| New England Seabirds | Wandering Birder || Peru 2006 |
| Peru May 2006
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 Cuvier's Toucan- formerly kept as a pet, this bird shows up daily for handouts at the lodge. |
The purpose of this two week trip to Peru was the celebration of my son Roland's marriage to Rosa Andrade of Lima, Peru. I spent the first week touring Cuzco and the Sacred Valley to Machu Picchu with my daughter, sister and brother in law. The best birding of that week occurred at the Inkaterra Pueblo Lodge in Agua Calientes near Machu Picchu. There is another hotel just outside the gates of Machu Picchu that is supposed to be the best hotel in Peru. If you are a birder you do not want to stay there but rather at the Pueblo Hotel in Agua Calientes.
After the wedding in Lima, I journed to the Inkaterra Reserva Amazonica Lodge near Porto Maldonado in the Amazon Jungle. I had never taken such a trip except on a Victor Emanuel Nature Tour with an expert guide. I had no idea was birds I could see joining a group of non-birders with a guide not dedicated to birds. I took my chances. As soon as the lodge recognized I was a serious birder they assigned their best birding guide Ricardo Amble. I had a wonderful week.
From the window of the Marriott Hotel in Lima facing the Pacific I had Peruvian Bobby , Peruvian Pelican, Kelp Gull, Laughing Gull, Pacific Dove, Croaking GroundDove.
At the Monastastario in Cuzco I had Giant Hummingbird and Chiguanoco Thrush. in the garden.
Peru is divided by the high Andes mountains into the coastal plain ( dry, foggy, well irrigated by rivers) and the eastern slope of wet humid tropical jungles. Machu Picchu is located in the mountains on the eastern slope.
I am most impressed with Peru's tourism industry. It is well organized and the people who provide service are well trained.
Machu Picchu Pueblo Lodge
After we climbed around Machu Pichhu for five hours ( Correndera Pipit ), we returned to Agua Calientes and the Pueblo Hotel absolutely exhausted from the exertion at high altitude. The Pueblo Hotel in Agua Calientes is an amazing place right on the river and at 6:30 AM they have a morning bird walk with a very good guide name Betzy. They have hummingbird feeders and place bananas in the trees to attract tangers and other fruit eaters.
On the train ride to Agua Calientes my daughter and I spooted over 15 Torrent Ducks. We saw both males and females standing on rocks, swimming and flying. If you manage to miss them from the train, we also saw two in the river from the Pueblo Hotel. Hummingbirds: Green Violetear, the endemic Green-and-White, Chestnut-breasted Coronet and Booted Racket-tail.Flycatchers: Sclater's Tyrannulet, Plumbeus-crowned Tyrannulet,Black Phoebe,Golden-crowned Flycatcher, Tropical Kingbird. Also White-capped Dipper, Inca Wren, Southern House Wren, Gray-breasted Wood wren, Dusky-green Oropendola, Slate-throated Whitestart, Thick-billed Euphonia, Saffron-crowned Euphonia, Blue-necked Tanager, Silver-backed Tanager, Blue-gray Tanager, Hepatic Tanager.
Inkaterra Reserva Amazonica
After the wedding in Lima, I flew to Puerto Maldonado. The newly arrived guests were transported on the river to the lodge where we were divided into groups of 5-6 individuals and assigned a guide. Since I was a "Birder" I was a group of one with the lodge's best bird guide Ricardo Amble.
I spent 5 nights at the lodge which afforded 3 full days of birding. I saw 109 species. I am sure a professional guide using a tape recorder to lure forest birds would see more. The guides use only bird calls they make. After climbing around at altitude, I was very happy to walk the flat trails and to ride in the boats on the river. One day we walked the trails around the lodge. On another trip we went by boat to lake where there were Hoatzin , Ladder-backed Nightjars and Rufous-headed Woodpecker. Monkey Island in the middle of the river is home to 3 species of released monkeys that are being fed by researchers. This was a very good birding place where we got Double-colared Seedeater ,Chestnut-bellied Seedeaters, Dark-billed Cuckoo, Red-necked Woodpecker and we saw the monkeys.
I saw my first Great Tinamou ( actually saw the bird) and my first Green and Rufous Kingfisher.You can see all the kingfishers here except the Belted. I saw Green, Amazon and Ringed. I also saw Black-fronted, White-fronted Nunbird and Swallow-winged Puffbird.We had a pair of Black-spotted Bare-Eye which is an antbird. Screaming Piha from the canopy walk. Hoatzin, Ladder-tailed Nighjar,
We did very well on Macaws and Parrots probably because this is Ricardo's speciality. He once worked on a research project in Brazil where he hung from a rope seat watching Macaw's nest all day long day after day. Chestnut-fronted Macaw, Red-bellied Macaw, Blue-headed Macaw, White-eyed Parakeet, Dusky-headed Parakeet, Rock Parakeet, Cobalt-winged Parakeet, Canary-winted Parakeet, Blue-headed Parrot, Mealy Parrot.
The Black-faced Cotinga an area endemic made a pass around the lodge almost every day. One of the only disappointing things about Reserva Amazonica was the lack of feeders. They have a single seed feeder that seems to attract nothing. The kitchen workers have a table at the far edge of the lawn where they put out fruit for the Scarlet Macaws that frequent the area. This fruit attracts tanagers and the cotinga, but is too far away from the lodge for people to sit comfortably and watch. The Scarlet Macaws are pets that have been released and hang around to the delight of the guests. The Cuvier's Toucan seems to have arrived in the same way. A good fruit feeding table near the lodge would be a major attraction.
Canopy Walk
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This is Ricardo on the canopy walk at Reserva Amazonica. There are two towers 100 feet tall at either end of the walk.. Between the towers are tree platforms connected by suspended walkways. Experienced people like Ricardo triped along the walkways barely holding on. I walked very slowly and deliberately clutching the side ropes. Birding from the walkways is hard because unless you are absolutely still, it sways. The platforms provide excellent birding sites.The lodge plans to extend the canopy walk in the future. |
| We kept hearing the Amazonia Pygmy Owl while we were
on the tower. Only when we reached the final platform did we see it perched in
a tree. Ricardo took this picture through his binoculars. At first the owl had its back to us, but when Ricardo imitated the call it turned right around and faced us.. This was a wonderful way to see this bird. Had we been on the ground we probably would never have seen it or if we did it would have been over 100 feet above us. |
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| On the River Common Herons and Jaiburu, Cocoi Heron, Capped Heron, Collared Plover, Pied Lapwing and Swallow-tailed Kites. The lodge provides umbrellas for rain and for sun. Here our cheerful boat captain uses an umbrella on the up river trip in the afternoon. We got stuck on a sand bar twice and the guides had to jump into the river to free the boat. |
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Here I am with my guide Ricardo Amble in the dining room of the lodge.He purchased his own binoculars saving up for some time. A sure sign he is hooked on birds. |
| This is the outside of the cabins at Reserva Amazonica. The one on the left is my cabin #35. At night there are kerosene lanterns on the porches and walks. In the future all cabins will have electricity and hot water. I refused to have a kerosene lantern in the cabin for fear of fire and used my flashlight at night. Doing without electricity at night was part of the ambiance. I do think the hot water showers will be welcome. |  |
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This is the inside of my cabin. The bed enclosed with
mosquito netting. The porch had two hammocks and two rather awkward
chairs. In the evening I read in the dining room where there was electricity and lights. |
Puerto Maldonado Bird Club
As described by Ricardo, the bird club has 6 members and is called Pajarareros de Madre de Dios. Madre de Dios is name of the Department ( state) of Peru where Puerto Maldonado is located on the banks of River Madre de Dios a tributary of the Amazon. Of the six founding members, two work in the city as a mechanic and bartender. The other four like Ricardo are guides at the lodges along the river. The most famous of these lodges is the Explorers Inn.
 This picture shows an expanded bird club mostly with guides from Reserva Amazonica. They are an enthusiastic group. This is the only bird club I know about in South America. Most importantly this bird club was founded by locals and not European or America expatriots. If there is hope for the birds of Peru it lies with these young birders. |