Laura and I booked an apartment in the city of Huánuco for four nights. This was ostensively to give us ample time to explore some of the beautiful natural areas east of here, but it also gave us a chance to make some home-cooked meals, do laundry, and relax a little after being on the move for quite a few days in a row.
Our visit to Bosque Unchog, featured in my latest post, was the crown jewel of our stay in Huánuco but we explored some other areas as well.
August 1, 2022
Laura and I enjoyed a well deserved sleep-in until 6:30 AM. I made coffee and tea and fried some eggs for a leisurely breakfast. After driving eastwards over the crest of the Andes, it was already 8:30 AM when we arrived at our first destination for the day. Bad birders we are!
The Carpish Tunnel is a famous birding site at around 2700 m in elevation. Driving eastwards from Huánuco, the vegetation is representative of the relatively arid conditions due to the rain-shadow effects of the eastern Andes. By the time that one drives through the Carpish Tunnel and emerges on the eastern side, the landscape has become verdant. It is quite the contrast.
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| Carpish Tunnel Trail, Huánuco, Peru |
Unfortunately, these conditions are suitable for more than just native plants growing in diverse forests. Humans have chopped down much of the vegetation, replacing it with hydrangea monocultures. The Carpish Tunnel trail used to cut through beautiful montane forest, though it is now just a sliver of its former glory. At least there is quite a bit off untouched forest off in the distance. It will remain this way for a few years at least, until someone has the bright idea to build a new road to continue the deforestation.
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| Carpish Tunnel Trail, Huánuco, Peru |
But, enough of the negativity. Several decent forest patches remain along the Carpish Tunnel trail, and with them come an excellent variety of birds. Within minutes of our arrival we had already heard Bay and Chestnut Antpittas, spotted a Gray-breasted Mountain-Toucan, and picked through a mixed flock.
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| Gray-breasted Mountain-Toucan - Carpish Tunnel Trail, Huánuco, Peru |
We did not have very many targets along the Carpish Tunnel trail and simply enjoyed a nice walk with an excellent variety of birds. Tschudi's Tapaculo was a highlight; we had heard this species on a few previous occasions, but this time, one cooperated and perched up for a few seconds.
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| Tschudi's Tapaculo - Carpish Tunnel Trail, Huánuco, Peru |
Laura had never seen a Plushcap before. Though they are somewhat widespread in Andean cloud forests, they are rarely a common species. I had only bumped into Plushcaps on a couple of previous occasions. Today was her lucky day - we easily found a half-dozen or so in mixed flocks.
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| Plushcap - Carpish Tunnel Trail, Huánuco, Peru |
Some of the other highlights during our morning hike included a vocal Large-footed Tapaculo, a Rufous Spinetail, Grass-green Tanagers, a Golden-browed Chat-Tyrant, great looks at White-eared Solitaires and a healthy selection of tanagers and hummingbirds. Barred Fruiteaters also proved to be common, allowing us to have some spectacular views of this attractive species.
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| Barred Fruiteater - Carpish Tunnel Trail, Huánuco, Peru |
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| Barred Fruiteater - Carpish Tunnel Trail, Huánuco, Peru |
The sun peeked out in the second half of our walk, instigating many insects to come out of the woodwork.
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| Pedaliodes sp. - Carpish Tunnel Trail, Huánuco, Peru |
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| Oreiallagma quadricolor - Carpish Tunnel Trail, Huánuco, Peru |
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| Silky Wanderer (Leptophobia eleone) - Carpish Tunnel Trail, Huánuco, Peru |
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| Pepsis sp. - Carpish Tunnel Trail, Huánuco, Peru |
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| Lasiophila sp. - Carpish Tunnel Trail, Huánuco, Peru |
It was not quite midday yet and so Laura and I drove a little further down the road to the Paty Trail. This is a site that requires several days of exploration to tease out its avian treasures. Part of the reason is that there is a long, steep walk down a gravel road through cutover sections to reach the better quality forest below. Laura and I made it part way down the slope before deciding that it was not in our best interests to continue. We did not feel like climbing 400-500+ meters in elevation back up, especially since the clock was already approaching noon. The only semi-noteworthy sighting we had in our very short visit was this dead-on-road snake which I have yet to identify.
Laura and I found this sign a little disheartening. Surrounded by plastic garbage strewn about, the sign dictates that the land beyond is an area of conservation. All we could see was cut-down forest. Who needs actual protections for the environment, when we can just have the idea of environmental protection? It is the same thing, right?
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| Paty Trail, Huánuco, Peru |
August 3, 2022
We still had one full day in Huánuco remaining. We decided to stop in at a relatively new protected area called Bosque Montepotrero. This is a community-run forest that also happens to be one of the more accessible sites to search for the range-restricted Panao Antpitta. In 2020, the Rufous Antpitta was split into a number of different species. The Panao Antpitta was "created" by this taxonomic fracturing, and it has a small range in the eastern Andes, mainly east of Huánuco.
The first stretch of trail passes along the side of a cutover hillside surrounded by pasture. Montepotrero is a fitting name for this reserve, as potrero translates to pastureland. In some of the scrubby areas we found a nice variety of birds including Laura's first Brown-flanked Tanager. We also watched attractive hummingbirds like the Green-tailed Trainbearer and the Mountain Velvetbreast.
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| Brown-flanked Tanager - Bosque Montepotrero, Huánuco, Peru |
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| Brown-flanked Tanager - Bosque Montepotrero, Huánuco, Peru |
We paid our 5 soles per person entrance fee and were shown the way to the forest by the enthusiastic guard. The trail passed along the edge of the hillside, with forest extending down the steep slope to our left. The path itself was quite level, making the walk very easy.
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| Bosque Montepotrero, Huánuco, Peru |
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| Bosque Montepotrero, Huánuco, Peru |
We found the Panao Antpittas to be quite common by voice, but despite our best efforts we were unable to obtain any views of the little skulkers. Still, I managed some decent recordings so I was relatively happy.
Other than the antpittas, the birding was relatively slow for us but we only spent a couple of hours here. In truth, I was more focused on butterflies since the sun was out in full force.
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| Pronophila sp. - Bosque Montepotrero, Huánuco, Peru |
And with that, we headed back to our car and drove back to our apartment in Huánuco to relax for the rest of the day. Our plan for the following morning was to begin the long drive to Huascarán National Park, home to some of the highest mountain peaks in Peru and a number of interesting birds.
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