Spent the Thanksgiving Holiday with our daughter Tiet and her family in Union City, Cali this past weekend. My new birder buddies are Diana (13), Tyler (8) and Taylor (5). Pretty game for long walks, looks at the bird book, and McDonald's afterwards!
Even Dad (Ty) spent some time with us in the windy reaches of the wildlife preserve. Except for this picture, all of the rest were taken by Diana or Tyler. I am really proud of them. They are actually great photographers!
Yup, that is actually a Cheeto!
Can you tell the difference between a Snowy Egret and a Great Egret? These super grandkids can!
One of Diana's favorite birds was the Black Phoebe. Kinda cute!
And then there was the "Mystery Bird" . A cross between a Turkey and a Goose? Whatever it is Diana was quite sure it needed to go on a diet!
After 2 weeks in the Amazon lowland and the Andean highlands, our group returned to Lima on June 19. We had been to the true tops of the mountains, and to the jungles of the largest rain forest in the world. In total we had seen over 500 species of birds, including some very rare and difficult to see. The variety of flora, fauna and even people was impossible to have imagined when we were planning the trip, and worth every minute.
We spent the last couple of days in and around Lima. A highlight was a trip out of Lima to the offshore islands nearby via boat. A large number of birds which cannot be seen on land were spotted, and we were lucky to have a former Peruvian Navy officer take us out. One of the interesting things to see was the cliffs so full of bird droppings that they had been harvested for years as fertilizer.
Another really interesting thing to see was the sea lion colony. Literally thousands of them covered the cliffs. The smell was overpowering.
We even saw this poor seagull who had staked out his own dead sea lion, and was trying to figure out how to get it home!
Peruvian Pelican (90 inches or more than 7 feet long!)
While we were out on the ocean, we saw this fishing boat pulling in it's net. The number of seabirds, including the Peruvian Pelican trying to rob the net was incredible.
A group of Humbolt Penguins (About 27 inches tall). They don't fly, but they can really swim. They were incredibly agile at getting in and out of the water.
One of the most beautiful of the birds is the Inca Tern. (About 17 inches)
American Oystercatcher (about 16 inches).
Blackish Oystercatcher (about 17 inches)
The very unique and colorful Red-Legged Comororant (about 30 inches).
A cousin of the Royal and Bar-winged Cinclodes is the Surf Cinclodes. Remember the bird we were chasing up at 15,000 feet in the Andes? Well this cousin lives on the islands offshore and hunts it's food as the water recedes from the breakers.
Moving to the shore and the swamps and wetland nearby.
Chilean Flamingo (about 40 inches)
Great Egret (about 38 inches).
Snowy Egret (about 2 feet).
Cinnamon Teal (about 18 inches).
And Female( a bit larger)
Common Moorhen also known as Common Gallinue (About 12 inches).
A rare and difficult to see swamp dweller, the Many Colored Rush-Tyrant ( 4 inches).
And finally in the foothills near Lima.
Amazilla Hummingbird (about 3.5 inches).
Peruvian Meadowlark (8 inches).
Least Seedsnipe ( about 7 inches).
Variable Hawk (about 22 inches).
Black-Chested Buzzard Eagle(about 30 inches).
Burrowing Owls actually live underground in burrows. (About 9 inches).
And I am going to finish up this trip with the bird we looked and looked for. Tinamou are a pretty large group of very similar birds which tend to stick to the ground, stay very deep in cover, and if flushed immediately drop back to cover. This is the Andean Tinamou (about 11 inches). We were the lucky ones!
Once again, thanks to Terry Mecham for the pictures in these last two posts. I remain in mourning about having the drive on which all of my Peru pictures go down. What a trip!
The village of Ollantaytambo is up at about 8000 feet above sea level. As a result, the birds are unique. It is also the jumping off point for an incredible highway that crosses the Andes east to the Amazon basin.
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.
Father, husband, farmer, birder, lawyer, lover of home, family, laughter wildlife, space, love and mystery. Believer in the idea that we are here with a purpose and great joy comes with trying to find that purpose. Glad that faith is just that, and more fine every day with not having all the answers. Luckiest guy alive.
