Peru

by Gunnar Engblom December 22, 2009 4

Hummingbirds in South East Peru, part 1

Hummers in Cuzco, Abra Malaga and Machu Picchu

Hummingbirds are such fantastic creatures. No closer presentation or introduction is needed. Let’s just look at a sample of all the hummingbirds that can be seen in SE Peru on a tour that includes Machu Picchu and Manu National Park.

In this first delivery I present the hummers in Cuzco with surroundings such as Huacarpay lake , Abra Malaga and Machu Picchu. The following deliveries will treat Manu Road and the Manu lowlands.
I shall do frequent updates to this post to include more photos as I get them. All pictures are clickable for larger images and contain the name of the species as you pass the cursor over it.

All pictures in this installment are made by Alex Durand with a Vortex Nomad telescope and a small Fuji pòint and shoot camera.

by Gunnar Engblom December 12, 2009 41

Do you want to go on a birding trip in Peru for FREE?

Are you joking?

No I am not joking. I am giving away 4 trips to Manu and 10 trips to Carpish/Satipo road in Central Peru. Below the macaw-picture are the departures you can chose from:

Manu 8 days

Manu needs no presentation I think. The lowland amazonian rainforest of SE Peru is world famous. How would you like to come on a totally free birding trip from Lima. You don’t even have to pay for the flights to Cusco and back from Puerto Maldonado. Available departures on the following dates. February 21, April 3, June 27 and July 18.

Carpish/Satipo road 8 days

Central Peru is less known but is great for birding and is also very inexpensive if you want to bring a friend on your free trip. This particular promotions aims to promote the area and create a continuous demand so it will be worthwhile for the communities to set up some basic lodging. At the beginning the conditions will be basic and some camping may be needed, but at the end of the year it is hoped that no camping shall be needed and that the areas should be able to receive visitors throughout the year in the future. Departures as follow: March 17, April 29, June 1, July 6, July 27, August 12, September 25, October 19, Nov 22 and December 12

Why?

I am a tree-hugger at heart. More than a birdwatcher really. There is too much habitat destruction going on. Eco-tourism can be a sustainable way to protect habitat. But true eco-tourism is not possible if the community that lives around or in the area you’d like to conserve is excluded from the master plan. The only way in reality for conservation and true eco-tourism to be successful, is to give local communities true and immediate benefits. The projects I am involved in centre around the communities.

To highlight both to the birding world as well as the communities that there areas are important I have chosen to highlight these areas in “Fixed Departures” that run monthly. Each departure has a host who has been given a free trip. I hope that this marketing, with free trips and the social media platform to get the message across, will be a very effective way to let the world know in very short time about these new birding destinations with extremely diverse wildlife, lush forests and spectacular scenery.
Also, from the perspective of the project itself and to be successful, both areas need groups fast and frequently. Otherwise, it is likely that the communities will not bother about the conservation and the eco-tourism.

What is in it for me? Disclaimer!

Kolibri Expeditions is a small company. This PR-stunt (I don’t think anyone else have tried such a bold trip give-away earlier) should/could become almost viral (at least among birders). I hope this could get our company out of little league. We are doing a good thing. We employe Peruvian guides. We work with communities. We are environmentally concerned. We have compatible prices.

Yet, we still have had problems at the end of the year for the past three years to get it together (although 2009 looks better than many previous years). The main reason for the poor result is low sales between December and May and our fixed cost that are even through-out the year. Our staff is mainly on pay-roll with legal rights to overtime, vacation, social health care and pension. So even in our slow months we have staff to pay. There is really no reason why birders should not come to Peru all year around. You will always find more birds in Peru than in your own country in the northern hemisphere. Costa Rica and Ecuador do not shut down in the rainy season – Why should Peru do so?

To sell more trips through-out the year, Kolibri Expeditions must become better known. The give-away should help!

So what is the catch?

There isn’t much of a catch really. The trips will be totally free from Lima. , Since there are only 14 trips in total given away I shall chose those that provide the biggest value to the company. How you can supply that value to us will be treated in my next opt-in newsletter due Saturday Dec 12 (the newsletter will also be sent to anyone signing up later). This is what you need to do now to be eligable for a free birding trip in Peru.

The first thing you need to do is to sign-up to our new opt-in newletter if you have not already done so. Where? In the center column just below the big picture of a Tanager or Mr Engblom with child, there is a form to fill in. Email and Name, please! Then you will get an email telling you to click the confirmation link. That is it! You are now subscribed to the bi-weekly Kolibri Expeditions newsletter.
Is that it? No! One more thing! The idea is to use Social Media. Social media is all about sharing. Here is the link to this post that you need to share: https://bit.ly/8s830C
In order to be eligable for a free trip you need to share. The more you share, the bigger chance you have for a free trip. I am not saying you have to become a spammer, but I am sure your friends would like to know about this possibility. Even if you don’t win one of the free trips, you will by participating and sharing win a lot of Karma, so that new opportunities will be given to you for substancial discounts or other special offers or promotions.So where and how do you share? Twitter and Facebook are the two most obvious platforms and where you probably heard of this first. However, you may be participating in different forums for birders, listservers for birders, My Space, Hi5, Linked In, FriendFeed, Chatterbirds, Chirptracker, picture sharing platforms such as Flickr, Picasa, etc. Good ol’ email and blogging also works. Write your friends and write about this in your blog. I will promote cross-link on my social media platforms to your blogpost as well as some other post on your blog which should bring you some traffic
Also make sure you use all sorts of link sharing platforms such as Delicious, Digg and Stumble Upon and that you re-tweet this everytime you open this page (check the re-tweet button and digg button above-I’ll see if I can find a SU button somewhere so please come back!).
Finally, let’s mention Facebook again. You should share this link https://bit.ly/8s830C on your wall and become fan of, monitor and participate on, the Kolibri Expeditions Facebook page. Every time you do, there is a little note on your own wall, that you have posted something on Kolibri’s wall.
Do you get the picture? Social Media rocks!

That is all you need to do for now. Easy, huh?

FAQ

Q. I am not a hard core birder, I just like nature in general.Can I still participate.

A. Yes, you can! These indigenous communities can hardly make enough money, if they have to rely only on birders. Nevertheless, there is a reason why we chose to start promoting to birders. Birding is a great way to promote new area if the ornithological value is high.
You should not expect the set-up to be 100% functional when communities, completely new to the challanges of eco-tourism, are involved. However, as a birder, as long as you see a lot of birds, some hardships and things not being perfect can be dealt with. When birders will tell other birders how great an area is for birding, it rarely has to do with what food they ate , or what temperature the shower had, but what birds they have seen. In this sense birders are the cutting edge of eco-tourism – as they can withstand less than perfect comfort as long as they see the birds.
Having said this, I am keen to offer Manu departures with other themes than birding. Anyone being avid in photography, mammals, herps, butterflies or botany would have a great chance of receiving a free trip.
If you merely have a general interest in the rain forest, these trips are not for you. However, if you have a large network of contacts and feel you can generate some interest among others to see the Amazon rain forest, Giant Otter, Tapir, Macaw-lick and up to 10 species of monkeys, I would be happy to discuss the opening of some general natural history departures also during this first promotional year – and if you can recruit members to such a trip and host it – so much better as I could then supply you with a freebie.

Q. Will you repeat this in 2011r?

A. Probably not! At least not in this form directed to birders in general. Some tour operators, birding magazines and prominent bloggers may get an offer, but it is unlikely I will present it to the public in this massive way as now. It is now or never! In any case we hope by next year that we have raised enough money to increase comfort and that it shall be no problem selling the trips for a higher amount.

Q. Why don’t you spit it out? What tours are you talking about?

A. Sorry! I was carried away talking about how great the trips are without presenting them. Here they are Manu community lodges 8 days and Satipo road and Carpish. The first is a Amazonian lowland destination and the second is a cloud forest destination. The person winning the free trip would act as host for the trip.

Q. Where can I learn more about the community projects you are involved in?

A. Here are a couple of links. I realize I need soon to write an update on the advances on the Satipo road and Amarakaeri projects, but in any case these old posts give you some background.

Amarakaeri/Manu
Birdwatching in a communal reserve next to Manu
News from Amarakaeri – the communal reserve next to Manu.

Satipo road project
Outline of ideas behind Satipo road project – before trip to Mindo, Ecuador.
A marathon for conservation – A fundraising marathon and some update on the project from 2009.

Q. I want to travel with my partner. Can we both get a free trip?

A. Yes and no! The Manu trips are tied back to back with the Carpish/Satipo road trips. Although you and your friend would not get freebie to same Manu trip, your partner could ask for a freebie to the Carpish trip that follows. This may be a advantage, when it comes down to selecting the hosts. Make sure you let me know if you are a pair.

I suggest you send me lots of other questions to my email kolibriexp@gmail.com so I can deal with them in the next newsletter.

See you on the other side.

Once again this is what you need to do:

Sign-up for the newsletter on the top of the mid column -just below the Tanager photo or the photo of me and Luciana.
Share this link https://bit.ly/8s830C on Facebook and Twitter and any other Social Media platform you can think of. Don’t link directly to the trip pages, please. We don’t need to shove it down their throats.
Please don’t mention the company name in head-lines… don’t want it to appear spammy! Mentioning my name and a link to the blog should be OK, but please don’t link directly to the trip pages. Again, that would appear as too spammy in a message to many people.

Many thanks for taking part in this social media experiment.

The photo depicts 3 species of Macaws from Tambopata. The Blue and Yellow Macaw is not found on the clay lick at Manu, but the species is generarlly seen in the area. Photo Credit: Tim Ryan From the Faraway, Nearby.

by Gunnar Engblom October 11, 2009 4

Best time to visit Peru?

Wouldn't you be better off in Peru?

When is the best time to visit Peru?

This is a question I always get. I tell people they will always see more birds in Peru than at home…so any time of year is better than being “home”. In spite of this most trips are planned in the relatively dry season of the SE between June and September. Why are people so afraid of rain. Is there any time of year that people do not visit Costa Rica? Why is it that Ecuador get hoards of people in every season? Isn’t it time to break the spell and visit Peru all year around. Especially important since you may chose a different area and not necessarily go to SE in the wettest months.
All of those who have visted Peru please let us know your experiences of different areas and different months in the comment section below. I am sure we shall see that Peru is always worth a visit and again another visit.

Photo John Talbot Creative Commons license

by Gunnar Engblom September 22, 2009 3

Interview with GrrlScientist. Official Manu community blogger 1.

GrrlScientist - Devorah Bennnu

It is a great pleasure to me to announce that Devorah Bennu – GrrlScientist will help out promoting the Amarakaeri Communal Reserve, which essentially is a protected area in continuation to Manu National Park on the other side of the river. Last week I posted updates about our strategy inviting prominent bird and nature bloggers to promote community sustainable ecotourism and act as hosts for a series of special monthly blogger departures until the end of 2010. The first trip with Devorah is coming up very soon as it is scheduled for Dec 6 (new date) so the takers can join a Satipo road trip prior to the immersion in the Amazon lowland. Read the detailed Manu itinerary.

Some bio from her Grrl Scientist’s blog.

GrrlScientist is an evolutionary biologist, ornithologist, aviculturist, birder and freelance science and nature writer. A native of the Pacific Northwest, she relocated from Seattle to NYC with her parrots after earning a BS in Microbiology (emphasis in Virology) and PhD in Zoology (Ornithology) from the University of Washington. In NYC, she was the Chapman Postdoctoral Fellow at the American Museum of Natural History for two years, pursuing part of her “dream” research project by reconstructing a molecular phylogeny of the parrots of the South Pacific islands and published in SCIENCE (September 2009) and NATURE (August 2009. GrrlScientist has written a blog about science since 4 August 2004. That she has a profound interest in birds is shown by her frequent column called Birds in the News. Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted) by GrrlScientist, is one of the most popular Natural History blocks on the net with several thousand hits daily.

The interview

Q. Who is GrrlScientst?

GrrlScientist is a lifelong student of nature and birds are my first, and best, teachers. For that reason, I’ve dedicated my life to learning everything I can learn about them. Birds inspire me to learn more about the world and for that reason, they motivate me to strive to be better than I am. Ever since I watched a large group of Waxwings perched on a fence on a cold and snowy January morning, carefully passing a bright red berry from one bird to the next, I’ve been fascinated by birds; their beauty, their behaviors and their ability to survive seemingly impossible circumstances.
Why do they do what they do?
How do they know where (and when) to go when they migrate?
Why are there different species in different parts of the world?
Do they perceive the world the same way that humans do?
How do birds communicate with each other?

Q. Tell me about your love of parrots?

Parrots have been my companions and my family for most of my life, so I have a strong emotional connection to them. But beyond that, I view parrots as ambassadors. They help people to understand birds, especially people who might never have looked at a bird as anything other than buffalo wings or an annoyance. Parrots — gaudy, outgoing and personable — are the one group of birds that people from all walks of life are most likely to recognize and are most often impressed by. As a result, parrots provide people with a window into the lives of birds and in doing so, they help sensitize people to all birds, they help us learn to appreciate the lives of birds and they teach us the value of protecting and preserving birds and their habitats so future generations can discover the same joys that we experience through them.

Q. What makes you a great host for the first blogger’s Manu community lodges?

I am a great host for the Manu community lodges birding expedition because of my enthusiasm, knowledge and desire to learn. I love new experiences, and birding provides that rare combination of connecting with a small group of my fellow explorers, learning more about the birdlife in a particular area of the world, and sharing the wonder and beauty of that with others through my words, photographs and other media. Because I have been writing the popular science blog, Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted), for more than 5 years, I have a well established platform where I can publish these articles, essays, photoessays and other media where the public can follow everyone’s adventures for free

Q: The communities have difficulties getting started with eco’tourism in spite of lodges be donated to them. How do you think this initiative with a birdwatching outfitter inviting bloggers can make a difference?

I really don’t know how to respond to this because I am not familiar with this situation. However, once I am there, I am certain I’ll learn more how the local communities can make eco-tourism work better for them and my blog can serve as a conduit for information exchange to this end between my readers and the local communities.

Devorah recently aspired an official blogging status for an Antarctica cruise by Quark Expeditions. The fact that she came in 3rd among 708 bloggers with over 2200 votes shows how extremely fortunate we are to have Devorah Bennu as our first official Manu blogger .

Once again, sign up NOW for a trip to the Manu area with Devorah Blennu and expert local guides from Kolibri Expeditions. Your participation will do a lot of good for the community and their efforts to conserve a piece of the Amazon and find a sustainable way of living that respects their mindset and traditions through true eco-tourism.

Oct 23

by Gunnar Engblom April 26, 2009 0

Bicolor-spined Porcupine (Coendou bicolor)

Porcupine in Manu

I just checked Birdchicks blog, where she is in Oklahoma looking for Lesser Prarie Chickens and other birds. However, today instead she is blogging about North American porcupine (Erithizon dorsatum) which is not uncommon in NW US. This caused me to remember that I still had not uploaded my crappy pictures taken with my Blackberry in Manu last year. It was my first encounter with a porcupine ever, so to me it was a major happening seeing a new mammal – as new birds are getting fewer apart on the more familiar routes that I am doing. Never to late. Here they are.

We had just visited the famous Macawlick at Blanquillo a few hours down river from Boca Manu. That morning was great with a hunting Ocelot also attaining the lick – luring to try to catch a macaw. On the way back as we canoed back I noticed a strange shape on the roots of a fallen tree in the river. I thought it was part of the roots at first, but soon realized it was some strange animal. We could approach quite near. Unfortunately, I was the only one having a camera handy – on my telephone! Apparantly, it is a good swimmer cause it was not there when another group past later.

According to Emmons “Neotropical Rain Forest Mammals” the only Porcupine in range is the Bicolor-spined Porcupine (Coendou bicolor). Normally, it should have white tips on some spines, but some are completely dark. Several days further down river there is another species – the Brazilian Porcupine (Coendou prehensilis). I don’t suppose it would swim upriver to confuse us?

by Gunnar Engblom April 11, 2009 40

11 must-see birds in Peru for everyone!

Why birds?

Birdwatching is a specialized hobby. The birdwatchers aim to see hundreds of birds during a holiday in Peru. However, there are certain birds that transcend to more normal tourists. Some birds that you don’t have to be a birdwatcher to appreciate. Those birds that will leave an impact on anyone who lays eyes on them. These kinds of birds become banner species and tourist attractions and could be decisive to turn a non-birder into a birder. They are also important for conserving habitat and supporting local small scale businesses which often give direct revenue to local communities. I hereby present the 11 most important birds in Peru as tourism attractions.

Condor

Emblematic bird of the Andes. 100.000 people travel yearly to Colca Canyon near Arequipa to see the mighty Condor. Kolibri Expeditions have found a good viable population in Santa Eulalia canyon only 3 hours from Lima, which also is a good place to see this majestic bird. You’d be surprised to learn that most tourists that come to Peru, those that do not visit Colca or Santa Eulalia Canyon, will not see a condor in spite it being such a tremendously important symbol of Peru and the Andes. The closest they will get is hearing “Condor pasa” – the Peruvian song Simon and Garfunkel made world famous. At every little coffee shop to every fine restaurant in Cusco you will hear it played with panpipes and charrango. You cannot avoid it – not escape it!
Strangely enough Peru has yet to raise the awareness of the importance of the species for eco-tourism in other rural areas. As such it may become an important cash cow for communities. This would change the present situation in many places where the species is persecuted and seriously threatened.

Macaw-lick

There are two major macaw-licks in SE Peru where these giant parrots descend on sunny clay river cliffs to ingest the clay with thousands of other parrots. The best one that attracts 5 species of macaws is situated in the Tambopata area near Tambopata Research Center. There is extremely important Macaw research going on here and you can help as a participant volunteer. See Tambopata Macaw Project. The other important one is downriver from Manu at Blanquillo near in vicinity of several lodges.

Andean Cock-of-the-Rock

Wow! Exclamation mark is necessary! This surreal member of the Cotinga family has a wide distribution from Venezuela to Bolivia. It is one of the most colorful birds of the Andes. The males gather in “lek” – displays – where the perform ritual dances and make noisy grunts and shrieks. In many places leks have become tourism attractions. The most famous is perhaps next to Cock-of-the-Rock Lodge, but there are several places in Central and Northern Peru where leks also can be seen. Locally, it has become good incentives to conserve forest. Since the cock-of-the-rock is also un-officially national bird of Peru kids all over the country learn to appreciate it. Only five years ago, when traveling in Central Peru inquiring where I could see it, I was directed to the zoo or a man that allegedly had stuffed ones for sale! Things have changed now.

Inca Tern

Its coral red bill and feet, and yellow and white waxy mustache on a slaty blackish body makes the Inca Tern the most beautiful Tern of the world. This specialty of the Humboldt Current is not difficult to see in large numbers. In many places it can be approached for a photograph. A spectacular event on the Lima pelagics is when the fish scrap leftover that is used to attract seabirds at the high sea is thrown out after the boat and up to a thousand Inca Terns come in to the stern.

Hummingbird feeders

Peru has yet to develop more places with hummingbird feeders, but the ones available are truly spectacular. My favorites are the following.

Amazonia Lodge at the bottom of Manu road, with specialties such as the rare Rufous-crested Coquette, Koepcke’s Hermit and Gould’s Jewelfront and another dozen of more common hummers such as White-necked Jacobin, Blue Emerald, Gray-breasted Sabrewing and Black-eared Fairy come to the garden with feeders and blue vervain in front of the ample porch of the main building..

Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel the luxurious hotel with precious subtropical gardens decorated with orchids and bromeliads at the foot of Machu Picchu next to Aguas Calientes village. The hotel also have dozens of well maintained hummingbird feeders spread out in the compound open only to its guests. The specialties include Gould’s Inca, White-bellied Hummingbird, Long-tailed Sylph, Chestnut-breasted Coronet and Booted Racket-tail.

Cock-of the-Rock Lodge on the Manu road, has a open veranda dining room looking out to the garden where tanagers are fed and Blue Vervain and feeders attract the hummingbirds. The specialties include Violet-fronted Brilliant, Many-spotted Hummingbird, Wire-crested Thorn-tail, Booted Racket-tail and many more.

Marvelous Spatuletail

If I should choose just one hummingbird species in Peru this would be the one. It is the most spectacular Hummingbird in Peru. The male has long streamers ending in blue rackets. It may not yet be a large tourist attraction since it occurs only in Amazonas department and a bit off the beaten track for most general tourists coming to Peru, but it is certainly on the birdwatcher’s radar on the Northern Birding Circuit and the principle attraction. Kolibri Expeditions has initiated a project here together with local farmer Santos Montenegro obtaining funds through our clients allowing Santos to buy some land from his neighbors. The idea is to turn the small reserve to a Hummingbird information center.

Chilean Flamingo

Flamingos are big tourist attractions all over the world, and the Chilean Flamingo in Peru is not an exception, especially since legend has that the flamingos San Martin saw in Paracas before leading the liberation from Spain, inspired to the design of the Peruvian flag. There is not a person in Peru, that is not familiar with this story. Unfortunately, many flamingo colonies are well off the beaten track, except that of wintering flamingos still present at the Paracas bay. One may hope however those remote flamingo colonies could be integrated in sustainable tourism packages and this way supply income to local communities at the same time protecting the colonies. The practice common is the past to scare the colony to take flight for a photograph, is fortunately no longer carried out. It seems to me that Peruvian awareness for the well being of the natural attractions has increased in recent years.

Hoatzin.

Without being a particularly rare bird, the Hoatzin inhabits lake sides. It prehistoric looks, similar to the Archaeopteryx and the fact that the young have claws in the wings, make it a tantalizing. The hisses it makes add to its pre-historic image. It occurs in colonies and is mostly not hunted because its meat is smelly and not good. It has constantly bad breath as its digest is completely leaves which are fermented in the crop. Hoatzin can be seen in many places in the Amazon. Most photogenic perhaps at Amazonia Lodge.

Humboldt Penguin

Paracas has been the traditional place where many tourists come in contact with the species for the first time while visiting the sea-lion colonies at Ballestas Islands. In recent years however trips have been arranged to sea-lion colony at Islas Palomino from Callao, Lima, where also the Penguins occur and this is a time effective alternative to Paracas. Recent studies show that Humboldt Penguins are very sensitive to disturbance – much more so – than its close relative Magellanic Penguin that occurs in Patagonia and with colonies that attracts tens of thousands of visitors. Fortunately, there are no colonies in Peru that are accessible to tourists to walk around in. The large colony at Punta San Juan near Nazca is closed to the public.

Other places where one can see Humboldt Penguin include Pucusana and the new San Fernando reserve close to Nazca.

Torrent Duck

A highly dimorphic beautiful duck specialized living its life in streaming water and fascinating to watch. One of the best place to see them is at Aguas Calientes below Machu Picchu. In fact, they can often be seen looking out the window from the train to Machu Picchu.

Waved Albatross

In spite of being a bird breeding on the Galapagos, practically all individuals of the species will spend considerable time in Peruvian Waters in its lifetime when not breeding. The pelagic birdwatching and whale-watching trips from Lima has made it possible for larger numbers of people to see an albatross at relative ease. Waved Albatross is critically threatened due to high adult mortality in recent years. In spite of being one of the smaller albatrosses, with 2.30m wingspan it is still impressive and a highlight for anyone venturing to sea to see it.

This article was brought to you by Kolibri Expeditions. Kolibri Expeditions runs tours everywhere in Peru and can take you to all these birds, providing a full-fledged birding holiday or a holiday to culture and nature on a more general level.

Photos by license of creative commons: Ogwen (Condor), Species snob (Chilean Flamingo), Olliethebastard (Hoatzin), and Inca Tern close up by Suneko

Special thanks to Tim Ryan of The faraway, nearby blog, for letting me use his Macaw pictures from Tambopata. All other pictures by Gunnar Engblom and Alex Duran (Rufous-crested Coquette and Torrent Duck). GE´s and AD´s pictures may be used under creative commons license. Link and acknowledge this page. Thanks.

by Gunnar Engblom April 5, 2009 1

Birding Peru – video by Keith Blomerley, part 2

Birding Peru 2004 video clips – part 2

The first part of these clips can be found here. Here is the second delivery of Keith Blomerly’s videos from the trip he did with Kolibri Expeditions in 2004 together with Simon Wotton, Richard Winspear and Guy Shorrock. These videos cover principally the Manu road and the lowlands. The birds species seen are mentioned in order. There are quite a few butterflies filmed as well if someone want to have a go identifying them.

Manu road, Pillahuata, Rocotal and Cock-of-the-Rock Lodge

Spectacular birding on the Manu road to Cock-of-the Rock Lodge with birds showing in this order Saffron-crowned Tanager, Cinnamon Flycatcher, Golden-headed Quetzal, Woolly Monkey, Highland Motmot, Blue-banded Toucanet and Versicolored Barbet, Brown Capuchin, female Wire-crested Thorntail, Russet-backed Oropendola, Andean cock-of-the-rock, Dusky-green Oropendola, White-bellied woodstar, Wire-crested Thorntail, White-bellied Woodstar, Variable Antshrike and Hooded Tinamou.

Cock of the Rock Lodge and Manu Amazon Lodge. Blanquillo Macwa lick.

Starting at Cock-of-the-rock Lodge on the Manu Road via Quitacalzones Bridge to Atalaya. Here a boat took us to Pantiacolla Lodge. From Pantiacolla the trip went on to Manu Amazon Lodge (formerly known as Manu Camping Lodge). A visit to the famous Macawlick is the final highlight of this section.

Species in chronological order Violaceous Jay, Lanceolated Monklet and Plumbeous Kite, Yellow-browed Tody-Flycatcher, Red Howler Monkey, White-browed Antbird, Squirrel Monkey, a brief view of a probable Yellow-breasted Warbling Antbird (collinsi form), White-winged Trumpeter, Wood Stork, Horned Screamer, Sand-coloured Nighthawk, Scarlet Macaw, Blue-headed Parrot, Orange-cheeked Parrots Mealy Parrot and Red-and-Green Macaw.

Manu Amazon Lodge, canopy Tower at Cocha Camungo and Cocha Camungo catamaran canoe trip.

First some birding near the lodge and then on to the Cocha Camungo area with canopy tower and lake. In the afternoon birding is near Manu Amazon Lodge.

Saddle-backed Tamarin, Striolated puffbird, Greater Yellow-headed Vulture, Squirrel cuckoo, Purus Jacamar, Yellow-rumped Cacique, Neotropic cormorant, Sungrebe in flight, Greater Ani, Boat-billed Flycatcher, Striated Heron, Black-capped Donacobius, Squirrel, Llesser Kiskadee, Hoatzin, Amazon kingfisher, Blue-and-yellow macaw, Crested Owl, Razor-billed Curassow and female Plumbeous Antbird duetting with a male.

Cocha Blanco Lake Catamaran Canoes.

Mainly Cocha Blanco and Manu Amazon Lodge.

Birds filmed are Wattled Jacana, Amazon Kingfisher, Green Kingfisher, Ringed Kingfisher, Black-collared Hawk, Swallow-tailed Kite, Muscovy Duck, Least Grebe, Horned Screamer, Limpkin, Squirrel Monkey, Giant Otter, Amazonian Antwren, Sunbittern, Sungrebe, Ladder-tailed Nightjar, Red-necked Woodpecker, Dwarf Tyrant-Manakin and Undulated Tinamou, Black-fronted Nunbird, White-flanked Antwren, Spectacled Owl and Southern Chestnut-tailed Antbird.

The remaining 5 video clips by Keith Blomerley from the Kolibri Expeditions Manu trip in 2004 will be posted shortly on this blog. Stay tuned. Want to visit Manu. Check out our Manu page and the calendar. There are many different trip options at different prices depending on comfort level, time available and specific interest.

by Gunnar Engblom March 22, 2009 13

10 best and cheapest ways to avoid chiggers in South America.

What are chiggers anyway?

You don’t see chiggers. They can be a serious nuisance, because the itch is diabolic. I have seen severe infections after scratching chigger bites. For some people the itch goes on for a week!
So what are they? Actually, they are more than one sort – and that is the reason why there are so many conceptions and misconceptions about chiggers. Chiggers are normally referring to the larval stage of microscopic Trombiculidae mites (thus a small arachnid) and they bite but do not dig under the skin. However, a similarly named evil – the Chigoe flea a.k.a. as jigger – Tunga penetrans is common in South America causes similar symptoms – and in this case the little flea does bury underneath the skin to eventually produce eggs and detach. Since protection against both no-see-ums is similar….let us just concentrate on that.

How to protect yourself against chiggers

While some people would buy expensive protection with Permethrin soaked garments and others will get sulphur powder to dust their entire footwear, socks and pant-legs (it comes with a distinct rotten egg odor- and will not be popular among your fellow travellers using my technique!), here is the less high tech, less messy, cheap and fool proof way to protect you against chiggers

Rubber boots – Wellies. There is no better protection against the crawlies on the ground than rubber boots. Not only does chiggers have a hard time climbing the rubber shafts, but that also goes for army ants. Imagine standing in an army ant swarm without having to hop up and down while you are surrounded by the ants. Standing still there is actually a chance you may see those illusive ant following antbirds such as the Hairy-crested, White-masked and White-plumed Antbirds. But the thought of having to walk around in uncomfortable high rubber boots in warm climate is the one thing that usually put people off from my first advice. Fortunately, there are a few things you can do to increase comfort. The first trick is to get inexpensive very soft rubber boots. These sell cheaply in Peru (around 15 US$) up to size 10 or 10.5 (up to size 44 European) but larger sizes are impossible to get. They don’t weigh much either and are easy to pack as the fold up.
The fit of these cheap boots are usually quite poor, but by inserting the insoles of your sneakers you get perfect fit. Use double thin socks to lead off moisture, pre-treat your feet with anti-transpiring and powder the inside of your boots with foot powder. Whenever you are in the car or in the canoe, change to sneakers or sandals, by having these handy.
Tuck in pants. The rubber boots will not be of much use if your pantlegs hang outside of your boots.
Spray DEET (OFF is commonly available in Peru) on socks and boot lining. If an occasional chigger would venture above your boot shaft, this should prevent it from climbing down your boots.
Spray DEET around the waist on top of the clothing and also on the bare skin at the lining of the pants. If the chiggers don’t enter to your skin from your feet, you may still get them around the waist if you brush against any branches or enter the forest.
Coming back to the lodge, take a shower straight away and scrub legs and any part where the clothing has been tight i.e. private parts. Have a set of clothing reserved for after showers which you wear for your lunch and dinner. This set of clothing shall not be taken into the forest at any time.
If you been in high grass or entered the dense forest off the trail (birders do that you know), you need to change clothing the next day or spray the cloths with deet in the evening. If your clothes have been washed make sure they are hung on lines with cloth-hangers. Why? Pîcture this: When your clothes finally have dried, some strong wind blows them off the line into the grass lawn totally infested with chiggers.
Change socks and underwear every day. (Get these garment infested with chiggers and you will know about it.)
Don’t ever walk over the clearing in sneakers or sandals – especially not if you wear socks. Without socks, don’t forget to wash of the feet and the sandals afterwards. The clearing grass is the worst for chiggers. Even worse than the forest.
Don’t sit down or lie down on the leaf litter in the forest. Some early neo-tropical birders claim that the best way to look at canopy birds in with lying down on the trail. That may be, but it does involve some serious consequence.
The same goes for your back pack – don’t put the back pack on the leaf litter….Think for yourself cause and effect when you try scratching your itching back at night?

Finally, two more links for more information.

Wiki. About the harvest mites in general and chiggers in particular
From Nina Bicknese, Missouri department of conservation

As from this moment, Kolibri Expeditions will provide to our clients free OFF in spray cans and rubber boots to size 43 European. If you need larger size, please consider bringing a pair from home to donate to us for the benefit of future travellers. Say no to scratching now.

Foto by Scott Zona by Creative common License on Flickr.

by Gunnar Engblom March 10, 2009 1

Birding Peru – video by Keith Blomerley, part 1

Birdwatching in Peru – videos.

Keith Blomerley just posted some videos he put together from the trip he did with Kolibri Expeditions in 2004 together with Simon Wotton, Richard Winspear and Guy Shorrock. The birdwatching included the area around Lima, pelagic and some birding around Pisco and Ayacucho. The majority however is filmed along Manu Road and down the Madre de Dios river to Manu Amazon Lodge (formerly know as Manu Camping Lodge). The final parts contain Machu Picchu and Ticlio/Marcopomacocha.

The film is split into 13 parts, each around 6 or 7 minutes long. Clicking the “more info” link at the top right of the page gives more details and a mention of all the species filmed. The clips are best watched in high quality by hitting the HQ button at the bottom of the video screen. I shall present the videos in 3 posts with the first four presented here.

Birding Pucusana and Puerto Viejo

In Pucusana the main birds were Peruvian Seaside Cinclodes, Inca Tern and Humboldt Penguin. The birdwatching at Puerto Viejo included Many-coloured Rush Tyrant, Grassland Yellow-Finch, Wren-like Rushbird, Peruvian Meadowlark, Pied-billed Grebe and Great Grebe.

Or click this page to come to the You Tube page Birdwatching Pucusana and Puerto Viejo, Peru

Birdwatching at Paracas and Ayacucho

First minutes covers the desert near Pucusana. The birding here gives Coastal Miner, Vermilion Flycatcher, Peruvian Thick-knee, Mountain Parakeet with a Hooded Siskin, and Croaking Ground-Dove. At Cañete valley there were Black-necked Woodpecker and Tropical Kingbird.
At Paracas National Reserve the filmed Turkey Vulture, Peruvian Booby, Humboldt penguin, South American Fur Seal, Sanderling and Western Sandpiper.

Finally, the areas around Ayacucho covers Rufous-naped Ground-Tyrant, female White-winged Black-Tyrant, Pale-tailed Canastero (huancavelicae ssp of creamy-breasted), Bar-winged Cinclodes, Taczanowski’s Ground-Tyrant, Bearded Mountaineer, Andean flicker, Shining Sunbeam, Black-tailed Trainbearer and White-tailed canastero (usheri ssp of Creamy-breasted Canastero). There is also two skippers included. If anyone knows the names of these let me know.

Here is the link directly to the You Tube page for part two. Birdwatching at Paracas and Ayacucho

Birdwatching at Lomas de Lachay, Paraiso and a Lima birding Pelagic

The birding at Lomas de Lachay gave Burrowing Owl, Least Seedsnipe, Croaking Ground-Dove, Mountain Parakeet, Oasis Hummingbird, Raimondi’s Yellow-Finch and Tawny-throated Dotterel.
Paraiso lagoon some 30km to the North commence with an Elegant Tern and Guy’s rescue of an immature Guanay Cormorant caught in fishing net, Chilean Flamingo and Snowy Plover.
Finally, the pelagic, one of the trip highlights, of the trip brings footage of Franklin’s gull, Grey Gull, White-chinned petrel, South American Tern, Sabine’s gull, Wilson’s Storm-Petrel, White-vented Storm-Petrel, Black Storm-Petrel, Markham’s Storm-Petrel and White-vented Storm-Petrel. Finally as we reach waters near shore on the way back Peruvian Pelican, Dusky Dolphins with a mix of Peruvian Boobies and Sooty Shearwaters.

For the direct You Tube link click Birding Lomas de Lachay, Paraiso and Lima Pelagic

Birding Palomino islands near Callao and Huacarpay lake in Cusco

The last part of this post contains the final stretch of the Pelagic trip, Huacarpay Lake and first bit of Manu road.
There is a large colony of Peruvian boobies South American Sea Lions at Palomino islands. Chucking the last bit of chum on the way back to port brings a Red-legged Cormorant and a mix of Peruvian Pelicans Kelp Gulls and Inca Terns.
At Huacarpay Lake there are Andean Coot and Common Gallinule, and a Greenish Yellow-Finch. Starting at the dry areas on the Manu road around Paucartambo with Creamy-crested Spinetail, Golden-billed Saltator, Chiguanco Thrush and White-winged Black-Tyrant. Once in the more humid temperate forest there are Great sapphirewing, Calling Diademed Tapaculo and Hooded Mountain-Tanager. In the elfin forest around Pillahuata, there are Broad-winged Hawk and Rufous-breasted Chat-Tyrant, Scarlet-bellied Mountain-Tanager, Plush-capped Finch and Barred Fruiteater. Finally a very brief Red-and-White antpitta, Blackburnian Warbler and Masked Trogon.

The direct link to You Tube and this video by clicking Birdwatching Islas Palomino and Huarcapay, Cusco

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!

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