Inca treasures

Say Peru to most people and they will think of the Incas, Machu Picchu and the Nazca Lines. But to Chris Harbard the country conjures up images of the Andes, the Amazon and rainforest – all full of birds.

Peru boasts an impressive total of more than 1,810 bird species, including a staggering 254 flycatchers, 132 tanagers and 127 hummingbirds. The many endemic bird areas within its boundaries are home to an amazing total of 117 endemics, and there are an additional 115 species with restricted ranges. More than 50 new species of birds have been discovered there during the past 50 years.

With figures like these, it comes as something of a surprise to find that wildlife tourism, and specifically tourism aimed at birders, is relatively new to the country. But things are changing, and plans are afoot to cater for birders in many parts of Peru.

There is, for example, a new initiative, to be known as the Central Peru Birding Trail, which promises to lead intrepid birders into areas rich in endemic species, and this is just one of the many ventures currently being considered throughout the vast area that comprises Peru’s land mass.

Amazon and on

The southern part of the country, which contains some massive national parks, is a favourite destination for birders and many head for the town of Cuzco, an hour’s flight from Lima, and from there to nearby Manu. Our group went further, flying on to Puerto Maldonado, where the great Madre de Dios and Tambopata Rivers meet. From the air we saw a vast blanket of Amazonian rainforest, with brown rivers snaking across it and a few small clearings, in one of which was the tiny airport at which we landed. Our first destination, Posada Amazonas, was about an hour away by boat and as we arrived there we were greeted by our first hummingbird, a glittering Gould’s Jewelfront hovering at a flower. The lodge, like many in the area, is built of natural materials and is staffed mostly by members of the local community, which benefits from the proceeds while conserving the environment for eco-tourism.

As we entered the forest the trees towered above us, filled with unrecognisable noises. Was that a bird? A frog? An insect? Thankfully our trip guide Matt and local guide Silverio were familiar with all the calls. We were soon watching two of the forest’s more colourful inhabitants, a Collared Trogon and a Broad-billed Motmot, both perched still and silent among the leaves. A large dark shape in a tree ahead proved to be a Spix’s Guan, our first sighting of one of South America’s most exciting and persecuted families.

Suddenly there were birds everywhere – a bright Crimson-crested Woodpecker climbing a trunk, an Amazonian Barred Woodcreeper with its more cryptic brown plumage, and Yellow-browed Tody-Flycatcher, Masked Tityra and Amazonian Oropendola providing a taste of the delightful birds (and bird names) to come.

Birding an unfamiliar country is frustrating; the sounds are unidentifiable, the birds themselves can be tricky to distinguish and even the trees are alien. We were in a dry or terra firma forest that contained walking palms (with stilt-like roots above ground that enable the tree to shift towards the light) and huge brazil nut trees. The latter are to be avoided when fruiting as they produce large woody capsules that contain 20 or more nuts and weigh 2 kg. As the trees can grow up to 45 m, a falling capsule could easily kill you.

The giant bamboo forests of the Amazon rainforest form a unique ecosystem that contains some very special birds and other wildlife. Rufous-headed Woodpecker, Warbling and Goeldi’s Antbirds, Bamboo Antshrike, Flammulated Bamboo-Tyrant and White-cheeked Tody-Tyrant all put on a show for us, unlike the Peruvian Recurvebill which we only heard.

We learned that the rainforest is a place to watch your step; not only are the paths occasionally very muddy, but those muddy patches may reveal an interesting spoor. Silverio stopped suddenly at one patch and pointed down to the unmistakable outline of a Jaguar’s paw. From that moment on we had the feeling that eyes were watching us – and they were. They belonged to a family of Dusky Titi Monkeys, and further along some Red Howler Monkeys were looking down at us too. A noisy pigeon suddenly drew our attention to a furry shape on a branch that turned into a Tamandua, a small golden-coloured anteater with a long prehensile tail.

As we made our way back to the river, Silverio put his finger to his lips and stealthily walked off the path into the trees. About 50 metres in, he beckoned to us and pointed up to another shape, a large dark one, in a tree. This became a Spectacled Owl glaring down at us.

A trail from the lodge took us to a canopy tower that, from a height of more than 40 m, looked out across the tree-tops and down to the river. The view was breathtaking (as was the climb) and it was exhilarating to be perched up there with toucans and macaws flying past. The first bird we saw didn’t look special but in fact it has the longest avian scientific name in the world: Empidonomus aurantioatrocristatus, otherwise known as Crowned Slaty Flycatcher. Close by, a pair of Gilded Barbets displayed to each other and on a distant tree a Grey-bellied Goshawk looked down on the forest.

Birds can be found anywhere in the rainforest: some species feed on the ground, others prefer the upper canopy and yet more occur in between. Large areas of forest seem birdless, then suddenly burst into a frenzy of activity as a mixed flock appears. Fifty or more species are feeding side by side and, frustratingly, you can identify only a small number of them, especially if they are high in the canopy and you are on the ground!

Along the river

Several hours upriver from Posada Amazonas is the Tambopata Research Centre, our home for the next couple of days. The forest around it is full of tanagers, aracaris and parrots, and as we explored we found the first puffbirds of our trip, including the rare Semicollared Puffbird. Other more unusual species we encountered there included Swallow-Tanager, White-throated Jacamar and Scarlet-hooded Barbet.

Just along the river is one of the largest macaw clay licks in the world. Positioned opposite it before dawn, we waited for the birds to arrive. First we heard loud calls, then in the faint light we made out longtailed shapes gathering in the tree-tops across the river, just above a clay cliff face. These were the first of five species of macaw to arrive: Blue-and-yellow and Scarlet, soon to be joined by the smaller Chestnut-fronted and Red-bellied, and a pair of very rare Blue-headed.

They began to land on the cliff and eat the clay, breaking off large pieces and swallowing them. Being rich in kaolin, the clay helps to neutralise toxins the parrots ingest in the course of the day as they consume leaves and seeds. There were also flocks of smaller White-eyed and Cobalt-winged Parakeets, as well as Orange-cheeked, White-bellied and Blue-headed Parrots. When thousands of birds visit the clay lick, it becomes a truly colourful and spectacular sight.

River journeys are relaxing and good for seeing some birds. We had amazing views of a superb Razor-billed Curassow just above the bank, and Jabiru, Orinoco Goose, Sungrebe (with its bicoloured lobed feet) and Horned Screamer were species we saw only from the boat. Most impressive was the flock of 400 Sand-coloured Nighthawks that took off from an island as we passed, swooping and hawking around us. Other wildlife we saw included a single caiman and several Capybara, the world’s largest rodent.

Andes high

The second leg of our trip took us along part of the northern birding circuit. We flew to Tarapoto to  meet our guide, Fernando, who over the next few days would show us a bewildering array of species on a whistle-stop tour of incredibly different habitats. From Tarapoto we drove up the eastern slope of the Andes into an area where we just penetrated the cloud cover. Some large birds in a mist-shrouded tree were revealed as rare Wattled Guans, while a flock of tanagers kept us busy identifying Black-faced, White-lined, Paradise, Bay-headed and Masked. Euphonias were also plentiful, with Bronze-green, Orange-crowned and White-vented, as well as Blue-naped Chlorophonia. The residents here were joined by wintering birds such as Canada Warbler in the vegetation and Swallow-tailed Kites overhead.

Our next stop was Abra Patricia, at the top of the Andes on the eastern side, where we looked for one of the area’s specialities, Royal Sunangel. Sadly, our hunt for this beautiful hummingbird was unsuccessful, although we did manage some other target birds here, including White-capped Tanager and Grey-breasted Wood-wren. At lunchtime some of the local park rangers told us about the new lodge being built to encourage ecotourism to the area. It was in this region that the fabled Long-whiskered Owlet was discovered, and there are many other good birds to be found. Only a couple of hundred yards from the restaurant, right by the road, we watched open-mouthed as a delightful small red-headed bird flitted in front of us – the recently described Lulu’s Tody-Tyrant!

From the town of Pomacochas we climbed a neighbouring hill to seek out one of Peru’s specialities, a tiny hummingbird aptly named the Marvellous Spatuletail. The male has an amazing tail that makes it look as if it is being chased by two butterflies as it whizzes past. Over several hours we were treated to views of at least three males and several females, which seemed to be attracted to some small red-and-purple flowers and a tree with large bunches of yellow flowers. With funding from the 2004 British Birdwatching Fair, an area nearby is being planted with these trees to attract the spatuletails.

Andes low

As we left the eastern Andes, we began to encounter a whole new set of species, such as Marañon Crescentchest, a brightly coloured tapaculo, and Necklaced and Marañon Spinetails. Below the  Andean forests we entered a flat region that looked like desert, with huge, many-armed cacti and large thorny bushes. It proved to be rich with endemics, and a stop at a rubbish tip brought us Little Inca Finch, Marañon Gnatcatcher, the Marañon subspecies of Collared Antshrike and plentiful Longtailed Mockingbirds. A more vegetated valley further along the road introduced us to the brightly coloured Golden-bellied Grosbeak and the large and noisy Fasciated Wren, the males of which sport amazingblack-and-white stripes.

We continued westwards into yet another new habitat and more new species. Tumbesian dry forest covers the western foothills of the Andes and is home to one of the rarest birds we would see: the critically threatened White-winged Guan. Classed as extinct for 100 years, it was rediscovered in the 1970s and we were lucky to see a dozen or so birds at Quebrada Limon, the site of their rediscovery. As we watched them leave their roosting area, one perched, backlit, on a bromeliad-covered branch – a truly memorable sight. The forest contained many more new birds, including the tiny Pacific Parrotlet, Guayaquil Woodpecker, Tumbes Tyrant, Tumbes Pewee and White-edged Oriole. Long overdue was the first sighting of an Andean Tinamou, the only tinamou species we saw.

From the forest we visited the Bosque de Pomac, a reserve that protects some archaeological sites containing burial pyramids from the Moche civilisation, as well as a large area of woodland with huge carob trees. Here we found the endangered Peruvian Plantcutter and local specialities Cinereous Finch, Tumbes Swallow and Rufous Flycatcher.

White-winged Guan has been successfully reintroduced at Chaparrí Ecological Reserve (with British Birdwatching Fair funds), and here we watched a pair at the nest. This fascinating reserve is an evocative illustration of just how eco-tourism can work, given the ingredients of simple accommodation, trails around the area and abundant wildlife. An addition is the pool where hummingbirds – notably Tumbes and Amazilia Hummingbirds, and Purple-collared Woodstar – bathe at dawn, hovering like a cloud of insects as they queue for their turn. Spectacled Bears occur in the area and several rescued individuals are looked after on the reserve. A nearby wetland provided some welcome waterfowl, including Comb Duck, Andean Coots, Chilean Flamingoes and Black-faced Ibises.

Our birding in northern Peru drew to a close at Puerto Eten on the coast, where we added Belcher’s and Grey Gulls and Peruvian Boobies, and in vegetation at the edge of a pool we found a gorgeously ornate Many-coloured Rush-Tyrant.  A final treat, just south of Lima, was a boat trip along the coast to see Inca Terns, Peruvian Pelicans, Humboldt Penguins and Peruvian Seaside Cinclodes.

With more than 450 species seen or heard, our trip list underlined Peru’s huge birding potential. Moreover, it is good to know that Peru’s tourism authority is expanding its portfolio from the archaeological wonders that have attracted visitors for decades to include wildlife as a major attraction. With so many different habitats and species, the country is, in my view, the best in South America for birding. It is accessible too, with a growing number of locally run, ecologically sound lodges that employ native guides. While the Central Peru Birding Trail has yet to gain the cachet of the Inca Trail, it is every bit as spectacular.

Acknowledgements

Birdwatch visited Peru courtesy of PromPeru.

Getting there

If you are planning your own trip, two Peruvian companies that can arrange accommodation and guides are recommended: Rainforest Expeditions (www.perunature.com) and Inkanatura (www.inkanatura.com). A number of bird tour companies now run holidays and  expeditions to Peru, including Avian Adventures, Birdfinders, Birdquest, Birdseekers, Limosa, Naturetrek, Ornitholidays, Sunbird, Toucan Tours and Travelling Naturalist.

Where to stay

Posada Amazonas is jointly owned by Rainforest Expeditions and Ese’eja Native Community of Tambopata. Both this lodge and Tambopata Research Centre can be contacted via Rainforest Expeditions. Chaparrí EcoLodge is run by Heinz and Anahi Plenge: for more information see www.chaparrilodge.com.

Books

    * Birds of Peru by Douglas F Stotz, Daniel F Lane, Thomas S Schulenberg and John P O'Neill (Helm, London. ISBN 0713686731).
    * A Field Guide to the Birds of Peru by James F Clements and Noam Shany (Ly nx Edicions, Barcelona, 2001. ISBN 0934797188).
    * Field Guide to the Birds of Machu Picchu and the Cusco Region by Barry Walker (Nuevas Imágines S A, Lima, 2005. ISBN 9972901599).
    * Field Guide to the Birds of South America. Non-passerines: from Rheas to Woodpeckers by Jorge R Rodriguez Mata, Francisco Erize and Maurice Rumboll, (Collins, London, 2006. ISBN 0007150849).

Online resources

PromPeru, the national tourist office, maintains a very good website at www.peru.info. For in-depth information about birds and birding in Peru, visit www.perubirdingroutes.com.