Peru Manu Part I: The Cloud Forest and Foothills Aug 03—15, 2010
Posted by Steve Hilty
Steve Hilty
Steve Hilty is the senior author of A Guide to the Birds of Colombia, and the recently published Birds of Venezuela, both by Princeton University Press. Other credits inclu...Related Trips
On the coast near Lima we enjoyed a fine day in marshes, sandy beaches, and old farmland, as well as a productive boat trip around the bay at Pucusana with boobies, cormorants, gulls, terns, pelicans, and some remarkable observations of Humboldt’s Penguins both in the water and on the rocks in full view. It was an excellent day—remarkable for the combination of birds seen and the ease in which most things were seen. Where else, for example, can one enjoy penguins and Tropical Kingbirds in the same day? Then it was off to the historic city of Cuzco and a visit to peaceful and shimmery Huacarpay Lake. The next day found us crossing a quilt work of picturesque (and now dusty due to road construction) arid highlands, and eventually descending through cloud forests of the eastern Andean slope to the Cock-of-the-Rock Lodge.
While the next few days were filled with cloud forest birds, we started our stay at the Cock-of-the-Rock Lodge with the unfortunate discovery that floods and extensive landslides in January of this year had destroyed the "famous" Andean Cock-of-the-rock lek that was located close to the lodge. In fact, one of the areas of most severe landslide damage occurred from several kilometers above the lodge to several kilometers below the lodge—precisely where the lek is located. No less than 17 landslides scarred the slopes between the Cloud Forest Lodge and our Andean Cock-of-the-Rock Lodge; even more extensive landslides occurred below our lodge with about fifty percent of all forest lost to landslides in several valleys immediately below our lodge. The loss of the lek left us scrambling to make reservations at a second lek (fortunately spared) a few kilometers above our lodge, which we were able to visit during the afternoon of the second day. Despite a parade of people visiting to observe, five able males put on a terrific matinee performance under perfect lighting conditions.
Over the next few days we rose before dawn for trips to progressively higher elevations and also to sites at lower elevation. What were the Andean highlights? I'd pick the Andean Potoo (at an unusually low elevation) which sallied from a high stub immediately behind the Cock-of-the-Rock Lodge the first night (but did not return thereafter). I'd also pick the two exquisite Golden-headed Quetzals, and the unforgettable Lyre-tailed Nightjar—ghostlike overhead, with ribbon-tail streaming behind, and then perched nearby for all to see. Other top honors were the Versicolored Barbets, the male and female Amazonian Umbrellabird, and a grand total of 15 hummingbirds recorded at the feeders and flowering shrubs at Hacienda Amazonia. Finally, if anything, this trip is about tanagers, and we had wonderful looks at a huge number of them, everything from the all-too-scarce Golden-collared Tanagers the first day, to such beautiful species as Grass-green, Saffron-crowned, Golden-eared, Orange-eared, and Paradise tanager among many others.
At the Hacienda Amazonia it was almost as if we were starting all over again because the birdlife there was so different from that in the cloud forests above. Here, at much lower elevation, there were strange Hoatzins, a garden buzzing with hummingbirds, swifts spinning in great kettles at dawn, and a dawn chorus filled with woodcreepers, antbirds, and oropendolas. All too quickly we were off again, two of you back to Cuzco in the big bus with driver Mario, and the rest of us downriver to the Manu Wildlife Center to begin yet another adventure.