At the Reserve’s entrance, in the transition zone between the desert and the oasis, one of the first birds to appear is the endemic Coastal Miner that runs very fast over the sand, digging small holes underground. Further along the road, where low vegetation starts to flourish is the best area to look out for the handsome Least Seedsnipe that often hangs around the road in small flocks. Also, keep an eye open for the Burrowing Owl that is extremely common here, but blends in very well with the landscape. If you come during the austral winter you have good chance of seeing the display flights of Yellowish Pipit one kilometer before the reserve control post. But be prepared for a brief sighting, this small bird is very hard to spot when it lands in the vegetation.

Coastal Miner | © Jean Paul Perret

Least Seedsnipe (male) | © Jean Paul Perret

Burrowing Owl | © Jean Paul Perret

Yellowish Pipit | © Jean Paul Perret

Vegetation begins to become more dense at the control post, with thick bushes and even some introduced Eucaliptus trees that are the favorite spot for the Black-chested Buzzard-Eagles and Variable Hawks. Be sure to pay attention to the differences in juvenile plumages in these raptors. From here the car road descends into a valley, ending in a parking area next to a cafeteria.

Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle | © Jean Paul Perret

There is a well maintained trail system that traverses most of the reserve, but many of the target birds can be seen in a small loop trail that takes just a couple of hours to follow. Starting at the cafeteria take the trail that goes to the right through a gentle slope. In this area Cinereous Conebill, Band-tailed Seedeater and Collared Warbling-Finch are very common. Before reaching the higher part of this small hill closely examine the trees at the bend of the trail, they are usually full of Mountain Parakeets. This area is also the best place to see hummingbirds. The Peruvian Sheartail, Purple-collared Woodstar and Oasis Hummingbird love the Nicotiana flowers that grow here.

Collared Warbling-Finch (male) | © Jean Paul Perret

The trail now splits in two. The path that goes to the right descends into a small valley with a water hole that is the only water source throughout the reserve. It is a nice respite to sit a few meters from the water hole. Just wait a few minutes, and then the action begins. Band-tailed Sierra-Finch, Bare-faced Ground-Dove, Hooded Siskin and many other bird species came here to drink. This is especially true during the dry season from December to May. The austral summer is also the best time to see the nomadic endemic Raimondi’s Yellowfinch who visits this water hole in flocks that can reach more than one hundred birds.

Raimondi’s Yellowfinch | © Jean Paul Perret

Continuing along the trail, I usually take the first detour to the left that goes back to the parking area. Along this stretch of the trail, among the big rock boulders is the territory of the endemic Thick-billed Miner.

Thick-billed Miner | © Jean Paul Perret

Perhaps one of the best birds in Lachay is the Cactus Canastero, here the lachayensis race lives in a small drier valley behind the reserve. However, getting there is another story since this area is closed to tourists and can only be accessed if you ask for a permit.

Cactus Canastero | © Jean Paul Perret

If you want to visit Lomas de Lachay on your next trip to Peru send us an email, we are happy to provide you with directions, birding guides, transportation or whatever you need!

Striated Earthcreeper

Rufous-breasted Chat-Tyrant

Plain-colored Seedeater

Welcome back! I have been traveling in Peru during the past several months and have been unable to update the blog recently. Now that the rainy season makes it more difficult to travel around the country I will take some time to share with you more information about Neotropical Birding’s latest tours.

I decided to give this blog a new format. Instead of writing long articles I will have a weekly theme that will be developed with very short posts. The theme this week is "Birding in the Cordillera Blanca."

I was fortunate to travel to the Cordillera Blanca a couple of months ago with a client. This range is part of the Huascaran National Park located 400 km north of Lima. The altitudinal range within the park allows for a varied mosaic of vegetation types, from humid Polylepis forests to arid lands covered with cactus.

Glaciers cover most of the 180 Km mountain range | © Jean Paul Perret

The first day of our tour we visited a low area near the town of Pueblo Libre where an isolated un-described population of Creamy-breasted Canastero lives around columnar cacti.

Pueblo Libre | © Jean Paul Perret

Undescribed ssp. Creamy-breasted (Pale-tailed) Canastero | © Jean Paul Perret

Creamy-breasted (Pale-tailed) Canastero nest | © Jean Paul Perret

In this same area there are also other endemic species such as Spot-throated Hummingbird, Plain-tailed Warbling-finch and Raimondi’s Yellow-finch.

Spot-throated Hummingbird | © Jean Paul Perret

Check back later this week to learn more about our tour to the Cordillera Blanca.

– 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.

Cactus Canastero | © Jean Paul Perret

Cactus Canastero nest | © Jean Paul Perret

Cactus Canastero habitat | © Jean Paul Perret

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.

   

At least that’s the general rule; however in a few places with special climatic conditions, there are forests that look like the tropical eastern rainforests. The upper valley of the rivers Piura, Chira, La Leche and Zaña have these pockets of rainforest due to their proximity to Equator and due to the lower height of the Andes at these locations. This lack of height allows the passage of moisture-laden winds from the Amazon to these western slopes. These forests have unique bird life and are part of the center of endemism called the Tumbesian region.

Chachacomo forest in Lima

Further south, as move south away from the Equator and as the Andes gain altitude, forests become more scarce and are only present in the upper parts of valleys where Queñua (Polylepis sp.) forests are found at altitudes exceeding 3800 meters. Further down in the middle elevations of these valleys, between 2000 and 3000 meters, there are very few places that sustain deciduous forests dominated by trees like Chachacomo (Escallonia resinosa).

  Purple Collared Woodstar | © Jean Paul Perret

Perhaps one of the best studied Chachacomo forests is the Zarate forest in the department of Lima. These forests were studied by the famous ornithologist Maria Koepcke in the 50s and 60s. Koepcke’s investigations led to the recognition of the fact that many bird species typical of the cloud forests of the eastern slopes extend their ranges to the western slopes of the department of Lima. Species such as Band-tailed Pigeon, Tyrian Metaltail, Red-crested Cotinga and the Fawn-breasted Tanager, typical of the eastern cloud forests have isolated populations in these western forests.

 Pied-crested Tit-tyrant | © Jean Paul Perret

Koepcke’s investigations not only allowed us to know these extensions in the distribution of birds, but they also unveiled new species like the White-cheeked Cotinga discovered in the forest of Zarate, a place relatively close to Lima the capital of Peru in the year 1954, and the Russet-bellied Spinetail on the slopes of the department of Ancash.

Many endemic bird species live in these western slopes of central Peru, for example the Black-necked Woodpecker, Rusty-bellied Brush-finch, Rusty-crowned Tit-Spinetail, and Black Metaltail. All of these species can be observed along the Santa Eulalia Valley and the Zarate forest in Lima.

  Rusty-bellied Brush-finch | © Jean Paul Perret

Bare-faced Ground-Dove | © Jean Paul Perret

To see more bird photos visit my Flickr account.

Chaparrí is a reserve that protects 34 thousand hectares of dry forest in the Tumbesian Endemic Bird Area. The reserve covers an altitudinal range that goes from 150 m to 1350 m, which encompasses a great variety of habitats. This variety of habitats is correlated with the reserve’s great diversity of birds; over 200 species have been registered at Chaparrí and in its surrounding area, including more than 40 Tumbesian endemics. Among these bird species include some gems such as the Tumbes Tyrant and the reintroduced White-winged Guan. But Chaparrí is not only about birds, in these forests you can also found Spectacled bears, Pumas, White-tailed Deer and the Sechura Fox.

Spectacled Bear | © Jean Paul Perret

Sechura Fox | © Jean Paul Perret

One of the great opportunities of this trip was to see Chaparrí during the rainy season. As mentioned above, Chaparrí is located in a dry forest which means that from May to December most trees lose their leaves due to the lack of rain. Trees near the small creeks keep their leaves all year and became a refuge for birds and other animals. The rest of the year, from January to April, the forest changes its character entirely. With seasonal rains the trees regain their leaves. The air fills with the fresh sensation of the moist forest and the sweet smell of the Palo Santo tree (Bursera graveolens) and the birds begin their breeding season.

 Landscape at Chaparrí | © Jean Paul Perret

We were lucky to spend a few days birding in this area, observing birds such as Long-billed Starthroat, Tumbes Hummingbird, Scarlet-backed Woodpecker, Collared Antshrike, Brown-chested Martin, Plumbeous-backed Trush, White-tailed Jay, Cinereous Finch (endemic), Tumbes Sparrow and, of course, the reintroduced and endangered White-winged Guan among others.

 White-tailed Jay | © Jean Paul Perret

Our next trip to this area will include the Marañón Valley, home to many endemics, and the de Abra Patricia and Pomacochas area where you can catch a glimpse of mythic birds such as the Long-whiskered Owlet, the Marvelous Spatuletail Hummingbird and many other recently described species.

 White-winged Guan | © Jean Paul Perret

 Burrowing Owl | © Jean Paul Perret

 Tropical Gnatcatcher | © Jean Paul Perret

 Tawny-crowned Pygmy-Tyrant | © Jean Paul Perret

The Marvelous Spatuletail is a small hummingbird restricted to a tiny area inside the Uctubamba Valley in the Peruvian Andes.  This  small hummingbird is known from three areas (north and south-east of Leimebamba, the Chachapoyas area and Florida, on the shore of Lago Pomacochas).  However, the only recent records are from Florida.

It lives at the edge of humid forest, secondary growth and in dense shrubbery. Its preferred food-plant is the red-flowered lily Alstroemeria (Bomarea) formosissima, but it has been observed feeding on at least five other species of flowering plant.

The breeding season is thought to run from late October to early May. Adult males (which are greatly outnumbered by females and immature males) gather at leks where they display to attract females.

Distribution Map

Map: Xeno-Canto

As this bird species is restricted to a small area of habitat, it is classified as an endangered species according to BirdLife. Fortunately, there are some conservation projects going on to help this situation. ECOAN, a Peruvian NGO, with the support of the American Bird Conservancy, is working to create a reserve for this hummingbird and to restore it’s natural habitat. Ecotourism could play an important role in the conservation of the Marvelous Spatuletail by giving an alternative income to the local population in such as way as to simultaneously support the preservation of the bird’s habitat.

Perhaps one of the most striking features of this species is the extremely long male raquet tail. Take a look into this video to see how the male use his tail to attract females.

Need more information? Read this fully detailed species account from the Threatened birds of the Americas.

Plate: John Gould (1849): A Monograph of the Trochilidae, or Family of Humming-birds, plate 161.