February 11, 2024
Laura and I were looking forward to our one-night visit to the Owlet Lodge. Up to this point we had only stayed at cheap hotels, while we had also eaten simply, with at least two meals each day consisting of sandwiches/snacks that we prepared. For once, someone else would be preparing all of our food. We were also excited at the possibility of staying in the forest where we could go owling and set up the moth trap; a much more enticing option than the typical roadside motel with barking dogs and loud tenants.
The Owlet Lodge is one of two places (the other being Fundo Alto Nieva which we would visit later on) where the Long-whiskered Owlet can be encountered relatively easily. This bizarre little owl with long facial whiskers was first discovered by LSU researchers in 1976 when they mist-netted one, but it remained an enigma until the early 2000s.
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| Emerald-bellied Puffleg - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
We originally hoped to search for the owlet at the Owlet Lodge, but unfortunately, at this time of year the trail leading to the good habitat is closed for trail maintenance. Despite the high cost, we decided to spend one night here anyways, as many other interesting birds can be found at the Owlet Lodge. Besides, there are no other lodging options in the vicinity. It is possible to visit the Owlet Lodge as a day-visitor but the cost is still quite high for what you get.
We arrived at the Owlet Lodge shortly after finding the Yellow-tailed Woolly Monkeys (you can read about them in the previous post), so we were still on a "rare species high" and the damp weather was not getting our spirits down. We were shown to our room, where numerous hummingbirds including a Sword-billed were attending the feeder just outside of our front door.
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| Sword-billed Hummingbird - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
My first objective was to stake out the flowers around the lodge buildings where Emerald-bellied Pufflegs frequently feed. This is a scarce species that I had only seen a couple of previous times and never photographed, while it was a potential lifer for Laura. We were in luck and a half-dozen individuals were flitting around. Incredible!
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| Emerald-bellied Puffleg - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
For the rest of the late afternoon we did not stray too far from the lodge buildings. These clearings provided excellent edge habitat for tanagers and flycatchers. Despite the fog we had some success with a few mixed flocks, though some speculative playback for Olive Flycatcher and Johnson's Tody-Flycatcher came up empty. We had a few new trip birds, including White-capped and Yellow-scarfed Tanagers.
That evening, we enjoyed the best meal that we had had in weeks, complete with a well-deserved pisco sour.
We set out on the trails to see what we could find after dark. We discovered a few rain frogs and several katydids and stick insects, along with a tarantula. Our wanderings eventually brought us to the canopy tower. It was a beautiful evening above the tree tops, with the stars filling up the night sky and the only sounds being the hoots of a pair of Rufous-banded Owls and the trill of a White-throated Screech-Owl.
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| Pristimantis sp. - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
Our hopes were very high for a productive night of mothing. In my experience, the Andes often produce more moths than lowland areas, and the rainier it is, the better. And we were in luck this evening.
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| Trosia incostata - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
Each of the lodge buildings had attracted a large numbers of insects, which rested on the walls and roof near each light source. We almost didn't even need my specialized moth light!
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| Rhodoneura sp. - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
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| Diabrotica arcuata - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
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| Halysidota roseofasciata - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
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| Cerodirphia porioni - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
I stayed up far too late in a bid to photograph every possible species - an impossible venture, given the apparent diversity. Below are a few of my favourites.
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| Hypercompe obscura - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
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| Cissura unilineata - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
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| Oxytenis sp. - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
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| Lissochlora diarita - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
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| Eois sp. - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
The following morning began with more of the same. I set my alarm at an early enough hour, so that I could scour the walls for additional moths before the morning light dispersed them and my focus turned towards birds.
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| Pityeja histrionaria - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
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| Xylophanes alexandrei - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
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| Symphlebia fulminans - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
One of the birds that we were anticipating at the Owlet Lodge was the Chestnut Antpitta. We had only ever distantly heard this species, on our previous Peru trip in 2022. Staff from the Owlet Lodge have been regularly feeding an individual in the morning. At certain times of the year, they also feed Rusty-tinged Antpitta but that species was not on offer for our visit.
Right on cue, the Chestnut Antpitta was waiting for us at the feeding station. There was not much light in the forest at this early hour (the heavy overcast did not help matters), but by boosting the ISO of my camera I was able to obtain a few reasonable images. This was one of the few instances on the trip where I wished that I had my 300mm lens, instead of the new 500mm lens.
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| Chestnut Antpitta - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
Laura and I filled up on a delicious breakfast and then hit the trails. Another advantage of the Owlet Lodge is the extensive trail system that one is allowed to explore on their own. We were looking forward to a morning of exploration, without any other people.
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| Canopy tower - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
We started at the canopy tower which we had to ourselves for the whole time that we were up there. Like most birders, I am a huge fan of canopy towers/walkways as they allow you to see so much of the canopy, while also providing an excellent view of the horizon and sky. I can spend hours on a canopy tower and not get bored. Scanning distant trees with the aid of a spotting scope never gets old, while there is the possibility at any moment that a mixed canopy flock may materialize and pass right by.
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| View from the canopy tower - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
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| View from the canopy tower - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
Unfortunately, no mixed flocks appeared during our short vigil, and it was too early in the morning for raptors and other "soarers" to be visible. I tried some playback for Olive Flycatcher and White-faced Nunbird, to no avail. A top highlight was the Chestnut-crested Cotinga that decided to perch right beside the canopy tower.
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| Chestnut-crested Cotinga - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
It was easily the best views we have ever had of this scarce species, which is a member of one of my favourite bird families.
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| Chestnut-crested Cotinga - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
The extra reach on my new lens came in handy, allowing me to photograph this Peruvian Tyrannulet reasonably well.
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| Peruvian Tyrannulet - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
The action on the tower was a bit slower than we would have liked and our feet were getting itchy, so we hit the trails.
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| Grallaria Trail - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
For most of the morning we slowly made our way along the Grallaria Trail. This path had been cut into the side of a hillside and accessed high quality, mossy montane forest. Again, we had the trail to ourselves all morning.
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| Grallaria Trail - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
As you may surmise from the above photo, the rain did not stay contained in the clouds and we put our umbrellas to good use. That being said, there were enough gaps in the rain that we were able to find some birds here and there. Besides, the birds here are used to a lot of rain and so a few morning showers didn't really slow down their activity.
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| Black-capped Tyrannulet - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
One of my goals was to photograph a Rufous-vented Tapaculo and indeed, this was a common species in the mossy understory. We succeeded with calling one in to the side of the trail and it eventually settled on an eye-level branch, partially hidden from view. I very carefully shifted my position and obtained some mostly-unobscured photos. Mission accomplished.
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| Rufous-vented Tapaculo - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
A fully-unobscured photo would be the ideal, but anyone who is familiar with tapaculos knows that this option is rarely on the table. Even with a leaf getting in the way, I'll take this one 10 times out of 10!
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| Rufous-vented Tapaculo - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
Another skulker that is more frequently heard than seen is the Chestnut-breasted Wren. We found a couple of them singing from the understory.
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| Chestnut-breasted Wren - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
Two potential lifers for us at the Owlet Lodge, the Olive Flycatcher and Jelski's Black-Tyrant, are scarce species that one should never expect. We held out hope and prayed to the birding gods but it was not meant to be. Can't get them all.
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| Flavescent Flycatcher - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
We also dipped on Johnson's Tody-Flycatcher, a bamboo-loving species with a limited range mostly in just this region of Peru. However, I was happy to photograph a Rufous-headed Pygmy-Tyrant for the first time.
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| Rufous-headed Pygmy-Tyrant - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
I'm always in the mood for a neat orchid. We spotted this Pleurothallis alongside the trail; according to an expert on iNaturalist, this is an undescribed species.
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| Pleurothallis sp. (undescribed species) - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
We finished the Grallaria trail and slowly birded our way back up the entrance road of the lodge. We found one more mixed flock that contained Inca and Flavescent Flycatchers, Gray-hooded Bush-Tanager, Grass-green Tanager and Silvery Tanager.
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| Inca Flycatcher - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
The drizzle became a little more persistent at this time. We still had a few more hours remaining before lunch and our subsequent departure, so we stuck close to the lodge buildings to stay out of the worst of the rain. This allowed us to bird the mixed flocks that passed through, while it also gave us an opportunity to scour the walls for interesting moths and other insects. Of course, we had to stop for snacks and hot chocolate each time we passed the main building, in an attempt to get our money's worth at the Owlet Lodge.
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| Poecilochlora heterograpta - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
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| Arsenura centrocymonia - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
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| Agylla auraria - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
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| Arsenura centrocymonia - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
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| Eucereon sp. - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
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| Cerodirphia sp. - Owlet Lodge, Amazonas, Peru |
Laura and I savoured an excellent lunch before heading out. We had a reservation at Fundo Alto Nieva for a couple of nights, and our hope was we would finally connect with the Long-whiskered Owlet and a few other range-restricted birds there.
Overall we really enjoyed our stay at the Owlet Lodge, even though we were unable to search for the star bird and we dealt with a lot of rain. It is a good quality lodge with an excellent trail system and a number of interesting species present. The food was amazing, and the staff were very friendly. It was nice to get to speak English for a change. If you can stomach the high cost, I would definitely recommend a visit here. We wished that we had a second night!
Since we were still missing Johnson's Tody-Flycatcher, I did some eBird-sleuthing and planned out a couple of birding stops along the road. The afternoon wind and rain wasn't helping matters and it seemed like we would strike out at the first site. But just before leaving, I thought I heard one singing back. We crossed back over the road and there it was!
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| Johnson's Tody-Flycatcher - unnamed bridge, Amazonas, Peru |
The Johnson's Tody-Flycatcher inhabits dense bamboo stands at the edge of the cloud forest. It is mainly found in a small area in northeastern Peru, but there is at least one isolated population much further south in Peru. Laura and I had actually found this species in that southern population back in 2022, but only heard it singing. It was much better to put a face to the name this afternoon.
We pulled up to Fundo Alto Nieva in the late afternoon, and our stay here will be the subject of my next post.
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