Tropical Birding Trip Report Northern Peru: Across the Marañon Canyon, August 2017 Northern Peru: Across the Marañon Canyon August 13-29, 2017 TOUR LEADER: Nick Athanas Report and photos by Nick Athanas; all photos are from the tour Peruvian Plantcutter, the first of many endemics we saw on this tour I’ve been guiding trips to Northern Peru since 2005 and still enjoy coming here every year – the birding seems like it only gets better thanks to new lodges and reserves that have opened over the years. Our 2017 trip was really fun; the trip went really smoothly, we enjoyed superb weather, and had great birding with over 500 species and close to 40 Peruvian endemics. Some favorites included the Peruvian Plantcutter shown above, the truly Marvelous Spatuletail, awesome views of Gray-bellied Comet, six antpittas including an amazingly cooperative Pale-billed Antpitta (it was worth the hike!), two crescentchests, and three inca-finches. New feeding stations in the area helped us get some superb sightings of normally tough species including Rusty-tinged Antpitta, Rufous-breasted Wood-Quail, tinamous, and Ecuadorian Piedtail. That’s not to say everything was easy! Several key species only revealed themselves after a significant amount www.tropicalbirding.com +1-409-515-9110 [email protected] Tropical Birding Trip Report Northern Peru: Across the Marañon Canyon, August 2017 of effort at the “eleventh hour”, chief among these being Long-whiskered Owlet, Little Inca-Finch, Marañon Crescentchest, and Tumbes Hummingbird; persistence is often the best antidote to the occasional intrusion of poor luck... A few nice mammal sightings added excitement to our trip, headlined by two very rare monkeys at Abra Patricia: Yellow-tailed Woolly Monkey and Peruvian Night Monkey. A friendly and helpful tour group, along with our superb driver Omar, also helped make it a great tour. After a night in Lima, we were off on an early flight north to the desert city of Chiclayo. Our driver, Omar, was waiting for us when we arrived and soon we were on our way north to our first birding destination, the mesquite forest and desert of Bosque de Pomac. Peruvian Plantcutter was easy to find this morning with a male soon found singing on top of a nearby tree. Our other main targets there (Rufous Flycatcher (photo left), Coastal Miner, and Tumbes Swallow), took a bit longer to find but both showed well. A small flock of Sulphur-throated Finches was a lucky find since we would not see any at Chaparri. We also enjoyed good views of a number of other species typical of the dry Northwest like West Peruvian Dove, Peruvian Pygmy-Owl, Amazilia Hummingbird, Scarlet- backed and Golden-olive Woodpeckers, Pacific Parrotlet, Collared Antshrike, Streak-headed Woodcreeper, Pale-legged (Pacific) Hornero, Necklaced Spinetail, Gray-and-white Tyrannulet, Mouse-colored (Tumbesian) Tyrannulet, Short-tailed Field Tyrant, White-tailed Jay, Fasciated and Superciliated Wrens, and White-edged Oriole. A skulking Sechuran Fox and handsome Guayaquil Squirrel were our first mammals for the trip. After a picnic lunch, we drove through the early afternoon to the start of the road up to Chaparri Lodge, picking up Pearl Kite and Savanna Hawk along the way. Our local guide, Joel, met us there, and we decided to check out the nearby Tinajones reservoir first. A Burrowing Owl glared at us as we headed down to the shore, where the water level was exceptionally high due to the unusually high rainfall earlier in the year. There were not as many birds as normal, but we did see a few including the tour’s only Cocoi Heron. On the way up to Chaparri we made a few stops along the way for the likes of Crested Caracara, Cinereous Finch, Collared Warbling- Finch, Variable Seedeater, and Peruvian Meadowlark before arriving at our lodge before dusk. Tumbes Swallows at Bosque de Pomac www.tropicalbirding.com +1-409-515-9110 [email protected] Tropical Birding Trip Report Northern Peru: Across the Marañon Canyon, August 2017 Next morning after breakfast we checked the stream for bathing hummingbirds. None were feeling like taking a dip, but a couple of Purple-collared Woodstars were hanging around and a Long-billed Starthroat was hawking insects above. Long-tailed Mockingbirds, Croaking Ground-Doves, and White-tailed Jays were visiting a feeder and back near the rooms we saw our first White-winged Guans and some Plumbeous-backed Thrushes. Orange-crowned Euphonia was a nice surprise – they seem to be expanding their range in northwestern Peru. Soon after, a Tumbes Tyrant started singing and very quickly showed itself – a nice-looking bird! However it was possibly outdone by the Elegant Crescentchest that was just up the trail. The rest of the morning continued to be productive as we saw Harris’s Hawk, Red-masked Parakeet, Tropical (Tumbes) Pewee, Baird’s Flycatcher, Tumbes Sparrow, White-headed Brush-Finch, and Golden Grosbeak among others, and also paid a visit to the Spectacled Bear in the rehabilitation center. A few of the group got a glimpse of an Andean Tinamou though it would show better later in the trip. With most targets seen, we had a long and relaxing mid-day break. Some of the group photographed at the feeders, others went birding (finding a Striped Cuckoo), and others caught up on rest. We headed down the road in late afternoon, finding a Snowy-throated Kingbird and then waiting for dusk. Lesser Nighthawks came out first while it was still quite light, and a bit later a Scrub Nightjar put on a nice show as it flew up and down the road overhead. After dinner we tracked down a Peruvian Screech-Owl – it was a bit shy but I think everyone got a look. White-winged Guan Tumbes Tyrant We departed Chaparri after breakfast, though not before tracking down a Pacific Elaenia that we had missed the day before. There was still one major target that was inexplicably missing, Tumbes Hummingbird, and I wanted to have time to look for it along the road on the way out. During the search we had better views of Cinereous Finch, Collared Warbling-Finch, and Short-tailed Woodstar before finally finding a single Tumbes Hummingbird at a flowering bush. A bit farther along, Joel knew a spot for Peruvian Thick-knee and he spotted them quickly. We had a few other birds there www.tropicalbirding.com +1-409-515-9110 [email protected] Tropical Birding Trip Report Northern Peru: Across the Marañon Canyon, August 2017 like Plain-breasted Ground-Dove, Green Kingfisher, and Variable Seedeater before we said goodbye to Joel and headed towards the coast. We had a picnic lunch at the beach, quickly adding Kelp, Gray-hooded, and Gray Gulls to the list. Peruvian Pelicans and Peruvian Boobies were flying around just offshore, and a small flock of Elegant Terns was farther out. We moved on to some pond and wetlands, where a methodical search produced a Yellowish Pipit (a likely future split). The reedbeds had been partly cleared recently by a farmer, but there was still enough habitat for Wren-like Rushbird and Many-colored Rush Tyrant, which showed well along with some Chestnut-throated Seedeaters. A few other birds we saw around here included White-cheeked Pintail, Puna Ibis, Black-necked Stilt, American Oystercatcher, Killdeer, Whimbrel, Sanderling, and Least Sandpiper. Later in the afternoon we drove north of Chiclayo, spending a single night near Túcume. Cinereous Finch at Chaparrí. We left Túcume well before dawn so that we could be in the dry, montane forest of Abra Porculla just after dawn. Birds were already active when we arrived and quickly saw Line-cheeked Spinetail, Slate-throated Redstart (Whitestart), Black-cowled Saltator, and Rufous-chested Tanager before scarfing down a field breakfast and continuing our birding. Both Bay-crowned and White-winged Brushfinches were quickly seen along with Three-banded Warbler, Dusky-capped Flycatcher, Rufous-browed Peppershrike, Great Thrush, and Chiguanco Thrush. A Rufous-necked Foliage-gleaner popped up onto a small bush for a short time. Farther up the road we tracked down our primary target for this location, the endemic Piura Chat-Tyrant, and it gave us a good view while a flock of White-tipped Swifts shot past below in the bottom of the valley. A Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle soared overhead followed almost immediately by a Variable Hawk. We got close to a Henna-hooded Foliage-gleaner and I think one person glimpsed it, but it refused to cooperate. Other birds for the morning included Green-tailed Trainbearer, Ecuadorian Piculet, Smoky-brown Woodpecker, Rusty Flowerpiercer, Ash-breasted Sierra-Finch, Hooded Siskin, and Chapman’s Antshrike before we headed east over the pass and continued on to the steamy city of Jaen. We spent the afternoon in a nearby forest reserve hoping to get a few of the key birds of this area with mixed luck. We could find any inca-finches, but did find Drab Seedeater and Northern Slaty-Antshrike, which we would not see again on the tour, along with Tropical (Marañon) Gnatcatcher, Rufous-fronted Thornbird, Brown-crested Flycatcher, Streaked Saltator, and Purple-throated Euphonia. We spent one night in Jaén. www.tropicalbirding.com +1-409-515-9110 [email protected] Tropical Birding Trip Report Northern Peru: Across the Marañon Canyon, August 2017 Ecuadorian Piculet and Black-cowled Saltator from Abra Porculla Dawn saw us having another picnic breakfast along a dirt road about an hour north of Jaén, and we were fortunate to have a flock of Military Macaws fly right over us; I hadn’t seen them there in many years. Crimson-crested Woodpecker was also a bit of a surprise.