Kolibri Expeditions

by Gunnar Engblom March 3, 2009 1

New Peru tour: birding and culture with non-birding spouse March 15-April 1.

There is more to a birding tour to Peru than just birds.

For once I am making an exception and blog about a future trip. This particular one includes birding and culture in a great fashion. Also read through the article you shall see that I am giving a fantastic last minute offer. And there are very cheap flights from Miami now. The itinerary is request for the middle of March, combining Northern and Southern Peru and features a pelagic, Chaparri, Machu Picchu and optionally the Amazonian rainforest. What more could you ask for? It is a “best of Peru tour”. The perfect trip to bring your non birding spouse as it gives beautiful scenery as well as many cultural attractions. The trip visits Tumbes, Piura and Chiclayo in the North. Cusco, Machu Pichu and Los Amigos biological Station in the South. Lima acts as a hub with a trip to see condors in Santa Eulalia canyon.

Highlight birding localities of the trip

Condor watching in Lima going up the impressive Santa Eulalia Canyon for an overnight stay. Also here Great Inca-Finch and Black-necked Flicker.
Birdwatching in Tumbes forest. Semi-dry Spanish moss clad deciduous forest with giant balsa trees with bright green bark and the many species of birds that are endemic for this region.
A pelagic tour from the lovely beach resort Punta Sal on which we apart from birds like Galapagos Petrel and Waved Albatross find Humpback Whale and Bottle-nosed and spinner Dolphins.
Later we visit Chaparri with the captive breeding program of re-introduced White-winged Guan and Spectacled Bear – as well as spectacular birds such as White-tailed Jay and Black-faced Ibis. Also it is a great place to watch Hummingbirds bathing in a nearby pond.
Bosque Pomac that holds the rare Peruvian Plantcutter and Rufous Flycatcher among the target bird species
Huacarpay lake in Cusco with many water birds as well as endemic species nearby, such as Bearded Mountaineer, Rusty-fronted Canastero and Streak-fronted Thornbird
Abra Malaga road – cloud forest. With endemics like Marcapata Spinetail, Scaled Metaltail, Red-and-White Antpitta, Cusco Brush-Finch, Parodi’s Hemispingus and spectacular birds such as Sword-billed Hummingbird, Golden-collared Tanager, Grass-Green Tanager, Scarlet-bellied Mountain-Tanager.
Abra Malaga road – Polylepis forest. With rare species such as Royal Cinclodes, Ash-breasted Tit-Tyrant, Rust-crowned Tit-Spinetail, Tawny Tit-SPinetail, Puna Tapaculo, Red-rumped Bush-Tyrant, etc.
Abra Malaga road – dry slope. With endemics such as Creamy-crested Spinetail and White-tufted Sunbeam.
The cloud forest around Machu Picchu with Cock of the Rock, Torrent Duck, Highland Motmot, White-eared Solitaire, Masked Fruiteater, Inca Wren and Ocellated Piculet.
Optional full week at Amigos Research station gives good lodging in the rainforest and over 200 birds and 10 species of monkeys – usually….and maybe more. Electric light and WIFI internet access. Bring your computer to blog from here!

Cultural Highlights.

Did we just loose your spouse??? Call her/him back.

Here are the many cultural highlight and other attractions to the non birder.

Guided tour in Lima with visit the excellent Archeology museum. The Incas are only the tip of the iceberg.
Lima is the gourmet capital of South America. We shall enjoy some of the fine cuisine while here.
Relaxed stay on the beach of Punta Sal. You may work on the tan if you don’t like boats. Exquisite food.
Visit to the Lord of Sipan Museum in Lambayeque.
Visit to the pyramids of Tucume and the Tucume museum.
Charming Chaparri Eco Lodge
The Inca ruins of Sacsayhuaman
The Inca ruins of Pisac
The Inca ruins of Ollantaytambo
The Inca ruins of Machu Picchu
Cusco town – is one main cultural attraction.

Scenery Highlights

Spectacular scenery and wholesome nature experiences

Santa Eulalia Cañon
Tumbes forest
Pacific ocean at Punta Sal
Chaparri Communal reserve
Machu Picchu
Sacred valley
Abra Malaga
The Amazon rainforest at Amigos research station close to Puerto Maldonado.

Day to day Peru program 18 days.

In the below program, flights, hotels, transport, food, excursions, guiding and entrance fees are included in the price. Airport taxes, drinks and tips are not included.

Price: Last minute offer for couples. 3000$ per person.

March 15. AM. City tour with Archeological museum. PM. Start of Condor program

March 16. Condor program in Santa Eulalia Canyon. Return to Lima and flight to Tumbes.

March 17. Tumbes program. Visit Tumbes forest AM. In afternoon transfer to Punta Sal.

March 18. Punta Sal Pelagic. PM transfer to Piura and birding Mangroves of Vice.

March 19. Visiting the Royal Tomb Museum of Lord of Sipan in Lambayeque. PM arrive to Chaparri.

March 20. Chaparri AM. Rest of morning at Bosque Pomac for Peruvian Plantcutter. PM at Tucume. Evening flight to Lima.

March 21. Start of Machu Picchu cultural birding program (program C) Early flight to Cusco. City tour. Sacsayhuaman, Cathedral, Coricancha in this order. Lunch. Departure to Pisac. Visit Huacarpay on the way. Overnight in Pisac. Charming town and charming small hotel.

March 22. Early visit to Pisac ruins. Birding walking down to Pisac town. Visit the Pisac market. Continue to Ollantaytambo. Visit the archeological site of Ollantaytambo in the PM. Night in Ollantaytambo at Hostal Muñay Tika.

March 23 Full day to Abra Malaga. We shall take evening train to Aguas Calientes. Night in Hostal Pachacutek.

March 24. Full day at the Machu Picchu ruins and birding in the cloude forest nearby.

March 25. Birding cloud forest around Aguas Calientes. In afternoon train and bus to Cusco. Hostal Emperador Plaza.

March 26. Morning in Cusco. Flight to Maldonado at 11.00 Birding near Puerto Maldonado. Hotel in PM.

March 27-April 1. Birds and monkeys at Amigos Research Center. Click on the link for more info.

Photos: License by Common Creative. Machu Picchu: Brian Snelson

by Gunnar Engblom January 12, 2009 3

Birding Unchog. Express birding in Peru Day 3. On English bird names.

One morning Unchog clean-up with Golden-backed Mountain-Tanager

Wednesday Jan 7, 2009.
Its not every birding day on our itinerary that has a 2.30 AM start, but to visit Unchog in just one day and have decent go at the Golden-backed Mountain-Tanager and the Rufous-browed Hemispingus in the rainy season and not to have to camp, does require extreme measures.

We had plenty of time on our hands to get to the start of the trail beyond the small village of Cochabamba and it turned out we needed all that time, due to delays in the morning and sliding off the track with one wheel and pushing the van back up again. The road up to Unchog can be very slippery. Fortunately, the locals had done good maintenance and we got to our final destination – the end of the road – around 5.15 and it was still dark. Julio prepared breakfast and we had a good bowl of fruit salad, yogurt and granola, as well as freshly French pressed coffee from Alto Mayo in Northern Peru, before we started walking. We had a gentle 50 meter rise, and then a 300m drop to get into prime habitat. On the way we saw Plenge’s Thistletail, and Many-striped Canastero. Sedge Wrens and Neblina Tapaculo were singing.
We reached “Hemispingus bend” just as a flock was forming with Pearled Treerunner, White-throated Tyrannulet, Citrine Warbler and the endemic Pardusco (one of the Carpish endemics), and almost immediately Andy Kratter stuttered,

“Ttheerre it is. The, the , the Hemispingus” as I was pointing out a beautiful Golden-collared Tanager. “Rufous-browed Hemispingus” he yelled to the others some 20-30 meters behind us. Everyone got brilliant views and Andy even got some pictures. This is a bird many groups often miss. Excellent start!
Reyes had continued down the trail to be on the lookout for GBMT. We soon caught up and stood looking out over a stunning forest and the sun playing with the canopy as the forest was warming up. We had probably not stood there for more than 20 minutes, when I saw some movement in a tree only some 20 meters in front of me. Now it was my time to stutter. Golden-backed Mountain-Tanager. Everyone except Per Lundberg stood close and had great views. Per came rushing in from 50 meters down the trail and eventually also got good views.

It was only 8.15 and we had already seen the two most wanted birds on the trip.

Rufous-browed Hemispingus. Photo: Andy Kratter

The rest of the morning produced relatively few new birds. Some heard included Undulated Antpitta, Obscure Rufous Antpitta (obscura form) and Tchudi’s Tapaculo. One of my best birds was a cooperative White-browed Spinetail. A bird I have seen only in Southern Ecuador and now a Peru tick!

We even managed to get some exercise. The 300m uphill got the heart beating. Julio had already prepared lunch. Spaguetti bolognaise. Uneventful, trip back to Huanuco and we continued to Junin via a stop en route for Brown-backed Inca-Finch, which was seen very well. Additionally, Black-crested Tit-Tyrant was seen briefly by myself.
In Junin at 4100m we stayed at a basic hotel and went out for a meal. In spite of the restaurant looking modest, the food was very tasty. I had trout.

English Birdnames

When birding with prominent North American ornithologists, who mostly use the scientific names as first choice, English bird names soon become a great topic for discussion. If “collecting” get lots of opinions (see the last posting) from birders and ornithologists alike, English birdnames give even more opinions. “Stability” is used as the number one argument in many cases favoring not to change a name, but in other cases “improvements” are necessary because the current name is “no good”. In many cases it gets very subjective. And to whom shall we (the public, the birders and the rest of the ornithologists) give mandate, to select the best set of names. No matter who does the job, there will always be discontent.
In recent years there has been some attempts to synchronize. International Ornithology Congress (IOC) has pointed a commission to standardize English bird names. This lead to the publication of “Birds of the World. Recommended English names” in 2006 by Frank Gil and Minturn Wright. The full list constantly revised and updated as new species are described or split can be found on https://www.worldbirdnames.org/. IOC takes on English birdnames – this got be the right course to take. Not surprisingly, not all want to accept the international standardization. Notably, AOU with the two committees North American Checklist Committee (NACC) and South American Checklist Committee (SACC), has their own set of rules and many is some cases have different English names than those suggested by IOC. NACC took a vote to adopt IOC:s suggested changes of names of North American birds, but since the list also included spelling and hyphenation differences, all the changes were turned down in bulk.

The most eye-catching or (ear-catching) hard to swallow names and to take to tounge are the Myioborus White/Redstarts. SACC insists on Redstart, while IOC favors Whitestart. “Start” is a germanic word meaning tail (also in old English). Anyone can see that the Myioborus have no red in its tail what so ever. It is the Painted Redstart, that occur in almost every North American birdbook with this same name, that makes so difficult for the Americans to accept the logical name-change. This has become a personal rant issue of mine – so beware before you klick on the link to put down your vote for your preference. Whitestart or Redstart?. Don’t take it too serious. It is just for fun! SACC is unjustly picked on. SACC has put forward Neotropical Ornithology light years by putting down a baseline for taxonomy and un-doubted distribution. However, maybe putting English names could be best appointed to the IOC committee especially formed for this purpose.
Andy Kratter is on the North American Checklist committee and was the only one who favored whitestart when NACC took a vote on whitestart/redstart. Andy, you are a hero!

There are a few other interesting cases. Northern Chestnut-tailed Antbird was described as such by the Islers and Whitney and favored by IOC, but SACC changed it to Zimmer’s Antbird. Why? Because a dominant number of the members of SACC do not like compound name with long geographic epitets. But geography can acutally be much more informative than combination of color and body parts of cryptic species with hardly no such difference or naming the bird after a person. In spite of SACCs decission I don’t think anyone has yet wanted to change the names of Northern/Southern Rough-winged Swallow or Northern/Southern Beardless Tyrannulet. Want to vote on this as well?

Another favorite case of mine is Lulu’s/Johnson’s Tody-Tyrant. In spite of normally favoring stability, SACC renamed this cute bird endemic to Peru, that already had a name both in the formal description as well as the published Birds of Peru by Clements and Shany. Surely Lulu is more catchy than Johnson. Vote here!

by Gunnar Engblom January 2, 2009 5

New Bird to Peru. Northern Hawk Owl. Birdwatchers flock to see it.

Northern Hawk Owl. Peru, NY. Photo. Corey Finger

Northern Hawk Owl Peru, NY Dec 2008. Photo: Corey Finger

This bird has been seen regularly in Peru, since Dec 14 and has made birders from the US pilgrimage to see it. Few Peruvians have seen it though. It is Peru, New York that is being mentioned, but I thought I just had to write about it on a birding blog regarding Peru in South America.

Why? Well, I think it is a good opportunity, alas a bit late , to make birders in New York state aware of their “tocayo” (peruvian spanish for someone who shares the same name-namesake) – the land of the Incas and the land of the birds, here in the South. And also a opportunity for Peruvian birdwatchers to learn about birding in New York State.
Take a deep plunge into the blog of Corey Finger at www.10.000birds.com and his journey to see this bird, and the exemplary way to include the whole family in this endeavor. I owe to Corey to let me borrow his photos for this blog. Thanks!
By the way, 1000 birds is one of the most popular birding blogs in the world. It is well worth to check out on its own accord. Furthermore, the owners Corey, Mike and Charlie, organize a birdwatching blog carnival called “I and bird”, where blog articles about wild birds are selected on a bimonthly basis. I and the bird #90 is just to be released. More great pictures of the same Northern Hawk Owl can be found on Jeff Nadler’s web-site. Mouth-watering describes the pictures well. Wow!

I had the title for this blog clear for quite some time, but I needed a way to relate it a bit more to Peru in South America. I had to fish for some info. I would not really call it research or bibliography search, as I did what most people do when they need information nowadays. A google search! Two keywords! Owl and Peru. Corey’s blog scored third place, but most of the other positions were about the awe-inspiring re-discovered and mythical long-whiskered Owlet from Abra Patricia, that now actually can be seen a few 100 meters from the new comfortable lodge at Abra Patricia, The Owlet Lodge. This was the connection needed to round up this blog and take you to the REAL Peru! (Sorry, New York upstaters…you will just have to come down here to prove me wrong, if you don’t believe.)

Long-whiskered Owlet. Photo: David Gaele ECOAN/ABC

OK, we must be fair, I said the Owlet CAN be seen, but IN REALITY most groups have had to content to hear it, because of the dense vegetation. However, after recent conversations with David Guevara and Constantino Aucca of ECOAN, the Peruvian NGO that runs the lodge, trails are being put in and there are plans for a platform that in the future shall facilitate observations with minimum impact on the bird. With only 200 visitors in 2008, the very comfortable lodge could definitely take more visitors, and if managed well, there is no reason why this resource – the owlet – could become a sustainable goldmine to ECOAN’s conservation work.

The Owlet is one of the least known Owls in the world, and had not been seen in the wild until Juvenal Ccahuana and David Geale in 2007 stumbled upon one on a day perch by a muddy slippery trail a couple of hours walk from the main road.

Much of the forest around the lodge has been bought by ECOAN with funding raised by ABC (American Bird Conservancy). It is a beautiful area with many regionally endemic species such as Ochre-fronted Antpitta, Lulu’s Tody-Tyrant, Royal Sunangel, Bar-winged Wood-wren. Not far away, around 1h drive to Pomacochas, one finds the most stunning of all hummingbirds – the Marvelous Spatuletail. The lodge now has hummingbird feeders and bird tables and provides a great asset for all visiting birders. Surely Abra Patricia Long-whiskered Owlet Lodge and the other sites on the North Peru birding route, is a must for the serious birder. What is more, the lodge provides excelent shelter in luxury, in one of the wettest areas in Peru, where the die-hard birders used to have to camp out. In effect in means that the route is open to visitos all year around. You shall always expect rain and clouds at Abra Patricia, the rainiest months being December and January. But this should not hold you off. SInce you have road access to drive up and down the road with good birding habitat between 800-2500m, one can almost always drive away from the rain and fog in less than 30 minutes ascending or descending along the road. That said, plan to have ample time in the Abra Patricia areas, because it is truly one of the best birding places on earth.
I made a very early report on this area in 1998 that can be found on Worldtwitch if anyone is interested. It pleases me very much to see that the area is now finally starting to get attention. More attention from birders is needed. The challanges for conservationists lies further down the road in the Afluentes area, where a whole village practically has mushroomed up within the protected Alto Mayo reserve since 1998. Conservation, environmental education, sustainable agriculture and forestry and ecotourism must be implemented urgently here. The birders can lead the way.

What was that? What about our birding trips? I thought you’d never ask! Of course Kolibri Expeditions runs trips there. Here are three sample programs.

North Peru 2. Birding. Piura-Tarapoto via Abra Patrica. 7 or 15 day. The longer itinerary include quest for Orange-throated Tanager and White-masked Antbird.
Northe Peru 4. Birding and Megadiversity. Tarapoto-Cajamarca 9 or 15 days. The longer itinerary include a 6 day horse supported biodiversity Eco-trekk to Yellow-browed Toucanet, while we look at birds and plants (especially orchids) on the way.
Chiclayo-Tarapoto 9 days in comfort. No camping. Overnight stay at excellent Chaparri Lodge near Chiclayo

Questions? Either put down a comment here or write me a line at kolibriexp@gmail.com

Long-whiskered Owlet Xenoglaux loweryi. Photo: ECOAN/ABC

by Gunnar Engblom October 27, 2008 2

Organic coffee is not necessarily birdfriendly

Is shade grown coffee really bird friendly?

Cerulean Warbler is a threatened tropical migrant that spends the winter at altitudes of mainly 900-1800m along the east slope of the Andes, south to Peru. We conducted a survey for Cerulean Warbler in Central Peru during Jan-March, 2006. We failed to find it, partly due to extreme poor field conditions with a lot of rain making access a big problem. But part of the problem, may be that the habitat is not as good as it used to be.

During the 1998-1999 study from Villa Rica, Smithsonian Institute (Sterling et al) found the Cerulean Warbler only in “rustic” coffee plantations. In such plantations coffee is grown under indigenous shade trees remaining from the native forest before the understory was cleared for coffee. These very old trees have many epiphytes and dead leaves curled up, that serves as hiding places for a lot of bugs. Cerulean Warbler is an expert on gleaning the curled up leaves.

We hardly found any “rustic coffee” habitat during our study in spite that we returned to the same area where Smithsonian Institute had done its survey in the late nineties. Most of what was there 6-8 years ago, has been replaced with fast growing Inga and Albizia as shade trees species that carry no epiphytes and much less leaf cover. Could it be, that the coffee boom that markets shade-grown coffee, does not actually promote the more bird friendly rustic plantations, but rather promotes more mono-cultures with Inga and Albizia, since such areas can still be regarded as shade-grown? The amount of light available for the coffee plant, as well as the humidity, are easier to control. It appears that both yield and quality is higher in such conditions and that the market (ultimately the consumers) does not know how to separate between the terms organic, fair trade, shade-grown and bird-friendly coffee. We interviewed people at the farms and it is clear that many of those areas that previously were considered rustic, have been converted to mono-cultures today.

At some of the plantations importers such as Starbucks have rather strict rules for the coffee producers. Reforestation of indigenous tree species is being made. (They should not have been cut in the first place). But in these certified plantations the planted, often slow-growing, trees are mostly saplings and very small and pays no role, what so ever, to provide food and shelter to the birds.

So what about organic. Should be safe for the eco conscious, right?

Well, not necessarily! Organic plantations are also often not rustic enough to attract the multitude of birds of the rustic coffee plantation. On organic plantations industrial fertilizers are not allowed, and as the definition implies, pest control can not be chemical, but rather biological control. However, if the ecological conditions have changed so much that Cerulean Warbler does no consider the habitat optimum , one cannot really define organic as bird-friendly.

Furthermore, the guano that is used as alternative fertilizer, is either from very “inhumane” chicken farms with thousands of chicken packed together and pumped with antibiotics or from the guano islands home of large colonies of seabirds off the Peruvian coast.
The harvest of this guano is far from bird-friendly. Many of the guano producing bird species have populations that are being decimated every year, due to the depletion of the fish stock by the immense Peruvian anchoveta fishing fleet and during the guano harvest the birds are repetitively disturbed.

Productivity ought to be much lower in these plantations so if more and more coffee drinkers start choosing organic instead of conventional coffee, the total outcome will be that more native primary hill forest will be transformed to these Albiza/Inga monocultures with occasional saplings of native trees to keep up the production.
The bottom line is that maybe some good habitat could have been saved, if the production instead had been maximised with conventional fertilizers.
After all, one of the main reasons, why conventional industrial fertilizer are not liked in Europe and in North America, is that nutrients leak into the environment and resulting in algae blooming and super eutrophic lakes that soon are completely covered in reeds. This is not the case in the rain-forest where there is constant LACK of nutrients. Some leaking nutrients would not be a problem, as they would be immediately absorbed in the ecosystem.
I would like to find a coffee farm that maximises production with fertilizers and compost and that way can set off a large extent of its land as a reserve for birds. It may still be shade grown since 95 % of the coffee is shade grown anyway, but guano from birds would not be used. This would be truly bird friendly coffee. Maybe a side product we can sell to birders. Verified and certified bird friendly Kolibri coffee!

Update Jan 15, 2009:
How do you make the perfect coffee? Just got a tip from Jake Fontenot.
Is it with a Melitta electric coffee machine? No!
Is it with an refined electric expresso machine? No?
Is it with one of those silvery time-glass shaped on the stove machines one see in Spain? No!
Got to be the French Press then? Good, but not!
It is the Aeropress. Perfect coffee and no mess! What more could you ask for?
Thanks for the tip, Jake.

Birding Peru with Kolibri Expeditions
More Birds!

by Gunnar Engblom January 2, 2007 0

Whale and Dolphin Watching from La Punta, Callao, Dec 30, 2006

Recently Kolibri Expeditions started more specialized whale and dolphin safaris from Callao. We have since 2000 arranged full day pelagic trips to look for birds and during these trips we have often encountered Cetaceans (whales and doplhins collectively). However, 11-12 hours at sea is a bit too much for those that have the chief interest in watching mammals. Therefore since November 2006 we are arranging these shorter 5 hours trips with a speed boat.

During our long pelagic we are beginning to see patterns. It is quite clear that Humpbacks migrate along the coast Peru and passing Lima in October-November and February-March.

Humpback Whale breaching sequence during migration south. Lima, Nov 10,
2006. Photo: Gunnar Engblom

However, details about the ocurance of other whales in other seasons are still very little known. It is hoped, with these five hours trips on a regular basis, on which we will record position, numbers, species and activities of all cetaceans, that we will learn more about the movements of cetaceans off the coast of Callao.
During the month of January, we have seen many other cetaceans in the past including Sei, Fin and Bryde’s Whale – and the usual three species of dolphins (Common, Bottle-nosed and Dusky Dolphins). During January we be operating 5 hours whale and dolphin watching trips on January 6 and 14. On January 19 there will be a full day pelagic for birdwatchers, but the chance of seeing whales and dolphins on this trip is also a very good since we cover much more ground.

On Nov 30, 2006 we made our last trip.
Once again, we went out to sea trying to spot cetaceans. It was a fine day with good views. The cloud cover soon broke up and we saw the sun. Passing the guano Palomino island of Island we continue straigth out into the deep ocean.

In a distance we see a huge flock of birds. We decide to approach. There are Peruvian Boobies making kamikaze dives from some 30 meters up, lots of Inca Terns and Sooty Shearwaters, as well as a couple of Pelicans and many Gray Gulls.

And now to the left! What is that?
DOLPHINS!!! Lots of them!

All of a sudden there were hundreds of Dusky Dolphins around us.

This close-up of Dusky Dolphin shows the caracteristic absence of bottle-shape beak, the contrasting body pattern, and the falcate dorsal fin that is slightly paler towards the trailing edge.

But the trip was not over yet. We would encounter three such large concentrations of fish, dolphins and seabirds. There were at least 400 dolphins in total through the day.

Many very interesting birds were also seen.

Here is the localized White-vented Storm-Petrel. Other Storm-Petrels seen during the trip were Wedge-rumped and Wilson’s Storm-Petrels.

There were many Pomerine Jaegers about. They are the true pirates of the sea, chasing after other birds, bothering them in all ways possible like grabbing their feathers, untill the victim has to give up that recently caught anchoveta.

One of the most exciting birds according to the birdwatchers onboard was the Swallow-Tailed Gull. In one flock there were 29 individals and one Sabine’s Gull.

Everyone on board were amazed by the large numbers of Waved Albatross that we were seeing. Well over 30 individuals through-out the day. The Waved Albatross basically only breeds on one island in the Galapagos archipelago. There is a small insignificant numbers on La Plata island off the Ecuadorian coast.

But all individuals will pass some time in their life in Peruvian waters either as young birds or in between breeding attempts. Recently, it has been shown that there are less breeding pairs at

Española than some 10 years ago. Apparantly adult mortality away from the colony is very high, so that the species should warrent critical threatened status. It seems that bycatch and intentional killing in Northern Peru is the big problem. See the BirdLife Internationals ongoing discussion about this species.

This individual was ringed. Click on the picture to see! Also this other picture also shows the same bird.

Back at Isla Palomino we encountered the huge sealion colony. In spite of being in the middle of the day there were surely more than 1000 individuals. In the late afternoon one can see between 5000-8000 sealions here.

On this picture the male is the one with the thick neck. The youngs will be born very shortly and there will be mating taking place almost immediately. The males need to be in a strategic place.

At the islands we encounter the yacht Melusine, which we usually use for our long full day pelagics. We shall run one of these long pelagic trips on January 19. with the Melusine.

Near Palomino island one usually find the most beautiful Cormorant in the world. Here the Red-legged Cormorant is collecting nesting material. This shot was taken a month ago, but we saw many of these cormorants on the trip.

Our circuit has almost come to an end, but before returning to shore we shall check out the penguins.

It is calculated that some 400 Penguins live on San Lorenzo islands. We saw around 100.

Back in the port around 1 PM we found Terns. Here are Elegant Tern and Sandwich Tern.

Finally, the most beautiful of all – Inca Tern.

Gunnar Engblom
Kolibri Expeditions
Birding Peru with Kolibri Expeditions
More Birds!

by Gunnar Engblom December 29, 2006 3

Condor watching in Santa Eulalia Canyon

Condors three hours from Lima in Santa Eulalia Canyon

Who would believe that there are condors only 3 hours from noisy metropolis Lima? Well it is true. Here in Santa Eulalia Canyon, we found on Dec 16, 2006 around 12 condors, close to the village of Huachupampa.

It is quite clear that the steep cliffs make an excellent overnight colony for the condors. Here they can easily find the thermal winds that will ascend them high enough to scan over the area of Santa Eulalia river and over the ridge to the Rimac river.

We know for a fact that there are at least 3-4 overnight cliffs in the canyon so there may be up to 50 condors in the whole area. And in difference from many other areas in Peru, they are doing well here. How do we know? Well, by establishing the ratio adults/juveniles one gets a good idea. When the ratio is >1 or more (more adults than young), the reproduction rate is low or the mortality of young is high and the population is therefore decreasing. When the ratio is 1 the population is more or less stable. When it is less than one (more young than adults) the conditions are either excellent and the population is increasing – or in some cases it can be a sign of adult mortality – but the latter would show in low overall numbers. In Santa Eulalia Canyon the population is certainly increasing. Of the 12 individuals we saw only 3 were adults.
The two individuals on the above photo are young birds

That this area has very good wildlife is indicated by the finding on our excursion of this cat. It is a Pampas Cat Leopardus pajeros. (Thanks to Javier Barrio and Eduardo Ormaeche for pointing in the right direction to its identity.)

Kolibri Expeditions has started a project of condor and wildlife watching in Santa Eulalia Canyon.

San Pedro de Casta village

Santa Eulalia Canyon

Santa Eulalia Canyon is not as famous as Colca, but it has very dramatic features. The drop in this picture is well over 1000m.

Santa Eulalia Canyon – the new Colca?

In 1995-96 when tourism to Peru started recovering around 8-10.000 people made the ardeous 10 hour trip to Chivay in Colca Canyon suffering from a dusty and bumpy road and a pass of over 5000m. In Chivay they stayed overnight at 3700m in basic hotels. Cold to the bones and altitude sickness for sure. Next day they had still a 2 hour trip on an even worse road to Cruz del Condor. But condors were almost 100% certain – and at close range. I personally doubt very much that anyone would have past through all that suffering if it was not for the guaranteed views of condors

In 10 years infrastructure has improved. Now there are first class hotels and part of the road has been sealed. Over 130.000 people visited Colca Canyon in 2006. You ask anyone in Peru, where one should see condors and they will send you to Colca Canyon. Now, one can hope for a development in Santa Eulalia Canyon similar to that of Colca. With eco-tourism the condor population in Peru could thrive and it could bring a very welcome income to the forgotten valleys along the Peruvian Andes

Please contact kolibriexp@gmail.com if you want to join us on a general natural history tour to watch for condores. This tour can be arranged at any time. The cost including transport, lodging and all food is only 99 US$/person – with a minimum of 4 people.

by Gunnar Engblom June 15, 2006 0

Pavonine Cuckoo in Manu

This Pavonine Cuckoo was photographed at the Bamboo of Manu Amazon Lodge in 2004, formerly known as Manu Camping Lodge. Free hand digiscoping 1/4s. With Nikon Coolpix 4500. The Best shot selector is very useful!
Very extensive bamboo here with many good and difficult species.
Update 2009: Many good Manu options. I need to update some of the older itineraries.
Could be a good blog post. If interested in Manu, send me a line to kolibriexp@gmail.com

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