Peru Birding Trip Day 11 - July 18, 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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Today was mostly a travel day, and we had to get our luggage out of our rooms by 3:30 a.m. so it could be taken by golf cart up to the main road. We departed Huembo Lodgbe by 4:00 a.m. for the long 300 kilometer (~185 mile) drive back to the Tarapoto airport to catch our 11 a.m. flight back to Lima. By the time the sun came up, we were back to Morro Calzada.

Morro Calzada

And soon after we were back in the town of Moyobamba, where I finally got a decent photo of the orchid sculpture in the main roundabout in town. Moyobamba is locally famous for the orchids in the surrounding cloud forests, and there are several places that cultivate them including Waqanki Lodge where we had stayed.

Orchid sculpture in Moyobamba

We managed to get to the Tarapoto airport by 10 a.m., and found out that our flight time had been changed to 11:30, so we had plenty of time to say goodbye to our wonderful guide, and my new good friend, Fernando Angulo.

Fernando Angulo (left) at Tarapoto airport

At the Lima airport, I parted ways with the other tour participants and said goodbye to Pat, James, Daphne, Ken, and "Fish". After picking up my bags, I was met by my guide for the next three days, Alexandro with Kolibri Expeditions, and the one other tour participant, Thomas from Germany. Thomas was mainly interested in shorebirds, and was involved with the Spoon-billed Sandpiper recovery project in northern Russia.We left the airport and stopped at a gas station and convenience store for a sandwich for lunch, then headed out a short distance northwest of Lima to the Ventanilla Lagoons.

Ventanilla Lagoons sign

There were two separate areas of the lagoons. The first one we visited looked like a large, wet parking lot (a "playa") set back from the beach on the Pacific Ocean, with another area of inland marsh.

Ventanilla Lagoons

There were some shorebirds in the "parking lot" mudflats, and quite a few Black-necked Stilts in the marsh.

Black-necked Stilts

Black-necked Stilts

Black-necked Stilt

Black-necked Stilt

Black-necked Stilt

The waterfowl in the marsh consisted mainly of White-cheeked Pintails.

White-cheeked Pintails (with Common Gallinules)

White-cheeked Pintails (with Common Gallinules and Cinnamon Teal)

Among the pintails, gallinules, and Slate-colored Coots, were a few Cinnamon Teal.

Cinnamon Teal (with Common Gallinule and White-cheeked Pintail)

In marsh vegetation near the shoreline, we managed a poor look at one of the Wren-like Rushbirds we were hearing calling. They are not wrens, even though they look and behave bit like one, but are in the family of Ovenbirds (Furnariidae), many of which occur in lowland rainforest areas, but quite a few in the southern hemisphere occur in more open habitats.

Wren-like Rushbird

Wren-like Rushbird

We left this part of the lagoons and went a short distance (but in Lima traffic it took quite a while), to another part of the marsh with a nice observation tower. Here we got much better looks at the Slate-colored Coots that were common everywhere in these wetlands.

Slate-colored Coot

Formerly, these were called Andean Coots, but there are several coot species in the Andes, and with these also occurring at sea level in Lima, that name doesn't make sense. Their bill and frontal shield colors are also variable, with at least four patterns; all white, all yellow, yellow with red frontal shield, and white with yellow frontal shield. We saw only the last variation.

Slate-colored Coot

Slate-colored Coot

A few Ruddy Ducks were here, of the Andean subspecies, which look quite different from those in North America. In the past they have been considered a full species.

Ruddy (Andean) Duck

Yet another Andean species that was wintering in this coastal location (yes, south of the equator, July is winter), was Puna Ibis.

Puna Ibis

Puna Ibis

The closest relatives of the Puna Ibis are the Glossy and White-faced Ibises, which are very similar. The Puna Ibis has dark legs and a pinkish bill that, to me, appears distinctly shorter than either of its relatives.

Puna Ibises

Puna Ibises

Puna Ibis

White-tufted Grebes were supposed to be fairly common here, but we only saw one of them.

White-tufted Grebe

The Chilean Flamingo is an Austral migrant, coming north into Peru during the southern winter, with a few reaching the Lima area each year. Luckily, two of them were present in these marshes, but were quite distant.

Chilean Flamingo

There were many gulls flying around this area, and we got our best views of Gray-hooded Gulls here.

Gray-hooded Gull, 2 adults and 1 juvenile

Gray-hooded Gull, adult

I had seen this species before, off the coast of Ecuador and also in West Africa, but these were the best views I've ever had.

Gray-hooded Gull, adult

Gray-hooded Gull, adult

Gray-hooded Gull, adult

We left the Ventanilla area, and drove to another site that was on a peninsula jutting out into the Pacific Ocean west of Lima. Once again, it took quite a while to get there despite being only a few miles away. Lima is a city of 11 million people, so it seems that traffic is always bad, except when its worse. The Playa Arenilla area was a big breakwall with a mudflat adjacent to it, where there were lots of gulls, terns, and shorebirds. The foggy conditions, which are characteristic of the winter season in Lima, made the light challenging for photography. As I sit here in Michigan in early December, it looks very similar outside! In the photo below, there are mainly Andean Gulls (wintering on the coast; they don't breed here), with a few Belcher's Gulls, Kelp Gulls, Gray-hooded Gulls, and on the left a couple of Franklin's Gulls. A few Franklin's remain here during the northern summer, but are very common on the Peruvian coast from October to March.

Andean and other Gulls.

The Belcher's Gull is a locally breeding species, and is a little unusual in that it breeds in the southern winter. So there are a few adults in winter plumage, like this one, with a dark hood and bicolored bill.

Belcher's Gull, winter adult

Breeding adults have an entirely white head and black tail, but there were only a couple like that in this area. There were also several juvenile Belcher's Gulls on the mudflats.

Belcher's Gull, juvenile

At another part of this lagoon, we saw some roosting Peruvian Pelicans, along with the "usual" gull species, Belcher's, Andean, and Kelp.

Peruvian Pelicans, and gulls

Formerly, Peruvian Pelicans were classified as a subspecies of Brown Pelican. But they are much larger, and have a more brightly colored bill, a large pale patch on the upper side of the wings, and a pale band on the underside of the wings.

Peruvian Pelican, immature.

Peruvian Pelican, immature.

Peruvian Pelican, immature.

Peruvian Pelican, adult, with Lima in the background

Peruvian Pelicans

Peruvian Pelicans

Peruvian Pelicans

Peruvian Pelicans

Peruvian Pelican

Peruvian Pelican

Peruvian Pelican

Dusk was setting in, so we went to our hotel in Lima for the night. I walked across the six-way intersection and had dinner on my own. I re-packed all my luggage to get ready for the next two days in the high Andes east of Lima.