Thursday, March 17, 2016

Eco Amazonian Lodge

EcoAmazonian Lodge is not the best known Lodge among birdwatchers, but the area is definitively good for birds. During our trip in June/July 2013 we stayed four days and three nights at the Lodge. This was also a family trip, so bird was not the first priority all the time. The Lodge is a good place to see a good variety of Parrots, here are some of them.


Red-and-green Macaws. We also had several Scarlet Macaws during our stay at the Lodge. 

A group of Blue-andyellow Macaw.

Blue-and-yellow Macaw

Mealy Parrots

Chestnut-fronted Macaws














Red-bellied Macaws, quite common at Eco Amazonian Lodge

Cobalt-winged Parakeets

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

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

Sunday, March 29, 2015

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

Saturday, February 14, 2015

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