Peru Birding Trip Day 10 - July 17, 2018

If you want to catch up on previous posts about this trip, go to the following links:

Peru Trip Day 1            Peru Trip Day 6              Peru Trip Day 11
Peru Trip Day 2            Peru Trip Day 7              Peru Trip Day 12
Peru Trip Day 3            Peru Trip Day 8              Peru Trip Day 13
Peru Trip Day 4            Peru Trip Day 9              Peru Trip Day 14
Peru Trip Day 5            Peru Trip Day 10
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 Before our last breakfast at Owlet Lodge, I checked the various walls for moths, and found a few new species. A couple of them I was able to identify with some confidence (but not 100%), two of them in the Geometer family.

Geometer moth (Phyle arcuosaria)

Geometer moth (Eois dorsaria)

The most colorful was this Rosy Flannel Moth, which is in a family that does not appear to occur in eastern North America.

Rosy Flannel Moth (Trosia nigropunctigera)

Three other species were also likely in the Geometer family, showing variations on the "dead leaf" pattern that is very common in tropical moths.

Geometer moth (?)

Geometer moth (?)

Geometer moth (?)

Two species were apparently in the family Apatelodidae, which seems to be represented by very few species in North America, but are more common in the Neotropics. My identifications to this family are based on the way they hold their wings, and the shape of their wings, when resting.

Apatelodidae sp.

Apatelodidae sp.

One species seemed like it could be in the family of Sphinx Moths (Sphingidae), but I'm not completely sure.

Sphinx moth sp. (Sphingidae ?)

This last species I have no idea what family it might be in...it looks like it could be a Geometer.

Moth sp.

After breakfast, we got in the van and went west arriving at Huembo Reserve (and lodge) around 8:30 a.m. The entrance sign makes it clear what this site is most famous for; the Marvelous Spatuletail.

Huembo Reserve entrance sign

It was about a quarter mile walk from the road to the lodge, which sits nicely on a scenic hilltop.

Huembo Lodge

About half way to the lodge, there was an overlook that had a dedication plaque to Peggy Opengari,
"friend of conservation".

Huembo Lodge overlook

Overlook dedication plaque

From the vantage-point at the lodge, it was easy to see how threatened this dry, stunted forest habitat has become. The main nearby hillside behind the lodge is completely deforested, and you don't have to look too far down the valley to see signs of agriculture.

Huembo Reserve

Huembo Reserve

Huembo Reserve

Right at the road, when we got out of the van, was a cooperative Slate-throated Redstart.

Slate-throated Redstart

Along the trail, even before we got to the lodge, we encountered a tiny hummingbird feeding on yellowish flowers on one of the common shrubs of the area. It was a female Little Woodstar, which is considered a rare visitor to this location.

Little Woodstar, female

This species differs from White-bellied Woodstar in that it has an entirely buffy belly and throat. Field guides also show that the line behind the eye should be buffy on Little Woodstar too, but this was definitely not a White-bellied. I also noticed that the tail tips are white, where on the White-bellied we'd seen so commonly at the Owlet Lodge, they had rufous tail tips.

Little Woodstar, female

Little Woodstar, female

Little Woodstar,female

There were a few White-bellied Woodstars around the lodge, but they stayed higher up in the trees here so the lighting wasn't too great for photos.

White-bellied Woodstar, male

White-bellied Woodstar, male

After getting settled into our rooms, we went down another trail to view the hummingbird feeders. Some familiar species from the Owlet Lodge were also common here, including Chestnut-breasted Coronets.

Chestnut-breasted Coronet

Chestnut-breasted Coronet

Chestnut-breasted Coronet

Bronzy Incas were not common here, and they seemed pretty skittish and avoiding conflicts with the other hummingbirds at the feeders, so they were as much of a challenge to photograph here as they were at Owlet Lodge and Fundo Alto Nieve.

Bronzy Inca

Bronzy Inca

Bronzy Inca

White-bellied Hummingbird was supposed to be more common here than at Owlet Lodge (where we saw one), but it was a very infrequent visitor to the feeders here and was not seen perched or feeding in nearby vegetation.

White-bellied Hummingbird

White-bellied Hummingbird

White-bellied Hummingbird

The importance of hummingbirds as pollinators is sometimes evident with close views at feeders. This White-bellied Hummingbird seems to have two kinds of pollen, whitish on its crown and yellow around the base of the bill.

White-bellied Hummingbird

A few Lesser Violetears were noted, with infrequent visits. Lesser Violetears can be told from the larger Sparkling Violetear by their entirely green underparts, from throat to belly.

Lesser Violetear

Lesser Violetear

The Sparkling Violetears, with their blue-violet throats and bellies, were probably the most common and most aggressive species here.

Sparkling Violetear

Sparkling Violetear

Sparkling Violetear

In Ecuador, I have mainly seen this species at higher elevations, and in downtown Quito. So although I have seen many of them, these were certainly my best views.

Sparkling Violetear

Sparkling Violetear

Sparkling Violetear

Sometimes they seemed to tolerate each other at the feeders...

Sparkling Violetear

...but most often, they engaged in disputes over feeders, personal space, or whatever else might have been bothering them. It was interesting to see that they raised their violet "ears" during these encounters.

Sparkling Violetear

Sparkling Violetear

Behind the hummingbird feeders, there was a fruit feeder that did not seem to be attracting much. But then, in fairly quick succession, it was visited by a Sickle-winged Guan and an Andean Guan. I was not quick enough for the Sickle-winged, which was fairly skittish, but did manage a few photos of the Andean.

Andean Guan

Andean Guan

There was a short trail down to, and going past the fruit feeder which I walked along until I got to a dead end. I was lucky to see a Buff-bellied Tanager, which is nearly endemic to Peru, being known from a very small area in southern Ecuador. Since I was alone, I was the only one on the trip who saw this species.

Buff-bellied Tanager

But the star of the show, Marvelous Spatuletail, did not make an appearance. Fernando found out from the lodge owner that they had not been coming in for the past 10 days, and suspected that it was because there were so many flowers blooming that they had dispersed. He offered to take us across the road to some private reserve (Reserva Privada Santos Montenegro) where there was a display lek. He led us up a fairly narrow but good trail to an area where we all got positioned on the ground to wait for the birds to appear.

Flowering Bamboo

Along the trail, there were patches of "flowering" bamboo. I have known about the phenomenon of irregular bamboo flowering events for a long time, and the rare specialized species that are found only in this habitat, but had never experienced it before. Looking closer, the "flowers" were actually more like seeds, in the same way that flowering grasses don't have any petals on them.

Flowering Bamboo

The only bamboo specialist that we noted, and only by hearing them, was the rare Maroon-breasted Ground-Dove. It would have been nice to make more of an effort to explore these patches of bamboo, which were obvious all around us on the steep mountain slopes, but this was a photo tour and not a hard-core birding tour. After waiting for quite some time at the hummingbird lek, and having the local property owner play tape to draw them in, we did get a glimpse of a female Marvelous Spatuletail that perched for a second or two, then departed. An immature male, with an incompletely developed gorget and partly grown tail feathers was seen several times, and it perched in an area partly obscured from view a couple times. An adult male, with a fully formed tail, flew into the opening in front of us, hovered for a couple of seconds (long enough for it to sink in what it was), then he darted off. So, I only managed photos of the immature male.

Marvelous Spatuletail, immature male

Marvelous Spatuletail, immature male

Marvelous Spatuletail, immature male

After lunch, I spent some time wandering around the grounds of the lodge. The others spent most of the afternoon at the hummingbird feeders but as I expected, they did not get another sighting of a Spatuletail. A Great Thrush allowed me to get fairly close.

Great Thrush

With some effort, I got good views, and some photos, of both male and female Silvery Tanagers.

Silvery Tanager, male

Silvery Tanager, male

Silvery Tanager, male

Silvery Tanager, male

The females looked completely different, sharing only the rufous throat with the males, and were quite colorful in their own right.

Silvery Tanager, female

Silvery Tanager, female

Silvery Tanager, female

Only one butterfly was seen here, the Common Oressinoma.

Common Oressinoma (Oressinoma typhla)

Another hummingbird that was in the gardens, but not at the feeders, was this Black-tailed Trainbearer. It is named for its long, black tail which is often much longer than this.

Black-tailed Trainbearer

Black-tailed Trainbearer

Fernando suggested that we take another trail, through a shade-grown coffee plantation on the property, to look for a few other local birds.

Shade-grown coffee. Huembo Reserve

We didn't see much, so returned to the lodge area. On the way, we stopped at a snag that had a woodpecker hole in it. I wondered what might be living in it, and tapped on the bottom of the tree. But nothing came out for a look. Then Fernando, for reasons neither he nor I can explain, stuck his finger in the hole. He quickly pulled it out because he felt a critter with teeth in there. He didn't get bitten, but on closer inspection we did see the open mouth of a species of Mouse Opossum.

Mouse Opossum in tree cavity

I took photos of the roof of its mouth, and teeth, not expecting to be able to identify it. But once at home, I was able to use a Neotropical mammal field guide to determine that only one species occurs where we were; the Short-furred Woolly Mouse Opossum.

Short-furred Woolly Mouse Opossum (Marmosa regina)

If you're curious about what the rest of it looks like, click here. You may have to click the checkbox when this photo page opens in order to see the photo.

It started to rain a bit, so we sheltered under the overhang of the dining hall for a while. The rain was patchy, so there was still some bird activity. A Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle was circling high overhead.

Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle

Then, a flock of parakeets flew over, and headed toward the main road.

Mitred Parakeets

Then a larger flock came in, then another even larger flock, then another.

Mitred Parakeets

They were landing in a grove of introduced Eucalyptus trees, and it was too difficult to identify them without a closer look. So I decided to walk down the trail to the road and have a look. Fernando decided to come with me.

Mitred Parakeets

Two species of medium-sized green parakeets occur here, the Red-crowned and the Mitred. The amount of red on the heads of these birds varies so that other marks need to be used to identify them. Red-crowned have red on the underside of their shoulders, while Mitred are plain green. The photo above shows a parakeet with plain green wings, so they were Mitred. A lifer! The light was not great, but I managed a few more photos of the closest birds in the flock.

Mitred Parakeet

Mitred Parakeet

Mitred Parakeet

Mitred Parakeets

Mitred Parakeet

We walked up the road for a little ways, and found a few birds. A Southern (Black-throated) Emerald Toucanet landed in a nearby tree, and would have made an outstanding photo, if I had been quick enough. But I wasn't. The roadside flowers were easier camera subjects. I have no idea what these bluish-magenta flowers are, but they look like they might be in the Legume family.

Legume sp. (?)

Some small white orchids were clearly identifiable as orchids, but there are 25,000 species in the world so getting an ID to species might never happen.

Orchid sp. (Epidendrum sp.?)

At first glance I thought they might be a type of Habenaria, but on closer inspection I could tell that they did not have the simpler flower of that group. Instead, they looked like tiny little Epidendrum flowers, most of which are larger than this and most of which are epiphytic on tree branches, not terrestrial like these.

Orchid sp. (Epidendrum sp.?)

A small flycatcher was pretty cooperative, and although fairly nondescript, it could be identified as a Sierran Elaenia which was the common species of Elaenia in this area.

Sierran Elaenia

Sierran Elaenia

Sierran Elaenia

On the way back to the lodge, a nice male Hepatic Tanager popped up and sat in a bare tree.

Hepatic Tanager

There has been some discussion of splitting the different subspecies of Hepatic Tanager each into full species. If that is ever done (and it may not), this would be the Highland Hepatic Tanager.

Add caption

Back in the gardens, I ran into one of the other tour participants and she showed me a very nice photo of a male Silvery Tanager she had just taken before I walked up. The bird was still there, along with a bright yellow female Hepatic Tanager, but they were both now very high up in the tree. She had also gotten a nice photo of the Sickle-winged Guan that had returned to the banana feeder. We then had dinner and turned in early as tomorrow was the last day of this part of my trip, and was going to be a very early start, and a long day.