Trip Report - Arequipa - Mejia - Moquegua - Puno
June, 2005
Text by Wim ten Have (guide), photos by Bonnie Olson
An American couple that has lived in Peru for 3 years, Bonnie and Jim Olson asked Tanager Tours to do a special tour near Arequipa. Before their return to the U.S. they hoped to see a few more birds for their Peru list from the area. Their wish list contained 20-25 species, all lifers or Peru ticks, and they wanted to spend their time looking for these, not on general birding.
June 11: Arequipa: day trip to Chiguata-Salinas
The first targeted species, White-throated Earthcreeper, can be found near Chiguata. We had a long search in an area where in December 2004 I'd found a nest hole and two pairs of the bird. We had nice views of Black Metaltail, Giant Hummingbird and Mourning Sierra-Finch but no Earthcreeper. I tried another spot where I've seen it before, but also without result. Not a real good start and it made me a little bit nervous. Happily the clients understood that special birds do not always turn up. We returned to the original spot and there it was! Although it was visible for not more than half a minute, the characteristics were seen well by all. It was not calling or reacting to playback at this time of the year.
We move on to the next target, Tamarugo Conebill. Its stronghold is the Gynoxis- Polylepis vegetation above Chiguata, one of the only 3-4 places (including N-Chile) where it is possible to see this bird. For at least half the year the birds are not present and nobody knows where they are. In June they must be here, but in August-October they are definitely more common. Despite a long search we did not find them. Every year the Polylepis here is destroyed little bit more and all bigger trees have been cut, so it was a wonder to find Giant Conebill. Happily Plain-breasted Earthcreeper and Black-hooded Sierra-Finch, respective lifer and Peru tick, showed up to compensate for the loss of Tamarugo a little bit.
Going on we reached Salinas, a big salt lake surrounded by beautifully coloured volcanoes. As expected there was not much bird life; the lake was completely dried up. The situation after the dry January- March 2005 "rainy season" was even worse than it was last year. For the last two years there has been nearly no rain in the Arequipa area and the flamingoes are gone. Crested Ducks and Andean Geese are still there in small numbers and an area flooded by a small stream held Grey-breasted Seedsnipe, Cordilleran Canastero, Taczanowski´s & Ochre-naped Ground-Tyrants and Andean Negrito. A pair of Aplomado Falcons made a lot of noise and landed in front of us. On the way back to Arequipa we had excellent views of Golden-spotted Ground-Dove and a very quick view of Canyon Canastero.
Some other species seen : Mountain Caracara, Baird´s Sandpiper, Bare-faced Ground-Dove, Oasis Hummingbird, Slender-billed & Common Miners, Creamy-breasted/Dark-winged Canastero, Yellow-billed Tit-Tyrant, Plumbeous Sierra-Finch, White-winged Diuca-Finch
June 12: Arequipa-Mejia-Moquegua
The first stop near La Joya (1.5 hours drive from Arequipa) we really enjoyed:
Least Seedsnipe, Greyish Miner, Tawny-throated Dotterel and Dark-faced Ground-Tyrant.
We continued to the reserve of the Mejia Lagoons, passing Mollendo. The grassland
is quickly recuperating from a heavy fire some months ago and I didn't notice
much of an effect on the birds. There were many species here, especially nice
in contrast to the desert we passed this morning. Seen were Great Grebe, Pied-billed
Grebe, Andean Duck, Cinnamon Teal, White-cheeked Pintail, herons, gulls and
waders. We saw only a few Franklin´s Gulls, usually abundant here in
the northern winter, as are Elegant Tern and other species of gulls and terns.
Two target birds showed up: Tricoloured Heron and Red-fronted Coot. I was surprised
to find also a Silvery Grebe and a Cocoi Heron. Among the passerines were Dark-faced
Ground-Tyrant ( June is a good month to see migrants from the South), Yellowish
Pipit, Grassland Yellow-Finch and Peruvian Meadowlark. We spent the night in
a hotel in Moquegua.
June 13: Moquegua-Puno
Three species were targeted for this day: Slender-billed Finch, Puna Miner and Lesser Rhea. The first one - Slender-billed Finch - just outside Moquegua took us a lot of time. We arrived too early in the day (just as in the case with the Earthcreeper on the first day) and the birds were not yet active. Finally we had good looks at a pair of adults and 2 juveniles (quite different without yellow bill).
A new very good paved road from Moquegua to Desaguadero leads through beautiful
scenery, for instance that near Torata. After 80 km there is the turn-off to
Puno, an unpaved but still good road. Not far from the turn-off we had some
really nice birding: the birds were high Andean species (we were at 4360 m.a.s.l.)
and most of them were not shy at all; we had great looks at 2-10 meters and
excellent photographic opportunities.
In this area we saw Torrent Duck, Andean Condor, Puna Hawk, Plain-breasted Earthcreeper,
Cordilleran Canastero, Puna Ground-Tyrant, Andean Swallow, Peruvian Sierra-Finch,
White-winged Diuca-Finch and the best of all: White-throated Sierra-Finch.
On to the next target, a valley where I have seen the Rhea before (once) and I was concerned about the possibility of seeing it again. Today we were very lucky. Some 20 km after the turn-off we found 6 Lesser/Puna Rheas in an area without any vegetation ('arenales' they call it). It was clear that the Rheas were feeding, but on what was not visible, it was so small.
Remaining on today's list was the third target, an easy one. Puna Miner was easily found on my original Rhea-spot, but this time there were no Rheas. Another new bird for the clients there was Bright-rumped Yellow-Finch. We all enjoyed the amazing landscape, which kept the rather long drive to Puno from becoming boring. During dinner we talked a lot about this splendid day with more new birds than expected.
Some other species: Puna Ibis, Cinereous Harrier, Grey-breasted Seedsnipe, Golden-spotted Ground-Dove, Andean Swift, Purple-collared Woodstar
June 14: Puno-Arequipa
An important target - Short-winged Grebe- we had immediately some kilometers
outside Puno on the way to the Bolivian border. A little bit further on we saw
more grebes and they were closer. The clients were surprised that this species
was so easy. There was no need to stay longer in Puno as they had already seen
the other birds of Lake Titicaca.
We drove in the direction of Juliaca and on to Arequipa. Before Lagunillas we
had Andean Avocet, another target. At Lagunillas we again saw avocets, as well
as numerous Silvery Grebes and Giant Coots. Unfortunately we missed seeing Puna
Plover, a difficult species now because another previously more certain place
- Salinas near Arequipa- has dried up and will not restore soon.
Our plan to do a detour in the direction of the Colca Valley we gave up. Before
the high pass of 4800 m.a.s.l. there are possibilities for Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe,
Diademed Sandpiper-Plover and White-fronted Ground-Tyrant amongst others. But
the road was ugly, it would take a lot of extra time and none of these were
birds were lifers for them.
Some other species: Puna Teal, Chilean Flamingo, Andean Lapwing, Greenish Yellow-Finch,
Yellow-winged Blackbird.
June 15: Yarabamba
On the last morning of birding before the clients flew to Lima, there were only two target birds. Peruvian Sheartail we secured quickly in my garden during breakfast at my home, but there were no males with long tail feathers present that morning.
We made the short drive to Yarabamba, as far as I know the only possibility to find Cactus Canastero near Arequipa. This is the southernmost range of its distribution, and for that reason the species is much more difficult to find than for instance at Lomas de Lachay, north of Lima. Although we spent several hours there, time did not allow us to investigate the entire cactus valley of Yarabamba, and we did not see the bird. There were, however, 6 old nests indicating it's presence, and I have seen the species there before. We saw no birds at all, except 1 Oasis Hummingbird. At another location near Yarabamba we ended the tour with splendid looks at several very long-tailed Peruvian Sheartails.
The Olsons speak: We had a great trip with Wim, and feel that he set up an excellent agenda to achieve our specific birding goals. We saw most of the targeted species, and saw them well. The few misses? Well, we'll just have to find them another time. We greatly appreciate his efforts on this somewhat unusual trip, and would definitely recommend birding with him.
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