Day 1. Assuming you are arriving at night or in the evening in Lima, we shall drive 80 km north to Chancay to be strategically close to Lomas de Lachay. We spend the night at a basic hotel.
Day 2. Lomas de Lachay Reserve we will look for specialties like Cactus Canastero, Thick-billed, Coastal and Grayish Miners, Least Seedsnipe, Collared Warbling-Finch, Tawny-throated Dotterel, Black-lored Yellowthroat (split from Masked Yellow-throat), White-faced Gnatcatcher (possible split from Tropical Gnatcatcher), Peruvian Meadowlark and many more. We will drive on to Huarmey (2.5h) and inland (3h) to the small village of San Damian. In the late pm we walk up to camp (2h), where we may have a chance to hear and see West Peruvian Screech-Owl.
Day 3. Our chief target is the very rare Russet-bellied Spinetail, but other birds include Great Inca-Finch, Piura Chat-Tyrant, Southern Line-cheeked Spinetail and Rufous-breasted Warbling-Finch. Andean Deer (Huemal), White-tailed Deer, Spectacled Bear and Puma are abundant according to the locals. We shall be very lucky if we are able to spot any. We will move camp higher up where it should also be possible to find Koepcke's Screech-Owl.
Day 4. An additional morning to look for Russet-bellied Spinetail, that sometimes can be tricky. We will drive through Huaraz and on to Yungay in the early afternoon picking up Green-headed Hillstar on the way.
Day 5. Llanganuco Lakes. Doña Josefa Trail. Marvelous lagoons and magic Polylepis forest. The trail goes downhill all day. Birds to see include Plain-tailed Warbling-Finch, Rufous-eared Brush-Finch, Giant Conebill, Tit-like Dacnis, Stripe-headed Antpitta, Ancash Tapaculo, Striated Earthcreeper and sometimes the rare White-cheeked Cotinga. In the late afternoon we will look for the yet undescribed form of Pale-tailed Canastero, which quite likely is a separate species. We will stay overnight in Caraz.
Day 6. Sometimes it is windy in the afternoons and we may have missed the Canastero. If needed we will spend the break of dawn trying to see this species. Additionally in the area we pick up birds like Spot-throated Hummingbird, Drab Seedeater and Peruvian Meadowlark as well as Rufous-backed Inca-Finch. We will continue south over the pass at Conococha where Giant Coot, Cordilleran, Streak-throated and Streak-backed Canastero can be found. We are returning to Lima around 6 PM.