WHERE TO GO BIRDING IN PERU

Leaving Bagua Chica behind, passing through Bagua Grande one passes rice paddies in the Utcubamba valley and eventually get to Pedro Ruiz, where the road forks. To the right one goes Chachapoyas and Leimebamba to complete the circuit to Cajamarca (but be warned - it is a long dusty road). Straight on the road continues via Abra Patricia to Rioja, Moyobamba and Tarapoto. Tarmac all the way. This is one of the best birding roads of South America.
Just above Pedro Ruiz one should stop to look for hummingbirds. Recently the very rare Little Woodstar was found here. Other Hummers include Spot-throated Hummingbird and White-bellied Woodstar. But the star of this section - Marvelous Spatuletail - can be found in the vicinity of the bridge over Rio Chido and the local school. To find a male and to photograph one, it is a good idea to locate Santos Montenegro. Kolibri Expeditions raised money to purchase a small reserve for the Spatuletail that Santos manage. Good, nice looking males have been found here all year around and Santos is a master in finding them. Be sure to tip him well - around 100 soles for a group is OK. He can also be of help localizing other species in the region such as Pale-naped Antpitta and Chestnut-crested Cotinga. This area may also produce Buff-bellied Tanager, Emerald-bellied Puffleg and an isolated race of Rufous-capped Antshrike.

Peruvian conservation organization ECOAN has with funding from American Bird Conservancy bought a large tract of forest at the legendary Abra Patricia pass (2400m). A lodge is being built and should be ready in May 2007.  Possibilities close to the pass 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. Further down, the road 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, as well as the rare and local Ochre-fronted Antpitta. The voice of the owlet recorded for the first time by Dan Lane in 2002 after having caught the species in a mistnet. In February 2007 Juvenal Ccahuana and David Geale of ECOAN laid eyes on the owlet for the first time in the wild and managed to photograph it and get more recordings. This finding and the fact that there soon will be a place to stay right in the best habitat will certainly position Abra Patricia as one of the top birding destinations in the world.  In the dense and wet bromeliad and fern-filled  habitat there are more endemics to be found such as Bar-winged Wood-Wren, Royal Sunangel, and Cinnamon-breasted Tody-Tyrant.  Noisy flocks of White-capped Tanagers are regularly encountered.

The road makes a series of switch backs mostly through good habitat (though it is disappearing with an alarming rate in spite of being part of the Alto Mayo protected area) and eventually reaches an area known as Afluentes. This is a good area for 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. With patience and stalking flowering bushes at the roadside sometimes the hummers Ecuadorian Piedtail and Napo Sabrewing can be found. This is also the area where sometimes the endemic Ash-breasted Antwren is seen or (more often) just heard. One can find better habitat along trails and several leks of Cock-of-the-Rock and Red-ruffed Fruitcrow are known from the area. Venturing further into the forest it is still possible to encounter the endemic Yellow-tailed Woolly Monkey.

A bit further down the road you pass the Aguas Verdes bridge. With luck you may sometimes spot flocks of Spot-winged Parrotlet flying over here. The roadside scrub holds Black-and-White Tody-Tyrant and Huallaga Tanager. At dusk look out for Lyre-tailed Nightjar.