– We have never sought the “lechusita” in this forest, but maybe it is here – said Noga Shanee, director of the NGO Neotropical Primate Conservation.

Although I know that the odds of finding it in this forest are low (we are only 15 minutes from one town), my senses are alert to any sound or movement around me. We sit in the woods, amid the darkness and Noga plays the recording of Long-whiskered Owlet … silence.

The Workshop

We got up very early and the house is full of movement. Noga and her husband Sam, are responsible for setting up everything for the workshop.

– It’s a mystery how many people will come to the workshop, we put a notice on local radio and we got answers from people coming from very remote communities.

Pepe and I look at the final details of the PowerPoint presentation in my laptop. We are in La Esperanza, a small community at 6500 feet above sea level and a few miles from the Abra Patricia reserve created by the American Birding Conservation to protect one of the rarest birds in the world, the Long-whiskered Owlet. In Abra Patricia ECOAN and ABC built the Owlet Lodge where hundreds of bird watchers travel every year in search of this mythical bird. While birding at Abra Patricia is absolutely incredible (one of the best places in Peru), the fact is that less than 5 people may have seen Long-whiskered Owlet in that area. Then a year ago it was discovered that this owl is a “common” species in the forests of La Esperanza. The community decided to protect their forests to conserve not only the owl, but also the endemic Yellow-tailed Woolly-Monkey.

Pepe Orihuela, Neotropical Birding Tours guide, during the recent birding workshop in La Esperanza

Gradually the participants began to arrive. We have 16 people and we think it is time to start the workshop. Pepe welcomed all participants to the first training workshop for bird guides. One by one the participants present themselves and we realize that we have a very diverse audience – community leaders, university students, scholars, all united by an interest in birding. Time flies between slides about the shapes of beaks, flight patterns, songs, bird families, birding ethics and more.

All the attendees participate and enrich the workshop experience. We note that we came not to teach anything, they know their forest and their birds much better than us. I explained a little about the importance of mnemonics to remember the songs of birds and the leader of the Rondas Noe Rojas tells us about the Quien quien, a local name for the Green Jay that describes his song in Spanish very well.

Future birding guides testing their binoculars

In the afternoon we descend once again into the woods along the river… it is to put into practice all we learned in the workshop. All participants have binoculars we’ve managed to gather and some copies of the guide to Birds of Peru donated by the NGO CORBIDI. Some birds quickly began to appear.  A pair of the endemic Speckle-chested Piculet explores the branches of an old cedar at close range while another endemic, the Peruvian Tyrannulet, announces his presence singing from a close tree. Below, a mixed flock consisting of Montane Woodcreper, Silvery Tanager, Streaked Xenops, Gray-mantled Wren, Rufous-crested Tanager and Barred Becard surround our group. We closed the day with a beautiful pair of Metallic-green Tanagers.

The next day we went again to the forest, this time Ronald Mego joined us.  He is a young teenage guide who can claim to be the person in the world who has seen the Long-whiskered Owlet the most times in the world. Also with us is Deyner Fernandez from the community of Primavera, who had traveled seven hours to attend the workshop.  He is one of the best birders here.  This young teen has a unique ability to find the more secretive birds in the forest.

Searching birds inside the forest

Again we find a mixed species flock at a short distance from the community. The Tanagers as Flame-faced, Metallic-green, Blue-and-black, Beryl-spangled, Saffron-crowned and Silvery are the favorites of everyone for their rich colors. A few yards down by the river, an elusive Bar-winged Wood-wren allows us to hear his song as he explores the dense river vegetation.

Metallic-green Tanager | © Jean Paul Perret

Soon after arriving Ronald has to leave us; there is a group of bird watchers and he has to lead them on a 3 hour hike into the forest where the owlet lives. Later we learned that he managed to find an owlet in addition to four groups of Yellow-tailed Wooly-Monkeys, a group of the endemic Andean Night-Monkey and even an Ocellot.

We left La Esperanza (“The Hope” in English) very excited about what we have seen in recent days with the promise to return soon.

In an effort to preserve the Long-whiskered Owlet habitat, the local NGO ECOAN created a private reserve around Abra Patricia, an area that now is famous worldwide for birders. Many tourists visit Abra Patricia hoping to find this bird, but despite their efforts they usually never see it.

In 2009, the Israeli birder Shachar Alterman was able to find Long-whiskered Owlets living in a forest 30 km. from Abra Patricia, outside the protected area. This place has become the best (and only) place to observe this species. So far five groups of birdwatchers have visited the area and they all have observed the Owlet as well as two other rare and endemic species of birds; Rusty-Tinged Antpitta, Johnson’s Tody-Tyrant. Another very interesting species that can be observed in these forests includes the Yellow-tailed Woolly Monkey, also in danger of extinction with a restricted range in northern Peru.

Yellow-tailed Woolly Monkey | © Noga Shanee/NPC

Shachar Alterman was part of a group of enthusiastic conservationists from the Neotropical Primate Conservation. They are trying to protect the forest area through a partnership with the local community. The community has taken the first steps to have this area designated as a protected space by the national government. Their greatest hope is that ecotourism will help protect the forest and the species that inhabit it, including the Long-whiskered Owlet.

It takes approximately three and a half hours to reach this area through difficult terrain. But this hike is a small effort in comparison to the rewarding experience of seeing this rare species in its habitat.

How can you help?

• Our company wants to support the efforts of the community, La Esperanza, by offering tours to this forest. This tour will include a short visit to the Florida/Pomacochas area where you can see another beautiful and endemic species including the Marvelous Spatuletail hummingbird. You can also combine this trip with a longer visit to the area around Abra Patricia. For more details please see our information page. If you want to set a date for this tour or if you have questions please feel free to contact us.

• Additionally, our company is evaluating a compensation scheme for carbon emissions for all tours available in Peru. Proceeds will go directly to Neotropical Primate Conservation (NPC) to support the conservation of these forests.

• Neotropical Birding Tours will also make a donation to the NPC reforestation program to plant 50 trees for every tourist that take part in this tour.

• If you can’t travel to the area, but want to contribute to the project, please consider making a donation directly to Neotropical Primate Conservation.