Trip Report - Iquitos and Huancayo
April 9-26, 2003 - Daily Log
Daily log by Wim ten Have
April 9: Iquitos
Before my travel companions were due to arrive, I visited Cumaceba lodge
on my own.
Waiting for the boat departure I birded the “boulevard” of Iquitos
and had nice views of Spot-breasted Woodpecker, Spotted Tody-Flycatcher and
Purple Gallinule.
At 11:00 we departed for a 40 minute boat ride on the Amazon. From the boat
to the lodge there were immediately two good birds: Grey-headed Tanager and
Scarlet-crowned Barbet and in the lodge clearing Hooded Tanager. In the afternoon
I took a canoe drive in the flooded varzea forest behind the lodge. Lenny,
the administrator accompanied me always on the boat/canoe drives. Although
not knowing the bird names, he knew which were the more interesting birds.
Black-collared Hawk, Blue-winged Parrotlets, Amer.Pygmy Kingfisher, White-eared
Jacamar, Band-tailed Antbird and White-eyed Attila were the best birds this
afternoon and all gave me close views, the splendid Jacamar even at 3 meters.
I taped a bird in, that made a ”for me” unfamiliar sound. It
turned out to be a Warbling Antbird. Later on during the trip I noticed that
all Warbling Antbirds here produce this call (never heard in Manu ) together
with their normal song. At dawn the Pauraques started to fly above the small
lake behind the lodge and Tropical Screech-Owl started to call.
April 10-11: Cumaceba lodge
A visit by boat to the east point of Padre Isla, a big Amazon island in
front of the lodge.
First we passed a roosting place with hundreds of Shiny Cowbirds and Yellow-hooded
Blackbirds. Arriving in an area called Santa Zulema, separated through a
canal from Padre Isla there was a lot of activity: tens of Yellow-headed
Caracara´s and Oriole Blackbirds, Lined & Caqueta Seedeaters. Also
White-headed Marsh-Tyrant and Orange-headed Tanager were quite common. Best
birds: a group of noisy Canary-winged Parakeets and 3 Red-and-white Spinetails
in the reeds near the boat. Not finding an opportunity to go on land, I probably
missed some special island birds. For instance Zimmer´s Woodcreeper
is reported here.
Back in the lodge I spent the morning birding a trail close to the river.
The trail was partly under water, sometimes up to above boot level, but they
told me that it would be worse within some weeks: the rainy season had yet
to start.
But there was a lot of activity, so I did the same trail next morning too.
Best birds on this trail: the endemic Black-tailed Antbird (3), Plumbeous & White-shouldered
Antbirds (both common), Silvered Antbird (2), a female Hook-billed Kite,
Cinnamon Attila (1), Greater Schiffornis, Sunbittern. Barred Antshrike gave
great looks, it is a common bird in the whole area around Iquitos. In a flock
with Vireo´s, Becards and Tyrannulets I discovered also a Blackpoll
Warbler (big surprise).
In the afternoon of April 11th I visited by canoe the Rio Negro, some kilometers away from the lodge. Big groups of Eastern Kingbirds, Fork-tailed Flycatchers (both migrants from the north) and Bare-necked Fruitcrows. But the show was stolen by a pair of Paradise Jacamars and a Slender-billed Kite. On the way back in the swampy area a juvenile Grey-headed Kite. Not a bad place for raptors –Cumaceba – with 3 species of Kites, 3 Vultures (Lesser Yellow-headed, Black, Turkey), 3 Hawks (Black-collared, Slate-coloured, Roadside) and 2 Falcons (Laughing & Yellow-headed Caracara).
April 12 : Isla Padre, back to Iquitos
In the morning a walk on Padre Isla in order to find some more island specialties. It was an area of more mature vegetation but unhappily there are too many people and dogs living there. Some new species for the trip: Laughing Falcon, Black-and-white Antbird, Castelnau´s Antshrike. The owner of the lodge, Ricardo Pinedo had given me before a written checklist of birds for the lodge. The list contained only 100 species. In the short time of my stay I saw 61 species from this list and 80 species not on the list, so that is a lot to discover for the lodge list.
April 13: to Amazonia Expedition Lodge
At 8:30 at the airport to meet Mike Catsis (representative for Tanager
Tours in the U.K.) and Barry Walker (owner of Manu Expeditions and well-known
bird
guide), my companions for the next two weeks. We took the bus of the company
to the dock for a 2.5 boat drive to the lodge. The lodge called A & E
lodge , more commonly known as Tahuayo lodge, is situated along the Tahuayo
river, a tributary of the Amazon, 45 km south of Iquitos. In the afternoon
our first walk was on a varzea trail near the lodge. Our guide was Yvon a
lovely young girl who knew the birds rather well. Most of the time we were
accompanied also by Roberto, boatdriver, trailcutter and a man with sharp
eyes.
Great Potoo, Cinnamon-throated Woodcreeper and Cream-coloured Woodpecker,
all in the lodge clearing were our first birds, followed by a pair of Amazonian
Antshrikes, a pair of Black-tailed Antbirds and a calling Black Bushbird
some hundreds of meters further on, a great start. Best other bird that afternoon
was Brown Nunlet but the biggest surprise for me were the funny Pygmy Marmosets.
This monkey occurs also in the rainforest of Manu, an area that I know well,
but I have never seen them before. Here we saw them on every walk near the
lodge. After a nice meal we had our first animated talk on our private balcony.
Barry with his twenty years birding and guiding experience in Peru told us
a lot of nice stories.
April 14: A & E lodge
The whole morning on the varzea and terra firme trails near the lodge. Barry
started with the tape of Saturnine Antshrike, a rare bird in Peru. And
yes within half an hour he had success and called a pair in. Mike and I
were very happy with a pair of Dot-backed Antbirds.
A little bit further on we encountered two Bluish-cheeked Jacamars (Yellow-billed
is on the lodge list, but that´s surely a mistake). Then Roberto discovered
our target bird: Rufous-necked Puffbird. After some short looks the bird
disappeared, so we were not completely satisfied. But an hour later Roberto
found another one and on this bird we had great looks. It reacted rather
well to tape too.
In the afternoon we went by boat to an Igapo area, called Talmichal. Here
Yvon had seen before Festive Parrots. And yes, just arrived in the area we
heard immediately their call and a pair flew by. Another pair came in and
we had wonderful looks at these birds, that were new for all of us. Another
lifer was a Short-tailed Parrot, slowly creeping on a trunk, a behaviour
recalling a sloth to me. The 2 life birds together with a female Spangled
Cotinga, White-eared Puffbird, Black-tailed Tityra and a puzzling small Flycatcher
(finally it turned out to be a White-lored Tyrannulet) made this afternoon
very productive. Satisfied we looked back to this splendid day.
April 15: A & E lodge
A boat drive of nearly an hour upstream the Tahuayo river to Cocos, a place where Roberto had seen a glimpse of Red-winged Woodrail. After having spotted a Short-tailed (Semicollared) Nighthawk from the boat our walk in the Terra Firme started well: Needle-billed - & Black-throated Hermits, Thrush-like Schiffornis, Scale-breasted Woodpecker, White-bellied Parrot, Mouse-coloured Antshrike, Blue-backed - & White-crowned Manakins, Double-banded Pygmy-Tyrant, Lined Forest-Falcon. Nice birding but we lost too much time and arrived at the spot of the Woodrail not before 10 a.m. The spot itself was completely different from the surrounding dry Terra Firme. It was a valley with a stream and for this reason rather wet. After a big lek of easy to spot Screaming Piha´s filling the air with their noise and after nice views of Citron-bellied Attila and Red-headed Manakin, we arrived at the Woodrail spot. None of us had any confidence to hear or see the bird. Roberto kept going on searching, but without result. Pavonine Quetzal and Tawny-throated Leaftosser were some of the few birds that we saw on our long walk back to the boat. A short afternoon excursion in order to find Grey-chested Greenlet. Yvon knew the spot for this bird and showed this lifer to all of us without any problem.
April 16: A & E lodge
Today to the second spot where Roberto had seen the Woodrail, together with Alfredo Begazo, the man who discovered this bird for the Tahuayo area. We took it easy and did not try to arrive very early at the spot. That because –after we had questioned Roberto last night– we were rather sceptical to encounter the bird at all . The mention in Clements´Birds of Peru as regularly recorded here, is surely wrong. So again we were more concentrated on the birds on the way and didn´t arrive before 10 a.m. at the Rail-spot. This Terra Firme trail was less interesting than the one of yesterday. We spent more than half an hour to see a Spotted Puffbird that we heard all the time, but without result. In the same area we saw Great Jacamar and heard Mouse-coloured Antshrike. Best bird seen this morning for me was a Brownish Twistwing. And Mike had the (very poisonous ) Fer-de-Lance, happily not IN but ON his boots. On the way back Mike spotted from the boat a Crested Owl, while the others were sleeping. The afternoon we took it easy.
April 17: A & E lodge
After a short boat drive of 20 minutes we started a walk on a our third
terra firme trail. Second observations of Blue-cheeked Jacamar, Saturnine
Antshrike,
Black-bellied Cuckoo, Long-billed Gnatwren and many more. Good views
of a group of Painted Parakeets licking salt that they had put on a tree.
And very nice views of a Point-tailed Palmcreeper, called in by sound.
New species for the trip: Lettered Aracari and Bar-breasted Piculet.
Also
a new species of monkey for all of us: White-moustached Tamarin.
In the afternoon a relaxed boat drive to Cocha Tapaje. Although we saw
nothing new of note we did call in a Grey-chested Greenlet to within
3 metres to
get knockout views . We had enjoyed the lodge (with a very friendly staff)
and the birding here.
April 18: island birding and back to Iquitos.
A departure from the lodge at 4 a.m. in order to be on time for some birding
on an Amazon island near the mouth of the Tahuayo River. With Roberto cutting
the trails this time we were able to go on land. We did that at 3 different
places from the young to older vegetation zones . The youngest predominant
marsh vegetation revealed White-bellied - & Parker´s Spinetails,
Lesser Hornero, Riverside Tyrant and River Tyrannulet. The older vegatation
on the same island turned out to be the best: Ash-breasted Antbird, Black-and-white
Antbird, Castelnau´s Antshrike, Bicoloured- & Pearly-breasted
Conebills, Olive-spotted Hummingbird and a subspecies of Fuscous Flycatcher,
that possibly will be split.
Despite regular taping no sign of Zimmer´s Woodcreeper, not here and
not on the third place, that was in a further successional zone. At midday
we arrived in our hotel in Iquitos and we had lunch in our favorite Ari´s
Burger on the Plaza de Armas.
April 19: Allpahuayo-Mishana km 26
Before dawn we arrived at km 26 of the road Iquitos-Nauta. I had big expectations of the White Sand Forest, where they have found so many new species for science. But Barry warned me already and called it “a bird-free zone”. And unhappily that was true, but keep in mind that January till May is a bad time of the year for this area. In the first small flock we encountered an Antshrike, that gave us the impression to be a Pearly AS, but finally we concluded that it was Spot-winged AS. It took a lot of time to find the right area, in the meanwhile most of the birds were only heard or seen badly like Ancient Antwren high in the canopy and more recognizable by sound than by sight. The area between km 25 and 26 was supposed to be the area with the vegetation type called “varillal” . Here occur most of the specialties. Arriving there we soon heard Allpahuayo Antbird. The bird was cooperative and reacted well on tape and gave us great views. It was the only one we encountered the three days that we spent in the White Sand Forest. Soon afterwards we found two other specialties: Nothern Chestnut-tailed Antbird (with a song completely different from the (southern) Chestnut-tailed AB) and Saffron-crested Tyrant-Manakin. A small woodcreeper kept indeterminate despite good views, but was in my opinion a Spot-throated WC (should be new for this area).
Having seen the low bird activity this morning I preferred to stay in Iquitos that afternoon. The other two returned to the same area and saw Yellow-throated Flycatcher.
April 20: Allpahuayo-Mishana km 26
Now we started immediately in the right varillal area and we saw within
10 minutes Zimmer´s Tody-Tyrant, a bird that we yesterday only heard.
Another target bird, Mishana Tyrannulet was also rather easy knowing the
call. Like the Ancient Antwren often heard, but difficult to see high in
the canopy. Other new birds for the trip were Double-toothed Kite, Red-legged
Honeycreeper and Brown-banded Puffbird. Every 5 minutes Barry produced
the sound of the undescribed Gnatcatcher, it was the only bird that he
needed. A trip before this bird was seen by one of his guides while Barry
was not there, so he “needed” this species urgently. But no
response.
A bird free afternoon, this time for all
April 21: Allpahuyo-Mishana km 28
Wake up at 3.00 a.m. in order to be on time at the Potoo spot. Being witness
that Iquitos has a real night life we drove out of town and arrived at
4 a.m. at km 28. A fast walk of 40 minutes in the dark on a good trail
to the place where White-winged - & Rufous Potoohave been recorded
. Extensive taping without positive result. The only night birds were Great
Potoo and Crested Owl. Besides Nothern Chestnut-tailed Antbird this area
does not support the typical varillal birds but the general bird activity
was higher: Many-banded Aracari, Chestnut - & Yellow-throated Woodpeckers,
Black-capped Parrot and Golden-headed Manakin. Brownish Twistwing and Rufous-tailed
Flatbill heard.
Back to km 26 to try again the Gnatcatcher. Again no sign of this species,
but there was Black-throated Brilliant , Pompadour Cotinga (3 females), Paradise
Jacamar , Fulvous-crested Tanager and Plumbeous Euphonia .
In the evening we flew back to Lima and met Juve Ccahuana and Dave Geale,
respectively driver and bird guide of Tanager Tours. With our car to a hotel
in Santa Eulalia.
April 22: Santa Eulalia-Huancayo
To the valley above Santa Eulalia. From now on the areas and birds were known by the majority of the group, so the aim was to show the minority their “needed” lifers as quick as possible and go on. This is what we called “commando-birding”. One hour was enough to show 5 lifers for Mike: Rufous-breasted Warbling-Finch, Rusty-bellied Brush-Finch, Canyon Canastero, Bronze-tailed Comet and Peruvian Sheartail. Great Inca-Finch we all had seen before. For me they stopped at the Ticlio pass (near Marcapomacocha) to show White-bellied Cinclodes. What a bird! All agree that this is the best Furnariid. Night in hotel in Huancayo.
April 23: Huancayo-Parihuanca
This day was especially planned by Barry hoping to find Black-goggled Brush-Finch
at the type locality .
The first stop after 3 hours driving near Chilifruta (68 km from Huancayo)
brought us Tschudi´s Tapaculo, Plain-tailed Wren and Highland Elaenia.
Passing Lampa (80 km from Huancayo) we started the search for the Brush-Finch.
Extensive searching at 2 different places but no Brush-Finch. What did we
do wrong? For none of us new birds at this spot. A long drive back to Huancayo.
After dinner Barry disappeared to watch football match on TV. I suspected
that this part of the itinerary, designed by him, had as its main goal to
be in a proper hotel tonight with TV!
April 24: Comas
From Huancayo we drove to Concepción. There the road to Satipo starts. After a drive of three hours we started birding at the bridge below Comas. Main target was Eye-ringed Thistletail, so that was the sound that Barry produced today every 5 minutes. The first bird we saw was a good one: Black-billed Cuckoo. Confusing that it had a yellow eyering. Must be a young bird, because we secured that it was not Yellow-billed Cuckoo (the bill was all black and it did not show any rufous in the wing). Dave started to feel ill , probably the result of his trip with Juve to Pucallpa with a heavy walk of 2 days to find Sira Tanager.
He knows the Satipo Road very well, but could not support us any longer and stayed in the car. The vegetation reminded me of the Manu-road at the altitude of a little more than 3000 m.a.s.l. and not surprisingly there were partly the same species like Scarlet-bellied Mountain-Tanager, Citrine Warbler, Tyrian Metaltail and so on. Sometimes we thought to spot a Fire-throated Metaltail, but young birds or females were difficult to distinguish from the more common Tyrian Metaltails. Nice was a pair of Purple-backed Thornbills, a Brown-flanked Tanager and 5 Torrent Ducks. The hours passed and still no sign of the Thistletail. I stayed behind, bored of hearing Barry´s tape all the time. Suddenly I saw movements of a bird that gave me the impression of a Thistletail, but in 5 minutes I did not see more then moving leaves or a very small part of the bird. Mike and Barry were miles ahead. Happily Juve passed with the car and the result of his pishing was that we had great looks at the Eye-ringed Thistletail. We warned the others by walkie-talkie and out of breath they came back 5 minutes later. The bird did not react very well on the tape, but happily all had reasonable views. After this event we continued without any hurry, the target was scored. Mike discovered “Slaty” Brush-Finches with an aberrant crown pattern. Not the expected solid rufous, but more something looking like the crown of Cloud-Forest B-F. Other nice birds: a group of Andean Parakeets and a Tschudi´s Tapaculo with an aberrant call. After midday we started the ride to Punto. Punto lies on the side-road to Andamarca: an isolated spot and a rather difficult drive on a small steep track.
Dave and Juve knew the place and were welcomed in a friendly way by the chief of Punto. They offer us the best room in town, that means a building where we could sleep on the ground and cook. The whole village watched our preparations. I t was clear that gringo´s do not often turn up at this place.
April 25: Punto
This is the second known site for Black-goggled Brush-Finch and Dave and Juve had seen it before. But Dave was rather ill and stayed in the car. From the village we started our walk down to the valley. A nice walk in a nice ambience. We counted that day at least 8 species of Hummingbirds: Fire-throated Metaltail was rather common and now easy recognisable. Mountain Velvetbreast was also a normal species and again there was Purple-backed Thornbill. We had nice views of Striated Earthcreeper. Halfway I decided to go uphill while the others continued the trail down. A lot of birds, common ones like Black-throated Flowerpiercer, Golden-billed Saltator, Tufted Tit-Tyrant, Plain-coloured Seedater, but also Band-winged Nightjar, Streak-throated Bush-Tyrant, Brown-backed Chat-Tyrant and Andean Tyrant. And all the time thinking: will I see the Brush-Finch or the others? Finally it turned out that no one of us saw the bird. Perhaps at this time of year this bird disperses to a different zone .At midday we started a long drive back to Concepción. Because we did not find a reasonable hotel there, we decided to go on to la Oroya.
April 26, Marcapomacocha
On the way back to Lima we had time to do Marcapomacocha, an area where
Mike and I had not been before. Dark-winged Miner and Black-breasted Hillstar
were new for us and Mike urgently needed Diademed Sandpiper-Plover. No
problem: two birds were found immediately.
Happily we drove back on time, so the enormous tailback and two hours
delay caused by a heavy accident with a bus 10 hours before, did not
give problems
for us. Dave back in a h otel in Lima, felt much better and was able to
join the last common meal. We all agreed that it was a fine and successful
trip
and we started to make plans for another recce trip next year. We brought
Barry to his hotel and Mike to the airport in order to catch his flight
to London. Next days Juve and I drove with the car to Arequipa and afterwards
to Moquegua and Puno to check the birds on one of our itineraries.
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