August 7, 2022
Laura and I had booked four nights in the town of Caraz, affording us plenty of time to explore Parque Nacional Huascarán and the surrounding areas. We took a break from high alpine exploration on August 7th and visited a few sites in the dry, scrubby valley found at the western base of the Cordillera Blanca.
We started our day with a sleep-in and a leisurely breakfast. Feeling well-rested and well-fed, we made the short drive south to an area called Pueblo Libre. This scrubby, cactus-filled site is situated on the edge of town and is home to a unique suite of birds. While much of this type of scrub has been destroyed by humans, small pockets remain and it is here that the Pale-tailed Canastero holds on.
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| Pueblo Libre, Ancash, Peru |
Considered a form of Creamy-breasted Canastero by some authorities, the Pale-tailed Canastero has a limited range in central Peru. The Pueblo Libre area is one of the "traditional" sites to seek it out, mainly because of its close proximity to the main highway and the towns of Caraz and Yungay, where birders often visit.
It was already after 8 AM when we arrived but the birds were still quite active. We quickly noted Band-tailed Seedeaters and Band-tailed Sierra Finches, Croaking Ground-Doves and our first Spot-throated Hummingbirds. Unfortunately, the hummingbirds eluded my camera during the course of our walk.
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| Band-tailed Sierra Finch - Pueblo Libre, Ancash, Peru |
I inadvertently flushed a nightjar while walking through some cactus scrub. We were pleased to see that it was a gorgeous Band-winged Nightjar, our first of the year.
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| Band-winged Nightjar - Pueblo Libre, Ancash, Peru |
It is not surprising that most birds in this landscape are clad in shades of grays and browns, matching their environment. A large flock of Greenish Yellow-Finches provided a bit more colour, but only a touch.
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| Greenish Yellow-Finch - Pueblo Libre, Ancash, Peru |
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| Greenish Yellow-Finch - Pueblo Libre, Ancash, Peru |
The canasteros were being rather tricky and we had walked around for almost two hours without success. Still, the scenery was different from what we had been seeing, and we enjoyed sifting through the various bird species.
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| Pueblo Libre, Ancash, Peru |
Finally, we had a stroke of luck when I heard the first canastero singing. We found two of them over the next twenty minutes, though they remained a little distant. In typical fashion for the species, they preferred to perch on top of some of the columnar cacti. It is amazing how birds can routinely do this without stepping on any spines!
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| Pale-tailed Canastero - Pueblo Libre, Ancash, Peru |
The second place that we visited was a gravel road that headed north towards the town of Huaylas. The presence of ample ground bromeliads in the scrubby vegetation beside the road provides excellent habitat for two endemic tanagers: the Great Inca-Finch and Rufous-backed Inca-Finch. The former species prefers some of the lower elevations along this road, while the latter is the dominant species near the top of the road. Laura and I had seen both of these species earlier in our trip but we were keen to improve on our views.
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| Inca-finch scrub - Carratera a Huaylas, Ancash, Peru |
Despite our midday arrival to the pass, we found several pairs of Rufous-backed Inca-Finches in quick succession. Such handsome birds!
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| Rufous-backed Inca-Finch - Carratera a Huaylas, Ancash, Peru |
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| Rufous-backed Inca-Finch - Carratera a Huaylas, Ancash, Peru |
Despite their striking colours, they blend in surprisingly well in their sepia-toned environment. Though, that yellow bill really stands out!
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| Rufous-backed Inca-Finches - Carratera a Huaylas, Ancash, Peru |
Inca Finches are classic Peruvian birds. All five species in the genus Incaspiza are endemic to this country! Laura and I are not making it to north Peru during this trip, where the other three species can be found, so they will have to wait for a future trip.
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| Rufous-backed Inca-Finch - Carratera a Huaylas, Ancash, Peru |
A nice surprise was a very good look at a Spot-throated Hummingbird. Our earlier morning encounters had been short-lived each time; I had not even managed a poor photo. Well, I successfully managed that poor photo this time around!
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| Spot-throated Hummingbird - Carratera a Huaylas, Ancash, Peru |
And one last photo of a fine Rufous-backed Inca-Finch.
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| Rufous-backed Inca-Finch - Carratera a Huaylas, Ancash, Peru |
We descended a few hundred meters in elevation until we were in the heart of the Great Inca-Finch range. Again, it took less than 60 seconds to find our target!
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| Great Inca-Finch - Carratera a Huaylas, Ancash, Peru |
The Great Inca-Finch looks very similar to the Rufous-backed but a few differences can be spotted. These include the relative size of the black mask and black throat patch. The Great Inca-Finch also sports a slightly duller back, lacking the brighter rufous tones, but this is rather subtle.
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| Great Inca-Finch - Carratera a Huaylas, Ancash, Peru |
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| Great Inca-Finch - Carratera a Huaylas, Ancash, Peru |
Our Inca Finch quest was highly successful as we had "walk away views" of both species. A rather excellent way to spend the hottest part of the day!
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| Great Inca-Finch - Carratera a Huaylas, Ancash, Peru |
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| Great Inca-Finch - Carratera a Huaylas, Ancash, Peru |
August 8, 2022
Laura and I ventured back into the national park for our final full day in the area. We chose a different sector: Quebrada Paron.
The prices here were a lot more reasonable than Laguna Llanganuco, as the guard charged us 5 soles (about 1.70 Canadian dollars) per person. eBird data at Quebrada Paron is rather scarce, since almost all foreign birders to PN Huascarán only visit Laguna Llanganuco. This is generally because they only have a day or two in the area and most of their main targets can be found along that road.
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| Laguna Paron - Parque Nacional Huascarán, Ancash, Peru |
We had already done quite well at Laguna Llanganuco (and the Polylepis forest beyond the lakes) and I was curious how Quebrada Paron differed.
This was an excellent choice and Laura and I had an absolutely amazing morning. We were among the first people to enter the park and were treated to a nearly cloudless sky illuminating the snow-capped peaks and steep rock walls framing the valley.
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| Parque Nacional Huascarán, Ancash, Peru |
Despite the successes of our previous days, we still had three new (to us) bird species on our list of possibilities. These included the Andean Parakeet, Rainbow Starfrontlet and Ash-breasted Tit-Tyrant. However, all three seemed to be somewhat uncommon and I kept my expectations low.
Imagine my delight when a tight flock of compact, bright green parakeets streaked over our car shortly after entering the park! We tried chasing them down and managed reasonable looks, but they took off down the valley before we could fully appreciate them. Luckily, we found another small flock just a short ways up the road!
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| Andean Parakeets - Parque Nacional Huascarán, Ancash, Peru |
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| Andean Parakeet - Parque Nacional Huascarán, Ancash, Peru |
An even bigger surprise occurred just minutes later. While waiting for the parrots to re-appear, a large orange hummingbird with a green head and a straight bill landed on a branch only two meters from me. A Rainbow Starfrontlet! It promptly took off a few seconds later, and despite some playback we never managed to convince it to return. It was an exciting lifer for me, even though the species can be quite common further north in Peru and southern Ecuador.
We continued further, consistently gaining elevation up the switchback roads. The lake is situated at 4155m; we had a ways to go. We passed through a beautiful Polylepis forest and quickly found a few of the specialty birds of this endangered ecosystem including Plain-tailed Warbling Finches and Giant Conebills.
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| Plain-tailed Warbling Finch - Parque Nacional Huascarán, Ancash, Peru |
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| Giant Conebill - Parque Nacional Huascarán, Ancash, Peru |
The conebills were particularly confiding, easily providing the best views that we have had of this scarce species. We watched a trio of them interact, forage and sing over a prolonged period of time.
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| Giant Conebill - Parque Nacional Huascarán, Ancash, Peru |
Chatty and curious Line-cheeked Spinetails were abundant in this area as well.
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| Line-cheeked Spinetail - Parque Nacional Huascarán, Ancash, Peru |
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| Line-cheeked Spinetail - Parque Nacional Huascarán, Ancash, Peru |
With no more birds to distract us, we completed the drive up to the lake and arrived just before 10 AM. And the views were incredible!
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| Parque Nacional Huascarán, Ancash, Peru |
A trail follows the north edge of the lake for several kilometres towards a distant glacier. Laura and I loaded our backpacks with food and water and set off on foot. It was still relatively early in the day and the tourists had not yet arrived, meaning we practically had the entire trail to ourselves. It was stunning!
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| Parque Nacional Huascarán, Ancash, Peru |
The birding was somewhat slow, but we didn't care. Besides, we had found pretty much everything that we had hoped to see in Huascarán up to this point. Waterbirds were few and far between - no ducks, and just a smattering of Silvery Grebes. We flushed up a couple of ground-tyrants, saw a Giant Hummingbird zip by, and found a noisy pair of Rufous-eared Brushfinches. A few Ancash Tapaculos and Stripe-headed Antpittas were heard. I played the tape for Ash-breasted Tit-Tyrant at each Polylepis patch but did not have any response. But really, we just marvelled at the scenery and the impressively diverse plant community. I will let the photos do the talking.
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| Parque Nacional Huascarán, Ancash, Peru |
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| Monnina salicifolia - Parque Nacional Huascarán, Ancash, Peru |
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| Parque Nacional Huascarán, Ancash, Peru |
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| Parque Nacional Huascarán, Ancash, Peru |
This wild blueberry species was growing alongside the path. It was not as juicy as I expected, but the flavour was excellent. A nice mid-hike snack...
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| Blueberries - Parque Nacional Huascarán, Ancash, Peru |
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| Parque Nacional Huascarán, Ancash, Peru |
This rather unique orchid is called
Aa matthewsii.
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| Aa matthewsii - Parque Nacional Huascarán, Ancash, Peru |
We found a good sittin' tree on the walk back.
Laura and I returned to the vehicle to see crowds of people milling about, hiking to a mirador, and kayaking near the western shore of the lake. Apparently, Laguna Paron is a popular spot with Peruvian tourists - not a surprise given the beauty of the area. Laura and I had timed our visit perfectly and got out of there just in time!
Parque Nacional Huascarán had treated us very well and we highly recommend the area to visiting naturalists/birders, or to anyone who enjoys hiking in gorgeous alpine scenery. You will not be disappointed.
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| Parque Nacional Huascarán, Ancash, Peru |
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