The best bird in town, Arequipa

Peruvian Sheartail a common bird in the gardens and cultivated fields.

White-tailed Shrike-Tyrant, Chiguata

I have only seen White-tailed Shrike-Tyrant a couple of times, and never photographed the species earlier. At about 3500 meters, Mauricio spotted one, but after a couple of minutes, it disappeared. I started to run after the bird without thinking about the altitude, and I found it after a ten minutes hike up the hillside. I felt shaky and could hardly held the camera, but I was able to take some pictures of the bird.

White-tailed Shrike-Tyrant (above and below)

 Black-billed Shrike-Tyrant, photograpet at 3000 meters in Chiguata the same day.

Chiguata - once again

Once again I had the opportunity to visit Chiguata. This time together with Finn and Mauricio. We birded along the road from Chiguata to Salinas. Here are some of the birds from the lower elevations (2300 - 3500 meters). The first post showing some of the hummingbirds in the area.

             The endemic Black Metaltail

                            Giant Hummingbird

                     Peruvian Sheartail

                   Sparkling Violetear

                Sparkling Violetear

               Giant Hummingbird

La Joya II

We also visited the cultivated fields in search for Tawny-throated Dotterel and Least Seedsnipe. Luckily we found a group of Dotterels.

 Cultivated fields at the desert plain and the vulcan Misti in the distance.

 Dark-faced Ground-Tyrant, an Austral migrant present in good numbers.

 Tawny-throated Dotterel

La Joya in the middle of the desert

Midway between the city of Arequipa and the coast, you can find an artificial Lagoon. The Lagoon has developed slowly the past ten year because of an agricultural project in this desert plain at 1200 meters. You can find many ducks, flamingos and shorebirds here. However, most birds are only migrants. We visited the Lagoon 04 of July 2013 and we found several birds breeding in North America, Altiplano and one Austral migrant. Killdeer is probably one of few resident birds breeding along the shores of this Lagoon, but other birds like Vermillion Flycatcher and Least Seedsnipe breeds in the nearby agricultural fields. Here are some of the birds seen in the Lagoon.

 White-cheeked Pintail

 Cinnamon Teal and White-cheeked Pintail

 Puna Flamingo, present at surprisingly many sites including La Joya (this photo) and Ite (earlier post)

 Greater Yellowlegs, North-American migrant still present in the area

 Greater Yellowlegs

 Andean Swift

 Killdeer

Dragonfly (below), unknown species, any suggestions?

Andean Gull

Ite wetlands, Tacna III - Flamencos

Chilean Flamenco now breeds in Ite. It is the only costal Lagoon where this species breed. All three species of Flamencos are observed in the lagoons, something that makes Ite quite special. In Mejia there are also observations of all three species of Flamencos, but the last years Ite have more observations of Puna and Andean Flamenco than any other costal Lagoon.

 Chilean Flamenco

Chilean Flamenco

 Chilean and Puna Flamenco

 Chilean (right) and Puna (left) Flamenco

 Puna Flamenco

Puna Flamenco

Ite wetlands, Tacna II

 The largest Lagoon teemed with Ducks, Coots, Cormorants, Herons and Grebes

Neotropic Cormorant

Puna Ibis                 

 Grey-hooded Gull (abowe and below)

 Black Skimmer

 Great Grebe, was not common 10 years ago. Now quite common.

Tricolored Heron, not common in Southern-Peru, but I have observed this species in Ite since 1996.

Ite wetlands, Tacna

Ite has some of the qualities of Mejia. I had my first trip to this wetland back in 1997. Also back in 1997 and 1998, during my first trips, I observed a lot of Ducks and Shorebirds in the area. But during this short visit (27.06.13) I was surprised to find really high numbers of Coots, Ducks, Flamencos and Grebes in the area. Then next entrance I will dedicate to Ite wetlands. This first entry contains birds seen in the Southern part of the Lagoons.

 Black-faced Ibis, a scarce breeder i  Southern-Peru.

 Blcak-chested Buzzard-Eagle

 Greater Yellowlegs

 Greater Yellowleg and White-backed Stilt (above), and Peruvian Martin, one of the specialities (below).

In Peru once again. Tacna our first stop.

In 2013 we had the possibility to visit Peru three weeks. One of the main targets was to meet our friends, but also to see the places we lived. We also managed to visit some of the places were I used to look at birds, and also some places I have never done any birding before. To families traveled together, and with to birdwatchers in the group, we stopped frequently. The whole trip started in Tacna where we lived almost five years (1996-2000). In the city we saw some common bird species. The first day with some specialities we had during a short trip to Calientes above the town.

 Groove-billed Ani, Calientes.

 I would appreciate any help with this Butterflies, all of them from Tacna.