Tambopata Jacamars Bird Club

Puerto Maldonado, Peru

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Tambopata National Reserve
Peru's  Tambopata National Reserve is located between the basins of the Tambopata and Heath Rivers, in the department of Madre de Dios.   The Tambopata National Reserve can be reached by a 2-3 hour motorboat ride from Puerto Maldonado. The birds found here are much the same as those found in the larger Manu Reserve and Tambopata is more accessible and economical.  Many birders have heard of the famous Explorers Inn in Tambopata which first opened the area to tourists.

Purpose
The primary purpose of this trip which I did alone was to deliver some birding equipment to the local bird club.  This equipment included: 2 telescopes,2 tripods, 2 field guides, 3 other bird books, 2 green laser pointers.  The secondary purpose was to experience a clay lick.  It was a trip marred by relentless back pain which kept me sitting with a hot water bottle on my back most of the time. This is the first time a physical condition has interfered with a major trip.  I have been  very lucky.

Here is my guide and the founder of the Tambopata Jacamars Bird Club, Richard Amable with equipment provided by the Birders Exchange: binoculars, Kowa telescope,Valbon tripod, field guide, and green laser pointer (in his shirt pocket). The picture was taken at the top of the tower at Refugio Amazonas. Using my Cannon Powershot which is really not the best camera for digiscoping, Richard was soon taking some decent pictures which I have used in this report.

Overview
The travel agent for this trip was Rainforest Expeditions.  I am an unremarkable person not rich or strong.   If I can make this trip alone, other people can do it too.

August - September is the best time for visiting Tambopata because the clay licks are most active at that time. Remember Peru is south of the equator, so September is the equivalent of our spring.

Logistics
For a complete description of the logistics of this trip please see Visiting Tambopata Reserve.

The trip up river to the Tambopata Research Center can take up to eight hours depending upon the current and the depth of the river.  To break this up a bit we spent the first night at the Refugio Amazonas also owned and operated by Rainforest Expeditions.  This is a very comfortable lodge and I had my own room with a full bath attached.  See Visiting Tambopata Reserve for more pictures of the lodge.

Boat Trip to Refugio Amazonas
I was picked up at the airport by my pre-arranged private guide Richard Amable. After a short stop at the headquarters of Rainforest Expeditions we boarded a bus for the trip to the river port at Infierno.  The bus goes slowly over the rough road, but it does not stop for birds.  I saw Smooth-billed Ani and Russet-backed Oropendola and on the return trip I a Blue-fronted Jacamar. We left the port at Infierno just after noon and headed up river.

The boat trip is comfortable, the water calm, and the engine not too noisy.  There were good birds to be seen along the way and the guide would have the boat stop for really good birds. Yellow-headed Vulture, Black Vulture, White-winged Swallow, Black Caracara, Giant Cowbird, Bare-necked Fruit Crow, Southern Rough-winged Swallow, White-necked Heron, Cattle Egret, Snowy Egret, Collared Plover, Lesser Kiskadee, Great Kiskadee

On entering the refuge we had to stop at a check in point and climb the stairs to sign the book. One of the first birds I saw here was a familiar Vermilion Flycatcher. According to Birds of Peru this bird which I had seen in Lima on a previous trip is a permanent resident along the coast and an austral migrate east of the Andes Mountains. So how is this bird related to the Vermilion Flycatcher of Texas and southern Arizona?

Dusky capped Flycatcher, Tropical Kingbird, House Wren Blue-fronted Dove and Chestnut-fronted Macaw
 

On the boat trip from Infierno to Refugio Amazonas we were served a hot lunch.  It was a combination of vegetables and rice wrapped in banana leaf.  When you were finished eating you could throw everything into the river except the paper napkin and the plastic fork.  This was a great lunch.

Our first clay lick was on the river bank were Red and Green Macaws were busy eating the mineral clay.  We were sharing the boat ride with a group from Switzerland  Only one man in the group seemed to be interested in anything and we helped him see the Macaws.

Rising smoke along the river is a sign of  slash and burn agriculture.  The farmer first cuts all the vegetation on a plot of ground.  When the cut vegetation is dry, it is burned.  Seeds are planted in the ashes. Unfortunately within a few years the soil is depleted and the a new plot must be destroyed. Rainforest soils are not very fertile as the roots of the trees take up all the minerals.

On the return trip five days later we had Horned Screamer, Rufous Motmot and a Long-tailed Hermit Hummingbird.

Refugio Amazona
We arrived in the afternoon and started birding on the half mile walk to the lodge.  The evening activity  was a hike to the river to look for caimans.  Since I had seen several caimans on the boat trip and was very tired from the long trip, I passed on this opportunity and went to bed early.

At night I heard Screaming Piha and the Tawny-chested Screech Owl.   I actually heard lots of forest noises.  Those were the only ones I knew. The next morning there was a Thrush-like Antpita outside the room.
 

Tower
At 5:30 AM the next morning, Richard and I headed for the tower taking a handful of finger bananas. We waited while two other groups climbed the tower and then headed back for breakfast.  We settled down for three hours of excellent birding. The tower stands 90' high in a small clearing.  It has room for a very limited number of people.  We saw two monkeys that morning: Dusky Titi Monkey and a Squirrel Monkey.

As a wave of birds passed around us we identified: Paradise Tanager, Flame-crested Tanager, Green and Gold Tanager, White-tailed Trogon, Crested Oropendola, White-fronted Nun Bird, Dusky-capped Greenlet, White- winged Becard, Gilded Barbet, Yellow-tufted Woodpecker,Yellow-bellied Danis, Green Honeycreeper, Blue-headed Parrot, White-throated Toucan (formerly Cuvier's Toucan) , Yellow-ridged Toucan (formerly Channel-billed),Golden-colared Toucanet, Brown-mandible Aracari, Curl-crested Araceri , Masked Tanager, Pale-vented Pigeon, Cobalt-wing Parrot, Mealy Parrot, Red-throated Caracara, Yellow-rumped Cacique, Golden-green Woodpecker, Casqued Oropendola, Amazonia Oropendol, Red-rumped Cacique, Bare-necked Fruit Crow, Scalet Macaw, Plumbeus Pigeon,  Crane Hawk, Yellow-browed Tody Flycatcher.

This is a male Golden-collared Toucanet perched in the open near the tower. Notice that the base of the bill is green.  According to Birds of Peru the base of the bill is red in the subspecies reinwardtii north of the Amazon and green in longsdorfii south.

These two pictures taken by Richard through the scope are of the Curl-crested Aracari. Five birds were flying from tree to tree around the tower in what seemed to be courting display.

We return to the lodge too late for breakfast, but the kitchen staff laid out some food for us. The program for non-birding guests was a 2 hour hike to a lake where the Giant Otter is sometimes seen. 

We headed down to the river to take the boat north to Tambopata Research Center. I was really sorry to leave as there were still many trails to walk and birds to see here.