FEBRUARY 2011 fieldguides® BIRDING TOURS WORLDWIDE SPIRIT OF THE INCA Dan Lane achu Picchu: One of the most visited cultural and archaeological sites in the western hemisphere! Anyone who visits Peru certainly should make an effort to see it—both for the opportunity to peek into the pre-Columbian history of Mthe region and to take in the awesome vista that the site commands. It is simply breathtaking! But there are also some fine birds there, as well—not least of which is a rather local but not hard-to-find species of wren that makes its home in the Chusquea bamboo patches that are present on the slopes At top, a view of the valley to the north of Machu Picchu. It’s no wonder around the ruins: the aptly-named Inca Wren. this site attracts millions of tourists per year! Above, perhaps the most iconic of birds to be seen at the world famous ruins of Machu Picchu, the Continued on page 3 Inca Wren. [Photos by guide Dan Lane] Uganda: Shoebill, Rift Memory & Memories Endemics & Gorillas Jan Pierson Phil Gregory Birding at its best is both memory ganda is one of my favorite tours, and for several and memories—the first an reasons. It’s a country that was long off-limits to accumulation of birding knowledge visitors and birders, but thankfully over the past and familiarity through learning, 20 years it has changed, and modern Uganda is a the second a series of memorable Ubustling, thriving, enterprising place with a well-resourced tourist sector and experiences and their recollection. friendly people. Ugandan parks are also far less crowded than the parks of some And by those definitions, I’ve had a other East African countries, and in places like Bwindi with the gorilla tourism you good week. canseejusthowimportantthetouristdollarhasbecometothelocaleconomy. On Sunday I walked Florida’s Asever,aburgeoninghumanpopulationportendsproblemsdownthetrack,but Daytona Beach Shores (while at the atthemomenteverythingseemstobeholdingtogetherwell.MurchisonFallshas Space Coast Birding Festival) with some beautiful lodges on the banks of the Victoria Nile where we can watch hippos Chris and Alvaro amidst thousands Continued on page 3 of gulls of multiple species, On the lookout for the Shoebill—and success comes with the bird itself. Formerly known as Whalehead (still reflected in its genus, Balaeniceps), the giant Shoebill Continued on page 11 is the single species in its family. [Photos by guide Phil Gregory] Also in this issue: 2/GuideLines • 4/Fresh From the Field • 10/Upcoming Tours • 11/New Spitsbergen Cruise 800-728-4953 / www.fieldguides.com GUIDELINES with Mitch Lysinger Antpittaland At left, a Chestnut-crowned Antpitta at San Isidro; above, a Yellow-breasted at Angel Paz’s. [Photos by There are many of you who have visited Angel Paz’s farm guide Richard Webster & participant Don Faulkner] on Ecuador’s West Slope since Mitch Lysinger first reported on it three years ago, so you already know what a for their morning feeding sessions: Giant, Moustached, great time it is. One of our recent groups there, for and Yellow-breasted. What a brilliant suit! Who would example, saw not just three species of antpitta well (who haveeverbelievedthatbyhiscalling,“Maria,Maria, would have ever thought that antpittas could be so Maria!” or “Esmeralda, Esmeralda, Esmeralda!” these confiding?), but also such specialties as Toucan Barbet, elusive bird-treasures would materialize in such an Andean Cock-of-the-rock, and Orange-breasted innocent and confiding fashion? Fruiteater. And in addition, following a morning of What a feat this is: the Giant Antpitta was only birding, Señora Paz served a hearty breakfast and, for a dollar, the Paz children rediscovered in the early 90’s after decades of essentially being ‘lost.’ Without washed our rubber boots. knowledge of its voice, we knew even less of the Moustached—a few old But we see antpittas elsewhere as well. There are two possible at San Isidro, specimens from Colombia were our only clue of its existence. And the Yellow- White-bellied and Chestnut-crowned, and one of our 2010 tours, the aptly breasted was only recorded within Ecuador’s borders in the 80’s. While we now named Jewels of Ecuador: Hummers, Tanagers & Antpittas, which visits both know that these three species are relatively common, seeing them satisfactorily slopes in the north of the country as well as the southern Ecuadorian Andes, had a hasalwaysbeenthechallenge;I’dbewillingtobetthatmanyofyouhavestood totalof15antpittas,with10seenand5heardonly.ArecentRainforest & patiently(andpainfully)forlongstintsofplayback,onlytothrowupyourarms Andes tour which doesn’t visit the south but does include Sacha Lodge, recorded in exasperation after yet another “antpitta defeat.” What all of this means from 11 species of antpitta with 7 seen. On the Southwestern Ecuador tour there were a birding standpoint is obvious: see some dandy antpittas with much less effort a total of 10 antpittas, with 6 seen including the only recently discovered Jocotoco. in a way that lessens the stress on the very creatures that we all hope to protect! And though it falls slightly behind Peru and Colombia in the number of species, Conservationists consider this an opportunity to spark local interest in it’s hard to come up with a better place than Ecuador to see antpittas. saving forests in a way never thought possible before. Of course, this momentum doesn’t end with tossing worms to antpittas; many local folks here know there are plenty of folks out there who have birded the in Ecuador are catching on and grasping the idea that standing forests are worth Neotropics at least once or twice and who are still dreaming of that more than cheap cash crops. This all means a growing and contagious first antpitta experience; on plenty of my trips, after an “antpitta awareness. victory,”aparticipantortwowillcomeuptome—jubilant—about A heartening epilogue: My first visit to Angel’s paradise was a couple of this being their first! This is as much of a charge for me as it is for years ago with a few members of the Jocotoco Foundation—as a break after a them, because it is such a special and traditionally difficult-to-find few days of long meetings—and with my wife Carmen, of Cabañas San Isidro. Igroup, right? After a spectacular show of antpittas, I remember one of the board members Well, not anymore... at least not in the highlands of northern Ecuador. turningtomewithagiggleandsayinghowherewewere,allofusbirdingand Who would have ever thought that these stealthiest of birds, capable of conservation heavyweights, taking lessons from a man whom many would have approaching to within a few feet (without revealing even a feather!) and then written off years before. A little later, Carmen remarked, “We have been a vanishing into the forest understory without even the faintest wiggle of a leaf, bunch of fools. We can do this at San Isidro!” and so Carmen and I enlisted a couldbetamedwithalittlesweettalkingandafewwormsforbait?Havea keen young worker at San Isidro by the name of Marcelo to start this very same look at Maria, the now well-known Giant Antpitta who turned the birding process. And wouldn’t you know it? Now San Isidro has Chestnut-crowned world on its ear when she decided to take a chance and trust a friendly and and White-bellied antpittas doing just about the same thing within shouting entrepreneurial campesino by the name of Angel Paz. distance of the dining room. I just wish we could convince that Peruvian Angel once had other plans for his beautiful reserve on Ecuador’s west Antpitta at San Isidro to do the same! slope—agriculture, valuable hard woods, etc.—but it didn’t take long for him (being the quick study that he is) to realize, after chatting a bit with neighbors involved in the ecotourism Dates for upcoming Ecuador tours on which antpittas may be seen include world,thathislandhadagreatervalueandsustainablefuture. ECUADOR: RAINFOREST & ANDES, March 6-20, 2011 & September 11-25, 2011 Angel set out on a quest that nobody else had ever thought of: MONTANE ECUADOR, June 10-19, 2011 & July 29-August 7, 2011 earn the confidence of these almost mythical birds so that AMAZONIAN ECUADOR: SACHA LODGE, July 1-10, 2011 & July 21-30, 2011 theywouldcreepoutoftheirdarkhauntsandbirdersand HOLIDAY AT SAN ISIDRO, November 19-28, 2011 othernaturebuffscouldseetheminalloftheir JEWELS OF ECUADOR, January 21-February 7, 2012 and February 18-March 1, 2012 splendor…right on the trail, and in many cases, too close to SOUTHWESTERN ECUADOR SPECIALTIES, January 7-21, 2012 focus binoculars! It took some time, but Angel persisted, and We hope you’ll plan to join us for one of these. within only a few months—not missing a day of hard effort— he had three of the most coveted antpitta species scurrying in 2 800-728-4953 / www.fieldguides.com SPIRIT OF THE INCA Continued from page 1 Thereisaninterestingstorybehindthiswren,a consuming as it can take several years to assemble the species only described to science as recently as 1985. evidence, conduct the comparisons, and write the The ruins of Machu Picchu were officially brought paper.) to the attention of the world in 1911 when Hiram By the time the decription was published, the Bingham was first shown them by his local guide. bird was known from several sites in addition to the Over the next two decades, the ruins were cleared of Machu Picchu ruins (including the humid slope of the dense montane vegetation that had grown over Abra Malaga), but the ruins remain the most them, and as more of the ruins became visible, convenient place to find the bird. And the species appreciation for them grew. The clearing of trees does not try to avoid detection; it belts out loud song andshrubsatthattimealsocreatedopeningsthat duets that can be heard from the floor of the allowed for dense patches of Chusquea bamboo to Urubamba Valley nearly 500 meters below the ruins! colonize them.