. Somehow, it felt like Carlos had staged everything and the shining of torchlight was the customary drawing of the curtains. There we have it, a White-throated Screech-Owl performing right in front of us. Checking with Carlos, he said he does not keep owls as pets, so we had an all-natural performance. Wow!

With the royal sunangel somewhat in the bag and the stunning performance by the White-throated Screech-Owl, fried chicken for dinner was the way to go to celebrate our success before we turned in for the night.

Day 10, 14 August 2018:

After a very early breakfast, we left the hotel in the dark to reach the gates of Huembo Lodge, where we waited for the break of dawn. We wanted to be the first group to visit the lek of the Marvellous Spatuletail for the day.

As dawn broke, we saw a large noisy flock of hundreds of Mitred Parakeets leaving their night roost. It was a sight to behold and a relief too - after enduring the irritating screeches in the dark while waiting in our vehicle.

A short while later, we left our vehicle to climb up a dry shrubby trail (a different habitat from the dry grass of the paramos) by the road. Reaching the spot, Carlos signalled to us to sit on the ground under a palm frond, facing a clearing in the shrubs. That was the start of another wait. A Chestnut-capped Brushfinch was the first bird to come around. Next, a range-restricted Purple- throated Sunangel and a Lesser Violetear showed up near the opposite end of the clearing. We got a little excited when a female endemic Marvellous Spatuletail perched on a branch beside us, checking out the clearing. Maybe a male with its marvellous spatuletail will show up to impress the lady?

Photo 82: (From top to bottom) Female Little Woodstar and moulting male Lesser Goldfinch Unfortunately, for the lady and us, we waited in vain. No male came to the lek and we left after the lady made a move. The climb down the trail had more bird activities and we had better views of the Chestnut-capped Brushfinch and a mini birdwave consisting of a Blue-capped Tanager and a pair of the near-endemic Buff-bellied Tanagers which, together with the Marvellous Spatuletail hummingbird, form a set of bird species that specialises in such unattractive habitat.

Since we are at the doorstep of Huembo Lodge, we decided to spend a few minutes at the lodge’s garden. There were not many hummingbirds, just a couple of White-bellied Hummingbirds and a gorgeous male Green-tailed Trainbearer. Then, we had a funny moment. Bao Jun turned to me, pointed at a buzzing hummingbird and asked if it was a bee or a hummingbird. It turned out to be a female Little Woodstar, a rarely encountered species and our main quarry for the garden. Honestly, that conclusion was not easy to reach because the bird really looked like a bee with its small, rounded appearance in flight, sounded like one with the loud buzz generated from the flapping of its wings and flew like one with its probing feeding behaviour, moving in and out of the flowers. Just when we thought that birds were confusing to separate apart, we were actually struggling between a bird and an insect! Other noteworthy birds seen at the lodge were a couple of Sierran Elaenias and a Lesser Goldfinch.

Having enjoyed success at Huembo Lodge, we rushed over to the steep trail of San Lorenzo to try for a couple of Peruvian endemics. Due to cattle grazing, the lower parts of the trail were mostly void of foliage and where there were remnant trees, we saw many birds, including a pair Smoky-brown Woodpeckers, several beautifully patterned Pearled Treerunners, several Red-crested Cotingas, a Great Thrush, several colourful Spectacled Redstarts, singles of Black-capped, Drab and Superciliaried Hemispingus, several Grass- green and Blue-and-black Tanagers, several Lacrimose Mountain-Tanagers, a Capped Conebill, a couple of White-sided, Rusty and Masked Flowerpiercers, a Black-backed Grosbeak with its streaky black back and a pair of colourful Chestnut-breasted Chlorophonias. Despite the lack of feeders, hummingbirds were surprisingly numerous along the trail and we recorded Amethyst-throated Sunangel, Green-tailed Trainbearer, Tyrian Metaltail, Violet- throated Starfrontlet and the strange-looking Sword-billed Hummingbird with its disproportionately long bill. It was science that the Sword-billed Hummingbird we saw was looking up rather than facing the front when it perched.

Photo 83: (From left to right) Chestnut-Breast Chlorophonia with a small blotch of chestnut on its lower breast as its namesake, Pearled Treerunner behaving its namesake, Red-Crested Continga sporting its namesake and Smoky-brown Woodpecker

After almost an hour of climbing, we reached a patch of bamboo. Carlos led us down an overgrown, down sloping trail and had us seated on the trail. Initially, it was quiet. After a long while and several bursts of playback, it was still quiet. Seeing a lack of success so far, we began the typical birders’ self-inquiry on the inexplicable failure. “Is the bird found here? Maybe it found elsewhere along the trail.” “Was it seen recently? Maybe it is no longer around.” “Are we too late for the bird? Maybe the bird only responds during breeding season or at dawn.” The inquiry was supposed to be rhetorical. Strangely, we had an answer. “Ow o- o-o-ore” Carlos turned towards us and told us to Photo 84: Pale-Billed Antpitta look at the trail ahead and when the bird stops calling, it would appear on the fallen tree on the right side of the trail and move across the trail to the big rock on the left. After a prolonged conversation with the bird, it stopped calling and interestingly, followed Carlos’ script to the dot. All these happened really fast and all we saw was a big dark shadow flashing across our eyes. When our brains could finally make sense of what had just happened, it was calling on a fallen log behind the rock. Black head with maroon crown/nape and a buffish bill. We were expecting to see antpittas only from the feeding stations during the tour because they are supposedly as hard to find and see as our old- world pittas and we already had a failed attempt on the Red-and-White Antpitta to prove the point. To actually find and see an antpitta outside of a feeding station was really unexpected and seeing one in the form of the endemic Pale-billed Antpitta was simply unbelievable. Amazing!

In the same patch of bamboo, Carlos also lured in a pair of Photo 85: Plain-Tailed Wren of the endemic schulenbergi subspecies responsive Plain-tailed Wrens of the endemic schulenbergi race. Although we were happy to see both the antpitta and the wren, we were saddened to be able to peer through the bamboo grove, where these special birds call home, and see the vast pastureland beyond. My countrymen living in ever-shrinking homes will know how that feels…

After San Lorenzo, we headed to our accommodation for the next 2 nights, the private reserve of Fundo Alto Nieva. Quickly, we dumped our luggage in our room before heading over to the hummingbird feeders. Within half hour, we left the feeders with 9 species of hummingbirds, including three new ones for the trip: Speckled Hummingbird, Fawn-breasted Brilliant and Greenish Puffleg. If Carlos had not mentioned it, we would not have realised that the Booted Racket- tail subspecies in the north had parallel tail streamers while the subspecies found in the south (seen at Cock-of-the-rock lodge) had crossed tail streamers. Another interesting fact for the trip.

Photo 86: (From left to right) Male Booted Racket-Tail of the North (peruanus subspecies) vs Male Booted Racket-Tail of the South (annae subspecies). Note how the racket tails of the peruanus subspecies are parallel to one another while those of the annae subspecies are crossed. Interesting!

With about two hours to spare before our date with the antpitta, Carlos brought us to do some roadside birding in an area called Afluentes. Since we have yet to experience a typical “large” birdwave (where the total approaches 30 species instead of our paltry standard of 10+ species), Carlos will use his experience to find us one. According to Carlos, the birdwave usually starts with a single non-calling bird minding its own business, so his tip for us is to look for any movement and wait for the birds to come.

Our first stop was called when we spotted a raptor in the distant. It turned out to be the rare Solitary Eagle instead of the ubiquitous vultures. Our next stop was called when we spotted some movement in the canopy. It turned out to be a non-calling Yellow-throated Tanager minding its own business. Following Carlos’ tip, we waited in the vicinity, looking hard for more movements – and they really came. For no particular reason, we found ourselves swarmed by a large flock of birds moving around us; the canopies and middle-storeys on both side of the road were alive with birds. Despite being overawed and inexperience, we managed to identify a total of 20 species of birds: Blue-winged Mountain-Tanager, Yellow-throated, Orange-eared, Metallic-green, Blue-browed, Beryl-spangled, Saffron-crowned, Flame-faced, Golden and Rufous-crested Tanagers, Deep-blue, Bluish and Masked Flowerpiercers, Slaty- capped Flycatcher, Ashy-headed and Peruvian Tyrannulets, Gray-mantled Wren, Slate- throated Redstart, Orange-bellied Euphonia and Rufous-rumped Antwren. It was a really amazing experience - and a short-lived one. As soon as the birds appeared, they were gone, leaving the quiet road to us.

Our final stop was called when we spotted a Photo 87: The odd-looking Russet Antshrike hummingbird by the road. It was a male Green-fronted Lancebill with its long straight bill and shiny green forehead. Again, following Carlos’ tip, we waited in the vicinity, looking hard for more movements – and they really came again. In addition to the species seen in the last birdwave, we added a Crimson-bellied Woodpecker, a Versicolored Barbet, a flock of Russet Antshrikes, a Green Jay, an Ashy-throated Chlorospingus and our target bird, the rare range- restricted Vermilion Tanager. Had Bao Jun not asked, “what is that red bird?”, we may have missed it in the large (no quotation mark required in this case) birdwave. Unfortunately, we have a date with the antpitta to attend to and could not stay to watch the whole birdwave unravel fully. Our last bird before leaving was a White-throated Hawk circling above the birdwave. In total, we had 27 species from the birdwaves, excluding the hawk. What a haul!

Photo 88: Royal Sunangel Returning to Fundo Alto Nieva, the local ranger brought us to the feeding station for the antpitta with great urgency. Along the way, I spotted a glittering all navy-blue hummingbird sitting on a branch that looked somewhat familiar. Uncertain of its identity and not wanting to give the bird a miss in our rush, I blurted out softly “Royal Sunangel hummingbird” as I took some record shots. Fortunately, the rest of the group was able to hear what I had said and turned around for our best view of the endangered Royal Sunangel. Considering our miserable, forgettable attempt on this bird on last evening, we were surprised to see one so well. What an unexpected find! A quick good look and we were back to our rush to the antpitta feeding station.

Ingrained with “similar” experiences from our region, we were expecting a log full of worms or such, deafening playback and a busily feeding bird. Instead, the local ranger had only brought along a single decapitated worm and laid its chopped-up body on a fallen branch that was conveniently located above a small gully. No playback was used and no bird too. The strategy for the feeding station was simple: wait for the bird to pass through and stop to find the treats.

Photo 89: Can you spot the bird?

Honestly, we did not think that would actually work; we were not expecting a bird to come in for one dead worm. Besides, the antpitta was not always reported in the trip reports from the past years. Knowing this did not really help to increase our confidence level on that strategy. Nevertheless, we gave the strategy a go, expecting the local ranger to know best, and waited. We waited beyond the prime time and continued waiting. After an hour of waiting, we started to hear a bird calling in the distant. The local ranger whistled a note in response. The odd conversation continued until the bird stopped calling. We continued waiting. Suddenly, a small bird of the size of a tennis ball hopped up on the fallen branch and stopped to find the treats – following the strategy to the dot. In fact, the strategy was so successful that the endemic Ochre-fronted Antpitta stayed for a few minutes, which is a very long time for such a skittish bird. While admiring the bird’s plumage and behaviour, we cannot help but admire the hard work involved to make such a crazily simple strategy work most of the time. How did the local ranger even find out that the bird would pass through at such a timing?!?

Photo 90: Mrs Ochre-Fronted Antpitta

Photo 91: "How did you miss me?" - Crested Quetzal Now, it was time to wait for our next target bird to appear. During our wait, we saw a flock of Scaly-naped Parrots returning to their roost in the surrounding montane forest, a pretty- looking Ornate Flycatcher having its last meal, a pair of Sickle-winged Guans returning to their roost and best of all, a gorgeous male Crested Quetzal. For the latter, despite its striking red belly, I needed a lot of directions, gesturing and re-positioning to figure out that the “red leaf” was actually the bird.

As the sun set and the forest interior turned pitch-dark, our local ranger began to play some tape and interspersed each call with a long wait. With each call, our anxiety kept growing. Alas, it was not our day and the mythical Long- whiskered Owlet did not reward our long wait. Thankfully, our driver Manuel’s chicken soup was worth the wait. What is better than tasty bowl of chicken soup for the soul?

Day 11, 15 August 2018:

Photo 92: Jon coming to the feeding station or, to put it more Starting at pre-dawn, we began another accurately, the trail... short trek into the forest to another antpitta feeding station. Our target was Jon, the son of the resident family of Rusty-tinged Antpittas. Unlike yesterday’s encounter with the much- smaller Ochre-fronted Antpitta, Jon was more punctual and cooperative. He did not make us wait longer than 5 minutes or require us to stay quiet and motionless in the forest. He was more than willing to come up to the local ranger for his treat – chopped pieces of earthworm. In fact, we were too close on most times, allowing us to appreciate its colour and features with our naked eyes. Incredible!

In addition to the antpitta, we enjoyed views of a small flock of Scaly-naped Parrots leaving their roost in the montane forest to feed in the montane forest, a pair of Slaty-capped Flycatchers, a Rufous- tailed Tyrant and a Chestnut-capped Brushfinch that had come in for Jon’s treats. The forest looks very promising but we could not spend time to bird the trails because we have an unexpected bird to see.

Photo 93: (From left to right) Chestnut-Capped Brushfinch and Jon, the Rusty-Tinged Antpitta, feeding on earthworm

It was so unexpected that our guide Carlos even told us that our trip fees did not cover it because prior to our trip, the bird was not visiting any feeders. Past years’ trip reports did not even leave a mention of hearing the bird. Somehow, Carlos managed to get a tip-off during our trip that the bird was coming to a feeder at the nearby Abra Patricia Lodge. So, that was where we were heading next…

At Abra Patricia Lodge, a local ranger brought us to the feeding station which is located at the end of a short trail right beside the lodge. Unlike the ones at Fundo Alto Nieva lodge, this feeding station was something that we were more accustomed to. There was more generous serving of worms and more man-made objects was used in the setup of the feeding station which was a wooden structure with many metal nails to attach the worms. After attaching one worm to each nail, the local ranger left us alone. We sat on a log and stared at the feeder intently. Despite our best attempt to stay focused, we were still distracted by several singing Gray-breasted Wood-Wrens and it was at that very moment when I wanted to pick up my camera to shoot the distractors, I saw a flash of orange hopping from the leaf litter onto the wooden structure. No call or sound, our target was right there feeding quietly on the worms. Needless to say, I was immediately gunning away at the bird while trying to get everyone’s attention on it. After a few worms, it was gone. Honestly, we were not expecting to see the Chestnut Antpitta – more orange than chestnut – and could not ask for a better appearance – unless it turns more chestnut. Probably our biggest surprise of the trip!

Photo 94: Our surprise

Since we have already paid to bird at Abra Patricia Lodge, we decided to spend the rest of the morning birding in the grounds of the lodge. Given its slightly higher elevation from Fundo Alto Nieva lodge, we have a good chance of seeing a different set of birds.

First, we started birding along the driveway from the lodge to the gate. At the lodge, we saw a Bluish Flowerpiercer and a distant White-capped Tanager sporting its namesake white cap contrasting with its dark plumage. Moving on to the driveway, Yellow-breasted Brushfinches and Common Chlorospingus started to appear in numbers and following Carlos’ tip, we found ourselves right in the middle of a medium-sized birdwave (less than 20 species). There was a pair of Barred Becards, a Rufous-browed Peppershrike, an Andean Solitaire, a couple of Great Thrushes, a couple of Spectacled Redstarts, several Grass-green, Blue-capped, Blue- and-black, Beryl-spangled and Saffron-crowned Tanagers, several Lacrimose Mountain- Tanagers, a Masked Flowerpiercer, a Streak-necked Flycatcher and a range-restricted Short- billed Chlorospingus. A male White-bellied Woodstar was seen perched while we were looking for birds in the thick of the action. Our star birds of the birdwave had to be the pair of endemics: Johnson's Tody-Flycatcher and Yellow-scarfed Tanager. The latter came as a huge relief for Carlos because it is non-territorial and our best bet was to find one in a birdwave at the very driveway we are standing on. We were at the right place at the right time.

Photo 95: (Clockwise from top left) Yellow-Breasted Brushfinch, Johnson's Tody-Flycatcher, Andean Solitaire, Bluish Flowerpiercer, Mr and Mrs Barred Pecards

Next, we bird along the trail that starts near the entrance gate. The forest at the start of the trail was alive with birds. In addition to the bird species that we saw along the driveway, we also saw new ones joining – probably – the same birdwave, including Crimson-mantled Woodpecker, Streak-headed Antbird, White-backed Fire-eye, Montane Woodcreeper, Striped Treehunter, White-tailed, Black-capped and Peruvian Tyrannulets, Highland Elaenia, Olive and Pale-edged Flycatchers, Green-and-black Fruiteater, Sharpe's Wren, Black-eared Hemispingus, Golden-collared Honeycreeper and Bronze-green Euphonia. A single Yellow- billed Cacique seen further along the trail was the only additional species that we saw outside of the birdwave. The birding was so intense at the start of the trail that we had to rush through the rest of the trail while thinking of the all the birds that we could not get good looks on.

Photo 96: (From left to right) White-Backed Fire-Eye of unknown subspecies and Olive Flycatcher

Photo 97: Scenic view from the observation tower at Abra Patricia Lodge

Lastly, we finished our morning birding at the hummingbird feeders located around the lodge compound. Being at a slightly higher elevation than Fundo Alto Nieva Lodge, we were able to see some higher-elevation hummingbirds like the Sword-billed Hummingbird and the Emerald-bellied Puffleg. A further 10 species of hummingbirds, namely Blue-fronted Lancebill, Lesser Violetear, Speckled Hummingbird, Long-tailed Sylph, Bronzy and Collared Incas, Chestnut-breasted Coronet, Booted Racket-tail, Fawn-breasted Brilliant and White- bellied Woodstar, were seen at the feeders, giving us a good total of 12 species at the feeders.

Photo 98: (From left to right) Collared Inca, Emerald-Bellied Puffleg and male White-Bellied Woodstar

Since we have nailed all our targets for Abra Photo 99: Rufous-Tailed Tyrant Patricia Lodge, we decided to spend the afternoon exploring Carlos’ new site. A late afternoon was not enough to do justice to the site. Starting from the viewpoint where we spent the late afternoon looking for the Royal Sunangels, we had glimpses of two birds and enjoyed a mini birdwave consisting of a Rusty Flowerpiercer, a Silvery Tanager and a Bay- headed Tanager. A perched Rufous-tailed Tyrant gave a bit of clue to the habitat type of this site – if this was not already visible from the white sand and tall “coconut” palm trees.

Photo 100: White sand at 2000m?!?

Soon, it was all quiet. Carlos tried some bird calls but to no Photo 101: The endemic Bar-Winged Wood-Wren avail. Suddenly, all the birds that he was trying to entice earlier started to call in sequence. We had a pair of the endemic Bar-winged Wood-Wrens popping out of the undergrowth to advertise their territory. Later, the near- endemic Cinnamon-breasted Tody-flycatcher started to call in the undergrowth but only left us with some shaking branches. Staying positive, we tried for the endangered endemic Speckle-chested Piculet and a pair came in with great interest to Carlos’ playback. They were really small and their black-and-white plumage made it even harder to pick them out from the “speckled” branches. As a matter of fact, I spent a good minute shooting a branch thinking that the bird was on it before Carlos told me that the bird was on another branch… The endemic Peruvian Tyrannulet also made an appearance, meaning that we have seen 4 endemic species at this site.

Photo 102: The black-and-white plumage of the Speckle-Chested Piculet is a really good camouflage, even my camera is finding it hard to focus!

Going deeper, we stopped at a fruiting tree to observe a Southern Emerald-Toucanet and several Green Jays. The former was another example of the plumage variations within species between individuals from northern Peru and those from the south. The individual that we saw during our Southern Peru section of the tour has a black throat and a bicolored bill while this individual that we saw in the north has a blue throat and a yellow-tipped black bill. Fascinating!

Photo 103: (From left to right) Southern Emerald-Toucanet of the cyanolaemus subspecies from Northern Peru vs Southern Emerald-Toucanet of the atrogularis subspecies from Southern Peru. Key differences are (i) all-black bill vs half-black bill, (ii) blue throat vs black throat and (iii) pink skin around eye vs none. Interesting!

To cover more of the site, we decided to make stops only when we saw some bird activities. Using this strategy, we found a spot where a pair of the beautiful Chestnut-crested Cotingas was holding territory. When Carlos’ played its call, they responded by flying right above us with their namesake in full erection. What a display!

Photo 104: (From left to right) Chestnut-Crested Cotinga - crestless vs crested

Since we did not have much luck with the owlet at Fundo Alto Photo 105: Golden-Olive Woodpecker Nieva lodge, we decided to try for this species at this new site. This was a huge gamble but the odds were not zero because according to Carlos, the village head has actually seen the bird many times at this site before. Now, we just need to find the village head to make the necessary arrangement for tonight and we did it.

With a couple of daylight hours left before our night adventure, we went back to the Cotinga stakeout and the pair was still calling distantly. We added a pair of Golden-olive Woodpeckers, a pair of Black-capped Tyrannulets, a pair of Olivaceous Siskins and a pair of Smoke-colored Pewees. The fieldguide did not mention that the pewee could have three white wingbars instead of an all-black wing and seeing one with three white wingbars had us confused for a moment. Fortunately, Carlos knew what he was looking at and we are more than happy to be corrected.

Photo 106: Our last view of the new birding site… What an interesting habitat!

While we can have a plan, nature can execute a different plan. In our case, we could not try for the owlet at the new site because of an impending thunderstorm and with great disappointment, we retreated back to Fundo Alto Nieva lodge where the storm had not reached. Since we did not have any other alternative, we tried for the owlet at the lodge again and again, we did not even hear the bird. Our consolation for the night birding was the range- restricted Cinnamon Screech-Owl and we saw it only after our owl-man was allowed to take over the guiding from the local ranger. To protect the owlet, the lodge had come up with a restriction that only the local ranger is allowed to play the tape and only from specific spots in the reserve. We did not see the owlet during our tour, so we are not so sure if that restriction is effective. Hope it works!

Photo 107: Cinnamon Screech-Owl

Despite our notable misses, we can all agree that the day was still fruitful and memorable. Eight endemic birds - of which six are lifers and two of them are antpittas - in one day was our highest so far and we really hope to test this number in our remaining days of the tour.

Day 12, 16 August 2018:

Waking to strong, howling wind which felt like it was going to rip off the zinc roof above our head, the weather certainly did not improve during the night. Choosing between the shaking lodge and our vehicle, it was clear where we wanted to seek shelter. A dash through the rain and we were on our way to Tarapoto airport with plenty of birding stops.

Photo 108: Feeding station at Arena Blanca

Based on our tour itinerary, we were going to start our day at a recently established feeding station of Arena Blanca. Our target was a pair of tinamou species, namely the Little and Cinereous Tinamous. Fingers crossed, we may even get to see the more beautiful-looking Rufous-breasted Wood-Quail and the Ruddy Quail-Dove. These are four skittish forest denizens that are highly unlikely to be seen well outside of the feeding station. Thankfully, all of them showed up at the feeding station. We even enjoyed a bit of action when the parent Little Tinamou shielded her juvenile from the larger Cinereous Tinamou and an overload of cuteness when a family of Rufous-breasted Wood-Quails feasted on the corn before one by one scurried over a fallen log while moving off in a single file into the forest.

Photo 109: (From left to right) A Cinerous Tinamou, a convey of Rufous-Breasted Wood-Quails and a Little Tinamou

After seeing all our targets, we left the feeding station to look for other birds at the hummingbird feeders. The first bird that we saw outside of the feeding station was a pair of the range-restricted Zimmer's Antbirds. They were really nice-looking in real life but terrible from my camera’s LCD monitor for unknown reasons.

At the hummingbird feeders, a bit of patience was required to secure our two lifer hummingbirds: the diminutive Gray-chinned Hermit and the brilliant-looking Black-throated Brilliant. In addition to these two hummingbirds, we also saw a further 10 more submontane species, namely White-necked Jacobin, Green Hermit, Blue-fronted Lancebill, Brown Violetear, Wire-crested Thorntail, Amethyst Woodstar, Gray-breasted Sabrewing, Many- spotted Hummingbird, Sapphire-spangled Emerald and Golden-tailed Sapphire. This may be our last time in our lives to see these flying jewels and the moment was so sad that it even touched the heaven to tear.

Photo 110: (Clockwise from top left) Blue-Fronted Lancebill, Black-Throated Brilliant, Sapphire-Spangled Emerald and male Wire-Crested Thorntail aka mini dragon

Braving the light drizzle, we proceeded to the fruit feeders and enjoyed views of a duo of tanagers, White-lined and Black-bellied Tanagers, several of the delightful Orange-bellied Euphonias and a Buff-throated Saltator. In the trees above, we saw a mini-birdwave consisting of a Rufous-winged Antwren and a Palm Tanager. This nicely wraps up our visit to the last fruit feeder of the tour.

Photo 111: (From left to right) Buff-Throated Saltator and endemic female Black-Bellied Tanager

From Arena Blanca, Carlos brought us to his local stake-out in Moyobamba for the Masked Duck, a supposedly hard-to-find bird in Peru. The site looked like a typical Asian rice fields, except for the small water hyacinth-covered ponds and tall grass hedges that served as separators for the fields. Of course, the birdlife was different too. In one of such ponds, we found our quarry, a female Masked Duck, and in one of such hedges, we found two localised species, a Black-billed Seed-Finch and a pair of Pale-eyed Blackbirds.

Photo 112: (Clockwise from top left) Female Masked Duck, Wattled Jacana, Black-Bellied Whistling-Duck and scenery of Moyobamba ricefield

Since we have not visited such a habitat during our tour, most of the birds seen were lifers for us. Male and female Snail Kites feeding on snails was new for us. The Amazon Kingfisher seen perched on the tree was, surprisingly, our first kingfisher of the trip and needless to say, new for us too. Even the Little Blue Heron that flew past us was new for us. The Great and Cattle Egrets were, however, not yet new for us - pending the taxonomists to reach an agreement that the birds in the Americas are different from those in Asia. Not forgetting the colourful birds, we enjoyed great views of the ostentatious Oriole Blackbird, the cousin of Red in Angry Bird, the Red-capped Cardinal, the beautiful but common Black-capped Donacobius and the beauty of the rice field, the Spotted Rail. This site was yet another pleasant surprise from Carlos’ sleeves. We must have used up all of his sleeves by now, no?

Photo 113: (Clockwise from top left) Near-iconic Red-Capped Cardinal, male Snail Kite with its namesake, beautiful Black- Capped Donacobius, Amazon Kingfisher and Oriole Blackbird

For the sake of ticking off as many of the sites highlighted in the tour itinerary as possible, we made a stop at Morro Calzada. After arriving, we found that there were some construction activities taking place along the main road, making it difficult to do birding, let alone finding the roost of the resident Stygian Owl. Even so, we were able to enjoy views of the colourful Blue-crowned Trogon, study the differences between the pairs of Streaked and Piratic Flycatchers and add a couple of lifers, namely White-fronted Nunbird, Scarlet-shouldered Parrotlet and Tropical Parula.

Photo 114: Fried fish on fish plate With some time remaining after lunch and before we have to go to the airport to catch our flight back to Lima, Carlos brought us to another of his local stakeout for a very special bird. Like all his previous stakeouts that he brought us to, it had a pond and a tree - in this case, a strand of palm trees. While a strand of palm trees may not attract the palm specialists, it certainly worked as a stage for the birds to perform on when situated close to a large grove of palm trees. We had several Palm Tanagers on the palm trees, several Fork-tailed Palm-Swifts circling above the palm trees and most importantly, a beautiful Point-tailed Palmcreeper responding to Carlos’ playback on top of the palm trees. Sporting a black head with fine white streaks and bright chestnut wings and tail, it is easy to see why the Point-tailed Palmcreeper is the most beautiful member of the Ovenbird family seen on this trip. Other noteworthy birds seen at the stakeout were a Green Kingfisher, our second kingfisher species for the trip, and a flock of Cobalt-winged Parakeets. This must surely be the last surprise from Carlos’ extra- large sized sleeves.

Photo 115: (from left to right) The palm duo - Palm Tanager and Point-Tailed Palmcreeper

After bidding farewell to Carlos at a petrol station in the city of Moyobamba, we spotted a strange-looking bird checking out the mirrors of a parked motor-taxi. It had an orange crown, turquoise wings, blue-gray face and throat and rosy belly and collar. Since Carlos had already left, we had to use our physical guidebook – it is amazing that we can still remember where we had stuffed it – to identify the bird and it was the localized Burnished-buff Tanager. Carlos must have forgotten his pet bird…

Photo 116: Burnish-Buff Tanager checking out itself

At the airport, we bid farewell twice to Manuel. First was for dropping us off at the airport and second was for dropping our luggage off at the airport after picking it up from the hotel of our first night. Finally, we were re-united with our luggage and it was also time to return to Lima.

Having been through several airport pickups during this trip, we have to say that Kolibri certainly left the best for the last. For the first time, we found our driver waiting for us at the arrival gate and we could easily figure out he was our driver because he was holding a sign displaying our names. At least, they got the last time right.

Dinner was simple fare and we were off to bed, awaiting our visit to Santa Eulalia on our last day in Peru. Honestly, compared to the rest of the tour, we were least prepared for Santa Eulalia because for most period of our pre-trip preparation, we were thinking that we were going to Chuncho Lodge in the Amazon. Another surprise for the trip?

Day 13, 17 August 2018:

Starting at pre-dawn, our guide Alejandro picked us up from our accommodation and had us headed directly for the valley of Santa Eulalia. Seasoned from our other tours in Peru, we have come to expect the tours to be filled with exciting birding and plenty of surprises. Maybe the Palomino Island was too inaccessible to pull bunnies from the hat but are we expecting too much from our guide to know a few stakeouts for a birding site that is less than two hours from Lima? We shall see…

Photo 117: Breaking of dawn at Santa Eulalia Valley

Photo 118: (Top to bottom) Ball-like Our first stop was for breakfast. Alejandro had his Peruvian Pygmy-Owl and male Pied- breakfast (we had ours at the accommodation) setup on Crested Tit-Tyrant sporting its namesake the edge of the road staring at the lush green trough of the valley that is saddled by the steep, dusty and barren hilly landscape of Santa Eulalia. Blue-and-yellow Tanagers and Cinereous Conebills were aplenty in the vegetations while numerous Band-tailed Seedeaters and Rufous-collared Sparrows were enjoying the grass seeds by the road. Exploring an overgrown foot of a landslide, we found both Pied-crested and Yellow-billed Tit- Tyrants. Back at the breakfast table, Alejandro has successfully lured in a ball of feather in the form of a Peruvian Pygmy-Owl, our first pygmy owl of the trip. Walking along the road away from our vehicle, we examined a flock of feeding Band-tailed Seedeaters and to our great delight, we found a pair of the endemic Great Inca-Finch, which belongs to the 5-species Inca-Finch genus that is endemic to the dry Andes of Peru. A pretty Inca-Finch to round up our trip to the Incan civilisation! Great!

Photo 119: The endemic Great Inca-Finch, so named after the Incans

Needing a couple of hummingbird species to make it to 60 Photo 120: Golden Grosbeak for the trip, Alejandro picked a shrubby terrace as our next stop. We found several Collared Warbling-Finches, a couple of White-browed Chat-Tyrants and a pair of Golden Grosbeaks. An overhead Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle was a consolation for the absence of the symbolic Andean Condor. However, the absence of hummingbirds was a bigger miss.

By mid-morning, we have already drove up to 3000 meters above sea-level, starting from approximately 100 meters in Lima. Most of the landscape was somewhat similar: lots of dry, prickly shrubs and brown grasses. The appearance of cactuses was, however, new. With the higher elevation and subtle changes in the habitat, we also noticed a slight change in the avifauna. At our next stop, we noted the presence of Andean Swifts and Sierra-Finches with the Mourning Sierra-Finch being the majority while the Band-tailed and Peruvian Sierra-Finches made up the rest. The endemic Rusty-bellied Brushfinch was also showing up in large numbers while the near-endemic Canyon Canastero got us excited for a moment when it popped up from a bush. Most importantly, there were hummingbirds. Besides the common Sparkling Violetear, we also saw the curve-billed Purple-collared Woodstars and the straight- billed Peruvian Sheartails, which were much-appreciated for our climb towards 60 species of hummingbirds. The former was number 56 while the latter was number 57. Three more to go. Photo 121: (From left to right) Mourning Sierra-Finch, Canyon Canastero and the endemic Rusty-Bellied Brushfinch

Clueless on what to look for at each stop, we simply appreciated whatever bird that we can see. During one of my scans of the hillside vegetation, I spotted a hovering black hummingbird that was nearly as big as the nearby Sparkling Violetear and it perched momentarily on a branch. It had an all-black plumage and a short straight bill. Unfortunately, the bird did not stay for long and was gone as soon as I lowered my bins to inform the rest. Checking with Alejandro, the closest fit is the endemic Black Metaltail, which was number 58, and at that point, he also told us that we can actually see one here but it was better further along the road.

That statement really frustrated us because we knew of a “better” spot but did not move on to it. It seemed to us that Alejandro was waiting for something. After some probing, he told us that he was waiting for the endemic Rufous-breasted Warbling-Finch and he also told us that we would have higher chance of seeing one earlier in the morning. At that point, we nearly blew it. We actually paid for a guide to bring us to the stakeouts of key species and here we are, with one that was taking us on a casual birding session. To add fuel to the fire, he told us that we needed to wait at this spot for the next two hours for lunch to be prepared. Thankfully, he gave in to our request to bird elsewhere, taking us to another path that goes down the mountain. Photo 122: Moulting male Peruvian Sheartail Beginning at the top, we walked down the path and still sporting its long sheartail birded along the way. The plan to bird all the way to lunch would seem like a natural choice on birding tours but we were surprised that Alejandro thought otherwise. Anyway, the case is closed and we were back to birding for more birds. :)

Stopping at the crown of a landslide, we observed a pair of Streak-throated Bush-Tyrants hunting, sallying from their rocky perches to catch insects. Next, we enjoyed the flight display of the resident Mountain Parakeets, which is a species of parrot that had found a way to thrive in such a dry, barren habitat. As per the last birding stop, the hummingbirds continued to give us heartbreaks. We could only manage millisecond- long glimpses of the huge Giant Hummingbirds feeding on the photogenic flowering cactus or find a cooperative male Peruvian Sheartail sporting its long Photo 123: Endemic Black-Necked Woodpecker racket-tails but missing its glittering feathers. The other birds were more cooperative, especially the endemic Black-necked Woodpecker, which somehow managed to circle us using only the surrounding trees that numbered less than a handful, and the near-endemic Streaked Tit- Spinetail, which displayed its acrobatics on a bare branch.

By the time we reached our vehicle, we found that lunch was not yet ready and would take another hour. Having some bad birding was already bad but missing your international flight because of lunch was worse. After lunch, there was only one thing on our mind, getting to the airport to catch our flight. Bad after-work traffic did not help at all. Somehow, we had better luck with our flight than the Long-whiskered Owlet…

With fond memories of the people, beautiful birds and amazing landscapes, we bid farewell to Peru. Thank you for sharing your splendours with us and may they last for the many generations to come!

Photo 124: Arid landscape of Santa Eulalia

Photo 125: Pre-Incan ruins at Santa Eulalia