Neotropical Birding

Shorebirds Workshop in Lima

Yesterday I attended an excellent workshop on identification of shorebirds organized by the Peruvian NGO CORBIDI with support from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, BirdLife International and the Universidad Científica del Sur. This is one of three workshops that has been organized along the Peruvian coast to train volunteers for the national shorebirds census.

During the workshop, Richard Johnston from Calidris (Colombia) introduced us to key characteristics that allow birders to identify some of the most difficult shorebirds. If you’ve ever tried to distinguish between different Sandpipers of the genus Calidris in the field, then you know very well it is not an easy task.

Then Marshall Illiff from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology gave a presentation on the new webpage eBird Peru. eBird is an online collaborative project which is open to all birders. The information from eBird is used by scientists in several ways; it helps to identify priority areas for conservation and maps the migration patterns and distribution of birds. If you don’t have an account at eBird I recommend you open one and use it for sharing your observations.

Marshall Illiff | Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Finally, the best part of the workshop – the field work! We were lucky to go to the Villa Marshlands near the city of Lima to test the knowledge we had learned in the morning. We were able to observe and easily identify some species such as the Semipalmated Plover, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Spotted Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs and the Peruvian Thick-Knee, among others.

Semipalmated Sandpiper | © Jean Paul Perret

Today, February 11th, the census was conducted simultaneously along the coast of Peru, a great effort to know the status of migratory birds in Peru. Congratulations to CORBIDI for organizing this great event.

First Long-whiskered Owlet video

The Long-whiskered Owlet (Xenoglaux loweryi), one of the most elusive birds in the world, was watched and photographed on January 24^th in the town of La Esperanza in Peru. The Owlet was observed by Shachar Alterman, an Israeli birdwatcher who joined a Neotropical Primate Conservation project to carry out birds’ surveys in the region, Noga Shanee, co-founder of the organization, and Edin Fonseca, a local guide who find the bird.

Long-whiskered Owlet was discovered in 1976, when it was caught in the mist nest of a Louisiana State University team. Since it was first sighted, the owlet was found only a very few times. It is endemic to a small area in the Andean mountains in Amazonas and San Martín in northern Peru. It is restricted to cloud forests with dense undergrowth and epiphytes at about 1890-2200 meters (6200-7220 ft) above sea level and is categorized as endangered species by IUCN Red List.

On the same night the owlet was found, the N.P.C group heard no less than five birds which responded to the recorded calls played by the team. No previous record of such dense population exists so far. Two other species of rare and endemic birds; Rusty-Tinged Antpitta and the Johnson’s Tody-Tyrant were identified in Peroles at the same trip.

This is only the fourth time this rare bird is ever seen in the wild – and the first time it is captured on video.

After 50 years, Andean Condors are spotted in Leymebamba

After 50 years of absence, the Andean Condor has started to regain lost ground in the mountains of Leymebamba in the Amazon region of Peru.

In the last months of 2009, residents of this area of cloud forest saw two pairs of Andean condors flying over the mountains. A juvenile was later found when, in trying to learn to fly, it broke a leg and was caught in the trees. Fortunately it was rescued by the researcher Adriana von Hagen who took care of the juvenile for three weeks until it completely recovered and was subsequently released.

Juvenile Andean Condor | Adriana von Hagen

The Forestry and Wildlife authority of the Amazonas, took the opportunity to raise awareness among local people, who have the mistaken belief that the carrion birds are to blame for the death and disappearance of their cattle and other animals.

The Andean Condors are associated with the popular Lake of the Condors which is in the vicinity of Leymebamba, where several years ago archaeologists uncovered hundreds of Chachapoyas mummies that are now part of an exhibition in the Leymebamba Museum.

Good morning, Ms. Kestrel

Today, just after I woke up I noticed that a female American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) was perched on the palm outside my window. Take a look on how she takes care of her feathers before she goes ~~to work~~ hunting.

_MG_1382 III

_MG_1407 II

All photos © Jean Paul Perret

Peruvian endemics

Today we will start a new series of posts about the endemic bird species of Neotropical countries. Each week we will talk about five bird species endemic to one of the countries within the Neotropical region. An endemic species is an organism that exclusively inhabits a particular geographic region or environment. The Neotropical region is by far the richest region in the world, with over 3000 endemic bird species.

This week we will start with Peru, an amazing country with over 120 endemic bird species.

Long-whiskered Owlet (Xenoglaux loweryi)

Song

Link to song file

Best place to see: Abra Patricia, Northern Peru