June 14-26, 2025 with Dan Lane & Jesse Fagan
Peru has built a reputation of being one of the great Bird Countries in the world. It is close behind Colombia and neck-and-neck with Brazil for having one of the highest species tallies of any country, but sports a remarkably high number of endemics for its size. This tour allowed us to see a number of these, as well as a good number of the many recently-described species that have been a highlight of Peru birding. This tour visits an area near and dear to my heart, as I have spent a lot of time doing research expeditions to the area of San Martin (the department, or “state,” in which most of the tour route falls) and have had the honor of participating in some of the exploration that has led to these new species! The humid Andean cloud forest and adjacent foothills are one of the riches biomes for terrestrial organisms in the world, and they were on full display on this tour! We began at our basic, but comfortable, lodge in the Alto Mayo valley: Waqanki Lodge. Here, we were able to explore several patches of foothill habitat including open country, which here is an island amid forest (before human disturbance, anyway) and is home to a number of birds not found in many places in Peru. We then moved up to the Owlet Lodge, perched on a lovely ridge overlooking the extensive untouched forest of the nearby mountains. Finally, we transitioned down to the lower-elevation city of Tarapoto, nestled between the Cordillera Escalera to the northeast, and the drier hills along the Huallaga River to the south. Each of these areas is stacked with micro-habitats with specialists that allow us to rack up an impressive list of species in the high 400s in less than two weeks; no small feat!
This tour’s list of birds is a long one, and it can be hard to narrow down that list to only a handful of most memorable sightings, but our clients tried to anyway. Our highlights must, of course, include a good smattering of hummingbirds, which are well-represented on our checklist. Highlights included the glowing Emerald-bellied Puffleg, the colorful Golden-tailed Sapphire, the unbelievable Sword-billed Hummingbird, the sneaky Amethyst Woodstar, and the crown jewel of them all: the endemic Marvelous Spatuletail! We also had our share of colorful birds such as the five-colored Paradise Tanager, the lek of Golden-headed Manakins, the snazzy Bay-headed Tanager, good looks at a pair of Crimson-bellied Woodpeckers, and the more subdued Plumbeous Euphonia. Raptors played a role in our experience, with a surprise Solitary Eagle that wowed us, a last-minute White Hawk we enjoyed in the Cordillera Escalera, the Double-toothed Kite that was a bit too far to count the teeth, the fine views of Cinnamon Screech-Owl, but not to be upstaged, the stellar Long-whiskered Owlet that took two trips to satisfy ourselves! Finally, some less colorful birds that still made the list included the rare and seldom-seen Uniform Crake that was coming to a feeder at Arena Blanca (!) and the roosting site of Oilbirds that is our first stop on the tour. In addition to birds, we had a few experiences that wowed, including the impressive star-studded skies (including some folks’ first views of the Southern Cross), the national drink called Pisco Sour, bushwacking in the cloud forest, our rainy hike on the trails at Owlet Lodge (and the much-anticipated hot chocolate when we got back to the lodge!), the very birdy Arena Blanca reserve (the brainchild of Norbil Becerra, a remarkable man of vision!), the many butterflies and moths we encountered, and the general scenery that provided us with awe-inspiring views.
No matter how many times I visit the Abra Patricia/Alto Mayo area, I always enjoy it: there is always something new to see, and with the growing number of reserves and lodges with feeders and trails, the birding only gets better over time! This year was no exception, and I think we really had a successful visit, with everyone enjoying some of the marquee species such as the Marvelous Spatuletail and Long-whiskered Owlet, both very local endemics to a small area of northern Peru! Having a chance to see the “species packing” of the region on the ground is a memorable experience, reinforcing just how amazing the diversity of the tropical Andes really is. For Jesse and me it was a pleasure to show these phenomena to you, and I hope you enjoyed the opportunity as much as we did! Perhaps we’ll see you again on a future tour either somewhere else here in Peru, or farther afield, where our cups will run over with new birds to inspire awe and joy! Until then, keep them binos where you can grab ‘em!
Mammal list:
Spix's Saddle-back Tamarin (Saguinus fuscicollis): around Morro de Calzada.
Andean Night Monkey (Aotus miconax): several times at Owlet Lodge.
San Martin Titi (Plecturocebus oenanthe): heard only.
Colombian Red Howler (Alouatta seniculus): heard only.
Brown Capuchin (Sapajus apella)
Bolivian Squirrel (Sciurus ignitus): the small dark squirrel seen by some.
Northern Amazon Red Squirrel (Sciurus igniventris): the large reddish squirrel seen by some.
Bamboo Rat sp (Dactylomys undescribed sp.): heard on one of our Long-whiskered Owlet outings.
Jesse and I want to thank you for joining us on this trip to one of my favorite parts of the world! Until next time, keep the binoculars close!
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/399882
You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/pms25TRIPLIST.pdf
-- -- Dan (the Barbet)