Day 11 Over the Andes

We checked out of the hotel after an early breakfast and drove upwards to a pass over the Andes. On the way we passed some cliff nest holes of Andean Flicker with at least four birds in attendance. We stopped at around 3,000 metres, seeing Tyrian Metaltail (a hummingbird and not a character from Game of Thrones), Shining Sunbeam, Moustached Flowerpiercer, the unexcitingly named Drab Hemispingus, a few spectacular Scarlet-backed Mountain-Tanager, Violet-throated Starfrontlet and Blue-capped Conebill.

Wild Lupin

We crossed the pass at 3,600 metres and went for a short walk and despite the low cloud and poor visibility, still managed to see our two main targets: White-chinned Thistletail and Coppery Metailtail, one of the latter just managing to avoid being grabbed by a hunting Aplomado Falcon.

Dropping down the other side of the pass we encountered an Andean Fox by the side of the road. At another stop we saw our first Peruvian Pigeon and later, a few Buff-bridled Inca-Finch. 

Andean Fox (Culpeo)

Buff-bridled Inca-Finch

Lunch with the obligatory bottle of Inca Kola

We had a late lunch in the rather sleepy town of Balsas then walked up a dry riverbird in the blazing sunshine. It was hard going but after a while we saw our target when two Yellow-faced Parrotlets flew over. Luckily one landed on a cactus and fed while we edged closer for better views and photos.

Searching for parrotlets along this dry riverbed

Yellow-faced Parrotlet

We then drove on again, stopping for Grey-winged Inca-Finch and Chestnut-backed Thornbird before crossing another pass onto the west slopes of the Andes where we dropped down to Celenden to spend the night. 

Grey-winged Inca-Finch

The hotel resembled a building site as it was being extensively refurbished and with the restaurant being closed, we ate out in town.

Day 10 More hummingbirds

Another rainy start but it improved after breakfast to an occasional light drizzle so we walked up the road looking for bird flocks. Across the river was a pair of Slaty-backed Chat-Tyrant while the first flock we encountered contained Silvery and Blue-and-Black Tanagers and White-banded Tyrannulet. 

Slaty-backed Chat-Tyrant

Cinnamon Flycatcher

Golden-rumped Euphonia

Hillside

 

Further stops produced a Purple-throated Sunangel - you have to admit that hummingbirds do have the best names: Sunangel, Woodnymph, Starfrontlet, Trainbearer, Fairy, Hermit, Sylph, Comet, Sunbeam, etc, they’re just Brilliant. Oh, and that’s another one.

Grey-breasted Mountain-Toucan

Streaked Tufted-cheek

We continued our quest of seeing more birds with double-barrelled names, adding Slaty-backed Nightingale-Thrush, Grey-breasted Mountain-Toucan and Streaked Tufted-cheek to the list. The last two are also pretty smart looking too with the latter bird really puffing out its cheeks to show why it’s so named. We climbed to around 2,800 metres so it felt fairly cold at the top when we got out for a walk where we saw a pair of Yellow-billed Teal and a group of Andean Flickers.

river at 2,800 metres

Yellow-billed Teal

Torrent Duck

White-capped Dipper

On the way down we still saw plenty of new birds including more Torrent Ducks and another White-capped Dipper on the river, plus three White-collared Jays, our third species of Jay during the trip and two flyover Andean Condors.

White-collared Jay

We stopped at a lodge for lunch while watching the hummingbird feeders and then had a wander around the grounds, finally getting a good look at a Rainbow Starfrontlet.

Rainbow Starfrontlet

We visited another road in the afternoon, adding Black-crested Warbler, Rusty Flowerpiercer and Green-tailed Trainbearer before re-trying the lower slopes of the road where we’d been in the morning. Our driver located two more Condors perched up on the hillside and we finished the day with a fly-catching Sword-billed Hummingbird.

Sword-billed Hummingbird

Day 9 To Leymebamba

We heard a White-throated Screech-Owl walking down to breakfast and the rain started again before we’d finished so we delayed leaving. However it didn’t stop and we had to get going so we just drove back to Huembo Gardens where it wasn’t raining to watch the feeders again. We got more great views of Marvellous Spatuletail and managed to improve our photos, before walking around the trails and through a shade coffee plantation. Over the valley a Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle flew over, the first time I’ve looked down on one of these usually high-altitude raptors.

Marvellous Spatuletail

Sparkling Violetear

Black-throated Woodpecker

Shade coffee

In the wooded area among the shade coffee crop we saw Lesser Goldfinch and a juvenile Roadside Hawk that was at first reluctant to leave its nest but eventually flew off. 

juvenile Roadside Hawk

The rain arrived at lunchtime so we ate under umbrellas before leaving and headed off to our next stop. 

First we stopped for a close Andean Guan and as we drove further along a river valley we started seeing more new birds such as Fawn-breasted, Buff-bellied and Blue-and-Yellow Tanagers, Maranon Thrush, the endemic Speckle-chested Piculet, Line-cheeked Spinetail, Torrent Tyrannulet and Rufous-capped Antshrike as well as Inca Jay and Black Phoebe.

Black Phoebe

Great Thrush

Inca Jay

We checked into our hotel and walked around the block of this quiet but pleasant town to the restaurant for dinner.

Insects of Northern Peru

On this trip we encountered many moths (particularly at Abra Patricia), butterflies, beetles and other insects, none of which I’ve managed to identify so I’ve put together this gallery in case anyone can put a name to any of them.

Butterfly 1

Butterfly 2

Butterfly 3

Butterfly 4 - a fritillary?

Butterfly 5

Moth 1

Moths 2 & 3 [2 is a Hawkmoth sp]

Moth 4

Moth 5

Moth 6

Moth 7 (or possibly a butterfly) 

Moth 8 [same Hawkmoth as 2]

Moth 9 [also a Hawkmoth]

Dragonfly

Beetle 1

Beetle 2

Day 8 Abra Patricia and rain

After breakfast we went around the local trails again seeing Crimson-mantled and Smoky-brown Woodpeckers, more flycatchers – Sierran Elaenia and Pale-edged Flycatcher, plus White-sided Flowerpiercer and Grass-green Tanager. Around the cabins were a couple of Mountain Wrens and a Variable Antshrike hoovering up the moths, while on the feeders we finally caught up with the spectacular looking Sword-billed Hummingbird. 

Smoky-brown Woodpecker

Variable Antshrike

We took a longer loop trail into the forest and climbed up an observation tower overlooking the canopy that swayed any time someone walked to the other side. It was actually fairly quiet at the top but we did see White-collared Swift and Glossy-black Thrush.

View from canopy tower

Back on the trail we only added Rufous Spinetail before the rain came down heavily and continued all the way back to the lodge. There was no point doing anything else until it stopped so we just chilled out for the rest of the morning.

After lunch it fortunately stopped raining so we drove/walked down the road for a bit and made a few stops. At the first stop we had a brief view of a Royal Sunangel and a flock went through which included at least four Scarlet-bellied Mountain-Tanagers, a single Rufous-crested Tanager and several other species that we encountered yesterday. There were also some butterflies feeding on the flowers.

orange butterfly sp

Scarlet-rumped Caciques

We returned to the same lodge as yesterday to try the hummer feeders again. On the way in there were three calling Scarlet-rumped Caciques. This time there was no Belgian causing disturbance by re-arranging the feeders but we didn’t see anything different so we went back to the road. 

Booted Racket-tail

Lesser Violetear

Long-tailed Sylph

White-bellied Woodstar

On a stretch of river we had brief views of a White-capped Dipper. We arrived back at our lodge early evening and were really pleased to find two close Yellow-scarfed Tanagers feeding around the car park – one of the endemics we’d been looking for for the past two days. Incidentally, can you think of any other birds named after an item of clothing?

There was one late addition after we’d had dinner and done the bird log – a Swallow-tailed Nightjar was feeding just outside the restaurant and had perched on one of the buildings, no doubt feasting on the moths that were gathering around the lights – an unanticipated feeding station!

And as for bird names featuring clothing – the only one I can think of at the moment is Red-gartered Coot.