Birdwatching

Lachay is a good nature spot near Lima city for wildlife photography and wildlife observation. Birdwatching is one of the main activities that this place offers to the visitors, since several species are confined to this area like the endemics Thick-billed Miner, Coastal Miner, Raimondi’s Yellow-Finch and the Cactus Canastero. Among others species that can be seeing here are Least Seedsnipe, Mountain Parakeets, and some hummingbirds like Oasis Hummingbird, Peruvian Sheartail and Purple-collared Woodstar usually very active in the flowering plants.

Pucusana´s fauna is that of the typical species that are closely associated to the cold seawaters of the Humboldt Current. Inca Tern, Peruvian Booby, Belcher’s Gull, Peruvian Pelican, Humboldt Penguin and Guanay and Red-legged Cormorants are common here. Depending on time, we will visit some coastal scrub surrounded by agricultural fields. Here we will find a different array of birds, which are typical of desert and coastal scrub: Croaking Ground-dove, Burrowing Owl, Amazilia Hummingbird, Peruvian Sheartail, Long-tailed Mockingbird, Scrub Blackbird, Groove-Billed Ani, Short-tailed Field Tyrant, Southern Beardless Tyrannulet, American kestrel, among others.

Villa Wetlands is a good spot to observe: Many-colored Rush-Tyrant, Wren-like Rushbird, Peruvian Thick-knee, Pied-billed Grebe, Great Grebe, Plumbeous Rail, Black-necked Stilt, Peruvian Meadowlark, Least Bittern, White-Cheeked Pintail, Osprey, Gray Gull, Grey-hooded Gull among others waterfowl and sea birds.

The Low Santa Eulalia road can be offered in a one day excursion, starting in the low part of the valley and heading up while crossing several different habitats, including arid montane scrubs, riparian thickets, streams and agricultural fields. The diversity of habitats and scenery in these first transect of the road creates an astonishing diversity of birds where several species are confined to this area and where you can find many endemic species like: Great Inca-finch, Black-necked Woodpecker, Rusty-bellied Brush-finch, Black Metaltail and Bronze-tailed Comet.

The incredible diversity of habitats and scenery in Santa Eulalia creates an astonishing diversity of birds where several species are confined to this area and where you can find many endemic species like: Great Inca-finch, Black-necked Woodpecker, Rusty-bellied Brush-finch and Bronze-tailed Comet. Adding the extensions, we might see Black Metaltail, Striated Earthcreeper, White-cheecked Cotinga, White-bellied Cinclodes, Andean Condor, Diademed Sandpiper-plover among others.

The Humboldt Current is one of the major upwelling systems of the world, supporting an extraordinary abundance of marine life. The result is the great biodiversity that we can find including all the Peruvian Current endemic seabirds species and other migratory marine birds.

Species that we might see before reaching the 30 miles are: Peruvian Diving-petrel, Wilson’s Storm-petrel, White-bellied Storm-petrel, Sooty Shearwater, Pink-footed Shearwater, Sabine´s Gull, Swallow-tailed Gull, Chilean Skua, Parasitic Jaeger, Red-necked, Red Phalarope and Waved Albatross. Upon reaching the 30 miles we stop to chum, with luck we can observe, Hornby’s Storm-petrel, Markham’s Storm-petrel, Wedge-rumped Storm-petrel, Salvin’s Albatross, Buller’s Albatross, among others.

Paracas Area is fascinating in terms of numbers of Guano birds’ species, (Peruvian Pelican, Peruvian Booby , Guanay Cormorants as the main producers) also there’s a good chance to spot some of the pelagic bird species such as Sooty Shearwater and a few species of Petrels. Humboldt Penguin is also one of the main attractions.

Around Paracas Reserve we will explore the nearby beaches to look for Peruvian Terns, and the agricultural fields for Peruvian Thick-knees, Short-Tailed Field Tyrant, Burrowing Owls, Amazilia Hummingbirds among others. Then we will search for the endangered Slender-billed Finch on a Prosopis forest nearby.

The trip take a small transect of the Peru’s Northern Tourist Corridor from the Pacific coast to the jungle lowlands in Tarapoto city. The beauty of this trip is the combination of incredible landscapes, different habitats and the opportunity to see and enjoy a great diversity of wildlife and endemisms.

On 11 days along this route you can observe around 300 – 400 species, Including the threatened White-winged Guan in Lambayeque, and endangered Marvelous Spatuletail in Amazonas; all of which can only be found in northern Peru. Others specialties and endemics species includes: Peruvian Plantcutter, Rufous Flycatcher, Henna-hooded Foliage- Gleaner, Ecuadorian Piculet, Little Inca Finch, Marañon Crescentchest, Royal Sunangel, Long Whiskered Owlet, Rufous-Crested Coquette and Black-throated Hermit, Oilbirds, Dotted Tanager, Koepcke’s Hermit among others.