Juliaca - Arica trip

We had a short trip to Arica were the kids renewed their peruvian visas. More pictures in the next post.


Blackish Oyster- catcher, Arica 29.10.07






Turkey Vulture, Arica 29.10.07

Chilean Flamingo, close to Laguna Lagunillas (Peru) 30.10.07

Birds close to the border

These pictures are from Arica, Chile and not from Peru. However all the birds can bee seen in Peru as well. I have not seen the Willet many times in Tacna, but this bird seems to bee very common in Arica were several hundreds normally are present on the rocky shores. All pictures from 29.10.07.

Willets



Surfbirds

Grey Gulls

Kelp Gull (immature)

Whimbrel

Trip to Putina

Yesterday we had a family trip to Putina. Our target was the hot springs. We headed to Azurduy, and from there we took the bad road to Putina. We learned that you can not relay on the maps during this stretch. In Putina there was Polylepis forest along the hillsides. The first 20 kilometres along the road back to Juliaca we also saw extensive patches of Polylepis forest, and we also saw a field with Puya raimondii. The first 40 kilometres of the road between Putina and Huancane were quite bad, after that the road was paved to Juliaca. I only visited briefly a hillside with Polylepis forest, and I saw D’Obrigny’s Chat-Tyrant and several Streak-fronted Thornbirds.





Puna Ibis, between Azurduy and Putina





Greater Yellowlegs in poor light at 3900 m


D'Obrygny's Chat-Tyrant.

Sillustani

Sillustani is an archaeological site well worth a visit. The burial towers were built in the Inca times, probably by local people. From an ornithological point of view there are not much that can’t bee seen other places. But the lake Umayo and the surroundings hold some interesting birds. Among the birds seen today were Titicaca Flightless Grebe, Giant Coot & Andean Hillstar (only one of each).

Band-tailed Sierra-Finch

I visited Sillustani today. Here I saw Band-tailed Sierra-Finch just below the ruins. The male is diagnostic with its bluish color at the upper breast and white belly. The yellowish bill also makes it easy to identify. The female is also normally easy to identify because of the white belly and lower breast (Many similare species have more streaks). As the name indicates both sexes have a white band on the tail.

Both pictures Sillustani at 3990 m, 12.October 2007.