Bird Tours Peru - Southern Circuit
Southern Peru Circuit (14/15 days)
Although the Southern Circuit does not give as many bird species as our other main tours, it offers a lot of special birds not seen on other itineraries. No other agency offers this route. This tour is suitable for birders that visit Peru for the second or third time. Highlights: condors in the Colca Valley, specialists of the Southern dry Andes like Earthcreepers, Canastero´s and Miners, the very localised Tamarugo Conebill, Andean - & Puna Flamingo´s at Salinas, Andean Avocet, the flightless Short-winged Grebe, Puna Rhea, pelagic birds and last but not least the Sandia Valley with the endemic Green-capped Tanager and a lot of Bolivian species that occur in the extreme south of Peru.
Day 1- to the Colca Canyon
Leaving Arequipa we wend our way between the volcanoes El Misti and Chachani on the way to the national reserve of "Salinas y Aguada Blanca". Here we encounter vicuñas, one of the two wild members of the Camelid family, Mountain Caracaras and Variable (Red-backed) Hawk. We will see a variety of ovenbirds and sierra-finches. We pass the night in a hotel in Chivay.
Day 2- Colca Valley
The first hours are reserved for one of the highlight of the trip: seeing
Condors at close hand. For this we visit Cruz del Condor, the place where
the canyon reaches his deepest point. Other birds of prey and Andean Swifts
are also present here. The rest of the day we look out for species like
the endemic Dark-winged Canastero, Giant Hummingbird, Andean Hillstar, Black-winged
Ground-dove, Slender-billed Miner, Canyon Canastero, Streaked Tit-Spinetail
and others. We spend the night in the same hotel in Chivay.
Day 3- to Lampa
On our way out we stop at the high pass of 4800 m.a.s.l. and will search for species like Diademed Sandpiper-Plover, Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe, Puna Snipe, White-throated Sierra-Finch and White-winged Diuca-Finch. Back on the paved road we head north in the direction of Juliaca, stopping at 2 different lakes for Andean Avocet, Puna Plover and Giant Coot. We sleep in a very pleasant hotel in Lampa (near Juliaca).
Day 4– Huancané Lakes to Sandia
We will dedicate this day to high elevation birding, beginning with a few hours in the reed-fringed lakes near Huancané. Here our main target will be the threatened and flightless Titicaca Grebe, while we will also pick up a good selection of other high Andean waterfowl, possibly including Andean Avocet, Andean Ibis and a variety of ducks. Through the day we’ll drive through spectacular puna habitat, looking for Puna Canastero, Hellmayr’s Pipit or even Short-tailed Finch en route. In the afternoon we’ll descend into a steep-sided valley, stopping for Tawny Tit-Spinetail and other goodies on the way to our basic hotel in the town of Sandia.
Day 5– Sandia Valley
The valley bellow Sandia is home to one of Peru’s most localized birds – the enigmatic Green-capped Tanager. As well as this species, the area can produce a variety of surprises: bamboo patches harbour Yungas Tody-Tyrant and Two-banded Warbler; mixed flocks may include Versicoloured Barbet, a variety of tanagers and even Creamy-bellied Antwren, which we found here in 2006 – a significant range extension for this poorly-known Peruvian endemic. In the afternoon we’ll drive on to San Juan del Oro for another clean but simple hotel.
Day 6– San Juan del Oro Valley
We’ll spend this day birding the patchy forest below San Juan del Oro. Possibilities are numerous and birding is generally very active; in past visits we have seen Ochre-cheeked Spinetail, Jet Manakin, Upland Antshrike, Rufous-crested Coquette and Bar-breasted Piculet among other more widespread lower montane forest species. In the afternoon we’ll arrive at Curva Alegre, where we’ll set up camp for the night near the Río Tambopata.
Day 7– to Palmerani
This day we’ll walk the track to the tiny village of Palmerani while our equipment is transported by vehicle. The first part of the trail is through relatively humid forest where we can find a variety of Amazonian species such as Tawny-throated Leaftosser and Yellow-crested Tanager. Moving into slightly drier forest dominated by shade-grown coffee, we are likely to find pairs of Rufous-winged Antwrens, White-bellied Pygmy-Tyrant, hummingbirds including Violet-headed Hummingbird and Grey-breasted Sabrewing, and some good flocks including Guira Tanager and Cinnamon-faced and Bolivian Tyrannulets. This area is poorly-known and has good potential to produce some surprises; one previous visit included sightings of Rufous-headed Woodpecker, Red-billed Tyrannulet and several small groups of Military Macaws. We will camp for the night in Palmerani.
Day 8- Palmerani
We'll have a full morning in the Palmerani area to hunt for local specialties - especially Yungas Antwren, which we recorded on a previous visit, and Bolivian Recurvebill, which has been seen previously is this almost unexplored area. There are many other interesting birds possible; recorded on our exploration of the area were White-browed Hermit and Large-headed Flatbill. In the afternoon, we'll head back to the main road and drive out to San Juan del Oro for the night in a hotel.
Day 9- Abra Marancunca
This is a spectacular site and the highest elevation forest we visit on
this trip. It is the only site in Perú for the extremely difficult
Scimitar-winged Piha, but we're more likely to see other great birds such
as Blue-banded Toucanet, Scarlet-breasted Fruiteater, Ochre-breasted Antpitta,
White-eared Solitaire and Hazel-fronted Pygmy-Tyrant. Hummingbirds can be
seasonally abundant and varied here, with Buff-thighed Puffleg, Brown Violet-ear
and Green-fronted Lancebill among the possibilities. In the late afternoon
we'll leave this wonderful but threatened patch of montane forest and drive
to Sandia for the night.
Day 10- to Puno
We'll make an early start from Sandia and bird our way to Puno, looking for thistletails (we've recorded them, but which species they are is so far unknown), hummingbirds, finches and seedsnipe en route.
Optional day in Puno for people that like to do a boat trip on lake Titicaca (this should make the itinerary 15 days).
Day 11- to Moquegua (Puna Rhea)
We start with a drive through a beautiful desert-like landscape to an area halfway Moquegua and Puno. Here we hope to see our main target today: the in Peru critically endangered Puna/Lesser Rhea. In the same area we will see Puna Miner, Bright-rumped & Puna Yellow-Finches. Just before Moquegua we will stop for Slender-billed Finch. Night in hotel in Moquegua.
Day 12- Mejia
After a two hour drive to the reserve of the Mejia Lagoons we will spend some hours at the lagoons and along the shore in order to see Red-fronted Coot (a scarce local speciality amongst the 2 subspecies of Andean Coots), Least Bittern, Pied-billed Grebe, White-cheeked & Yellow-billed Pintails, , pelicans, gulls, terns, waders, swallows, Yellowish Pipit, Grassland Yellow-Finch, Chestnut-throated Seedeater and many more. We hope to arrange a night visit to the reserve in order to have a change for Blackish Rail.
Day 13- pelagic trip, back to Arequipa
On a six hour pelagic trip we may Black-browed Albatross, Cape- & White-chinned Petrels, lots of Sooty Shearwaters, Wilson´s -, White-vented- , Markham´s - & Ringed Storm-petrels, Chilean - and South Polar Skuas and perhaps some surprises like Giant Petrels as we have seen before. In the afternoon we drive back to Arequipa.
Day 14- Chiquata and Salinas
Within 40 minutes from Arequipa there is near the small village of Chiguata an excellent place for White-throated Earthcreeper and Black Metaltail. Higher on in the vegetation of Gynoxis and Polylepis we can find Tamarugo Conebill, but only between June and October. No-one knows where the birds are going for the rest of the year. In the same area we can encounter Black-hooded Sierra-Finch, d´Orbigny´s Chat-Tyrant and Thick-billed Siskin. If there is enough water in the lake we drive on to Salinas for Andean- & Puna Flamingo´s. At this high altitude salt lake there are also different species of Ground-tyrants, Cordilleran Canastero, Grey-breasted Seedsnipe and Golden-spotted Ground-doves.
Price Information
| Price p.p. in US dollars | Southern Circuit - 14 days | ||
| Number of pax | 2 | 3 | 4-7 |
| + bird guide | 1830 | 1590 | 1350 |
| extra day lake Titicaca | 80 | 80 | 80 |
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TANAGER TOURS | |
| La Estrella F-9 | ||
| J.L. Bustamante y Rivero | ||
| Trujillo - Perú | ||
| Phone: | +51 44 423752 | |
| e-mail: | info@tanagertours.com | |
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