August 29, 2022
Laura and I drove back over the Abra Málaga pass and spent the night in Ollantaytambo, which you can read about in a previous post.
We continued west, passing through scrubby side and deep valleys adorned with planted Eucalyptus. Yep, we were back in an inter-Andean valley.
Our goal was to explore a few valleys and reserves in this part of Peru in search of several localized endemic birds. These included the Apurimac Spinetail, Apurimac Brushfinch and Ampay Tapaculo. I also wanted to connect with the enigmatic Taczanowski's Tinamou, a mythical bird that is most commonly encountered in the Ampay area.
We broke up the drive at a dirt road which left the main highway and climbed high into the dry hills. Within minutes we had located our target: a quartet of cute White-eared Puffbirds. This species is common in forest edges and scrub in Bolivia, Brazil and eastern Paraguay, but it is rather localized in Peru.
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| White-eared Puffbirds - Limatambo area, Cusco, Peru |
We also found a few other species of note during our brief detour including White-winged Black Tyrant, Andean Swift, Black-backed Grosbeak and Blue-and-yellow Tanager.
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| White-winged Black Tyrant - Limatambo area, Cusco, Peru |
Laura and I had plans of spending the night in Mollepata, situated at the base of a road that climbs high into the mountains. This particular road is home to good numbers of the Apurimac Spinetail and Apurimac Brushfinch, along with several other interesting birds like the Vilcabamba Tapaculo and Buff-fronted Owl.
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| Habitat along the road to Soray, Cusco, Peru |
During my preparation for this leg of the trip, the road to Soray looked like it would be a quiet dirt road with an abundance of suitable-looking brushy vegetation on either side. Perfect for our target Apurimac endemics. What we did not count on, however, was the crazy amount of minibus traffic. See, this road is the starting point for those planning on completing the trek to Machu Picchu. All of the tours have a similar itinerary in that they leave Cusco very early in the morning, laden with 20-somethings excited for their Machu Picchu hike. After a certain number of days the minibuses return to pick them up and transfer them back to Cusco.
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| Barnadesia arborea - Road to Soray, Cusco, Peru |
Our afternoon birding must have coincided with the afternoon pick-up, as for around 1.5 hours straight there was a steady stream of minibuses heading past us, full of exhausted North Americans and Europeans who had completed the trek. It certainly made the birding difficult.
That being said, we found our two targets with relative ease. The Apurimac Brushfinch was the first target to fall. While the pair that we found were quite skulky, with time we managed half-decent looks. It is a pretty sharp-looking bird.
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| Apurimac Brushfinch - Road to Soray, Cusco, Peru |
We had to work a little harder for the Apurimac Spinetails to play ball, but they showed themselves as well. My attempts at a photo were pretty terrible so I will spare you the sight...
Just before heading back to Mollepata we found a small mixed flock that contained a few Creamy-crested Spinetails and Rust-and-yellow Tanagers.
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| Creamy-crested Spinetail - Road to Soray, Cusco, Peru |
Laura and I grabbed a room in a cheap hotel in Mollepata and settled in for the evening.
One thing about traveling in Peru that was a constant annoyance for us was the lack of dining options after around 4 PM in most small towns. Peruvians are big on eating lunch, and restaurants serving enormous amounts of food are open from late morning until 4 or 5 in the afternoon. However, once the lunch restaurants close, good luck sourcing food! Since Laura and I are usually out in the field during the middle of the day we prefer to eat something quick like a sandwich, fruit and snacks. By the time we are done birding for the day we look forward to finding a restaurant for a big plate of home-cooked food. This strategy doesn't always jive with the local culture. We have resorted to either acquiescing and eating a big lunch, or we finish our birding for the day early to be ready for dinner before these restaurants close at 4 or 5 PM.
Our timing was off in Mollepata since we could not find a single restaurant that was still serving food at around 5:00 PM. You would have thought that someone would be open, but that was not the case! As a result, we had to resort to eating our sad sandwiches....
That evening, I headed out on my own for a bit of owling. The Buff-fronted Owl was the tantalizing option here, with the Apurimac subspecies of Koepcke's Screech-Owl being a potential consolation prize. And it played out exactly like that. Despite my best efforts, the Buff-fronted Owls remained silent. I heard a few Koepcke's Screech-Owls singing distantly but was unable to observe any of them in my flashlight beam. That is birding for you...
August 30, 2022
We returned to the dirt road hoping to improve on our views of the Apurimac Spinetail. This time, we left very early in the morning. We hoped to have a few hours of quiet birding before the minibuses inevitably appeared with their bright-eyed and bushy-tailed patrons, eager to set sight on Machu Picchu.
This strategy sort of worked. We enjoyed about an hour of minibus-free birding, though not the 2+ hours that we had dreamed of. However, we succeeded with improved views of the Apurimac Spinetail, while we found a few other Apurimac Brushfinches, too.
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| Apurimac Spinetail - Road to Soray, Cusco, Peru |
The Apurimac Spinetail basically looks and sounds like an Azara's Spinetail, though it is a darker gray in colouration and shows a slaty-ish tail colour as well.
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| Apurimac Spinetail - Road to Soray, Cusco, Peru |
The birding was pretty good and we found a sharp Chestnut-breasted Mountain-Finch amongst some of the common species.
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| Chestnut-breasted Mountain Finch - Road to Soray, Cusco, Peru |
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| Chestnut-breasted Mountain Finch - Road to Soray, Cusco, Peru |
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| Chestnut-breasted Mountain Finch - Road to Soray, Cusco, Peru |
We drove a little further up the road, hoping to access some higher elevations with a different set of birds. Unfortunately, this was not possible without paying a hefty entrance fee. Instead, we birded near the checkpoint, finding some Mountain Velvetbreasts and a couple of additional Chestnut-breasted Mountain-Finches. We endured the beginning of the minibus onslaught, then retreated to a dirt track that veered off of the main road.
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| Dirt track along the road to Soray, Cusco, Peru |
We took our time and enjoyed the peace and tranquility here. A Green-tailed Trainbearer lifted our spirits, as did an eye-level Red-crested Cotinga.
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| Red-crested Cotinga - Road to Soray, Cusco, Peru |
This species may be common throughout much of the Andes, but any cotinga is a good cotinga in my opinion!
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| Red-crested Cotinga - Road to Soray, Cusco, Peru |
We birded the beginning stretch of road leading from the highway to the town of Mollepata before continuing west. My goal here was the Crested Becard as it was the only realistic new species for us in this region. We were unsuccessful during our short walk and so we gave up and made the long drive westwards.
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| Leptotes callanga - Mollepata, Cusco, Peru |
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| Smooth-billed Ani - Mollepata, Cusco, Peru |
August 31, 2022
Laura and I were not sure what to expect with our visit to Sanctuario Nacional de Ampay. Not a ton of foreign birders make it this far from Cusco and so the eBird data is relatively scarce. The reserve contains a single hiking trail that climbed in elevation and cut through montane forest and eventually, elfin forest and scrub. If one is adventurous, it is possible to camp up here and hike a large loop that takes several days to complete.
Several tantalizing bird species are possible at Sanctuario Nacional de Ampay, the most notable being the scarce and secretive Taczanowski's Tinamou. Some of the other possibilities include Ampay Tapaculo, Apurimac Brushfinch, Apurimac Spinetail, a nice variety of hummingbirds including Scaled Metaltail and Purple-backed Thornbill, Yungas Pygmy-Owl and much more.
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| Sanctuario Nacional del Ampay, Apurímac, Peru |
Laura and I loaded our packs with food and water, paid our entrance fee and began the hike. It was a gorgeous morning and we were excited for the possibilities.
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| Fuschia apetala - Sanctuario Nacional del Ampay, Apurímac, Peru |
The walk was steep and we gained quite a lot of elevation early on, making it difficult to focus on the birding. We had made a canine friend at the entrance gate and she took it upon herself to guide us all the up to the top and back down again over the course of the day.
I tried some playback for the Taczanowski's Tinamou as we passed through some bits of farmland early on. This species generally avoids dense forest, preferring scrubby edges or other areas without dense tree cover. Not surprisingly, we had no luck with this near-mythical species.
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| Mutisia sp. - Sanctuario Nacional del Ampay, Apurímac, Peru |
The montane forest was absolutely beautiful despite the relative lack of birds early on.
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| Sanctuario Nacional del Ampay, Apurímac, Peru |
But slowly, the birds began to reveal themselves. We found several Purple-backed Thornbills, a lifer for Laura and a year-bird for me. This species has the smallest bill to body ratio of any hummingbird!
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| Purple-backed Thornbill - Sanctuario Nacional del Ampay, Apurímac, Peru |
We glimpsed an Undulated Antpitta at a stream crossing, the first of three that we would encounter during the day. A small mixed flock produced our lifer White-browed Conebill. This species had been strangely absent for us thus far in southern Peru.
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| White-browed Conebill - Sanctuario Nacional del Ampay, Apurímac, Peru |
Several minutes later, I heard the distant song of a Yungas Pygmy-Owl. We had heard this species twice previously in Peru, but this time, we actually managed to see it! A magical moment...
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| Yungas Pygmy-Owl - Sanctuario Nacional del Ampay, Apurímac, Peru |
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| Yungas Pygmy-Owl - Sanctuario Nacional del Ampay, Apurímac, Peru |
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| Yungas Pygmy-Owl - Sanctuario Nacional del Ampay, Apurímac, Peru |
I kept an eye on our elevation since we needed to reach over 3400m or so to be in range for the Ampay Tapaculo. With some relief, I heard the day's first Ampay Tapaculo shortly after our owl encounter. The tapaculos would prove to be quite common above 3550m as the trees began to thin out.
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| Ampay Tapaculo - Sanctuario Nacional del Ampay, Apurímac, Peru |
We had seen some fantastic species up to this point but the best was yet to come. We heard a unique bird call, and Laura caught a glimpse of a tinamou, in flight, disappearing into some nearby scrub. A Taczanowski's Tinamou! We waited around the area for a while, but there would be no encore performance.
The story did not end there, however, and there would be more Taczanowski's Tinamous in our future... more on that in a bit.
Laura and I pressed on through the scrubby vegetation. We were now over 3700m in elevation and had left the montane forest behind. We climbed for another hour or so, reaching Laguna Uspaccocha where we had lunch with our trusty guide dog.
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| Sanctuario Nacional del Ampay, Apurímac, Peru |
The lake's elevation was around 3818m, meaning that we had gained over 900m over the course of the morning. The rest at the top was well-deserved.
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| Laguna Uspaccocha - Sanctuario Nacional del Ampay, Apurímac, Peru |
We found a few additional birds of note in these higher elevations including White-tufted Sunbeam, Shining Sunbeam, Scaled Metaltail and Rusty-fronted Canastero. Apurimac Spinetail was quite common up here, while we found a few Apurimac Brushfinches as well. Some other species near the lake were new for our eBird checklist including Andean Flicker, Andean Lapwing and Mountain Caracara.
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| Tyrian Metaltai - Sanctuario Nacional del Ampay, Apurímac, Peru |
Laura and I hiked back down, losing the elevation that we had just gained. It was a bit easier on the lungs this way, but tougher on the knees.
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| Sanctuario Nacional del Ampay, Apurímac, Peru |
We had almost reached the tinamou spot from earlier when Laura called my attention to a dark shape on the side of a path. Another Taczanowski's Tinamou! It crossed the path, ran through a grassy patch and disappeared down the side of the embankment. While Laura ensured that our canine friend remained with her on the path, and not off chasing tinamous, I snuck over to the edge to see if I could spot the tinamou down the bank. Suddenly, there it was. Huddled at the edge no more than three meters away and looking back up at me was the Taczanowski's Tinamou!
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| Taczanowski's Tinamou habitat - Sanctuario Nacional del Ampay, Apurímac, Peru |
The looks were incredible and I could really appreciate the dark plumage with fine white markings as well as the bird's huge, curved bill. I slowly grabbed my camera and brought it up, just as the tinamou stood from its hiding spot and quietly slunk down the hillside. No photos, but hopefully that image will be burned in my brain for decades to come.
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| Metardaris cosinga - Sanctuario Nacional del Ampay, Apurímac, Peru |
Eventually, I came down from my tinamou high and we continued our descent. The birding was slower during the early afternoon hours as we had expected. One highlight was a great look at a Crowned Chat-Tyrant, Laura's first. Some authorities have split off this taxa as Kalinowski's Chat-Tyrant.
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| Kalinowski's Crowned Chat-Tyrant - Sanctuario Nacional del Ampay, Apurímac, Peru |
We stopped one more time for a snack with our guide dog. Unsurprisingly, we look rather exhausted at this point.
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| Sanctuario Nacional del Ampay, Apurímac, Peru |
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| Sanctuario Nacional del Ampay, Apurímac, Peru |
It was a tiring hike but well worth it, and I would highly recommend a visit to Sanctuario Nacional de Ampay. The habitats and scenery is incredible, the birding is top-notch and, best of all, you will likely not come across any other people, especially if you visit on a weekday.
September 1, 2022
Laura and I enjoyed a well-deserved sleep-in before returning to Sanctuario Nacional de Ampay. We birded the entrance road for an hour or so, hoping to turn up a Crested Becard which was now the only possible lifer that we could find between here and Cusco. Again, we struck out, though a pair of White-throated Hawks was a nice consolation prize.
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| White-throated Hawk - Sanctuario Nacional del Ampay, Apurímac, Peru |
We left the area behind and drove east, arriving in Cusco during the late afternoon. We switched out our small car for a Renault Duster and found a cheap hotel on the outskirts of the city. The next leg of our trip would take us down the famed Manú Road.
