Most tourists arrive via train, but we were really lucky to have a van. We saw some incredible scenery.
The road literally "snakes" through the mountains. If you want to see something incredible, go to Google map and put in Ollantaytambo, and then look at the road going east over the Andes.
All along the way are old rock walls and other ruins. That people lived (and live) at these altitudes is almost beyond comprehension.
Some of the birds in these mountains:
Rufous-Breasted Chat-Tyrant (about 5 inches).
Plumbeous Sierra-Finch (about 6 inches).
Andean Lapwing, (about 14 inches) related generally to Oystercatchers, Jacanas etc.
The Andean Lapwing is particularly beautiful in flight.
This is the Black Faced Ibis, from another family more commonly identified with shores than mountains. About 29 inches, this bird is also really fun to watch fly.
At one point we stopped on the highway at a spot where the road itself was over 14,000 feet. From there we hiked up another thousand feet or so looking for the "Royal Cinclodes". We found it's cousin, the Bar-Winged Cinclodes right off.
Bar-Winged Cinclodes (About 7 inches).
The terrain had very sparse vegetation with a thick moss on the ground that almost seemed like a far north tundra.
Not long after we arrived, we saw some Llama's grazing and thought they must be wild.
A few minutes later however these two little boys (12 and 5) came running up. We thought they were carrying school books, but it turned out they were there to collect the fee for hunting on the family property for birds. The story is that the very rare Royal Cinclodes (we never did see it) is only found in this one location. It's habitat is a scrub brush that was being cut by the native population, and so some smart birders made a deal with the locals back in the 60's that they would pay a little (it was like a buck each for us) in return for them not cutting the "forest". It has worked and the bird lives on (though awfully hard to find). Here the little guys are having Terry fill out the record book.
These little guys literally run up and down these mountains. From up on top we could see their home.
Really an interesting place.
One last bird for the day. Lately a Northern Flicker has been driving me crazy by coming in at night and roosting in the rafters of our new deck. He is making a mess, but I have to admit he is beautiful. Here is the Andean Flicker, about 12 inches.
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