Tambopata Jacamars Bird Club

Puerto Maldonado, Peru

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Visit To Tambopata Page 2 by Emmalee Tarry September 2008 Refugio Amazona Tambopata Reserarch Center Refugio Amazona - One more day Bird List

Up the Tambopata River
In the afternoon we resumed the boat trip up the Tambopata River which takes up to five hours depending upon the water levels and the currents.  The boat was a bit more comfortable with padded seats that faced forward.  We are now penetrating deeply into the reserve. The vegetation along the banks is denser and we are seeing more birds.

Heading up the river. Guy at the front is responsible to push the boat off sand bars. Everybody wears an attractive orange life vest.

We had a river otter playing in the current.  This is not the Giant Otter sometimes seen on one of the lakes near the lodge.  We also had a group of 5 Capybara bathing along the river bank.

A tapir is as elusive as a Jaguar and we were lucky to see this one on the river bank on our downstream return trip. Above a group of Capybara come down to the river edge.

Gold mining along the lower reaches of the Tambopata River.  One man ownes several gold dredges and pays others to work the river bank.  The miners disrupt the beach which will probably return to normal with several floods.  The negative environment impact comes from the Mercury they use to form an amalgam with the gold.  The effects of the Mercury on the wildlife including the fish of the river is being studied. Two years ago I visited the Inkaterra Lodge which is down river from Puerto Maldonado on the Madre de Dios River.  River fish was on the menu.  No fish was served on this trip.

We stopped at a clay lick that was visited by Cobalt-winged Parakeets.

Other river birds were: Little Blue Heron, Snowy and Great Egret, Cocoi Heron, Capped Heron,  Amazon Kingfisher, Black Skimmer, Ladder-tailed Nightjar, King Vulture, White-winged Swallow, Plumbeus Kite, Roadside Hawk,  Little Black Hawk, Bat Falcon, Violaceous Jay,Purplish Jay, Yellow-billed Tern,   Large-billed Tern, Amazon Kingfisher. 

One Orinoco Goose standing on the river bank was a rare sighting. This bird, once common in the Amazon delta, is now rare and restricted to more remote portions of the Madre de Dios drainage of which the Tambopata River is a tributary.

Once again we stopped at the second entrance station and climbed the stairs to sign in. White-colared Swift, Neotropical Cormorant, Great Black Hawk (3). We saw three shorebirds: Pied Lapwing  and Colared Plover residents of Amazonia, Greater Yellowleg and  Spotted Sandpiper migrants from North America. Richard says that at some times there are many more shorebirds along the river banks. The current was quite swift toward the end of the trip and the two pilots had to supplement the gasoline engine by polling the boat. On the return trip several days later we added: Razor-billed Curasow ( heavily hunted but common),and  Moscovy Duck. We saw only one Osprey which is a boreal migrant ( breeds in the north and migrates to Peru during the northern winter). The return trip went much faster as it had rained the night before and we were going down stream. That was good because we were anxious to bird at the Refugio Amazona in the afternoon.

The beautiful little Pied Lapwing stands on sand bar in the river. It is a resident of Peru.

What we didn't see on the boat trip were any gulls.

Tambopata Research Center
This lodge was actually built as a research center.  It is now used for both tourists and researchers who sometimes live for several months in the lodge.  I was there when one weary researcher from New Mexico came back from a full day of hiking.  He pulled off his muddy boots and headed to the shower. 

One evening he shared some of his photographs with us. His project is to document the number of Jaguars in Tambopata. The elusive Jaguars don't want to be counted and he rarely sees one.  He works by setting up motion sensitive cameras at strategic places hoping to capture a photo of a Jaguar.

It is hard work studying the rainforest and you can understand how the TRC provides a welcome home away from home. In the evenings the researchers sometimes present talks on their project.

There are no feeders at the research center.  This means you will see a disappointing number of hummingbirds. The Long-tailed Hermit came to the thatched roof of the lodge to collect spider webs for its nest.

One of the most active research projects studied Macaws in the vicinity of the center.  Macaws usually lay 2-3 eggs, but only raise one chick.  The additional eggs are insurance in case the first chick is lost.  The project removed the insurance eggs and raised them by hand to increase the number of Macaws.  The hand raised  Macaws  learned to hang around humans waiting for handouts.  As adults, they trained their chicks to do the same thing. The hand raising project was abandoned.

The descendants of the hand raising project are called Chicos or children and like to hang out in the rafters of the dining room waiting for a handout.  When the buffet style meals are served there is an  attendent armed with water sprayer on "chico duty". Chicos make beautiful models for visiting photographers. Who can resist photographing a Scarlet Macaw in the rafters of the dining room.

Royal Flycatcher Nest
Our bird walk the next morning  started right at the TRC studying a large tree outside the dining room.  White-shouldered Tanager, Piratic Flycatcher, Pink-throated Becard, Black-faced Dacnis, Blue-headed Macaw, Blue-crowned Trogan. One tree had: Crested, Amazonia, and Russet-backed Oropendola.

Then we hiked down the trail to the location of a known Royal Flycatcher nest getting a fleeting look at a Spinx Guan.  The nest hung over a small creek near a small shelter built to house a water pump.  The nest looked like little more than debris caught in the tree.

We saw some beautiful butterflies in the rainforest. This one was very common and is shown here  perched on my hand. Richard had a butterfly book, but we never got around to using it. Next trip bring a book.

Pale-winged Trumpeter
As we turned away from the Royal Flycatcher nest we spotted a large bird on the trail. It was the Pale-winged Trumpeter a relatively rare bird of the eastern lowlands dependably found only  in less disturbed forest.   The bird has large white wing tips which when folded provide a white rump appearance. I was happy to see one, then two, eventually 10.  Richard knew they were around because he had been hearing their harsh calls. We saw the flock again a day later so they must have been hanging out in the area.

Trumpeters are large birds that look like waders, but live on the floor of humid forests feeding on fallen fruits and insects.  They do fly and roost in trees at night.

Pale-winged Trumpeter on the trail at the TRC

Other birds we saw on the trails were: Ruddy-tailed Flycatcher, Red-crowned Ant Tanager. There are also White-lipped Pecary in the rainforest around the TRC. This is a different species from the Collared Pecary of the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Or maybe not. I am not a mammal expert.

The World's Largest Clay Lick
The next morning was our first trip to the Colpa de Guacamayos, the world's largest known clay lick. We hiked back to the river and went by boat to an island across from the red clay cliff.  The Parrots and Macaws eat the clay to extract the minerals they need in their diet. They probably do this all year long, but in August and September they do it in impressive numbers.

I was in terrible pain with my back injury. Richard kindly carried this wonderful chair to the clay lick for me.  It was perfect.  The other guests include a couple from Arizona and a lady from Austria. Part of the clay lick seen from the island before the birds arrive.

The clay lick is best in early morning.  When we arrived it was completely empty. Soon the flocks of macaws and parrots began to arrive and perched in the trees above and to the side of the mineral cliff. Of course they are all squawking.  Then in large groups all of the same species, the birds fly in to eat the clay.  The larger species get their pick of place.

Above Blue-headed Parrots and right Blue and Yellow Macaw perch in the tree tops before descending to the clay lick.

First a large flock of Blue and Yellow Macaws swooped down from the trees and gather in a long line on the red bank.  They are followed by troops of  Scarlet Macaws, Blue-headed Parrot.  Each species in its own place. Unfortunately a Roadside Hawk perched high on the cliff greatly diminished action at the clay lick on this morning.  Part of the group went back the next day and saw many more birds.  Richard and I choose to walk the trails at the TRC and waited until the third day to return.  That was the morning it poured down rain. It was a hard call between birding the trail and returning to the clay lick. 

Above Blue-headed Parrot flock and right the beautiful Blue and Yellow Macaws.

Our clay lick list: Blue and Yellow Macaw, Scarlet Macaw, Red and Green Macaw, Red-bellied Macaw, Blue-headed Macaw, White-eyed Parakeet, Dusky-headed Parakeet, Cobalt-winged Parakeet, White-bellied Parrot, Orange-cheeked Parrot, Blue-headed Parrot, Yellow-crowned Parrot, Mealy Parrot.

The clay lick at Tambopata is one of those birding experiences even a non-birding spouse or other relative can enjoy. The scope was really valuable at the clay lick.  Here I am looking at the beautiful Macaws and Parrots.

On The Trail at Tambopata Research Center
In  a single tree at TRC there were nest holes occupied by a Dusky-capped Parakeet, Chested-fronted Macaw and a Scarlet Macaw. Just sitting in a chair during the hottest part of the day watching these nest holes, I saw Lemon-throated Barbet, Lettered Aracari, Blue and Yellow Macaw, Yellow-throated Woodpecker and a Saddlebacked Monkey.

Amazonia Barred Woodcreeper, White-necked Thrush, Ruddy Quail Dove, Banded Manakin.

Long-tailed Potoo high in the canopy and very hard to spot.  Richard was able to point it out to me with the green laser pointer.  These pointers will revolutionize rainforest birding.  The red lasers work also, but the green are much better.  I ordered the pointers from the internet for $40 a piece.  Don't go to Peru without one. Take several and leave at least one for the guides. Actually they will work anywhere where the bird is in the shade.  Only bright sunlight destroys the effectiveness.

A wide eyed Tawny-bellied Screech Owl guarded of its hole. We spotted the hole from about 50 feet and Richard walked toward it to scratch on the tree.  There was no need as the owl popped right out and gave us this wide awake stare.  I suspect this is a nest.  This is the owl I heard at night at Refugio Amazona.

Sungrebe A trip over to an oxbow lake near the clay lick produced really good looks at the Sungrebe a very elusive little duck like bird which is neither a duck or a grebe, but belongs to the Finfoots or Heliornithidae.  They live in slow moving water or in oxbow lakes with heavy vegetation overhanging the side under which they often hide. I have seen the Sungrebe at El Cielo in northern Mexico, but was never able to take such a good picture of the male.

We also had Hoatzin at the lake.  The air had become very hot and humid, a sure sign that rain was on the way.  On the way back we met two young women who were working with the research groups.  They had been clearing heavy vegetation with machete.  Sure enough it rained that night and most of the next morning.