February 4, 2024
We said our goodbyes to the owner of Eco Camping Racarrumi and hit the road at 6 AM sharp. We continued inland, away from the coast and towards the foothills, which is where we hoped to spend the morning birding. The landscape continued to change during our ~45 minute drive on the well-maintained gravel road, and by the time we made our breakfast stop, we were surrounded by larger trees and beautiful dry forest.
 |
| Casupe area, Cajamarca, Peru |
The reason that this particular site was chosen as our breakfast stop was simply because we saw a couple of interesting, white-headed birds zip past in front of the car. We stopped to investigate. Our first White-headed Brushfinches!
 |
| White-headed Brushfinch - Casupe area, Cajamarca, Peru |
 |
| White-headed Brushfinch - Casupe area, Cajamarca, Peru |
 |
| White-headed Brushfinch - Casupe area, Cajamarca, Peru |
And then we heard an Elegant Crescentchest singing close to the road, so we just had to coax him into view. And a Tumbes Pewee caught my attention as it perched on a prominent snag. Up next was a Mouse-gray Flycatcher. And then a White-edged Oriole shot past, and a group of Red-masked Parakeets screeched by overhead.
 |
| Mouse-gray Flycatcher - Casupe area, Cajamarca, Peru |
We stopped to make a quick breakfast here, and half an hour had passed before we continued along. So much for a quick roadside stop to check out the brushfinches.
 |
| White-headed Brushfinch - Casupe area, Cajamarca, Peru |
We drove a little further along and saw a dramatic transformation near the town of Casupe, as the dry forest was replaced with lush forest. We must have passed an invisible threshold of sorts where the precipitation levels were a bit higher.
 |
| Casupe area, Cajamarca, Peru |
We chose this particular stretch of road just past Casupe due to all of the tantalizing species found here. This particular patch of forest was relatively undisturbed, and White-winged Guans had sometimes been reported from along here. The White-winged Guan is a Critically Endangered species that is only known from a few valleys in northwestern Peru. We would be visiting another good area for the guan later in the trip - Quebrada El Limón - but I always like to have backup sites for any of the scarce/localized species we are searching for. This was our backup site for the guan, while it also held a number of other birds we hadn't seen before.
 |
| Rufous-necked Foliage-gleaner - Casupe area, Cajamarca, Peru |
One of the first targets to fall was the furtive Rufous-necked Foliage-gleaner, as one was singing right next to where we parked the vehicle. With a bit of coaxing, Laura and I were treated to great views of a pair.
 |
| Rufous-necked Foliage-gleaner - Casupe area, Cajamarca, Peru |
It was a gorgeous, partly sunny morning that held a lot of promise. We were happy to discover that this road had minimal traffic; perhaps, one vehicle every 20 minutes or so. I love birding a quiet dirt road through beautiful habitat since the walking is easy and visibility is good along a roadside.
 |
| Birding the lush forest of the Casupe area, Cajamarca, Peru |
 |
| Birding the lush forest of the Casupe area, Cajamarca, Peru |
Our morning continued to produce interesting birds as we quickly found Gray-and-gold and Three-banded Warblers, species that would provide the soundtrack for the morning. We heard a Gray-breasted Flycatcher and several Henna-hooded Foliage-gleaners, while a small mixed flock contained our first Marañón Tyrannulet.
 |
| Gray-and-gold Warbler - Casupe area, Cajamarca, Peru |
A smart-looking Long-billed Starthroat perched close to the road, allowing for some decent photos through a window in the vegetation.
 |
| Long-billed Starthroat - Casupe area, Cajamarca, Peru |
We rounded a bend and heard some intriguing sounds filtering down from somewhere along the hillside. They sounded vaguely guan like, and then in my peripheral vision a large black bird clumsily flew down the slope and disappeared. Could it be the guans?
The next bend in the road confirmed our suspicions. There, sitting awkwardly in a roadside tree, was a trio of White-winged Guans!
 |
| White-winged Guan - Casupe area, Cajamarca, Peru |
The guans were rather wary of us (as they should be, since they've been nearly hunted to extinction) but we managed pretty good views of them. Eventually, they took flight down the mountain away from the road, showing off their namesake white wings in the process. We were pretty excited to have found our target species so easily.
 |
| Fasciated Wren - Casupe area, Cajamarca, Peru |
Generally, at some point in the morning when the birding slows down, Laura focuses more of her energy into scanning the ground and low vegetation, while I continue to observe the trees and sky for birds. This strategy paid off yet again, as she spotted an emerald green snake in matching vegetation beside the road.
 |
| Giant Parrot Snake (Leptophis ahaetulla occidentalis) - Casupe area, Cajamarca, Peru |
This is a Giant Parrot Snake, a species with a wide distribution in South America that we have seen a few times previously. It felt good to get a snake "on the board" early in the trip!
 |
| Giant Parrot Snake (Leptophis ahaetulla occidentalis) - Casupe area, Cajamarca, Peru |
We walked for several hours, finding around 50 species of birds. Some, like the Henna-hooded Foliage-gleaners and Ochre-bellied Doves refused to show themselves. Others, like this Black-capped Sparrow, were quite photogenic.
 |
| Black-capped Sparrow - Casupe area, Cajamarca, Peru |
 |
| Black-capped Sparrow - Casupe area, Cajamarca, Peru |
We rustled up a couple of White-headed Brushfinches and a single White-winged Brushfinch along this stretch of road as well.
 |
| White-winged Brushfinch - Casupe area, Cajamarca, Peru |
Plumbeous-backed Thrush was the dominant thrush in this habitat, but we found a surprise Andean Slaty Thrush as well. This species is not regularly found in this part of Peru and came up as rare on eBird.
 |
| Plumbeous-backed Thrush - Casupe area, Cajamarca, Peru |
 |
| Andean Slaty Thrush - Casupe area, Cajamarca, Peru |
 |
| Andean Slaty Thrush - Casupe area, Cajamarca, Peru |
We had found all the birds we were hoping to, other than Chapman's Antshrike and Black-cowled Saltator, and so we called the morning a success. Our walk back to the car was a little less birdy but the butterflies were out in full force.
 |
| Hyalyris latilimbata - Casupe area, Cajamarca, Peru |
 |
| Anthanassa hermas - Casupe area, Cajamarca, Peru |
Laura and I turned the vehicle around and began the drive back towards Chiclayo. We made a few roadside stops, however, such as when Laura spotted this Peruvian Pygmy-Owl from the car.
 |
| Peruvian Pygmy-Owl - Casupe area, Cajamarca, Peru |
We also stopped for half an hour in the dry forest just past Casupe, in an unsuccessful bid to find Chapman's Antshrike.
 |
| Tillandsia straminea (a type of bromeliad) - Casupe area, Cajamarca, Peru |
 |
| Frost's Lava Lizard (Microlophus koepckeorum) - Casupe area, Cajamarca, Peru |
The above lizard, Frost's Lava Lizard (
Microlophus koepckeorum) was a new one for us. The birding was quite good in the dry forest and I managed a few decent photo ops as well.
 |
| Superciliated Wren - Casupe area, Cajamarca, Peru |
 |
| Superciliated Wren - Casupe area, Cajamarca, Peru |
 |
| Pacific Parrotlet - Casupe area, Cajamarca, Peru |
Laura and I also found this Tumbes Pewee visiting a nest.
 |
| Tumbes Pewee - Casupe area, Cajamarca, Peru |
 |
| Tumbes Pewee nest - Casupe area, Cajamarca, Peru |
It was around 12:30 PM when we left the Casupe area for good. We continued westward towards Chiclayo on the Pacific coast, stopping for lunch at a small restaurant near Reservorio de Tinajones, where the food was amazing, before continuing past Chiclayo and then south towards Cajamarca. We didn't make additional stops on this drive, other than a brief one for a Peruvian Thick-knee that Laura had spotted beside the highway. These bizarre, desert-loving "shorebirds" are always fun to come across.
 |
| Peruvian Thick-knee - Mocupe area, Lambayeque, Peru |
We drove for much of the afternoon, making good time so that we were left with only a couple of hours until Cajamarca which we would traverse the next morning. We found a lovely little hotel in the town of Tembladera to spend the night.
No comments:
Post a Comment