August 1-12, 2024 with Dan Lane & local guide
It had been two years since I had last birded the Manu Road, and in that time the road works had made some changes: most importantly, the paving of the road from top to bottom! Luckily, this “progress” did not significantly impact our access to the road or the birding conditions, which were concerns I had had. Our odyssey from Cusco to the lowlands of the Manu Biosphere started in Lima, from whence we flew to Cusco, had a few hours to bird around the Huacarpay wetlands, and then began to climb the road across the Urubamba River up into the dry high Andean agricultural terrain and semi-arid scrub on the ridges until reaching the Paucartambo River valley. The town of the same name provided a stop, after which, we ascended the last ridge to the pass at Acjanaco, the corner of Manu National Park, and stopped for lunch. From here, we descended to our first lodge at Wayqecha, a biological station that perches on the high slopes of the Amazonian-facing ridge, catching the last of the humid rains coming up from the lowlands, producing a luxurious cloud forest. The scenery (when visible!) is stunning and the nighttime temperatures cold! We spent two nights at this spot and explored the high forests for their many species. After this site, we traveled downslope to an area called “San Pedro,” a creek crossing that is home to a cluster of ecotourism lodges including the Cock-of-the-Rock Lodge, probably the oldest of the bunch. We spent several nights here and explored the forests both up and downslope, seeing a wealth of birds from dull furnariids and confusing tyrannulets to the ultra-colorful tanagers, quetzals, and cotingas. It was difficult to pull ourselves away from this magical spot, but we continued lower still into the foothills of the Kosñipata basin where our final lodge resides: Manu Biolodge (formerly known as Villa Carmen). From here we visited nearby hummingbird gardens and walked trails in lowland-type forests and Guadua bamboo-choked forest, earning us another large list of species, including 37 species of hummingbird, over 20 antbirds, and over 55 species of tanager! That ain’t nuthin’ to sneeze at!
Our tour resulted in a varied selection of client favorites! The winner with the most votes was our outstanding view of a Pavonine Cuckoo as it sat for an extended period in a stand of bamboo and allowed us to study it from several angles. Some of the species of rushing rivers caught our attention such as the always pleasing Torrent Ducks at La Union or our views of a Sunbittern at the ponds at our Villa Carmen cabins. From our large selection of hummingbirds, some favorites were the ornate Rufous-crested Coquette and the large, bottle green Sparkling Violetear. We had a rather successful string of owl sightings, and of those, the Black-banded Owl reached onto the favorite list. Barbets, always crowd-pleasers, got two spots in the favorite list with both Versicolored and Lemon-throated getting votes. Two woodpeckers from opposite ends of the size spectrum made the list: the Fine-barred Piculet of the lowlands, and the large Crimson-bellied Woodpecker of the mountains. A pair of antpittas impressed enough to get on: Urubamba Antpitta and Amazonian Antpitta. Surprisingly, a few tyrant flycatchers made the grade, including the Fulvous-breasted Flatbill, Black-backed Tody-Tyrant, and the rare Buff-banded Tyrannulet. Finally, a few loose choices that also impressed were Gray-mantled Wren, Cinereous Tinamou (giving good views!), and Plushcap, the only tanager to make the list! Finally, Myles wanted to be sure to get his experience with Delta on the list… luckily, he still managed to get to us in time to see most of the best birds!
So, I’d say the tour was a resounding success with some great sightings, fun folks, and good memories! I sure you all agree that we’ll remember the experience fondly! I hope you will all consider another tour to another memorable destination in the future! Until then, I will advise you to keep your fedora and bull-whip close and your binoculars closer!
Mammals seen:
Common Squirrel Monkey (Saimiri sciureus)
Three-striped Night Monkey (Aotus trivirgatus): heard only
Toppin's Titi (Plecturocebus toppiniini): formerly considered Dusky Titi Monkey (Callicebus moloch)
Brown Capuchin (Cebus apella)
Common Woolly Monkey (Lagothrix lagotricha)
Bolivian Squirrel (Sciurus ignitus)
Brown Agouti (Dasyprocta variegata)
Long-tailed Weasel (Mustela frenata)
Herps seen:
Giant Ameiva (Ameiva ameiva)
Fer-de-Lance sp. (Bothrops sp.)
Good birding!
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/266770
You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/man24TRIPLIST.pdf
Dan (the Barbet)