October 5-24, 2024 with Dan Lane & local guide
Peru, home of over 1800 bird species, has such diversity in large part due to its complex geography and diversity of habitats. The Andes mountain range plays a huge role in this diversity as it has a humid and dry slope due to rain shadow effects. Dry intermontane valleys separate humid cloud forests above that isolate bird populations from one another and the valleys themselves are also causes for endemism. Of all the Peru tours we offer, this one may be the best to illustrate all of these causes for diversity! We cover a lot of ground, it is true, crossing the continental divide of South America twice, but we also cross several other important biogeographical barriers. The North Peruvian Low, which is comprised of the Huancabamba/Chamaya/Marañon rivers is perhaps the most important of these, as it is the lowest point in the Andes between Colombia and southern Patagonia, and interrupts the humid forest on the Amazonian slope with a dry canyon that prevents many species from crossing. As a result, there are many species and subspecies pairs that change over this valley system. Another break is between the humid forests of the Andes east of the Marañon (where it runs north and south) and the semi-humid Andes west of it, another site with some change-over of species and subspecies pairs This complex biogeography creates a very interesting angle to birding this region, allowing us to see the replacement species and subspecies in each of the patches of habitat we visit, whether it be the humid cloud forest species across the North Peruvian Low or arid-land species between the Pacific lowlands and the dry valleys of the Marañon drainages.
So our itinerary took us from the coastal desert near the city of Chiclayo to the scrubby foothill woodlands at Chaparri and Casupe, then on to the Pacific-facing slope of Cruz Blanca, a ridge that holds the Continental Divide. On the east slope, we spent a night at the village of Huancabamba, from which we then snaked through the northern Andes, entering cloud forest on the eastern slope, and spending two days in this habitat. Then a night in Jaen, from where we visited the dry woodland of the Chinchipe valley, a northern tributary of the Marañon valley. The next day we headed east and up into the mountains along the Utcubamba valley, another Marañon tributary. A hike for some on the Chido Trail to see the astonishing endemic Pale-billed Antpitta and some other targets, a visit to Huembo hummingbird garden to see the mind-blowing Marvelous Spatuletail and some other hummingbirds, and then a drive up the Utcubamba to the quaint city of Leymebamba. Here, we visited cloud forest in the area, as well as a museum of the Chachapoya culture. Next, we crossed over the pass at Abra Barro Negro and descended into the Marañon canyon and its highly arid habitat, and returning to higher elevations on the other side at the town of Celendin. Farther west, we reached the city of Cajamarca, and birding semi-humid and dry habitats nearby. Then, we again crossed the Continental Divide and descended to the Pacific coast, arriving at the city of Trujillo, our final base of operations. We spent one last morning in the mountains near the town of Sinsicap for several more semi-arid woodland endemics, and then a visit to the coastal scrub near the town of Chao, home of a highly endangered undescribed spinetail in the Necklaced Spinetail complex. That day, we had a delicious ceviche lunch and departed for Lima and home!
So what were the highlights of this tour route? They were varied, with most folks having non-overlapping picks! The two top contenders were both hummingbirds, namely: the Gray-bellied Comet near Cajamarca, and the Marvelous Spatuletail at Huembo; to round out the hummingbird choices, the Black Metaltail was another top pick. Antpittas also gathered some top pick votes, namely the striking Pale-billed Antpitta, and the extroverted Leymebamba Antpitta we saw on the Chido Trail hike. Distant relative to the antpittas was the Blackish Tapaculo, a species we encountered on Cruz Blanca. The endemic Peruvian Plantcutter, a strange cotinga of the Pacific coastal plain, was another top pick. Our evening on the slope of Cruz Blanca also scored a surprise Stygian Owl, to the joy of the group! Our morning near Chaupe, which was itself a great experience, with over a hundred species seen or heard, also got me (the guide) a Peruvian life bird: Golden-bellied Flycatcher! Another much appreciated experience was seeing a Rufous-backed Treehunter above Leymebamba. Finally, our morning at Sinsicap was captivating enough to make it onto the list. There were so many other great memories from the trip, but these made our top 3 lists!
Mammals seen:
Guayaquil Squirrel (Sciurus stramineus)
Red Howler Monkey (Alouatta seniculus)
Sechuran Fox (Pseudalopex sechurae)
Southern Sea Lion (Otaria byronia)
White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus)
Herps seen:
Boa constrictor (Boa constrictor)
I hope you all enjoyed this visit to one of the great birding countries in the world, and that we may meet up again in the future with binoculars in hand and adventure in our hearts!
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/282949
You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/npe24TRIPLIST.pdf
Dan (the Barbet)