September 7, 2022
Laura and I stayed relatively local this day, visiting another set of hummingbird gardens called Mirador Pico de Hoz. One of the main target species for visiting birders here is the Buff-tailed Sicklebill. The garden is actually named after this species, as "pico de hoz" translates to "sicklebill". But it was not the sicklebill that we were after. Laura and I had previously observed one very well on a forest trail in Ecuador and besides, the sicklebill is difficult to find even here at Mirador Pico de Hoz. Instead, we were targeting the Amazonian Antpitta. They can be tricky to track down, but one individual was occasionally coming in to worms at Mirador Pico de Hoz.
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| Secondary forest trail at Mirador Pico de Hoz, Cusco, Peru |
Laura and I arranged our visit when we had stopped by during the previous afternoon. This morning, the gracious hosts welcomed us upon arrival at 6 AM. I sipped a coffee and then we headed out with Jonathan to the antpitta breakfast lounge.
Jonathan mentioned to Laura that on a couple of previous occasions, he had seen a Great Potoo roosting on the property. Laura has a knack for finding cryptic roosting birds and she came through once again, spotting a Great Potoo not five minutes later! Jonathan was pretty surprised to say the least.
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| Great Potoo - Mirador Pico de Hoz, Cusco, Peru |
The antpitta took some time but eventually, our patience was rewarded when a round, tail-less floof on stilts hopped into the arena and snatched up some of the small earthworms. It remained nearby, perching in the dense shrubbery and singing back at us.
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| Amazonian Antpitta - Mirador Pico de Hoz, Cusco, Peru |
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| Amazonian Antpitta - Mirador Pico de Hoz, Cusco, Peru |
Jonathan took us on a circuit of his property for the next hour or two. The mixture of secondary forest, wetland and grassy meadow contained an abundance of birds. One highlight was a Yellow-browed Tyrant that I spotted on a distant bare tree, a lifer for Jonathan. This species is migratory and very small numbers are reported during the austral winter to southeastern Peru.
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| Yellow-browed Tyrant - Mirador Pico de Hoz, Cusco, Peru |
Other highlights included Scarlet-hooded Barbet, Dark-breasted Spinetail, our first looks at Johannes's Tody-Tyrant and a Spectacled Owl which we accidentally flushed from the grasses.
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| Blue-throated Piping-Guan - Mirador Pico de Hoz, Cusco, Peru |
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| Scarlet-hooded Barbet - Mirador Pico de Hoz, Cusco, Peru |
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| Spectacled Owl - Mirador Pico de Hoz, Cusco, Peru |
Jonathan took us to another feeding station that he had set up beside a swampy area, well-vegetated with thick grasses and matted shrubs. We hardly had to wait for thirty seconds before a well-trained Rufous-sided Crake scampered out of the tangles to scarf down its breakfast.
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| Rufous-sided Crake - Mirador Pico de Hoz, Cusco, Peru |
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| Rufous-sided Crake - Mirador Pico de Hoz, Cusco, Peru |
Crakes are notoriously difficult to view well, this species included. While Laura and I had heard the loud vocalizations of this species on a few occasions, our only previous sighting was very brief. Despite this situation being rather artificial, it was a treat to study this crake's plumage intricacies.
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| Rufous-sided Crake - Mirador Pico de Hoz, Cusco, Peru |
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| Rufous-sided Crake - Mirador Pico de Hoz, Cusco, Peru |
Its long toes serve it well when walking through the delicate substrate of thin grasses and bent-over reeds which composes its typical habitat, though they also provide the crake with an ungainly appearance on firm ground.
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| Rufous-sided Crake - Mirador Pico de Hoz, Cusco, Peru |
The day was warming quickly, but Laura and I hung around for another couple of hours to see what else we could turn up. A stint at the hummingbird feeders boosted our eBird checklist, while this stop also produced a distant Ornate Hawk-Eagle perched down the hillside.
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| Rufous-breasted Hermit - Mirador Pico de Hoz, Cusco, Peru |
Below are a few additional photos from our excellent visit.
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| Forest Whiptail (Kentropyx pelviceps) - Mirador Pico de Hoz, Cusco, Peru |
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| Polythore sp. - Mirador Pico de Hoz, Cusco, Peru |
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| Pale-striped Poison Frog (Ameerega hahneli) - Mirador Pico de Hoz, Cusco, Peru |
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| Amazon Kingfisher - Mirador Pico de Hoz, Cusco, Peru |
That afternoon, we drove a little further down Manú Road to the town of Salvación to pay a visit to an oxbow lake. Called Cocha Machuhuasi, this wetland has become an income stream of sorts for the community. For a small fee, you can rent a wooden raft and pole for a unique experience on the tranquil oxbow.
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| Cocha Machuhuasi, Madre de Díos, Peru |
Laura and I timed our visit well and, for the beginning at least, we were the only ones on the water. Eventually, several other small groups arrived but it was still a relatively peaceful experience.
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| Cocha Machuhuasi, Madre de Díos, Peru |
Pale-eyed Blackbirds occupy Cocha Machuhuasi and they provided the impetus for the afternoon visit, though I suppose the ambience of the area was a selling point as well. Unfortunately, the blackbirds were not showing but we contented ourselves with many other bird species.
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| Hoatzins - Cocha Machuhuasi, Madre de Díos, Peru |
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| Black-capped Donacobius - Cocha Machuhuasi, Madre de Díos, Peru |
Photo opportunities abound here, with Hoatzins and Black-capped Donacobiuses teed up on emergent vegetation. Horned Screamers are impossible to miss here, especially when a small group of them sounds off with their ridiculous vocalizations.
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| Horned Screamer - Cocha Machuhuasi, Madre de Díos, Peru |
The most surprising bird here was a vocalizing Buckley's Forest-Falcon, the first one that either Laura or I had ever encountered. Though it remained hidden, I managed a few reasonable recordings of its unique calls.
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| Cocha Machuhuasi, Madre de Díos, Peru |
A scan of the wetland from up on the tower finally produced my desired Pale-eyed Blackbird. We would go on to see several others while rafting back to the entrance.
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| Pale-eyed Blackbird - Cocha Machuhuasi, Madre de Díos, Peru |
The Pale-eyed Blackbird may not look like much, but it is a bird with a specialized habitat as it prefers quiet backwaters, oxbows and other grassy habitats. It is rather uncommon in its limited range of eastern Peru and Ecuador.
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| Pale-eyed Blackbird - Cocha Machuhuasi, Madre de Díos, Peru |
September 8, 2022
Laura and I were eager to head back up Manú Road to explore the mid-elevations. Once again, the Solitary Eagle was high on the priority list, but we also hoped to connect with many other bird species.
We made a couple of brief stops in the lower elevations outside of Pillcopata, and we made them count. In quick succession we picked up several great birds for the area: Dull-capped Attila, Black-billed Seed-Finch and White-chinned Swift.
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| White-chinned Swift - Pillcopata area, Cusco, Peru |
Other than a brief auditory encounter, we had dipped on the range-restricted Black-backed Tody-Flycatcher to this point. I stopped at a good looking patch of bamboo and within seconds, we were face to face with one of these super cute bamboo specialists!
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| Black-backed Tody-Flycatcher - lower Manú Road, Cusco, Peru |
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| Black-backed Tody-Flycatcher - lower Manú Road, Cusco, Peru |
But the day really belonged to the eagles. As the sun warmed the landscape during the eight o'clock hour, Laura and I were shocked to see a brilliant Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle circle us, quickly gaining altitude.
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| Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle - middle Manú Road, Cusco, Peru |
Black-and-white Hawk-Eagles occur in low densities in pristine lowland and foothill forest. Our only other sighting was a mile away from a canopy tower in Ecuador so this blew that encounter out of the water!
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| Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle - middle Manú Road, Cusco, Peru |
We saw a Black Hawk-Eagle in this area, our third eagle species within 24 hours. And our fourth occurred just before noon when a Black-and-chestnut Eagle soared overhead.
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| Black-and-chestnut Eagle - middle Manú Road, Cusco, Peru |
Laura and I sat down for lunch at a roadside homestead offering fried trout. While we waited for our host to prepare the food, we were escorted up a set of stairs to a little garden featuring hummingbird feeders and a view over the hillsides. Between views of Rufous-booted Racket-tails and Violet-throated Starfrontlets, Laura glanced up and caught the unmistakeable profile of a Solitary Eagle, cruising overhead!
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| Solitary Eagle - middle Manú Road, Cusco, Peru |
The sighting lasted less than a minute, but I was ecstatic to finally catch up with this enigma. The powerful raptor circled above us and then disappeared over the nearby ridge. So they do exist!
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| Solitary Eagle - middle Manú Road, Cusco, Peru |
We enjoyed a few other species in the early afternoon before heading back down to our hotel in Pillcopata: Common Woolly Monkey, Oleaginous Hemispingus, Ochre-faced Tody-Flycatcher, Yungas Manakin.
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| Common Woolly Monkey - middle Manú Road, Cusco, Peru |
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| Oleaginous Hemispingus - middle Manú Road, Cusco, Peru |
This White-crowned Tapaculo was not adorned with a white crown.
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| White-crowned Tapaculo - middle Manú Road, Cusco, Peru |
A quick check of the popular Andean Cock-of-the-Rock lek was successful, while a Crested Quetzal and several Green Jays provided an additional splash of colour in this area.
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| Green Jay - middle Manú Road, Cusco, Peru |
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| Crested Quetzal - middle Manú Road, Cusco, Peru |
Driving along Manú Road is rarely a straightforward affair that can be completed without stopping. Invariably, wildlife sightings will force multiple quick exits from the vehicle. This time, I slammed on the brakes upon discovering an Annellated Coralsnake (Micrurus annellatus)!
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| Annellated Coralsnake (Micrurus annellatus) - middle Manú Road, Cusco, Peru |
Coral snakes are typically nocturnal but this was our second individual that we had found on a road in Peru, after the Desert Coralsnake (Micrurus tschudii)) from the dry western slope several weeks earlier. The Annellated Coralsnake is found in the lowlands of eastern Peru, Bolivia and parts of western Brazil. It is a species that doesn't seem to be reported too often so we felt quite lucky to be in the right place at the right time.
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| Annellated Coralsnake (Micrurus annellatus) - middle Manú Road, Cusco, Peru |
The rest of the drive was relatively uneventful. We returned to the hotel completely satisfied after a productive day in the field.
September 9, 2022
The week had flown by and we were down to our final morning along Manú Road. Having done quite well in the lower and upper elevation bands, Laura and I devoted a few hours towards targeting several species in the mid-elevations.
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| Necyria bellona - middle Manú Road, Cusco, Peru |
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| Perisama dorbignyi - middle Manú Road, Cusco, Peru |
Our first destination was situated around 1200 m in elevation, and though we dipped on several of the targets, a heard-only Black Antbird was new, as was a Cinnamon-faced Tyrannulet. As you can tell, I really roasted it…
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| Cinnamon-faced Tyrannulet - middle Manú Road, Cusco, Peru |
My photos of a Paradise Tanager are slightly better. This species is quite common in the Amazon lowlands and foothills, but they usually inhabit the upper levels of trees and all of my previous photos of this species were of poor quality, barely passing as record shots.
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| Paradise Tanager - middle Manú Road, Cusco, Peru |
The most interesting bird that we discovered along this stretch of road was not a bird but a lizard. Meet Euspondylus excelsum, a species of sun tegu that was only recently described (in 2017).
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| Euspondylus excelsum - middle Manú Road, Cusco, Peru |
This particular species has only been collected or photographed a handful of times. Its perceived scarcity is seemingly tied to its habits, as it likely spends much of its life high in the canopy. The known global range includes a few Andean slopes in central Peru, and I believe that our sighting represents the first known occurrence of the species in Cusco Department as well as along Manú Road.
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| Euspondylus excelsum - middle Manú Road, Cusco, Peru |
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| Euspondylus excelsum - middle Manú Road, Cusco, Peru |
Laura and I had a long drive to make as we were meeting her father, Mark, in Cusco later that day. There was sufficient time for one or two additional stops a little further along the road. The birding had significantly slowed at this point and we failed to encounter some of our other target species including Olive Flycatcher, Unadorned Flycatcher and Gould's Inca.
We finally found a large mixed flock at around 1900 m of elevation and I was sure that one or more of our targets would materialize in short order. This was not to be, though we discovered several Slaty Tanagers and heard a White-throated Antpitta, both of which were new species for Laura. Picking through the mixed flock was a lot of fun and we relished our final bird wave on Manú Road.
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| Black-faced Brushfinch - Rocotal area, Manú Road, Cusco, Peru |
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| White-throated Tyrannulet - Rocotal area, Manú Road, Cusco, Peru |
Our Manú Road adventure was over but we still had several weeks of exploration left in Peru. The first few days would be spent with Mark in the mountains, events that I have already covered on this blog. My next posts will detail the visit that the three of us made to a research station in the Amazon lowlands: The Secret Forest.
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