Northwest Peru

 Marañon Endemics

 July 24-31, 2011

 With Mark Welford

Reservations and prepayment are required on all Ventures. Your place on this Venture will be reserved when your deposit of $300 has been received. Please make your check payable to VENTURES, Inc. and send it to this address or call the office with your VISA or MasterCard #. 

Limited to 10 participants.

Venture Description

Northwestern Peru offers spectacular scenery, a wide diversity of habitats, and some relatively easy-to-see ultra rare birds, such as the once believed extinct White-winged Guan, Marvelous Spatuletail and Long-whiskered Owlet.

Our Venture starts in Chiclayo, where we start our exploration of the dry thorny woodlands hold critically endangered birds such as Rufous Flycatcher and Peruvian Plantcutter. A moderate hike up Olmos Canyon should produce the very rare White-winged Guan, as well as White-edged Oriole and White-collared Jay. Montane forests hold a wealth of hummingbirds, many restricted to this part of Peru with the prize of all being the immaculate and very rare Marvelous Spatuletail, surely one of the most spectacular hummingbirds in the world. Add to this a supporting cast of antbirds, thrushes, flycatchers and tanagers and this is set up for a truly superb birding Venture.


Leader: Mark Welford

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Altroemeria sp (lily) Cost of Venture

$TBA from Chiclayo, based on double occupancy Single room $TBA

Price includes: All ground transportation, meals, service charges, entrance fees & gratuities (except for leader & driver/guides), information packet & bird check-list, leader/guide service throughout.

Not included: Airport Tax, alcoholic beverages, laundry, and other items of a personal nature.

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Some of the Birds We'll See

White-winged guan, Versicolored Barbet, Black-mandibled Toucan, Tumbes Hummingbird, Royal Sunangel, Marvelous Spatuletail, White-winged Guan, White-collared Jay, Peruvian Plantcutter, Rufous Flycatcher, Piura Chat-Tyrant, Gray-and-white Tyrannulet, Many-colored Rush-Tyrant, Elegant and Maranon Crescentchest, Bar-winged Wood-Wren, Yellow-scarfed, Metallic-Green and White-capped Tanagers, Little Inca-Finch and many, many more

Itinerary

Our flights from Miami leave late in the evening on July Saturday 23. Please plan to get there at least 2 hours before the flight is scheduled to leave.  

Day 1 (Sunday July 24)
Fly to Chiclayo in the morning (or alternatively late night flight the night before and hotel in Chiclayo) and transfer to Chaparri. This is an excellent setting with prime Tumbes endemic birding with re-introduced White-winged Guan, and Tumbes Tyrant, Tumbes Hummingbird, Scarlet-backed Woodpecker, Sulphur-throated Finch and others. At night we’ll go out and search for Scrub Nightjar, Peruvian Screech-Owl, Buff-fronted Owl and Striped Owl.
Night at Chaparri Lodge

Day 2 (Monday July 25)
After watching hummingbirds bathing at Chaparri we will head to the Prosopis woodlands nearby to look for the very rare Peruvian Plantcutter and Rufous Flycatcher. Other birds include Black-faced Ibis (rare), Short-tailed Woodstar, Amazilia Hummingbird, Peruvian Sheartail, Oasis Hummingbird, Scarlet-backed and Golden-olive Woodpeckers, Necklaced Spinetail, Gray-and-White Tyrannulet, Plumbeous-backed Thrush and White-edged Oriole at Bosque Pomac before driving to Olmos. In the afternoon we’ll hike up into the dry canyon at El Limón to look for White-winged Guan - a species which was considered extinct until it was relocated in 1977. As well as seeing the guan, we should see many other Tumbes endemics, such as Tumbes Hummingbird, Tumbes Sparrow, Tumbes Tyrant, Guayaquil and Scarlet-backed Woodpeckers, Necklaced Spinetail, Elegant Crescent-chest, Red-masked Parakeet, Sulphur-throated Finch, Plumbeous-backed Thrush, Gray-and-White Tyrannulet, White-edged Oriole and Short-tailed Woodstar.
Night in Olmos at Hospedaje Valle Grande

Day 3 (Tuesday July 26)
 Today we’ll drive to Jaen via Abra Porculla. Targets at Abra Porculla include Chapman's Antshrike, Bay-crowned Brush-Finch. Elegant Crescentchest, Rufous-necked and Henna-hooded Foliagegleaners, Black-cowled Saltator, Porculla Hermit, and the rare Piura Chat-Tyrant. In the late afternoon we shall arrive in Jaen.
Hotel Pym's

Day 4 (Wednesday July 27)
In the morning we will bird near Jaen looking for any species we may have missed the night before such as Marañon Crescentchest, Marañon Slaty Antshrike, Neclaced Spinetail and more. En route to Pomacochas we shall look for Little Inca-Finch, Marañon Spinetail and Little Woodstar. Later in the afternoon near Pomacochas we shall visit a private reserve to look for one of the most impressive and enigmatic hummingbirds In the world, the remarkable Marvelous Spatuletail. This unusual hummer is rare and endangered throughout its very small range. The area may also produce Buff-bellied Tanager, Emerald-bellied Puffleg and an isolated race of Rufous-capped Antshrike.
Night in Pomacochas

Day 5 (Thursday July 28)
We will spend most of day at Abra Patricia/Afluentes looking for some great birds. Below the pass at 2400m, possibilities include Rusty-tinged and Rusty-breasted Antpittas, Yellow-scarfed Tanager, Peruvian Rufous-vented Tapaculo, White-collared Jay and the recently described Lulu’s Tody-Tyrant. The road then passes next to a series of low ridges cloaked in stunted forest. This is the type locality for the enigmatic Long-whiskered Owlet, one of the great ornithological mysteries of the continent, and one of the few localities where Ochre-fronted Antpitta has been seen. The Owlet has recently been seen so keep your fingers crossed! Although in this dense habitat we stand a better chance of finding Bar-winged Wood-Wren, Royal Sunangel, and Cinnamon-breasted Tody-Tyrant, while noisy flocks of White-capped Tanagers are regularly seen flying overhead.
 Night at Abra Patricia Lodge 

Day 6 (Friday July 29)
Today we’ll have another full day birding in the Afluentes/Abra Patricia area. We will spend the morning birding in the Afluentes area near Abra Patricia area before driving to Olmos. The birding is easy from the roadsides and we may see Black-mandibled Toucan, Equatorial Graytail, Gray-mantled Wren, Ecuadorian Tyrannulet, Foothill Antwren, the endemic Speckle-chested Piculet, Versicolored Barbet and a wide variety of tanagers including the scarce Vermilion Tanager.
Night in Olmos

Day 7 (Saturday July 30)
We will spend some additional birding near Abra Patricia Lodge in the morning. In the afternoon we’ll drive to Rioja. Near Rioja we shall look for birds in the vicinity of Yacumama, which is good for Buckley’s Forest-Falcon, Point-tailed Palmcreeper, Blackish Nightjar, Fiery-capped Manakin, Yellow Tyrannulet, Rufous Casiornis and Great-billed Seed-Finch. In the late afternoon near Rioja we will look for Russet-crowned Crake.
Night at Gran Bombonaje, Rioja

Day 8 (Sunday July 31)
In the morning we will bird the savanna and deciduous forest at Morro de Calzada near Moyobamba looking for the following birds: Tataupa Tinamou, Black-faced Tanager, Mishana Tyrannulet, Cream-colored Woodpecker, Cinererous-breasted Spinetail, Pale-breasted Thrush, Blue-crowned Trogon, Red-legged Honeycreeper and many more. We will then drive to Tarapoto and catch an evening flight to Lima, and possibly a very late flight to US.

Or

 

Day 9 (Monday August 1)    Lima to USA
Flights back to the US this morning

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