Peru in August 2015 (1 Viewer)

[Maffong]

I'll be visiting Peru with some birding buddies in August 2015.

I was once to Ecuador and on a lodge property where night monkeys had a well known roosting site. But since my lodge guide was more interested in girls, than birds it wasn't until the drive home that I found out. I was a bit furious back then...
Having searched the internet quite a bit and looking at the corresponding local bird checklists, I found out that I should definitely consider some of the following places.

Santa Eulalia Canyon
Carpich and Unchog forests
Marcopomacocha/Milloq
Ollantaytambo->Abra Malaga
Cock of the rock lodge (is it really as good as some birders say?)
Amazonia lodge (does it make sense in addition to the Cock of the Rock Lodge?)
Lago Junin
Lago Titicaca
Satipo Road
Islas Ballestas

What are the cultural sites you suggest I should not miss, seizing the opportunity of being in Perú?

Do you have any secret information, tips, ideas; concerning trips, accomodation, what to bring, etc.? I have three weeks in total, and I want to make sure my choice of places makes sense.

Muchas gracias!

MfG Maffong

 

[temmie]

In general, I think your scheme is very tight, especially for Carpish/Unchog, Abra Malaga, Cock-of-the-rock lodge and Amazonia. I fear you will leave each one of those areas with about 50% of target birds observed, if you are lucky it can be more of course, but you can't clean up on al specialties for all sites in this short amount of time. So I would rather skip some places, but as you are birding both central and southern Peru, it is hard to decide which ones.

One idea:
The Manu road from the pass area to Amazonia deserves a full 2 weeks of birding. Considering that the drive from Ollantaytambo to Cock of the rock lodge will take you a full day, and driving back from Amazonia to Cuzco will take you another full day driving, you have 2 traveling days for 3 days of birding. I feel you are missing out too much birding time on the Manu road and can just scratching the surface. I spent 4 days in Amazonia and didn't feel like this was too much. So I would concentrate on spending some more time at Abra Malaga and the other side of the pass, which shares a lot of the birds on the Manu road + some specialties you will only encounter here (e.g. Parodi's Hemispingus). You could also bird around lake Huacarpay for Bearded Mountaineer, in case you missed it around Ollantaytambo. In general, the dry Cuzco valley will not result in a huge species list, but the combination with the West side of Abra Malaga + birding around Machu Picchu will still result in a rewarding set of cloud forest birds and enough different habitats.

I would consider a full-day-all-out pelagic tour with e.g. Kolibri Tours. Even though it is quite expensive, quality of birds and sightings is, in general, very high (but species vary per season, check reports). If you would have a week (and nothing less) more at the end and haven't booked flights yet from Cuzco to Lima, I would consider doing the Manu road until Amazonia.

You can find some details of my mammal sightings from the Manu road and Amazonia here

 

[Maffong]

I see you are also mammalwatching, that's great! Is there any useful webpage for tips and species lists of Peruvian/South American mammals I could use?

 

[temmie]

Not many that I know of. Mammalwatching.com is a good start I guess.
You can check observed sightings here:
http://observation.org/waarnemingen_all_v1.php?groep=2&z=0&provincie=215&family=0

 

[Maffong]

Thanks for the information so far!!!

Are there any known stakeouts along our route for nightbirds (e.g. owls, potoos, nightjars) that anybody knows? I would really love to see Andean or Great Potoo!

VG Mathieu

 

[temmie]

Andean will always be a long shot. There is a stake out for Lyre-tailed Nightjar on the manu road:
http://observation.org/waarneming/view/70304362
It also used to be roosting on the building here:
http://goo.gl/maps/5Pgwc
Swallow-tailed can be found:
http://observation.org/waarneming/view/70313056
Yungas Pygmy-owl can be found higher up at Wayqecha.

for other owls, trawl the reports. Great Potoo is not staked out that I know of...

 

[Maffong]

We took your concerns into consideration and now changed our itinierary a bit. We took out Machu Picchu out of the main tour (and will visit it afterwards. We'll go to Pantiacolla lodge instead.
We also have the option to choose between Cock-of-the-rock lodge and Posada San Pedro lodge.
I couldn't find much information about that, maybe somebody here in the forum knows the pros and cons?!

Cheers Maffong

 

[temmie]

I wanted to give way to others, but it seems nobody replies!

So regarding Cock-of-the-rock (COTR) en San Pedro: I only know COTR, and it is definitely worth it. Cost is around 80-90 dollar per person per night, full board. The main asset is the garden: they put all kinds of fruit outside and they have good hummer feeders. Wire-crested Thorntail comes to the feeder, as well as a lot of tanagers (like Orange-eared), but also Amazonian Umbrellabird, COTR (of course), Cerulean-capped Manakin, Golden-collared honeycreeper, ... I also saw a Tayra in the garden, and a quick walk on the trails brought Scaled Antpitta and Slaty Gnateater. They of course have the COTR lek just up the road, which didn't produce thát many COTR when I was there, but I remember seeing a big flock with Versicolored Barbet just across the road.

So all in all, COTR would be my firm favorite, unless San Pedro has some really good birding for less money, too.
Pantiacolla is a great place. There is a clay lick nearby with Blue-headed macaws, and the trails have a lot of variety as they have terra firme, bamboo (older grown) and a ridge trail. You can get some bamboo specialist birds like Peruvian Recurvebill not far from the lodge on the capybara trail.

 

[Maffong]

Well, at least there's you. I am very grateful for you sharing all your knowledge and experiences!

Cheers Maffong

 

[James Lowther]

peru threads don't get a lot of input on birdforum unfortunately...

my info is from 2009, so beware that things might have changed...

i've never heard of posada san pedro, but 5 mins walk down the road from COTR lodge is manu paradise lodge, which is quite a bit cheaper. this also has feeders in the garden with a good variety of hummingbirds, but i expect the ones at COTR are better.

you may be able to stay at paradise lodge or posada san pedro, which may or may not be very nearby, and access the gardens and trails at COTR lodge if you ask nicely i guess.... i didn't try. otherwise a lot of the birding here is done simply by walking up and down the road. there is a hide for the lek that is owned by COTR, but the birds can easily be seen from the road anyway.
cheers,
James

 

[temmie]

I did it like James said, but the price difference was like 10 dollars / night, and the access to COTR grounds was 10 dollar. So the COTR lodge would still be the better deal.

So to resume:
price in Manu paradise lodge: 75 dollar/night full board. We were the only visitors, and it had a bit of a B&B feeling. The family operating this lodge is very friendly.
COTR: something like 87 dollar/night full board. Real lodge feeling as they have a very nice restaurant with porch and feeders, all visible from the porch, + a trail system, + unlimited access to the COTR lek.

 

[James Lowther]

COTR seems cheaper than when i looked into it...
also i think it was only do-able as a package at the time.

ah well

james

 

[temmie]

COTR seems cheaper than when i looked into it...
also i think it was only do-able as a package at the time.

ah well

james

Maybe it was cheap because I asked the guy in the lodge. Maybe the packages and bookings from Cuzco are more expensive... Just try to check prices and compare beforehand, would be my advise.