Day 1: Arrival

Your flights arrive this evening in Lima, and we’ll provide an airport transfer to a nice hotel in the tourist district, where we spend the first two nights.

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Day 2: Coastal and wetland birding south of Lima

The cool Humboldt current makes the coast of Peru surprisingly rich for coastal birds compared to many other tropical areas. A boat ride will get us close to many of them and great shots are often possible. The gorgeous Inca Tern occurs in astounding numbers along with others like Peruvian Booby, Belcher’s Gull, Red-legged and Guanay Cormorants, Blackish Oystercatcher, Peruvian Pelican, among others. We’ll probably see some Humboldt Penguins, but they are hard to photograph in the swell. Later in the day, we’ll spend time looking for Peruvian Thickknee, then bird some wetlands for grebes, ducks, coots, herons, and our first chance at the stunning Many-colored Rush-Tyrant.

 

Day 3: Lima to Ollantaytambo

We’ll head back to the airport for an early flight to the city of Cusco, which has been continuously inhabited for at least 3000 years. We won’t visit the city quite yet, and instead head out to the nearby Huacarpay Lakes for some easy birding and hopefully a few shots. Puna Teal is a fabulous duck we should find along with other waterbirds like Andean Gull, Andean Lapwing, White-tufted Grebe, and Plumbeous Rail. The surround slopes have scrubby habitat with different birds such as Rusty-fronted Canastero, Peruvian Sierra-Finch, Golden-billed Saltator, Black-throated Flowerpiercer, and with some luck Bearded Mountaineer (an impressive hummer). In the afternoon, we will drive through the Sacred Valley to the touristy town of Ollantaytambo for a two night stay.

 

Day 4: Abra Malaga

Today we will ascend one of the most spectacular roads on the planet, as we take countless switchbacks high up into the Andes where snow-capped peaks dominate the landscape. We’ll start our birding on the far side of the pass in stunted forest and bamboo, where we may see birds like Inca Wren, Marcapata Spinetail, Puna Thistletail, Unstreaked Tit-Tyrant, White-browed Conebill, Plushcap, just to mention a few. If a mixed flock comes through on the lower side of the road, some nice shots are even possible of these birds along with other more common species. Stops lower down could produce the endemic Cusco Brush-Finch, but if the weather is accommodating, we will want to also spend some time at the highest elevations above the pass. Here, a small reserve protects some Polylepis woodlands, where the rare and local Tawny Tit-Spinetail, Ash-breasted Tit-Tyrant, and White-browed Tit-Spinetail are all possible, along with more widespread species like Blue-mantled Thornbill and Puna Tapaculo. We’ll leave time in the afternoon to look for lower elevation targets like White-tufted Sunbeam.

 

Day 5: Machu Picchu

The train station is almost next to the hotel, making for a convenient start to our trip to Machu Picchu. Upon arrival, an agent from the hotel will take our bags and our local cultural guide will take us to the bus to the ruins. We’ll have a few hour tour of the best historical parts of the complex (you are free to explore on your own if you prefer) with the guide, then after lunch, there will be options to either spend more time at the ruins on your own (buses run constantly), or go with the guide to our hotel in Aguas Calientes, which is the besting birding hotel around, and spend some time birding and photographing at the feeders. We have one night here.

 

Day 6: Aguas Calientes to Cusco

Depending on train schedules, we should have at least several hours to bird this morning. Time near the feeders should get us nice views, and hopefully some decent photos of the endemic Green-and-white Hummingbird, the beautiful Gould’s Inca, Golden-naped, Silvery, and Flame-faced Tanagers, Blue-naped Chlorophonia, Dusky-green Oropendola, and others. Some trail birding should get us a different selection of species that could include Rusty-and-yellow Tanager, Sclater’s Tyrannulet, and perhaps our first Andean Cock-of-the-rock. In the afternoon, we travel by train and road to Cusco, where we spend the night. Depending on train schedules, there could be some time to explore this unique city on your own this afternoon.

 

Day 7: Cusco to the Manu Road

Leaving early, we’ll drive to the start of the incomparable Manu Road, which traverses nearly pristine forest from treeline all the way down to lowland rainforest. Our route traverses villages, scrub, and agricultural areas for a while before reaching the forest, and these areas are worth a few stops for cool endemics like Bearded Mountaineer, Creamy-crested Spinetail, and Chestnut-breasted Mountain-Finch as well as more widespread birds such as Rufous-webbed Bush-Tyrant and Andean Flickr. We’ll spend the rest of the day birding our way down the Manu road towards Cock-of-the-rock Lodge, stopping for any mixed species flocks that we encounter (we’ll spend two nights along the upper part of the road later in the trip, since we have to return by the same road). We have two nights at Cock-of-the-rock Lodge, where the feeders attract a nice selection of species including Rufous-booted Racket-tail, Violet-fronted Brilliant, Wire-crested Thorntail, Paradise Tanager, and Russet-backed Oropendola.

 

Day 8: Middle Manu Road

We’ll start the day at blind to see and try to photograph (light is very poor) male Andean Cock-of-the-rocks giving their bizarre and fascinating nuptial displays, and then have the rest of the day to bird this amazingly rich part of the Manu road. Flocks can be mindblowing, filled with a dazzling array of tanagers including Paradise, Blue-necked, Orange-eared, Golden, Slaty, Yellow-throated, and Spotted Tanagers, along with other amazing birds like Versicolored Barbet and Golden-collared Honeycreeper. Yungas Manakans can usually be tracked down near the lodge along with a host of other species like Blue-banded Toucanet, Crested Quetzal, woodcreepers, antbirds, and flycatchers.

 

Day 9: Lower Manu road to Villa Carmen

Today we’ll traverse the lower stretches of the Manu road, where the forest grows taller and new birds join the mix. Patches of bamboo hold Stripe-chested Antwren, Two-banded Warbler, Cabanis’s Spinetail, Yellow-breasted Warbling-Antbird, and Ornate Antwren, and birds more typical of the lowlands will start to make an appearance, like Bluish-fronted Jacamar and with luck, Amazonian Umbrellabird. We’ll target specialties like Peruvian Piedtail and Cinnamon-faced Tyrannulet before reaching our next lodge, Villa Carmen, in the afternoon. This lodge has brand new cabins with very “birdy” gardens located near the lowest reaches of the Manu road, and it will be our base for the next two nights.

 

Day 10: Villa Carmen

One of the standout features of Villa Carmen is its easy access to bamboo-laden rainforest, which plays hosts to numerous special birds. We’ll target as many as we can, and with some clever use of playback should get some shots of a few of them as well. The stunning White-cheeked Tody-Flycatcher will be high on our want list, along with, Rufous-headed Woodpecker, Rufous-breasted Piculet, Striated Antbird, Bamboo Antshrike, Manu Antbird, Peruvian Recurvebill, and Dusky-tailed Flatbill. We will also spend time on non-bamboo birds such as Round-tailed and Fiery-capped Manakins, Plain-crowned Spinetail, White-lined Antbird, Black-backed Tody-Flycatcher, and Fine-barred Piculet. We will also be on the lookout for the rare Scarlet-hooded Barbet.

 

Day 11: Villa Carmen to Wayquecha

This day is somewhat flexible, as we start at Villa Carmen and then travel back up to the upper reaches of the Manu Road, where we spend two nights in the Wayquecha Cloudforest Birding Lodge. We’ll plan our day based on what we still need to see, and could spend more time at Villa Carmen or have extra time along the lower and middle parts of the Manu road. Wayquecha has newly renovated cabins and is the only lodge along this magnificent stretch of road.

 

Day 12: Wayquecha and the Upper Manu Road

Today we will focus on the temperate forest specialties. Roadside mixed species flocks can be marvelous for flashy birds like Chestnut-bellied and Scarlet-bellied Mountain-Tanagers, Grass-green and Golden-collared Tanagers, among warbler, flycatchers, and others. Black-and-chested Eagle, Gray-breasted Mountain-Toucan, Red-crested Cotinga, Band-tailed Fruiteater, Amethyst-throated Sunangel, and Shining Sunbeam, are among the other mouth-watering possibilities.

 

Day 13: Departure or Start of Extension

We have another few hours this morning to bird near Wayquecha, perhaps spending some time on harder species like Red-and-white or Rufous Antpitta, before packing up and driving several hours back to Cusco. If you are not joining the extension, you will catch an afternoon flight in Lima that arrives in time to make international flight connections. If you are taking the Los Amigos extension, you will spend the night in Cusco and have the afternoon to explore the city.