We headed straight to the lower slopes of the road we
visited yesterday for a field breakfast.
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| Breakfast in the field |
Birding along the road we had brief
views of a Red-crested Cotinga that refused to perch in the open for photos. A
Black-throated Flowerpiercer was more obliging as was Golden-billed Saltator.
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| Black-throated Flowerpiercer |
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| Golden-billed Saltator |
We carried on climbing
up the road to just over 3,000 metres and saw both trainbearers,
Black-billed Shrike-Tyrant and Ash-breasted Sierra-Finch. Another stop added our
first Brown-bellied Swallow, White-tailed Shrike-Tyrant and a flyover Andean
Gull, the only one of the whole trip. A fetid roadside pool had a Plumbeous
Rail that showed itself a couple of times before scurrying back into cover.
We walked along a little track where the bushes were
bustling with birds including Rainbow Starfrontlet, Brown-backed Chat-Tyrant
and best of all, a pair of Black-crested Tit-Tyrant. It was then time to start
heading back down although we stopped a few times for Cream-winged Cincloides,
Rufous-webbed Bush-Tyrant and a trio of Sierra-Finches: Plumbeous,
Peruvian and Mourning.
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| Mourning Sierra-Finch |
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| Peruvian Sierra-Finch |
All of the towns we drove through had bunting hung up over the streets for a local festival they have at the end of February.
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| Peruvians re-creating the cover of Abbey Road |
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| Motorbike taxis are the commonest transport |
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| Hotel in Cajamarca |
We drove on to Cajamarca to our last hotel, right on the
edge of town complete with extensive gardens. We had time for a wander round,
seeing a rather tame Great Egret on the pond, several Great Thrushes looking and behaving like Blackbirds from home, and a Spot-throated Hummingbird.
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| Great Egret |
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| Great Thrush |
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