Day 1: Lima

The tour begins this evening in Lima; one night will be spent in a nice hotel next to the airport.

 

Day 2: Huacarpay Lakes

This morning we will take an early flight to the ancient city of Cusco. Depending on the flight schedule, we may drop our bags off in the hotel (and have a traditional coca tea), or we could head straight out birding to the Huacarpay lakes, about 30 minutes southeast of town. Here we will see a variety of high Andean species such as Puna Teal, Yellow-billed Pintail, Plumbeous Rail, the exquisite Many-colored Rush-Tyrant, Andean Negrito, Rusty-fronted Canastero, Golden-billed Saltator, and more. We’ll look especially for the spectacular and endemic Bearded Mountaineer, which often feeds in flowering bushes near the lake. We spend the night in Cusco.

 

Day 3: Cusco to Manu

Today we will leave very early, first driving several hours on a rough road through scenic intermontane valleys. We will make selected stops for two smart endemics: Creamy-crested Spinetail and Chestnut-breasted Mountain-Finch, and stop for anything else we might encounter along the way. We’ll reach the 11,500 ft (3,500 m) Ajacnaco Pass by around lunch time, and spend the afternoon birding temperate forest downhill towards our lodge, hoping to run into mixed species flocks that could have dozens of brilliant birds like Golden-collared and Grass-green Tanagers, Mountain Cacique, White-collared Jay, Black-capped and Superciliaried, Hemispinguses, Pearled Treerunner, Citrine Warbler, and more. We’ll spend the night in the Wayqecha Cloudforest Research Center, located in pristine elfin forest high in the Andes. It makes a perfect stopover to break up the long trip down the Manu Road, and allows us better coverage of the higher elevations. (Occasionally 

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Day 4: The Upper Manu Road

It’s hard not to be awed by the steep slopes blanketed with cloudforest as far as the eye can see. Beautiful hummingbirds like Violet-throated Starfrontlet and Amethyst-throated Sunangel flit through the roadside vegetation, and he have a great chance to see Gray-breasted Mountain-Toucan. We’ll target some tough birds like Red-and-white Antpitta, and jump out of the bus at the first sign of a mixed-species flock, and may see such gems as Barred and Band-tailed Fruiteaters, White-browed Conebill, Chestnut-bellied Mountain-Tanager, Fulvous Wren, and White-banded Tyrannulet. We’ll spend two nights in Cock-of-the-rock Lodge. Hummingbird feeders here bring in several species including Green Hermit, Violet-fronted Brilliant, and Rufous-booted Racket-tail.

 

Day 5: Cock-of-the-rock Lodge

Just a few minutes drive from our lodge is a spectacular Cock-of-the-Rock lek furnished with comfortable blinds to observe the amazing males during their mating rituals. Along the trail system we can explore the mossy cloud forest, searching for the likes of Moustached Wren, Slaty Gnateater, and Chestnut-breasted Wren. Birding up and down the road we will quickly build up a list of mid-elevation birds, and possibilities include Solitary Eagle, Golden-headed and Crested Quetzals, White-eared Solitaire, Blue-banded Toucanet, Amazonian Umbrellabird, Yungas Manakin, and a dazzling array of tanagers.

 

Day 6: Lower Manu road & Villa Carmen

After a final morning in the birdy cloudforests we will descend farther down the Manu road, targeting foothill forest species like Chestnut-backed Antshrike, Two-banded and Golden-bellied Warblers, Ornate Flycatcher, and Peruvian Piedtail. In the afternoon we arrive to an excellent lodge in the foothills, Villa Carmen, where we spend a single night. We will arrive in time for some afternoon birding in the lush rainforest, which is swathed in large stands of bamboo. We will look for some bamboo specialties this afternoon and the following morning, like Rufous-headed Woodpecker, Rufous-breasted Piculet, Striated Antbird, Bamboo Antshrike, Peruvian Recurvebill, Dusky-tailed Flatbill, and the stunning White-cheeked Tody-Flycatcher. We will also be on the lookout for Scarlet-hooded Barbet and Round-tailed and Fiery-capped Manakins.

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Day 7: Villa Carmen to Amazonia Lodge

After a full morning around Villa Carmen, we’ll drive to the Upper Madre de Dios River, where we take a short boat ride across the river to Amazonia Lodge. It’s about a 1 km walk to the lodge, but porters will carry your bags. This comfortable hacienda, located at an elevation of 1750 ft (500 m), will be our base for the next two nights. The lodge clearing has a variety of feeders and flowering bushes that bring in a wealth of hummers as well as tanagers and other species. Some of the regular visitors include Masked Crimson Tanager, Silver-beaked Tanager, Gray-necked Wood-Rail, Red-capped Cardinal, Rufous-crested Coquette, Gray-breasted Sabrewing, Violet-headed Hummingbird, Koepcke’s Hermit, and Sapphire-spangled Emerald.

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Day 8: Amazonia Lodge

We spend the day birding this famous lodge, which already has a bird list of well over 500 species. It is situated where the last low foothills of the Andes begin to flatten out into the vast Amazonian lowlands. The floodplain near the lodge is covered in second growth only a few decades old, while on the steep hillsides tall primary forest is found. While birding the varied habitats at the lodge, we will see a very rich assortment of birds. Some species we will especially look for include Blue-headed Macaw, Bluish-fronted Jacamar, Chestnut-capped Puffbird, Fine-barred Piculet, Bamboo Antshrike, Black-backed Tody–Flycatcher, and Golden-bellied Warbler.

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Day 9: River Trip

After a few more hours of birding at Amazonia Lodge, we will board our motorized canoe that will take us down the Madre de Dios to Manu Wildlife Center. It’s about a six hour trip, but the boat will make a couple of rest stops, and we usually see some cool stuff along the way, like Fasciated Tiger-Heron, Yellow-billed Tern, Pied Lapwing, a variety of herons, Bat Falcon, Black Skimmer, Wood Stork, Orinoco Goose, and Horned Screamer. We plan to arrive at the lodge before dark, and we’ll spend two nights here.

 

Days 10-12: Lowlands of Manu

We’ll have three full days in this amazing area. Diversity is spectacular, and we’ll bird trails, towers, and oxbow lakes. Large stands of bamboo hold many local and sought-after species, and the extensive varzea, terra firme and transitional floodplain forest hold a mind-boggling variety of bird-life. A canopy observation tower gives us a chance to see the canopy birds at close range, including many species of toucans, aracaris, tanagers, euphonias, woodpeckers, parrots, oropendolas, and others. Some of the more interesting species we will be searching for in the bamboo include Manu Antbird, White-cheeked Tody-Flycatcher, and Peruvian Recurvebill. We also look for the near-endemic Rufous-fronted Antthrush, Razor-billed Curassow, Pale-winged Trumpeter, Pavonine Quetzal, Purus Jacamar, Striolated Puffbird, and Gray-cheeked Nunlet, to name but a few. Great mammal sightings are also possible including monkeys, Giant Otters, tapirs, peccaries and on very rare occasions even a Jaguar. The night of Day 10 will be spent in Manu Wildlife Center, and the nights of days 11 and 12 will be in Tambo Blanquillo lodge.

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Day 13: Macaw Lick and travel to Puerto Maldonado

We need to leave early in order to reach the clay lick, which only allows entry at dawn to avoid disturbing the birds. Activity varies from day to day, but usually hundreds of parrots and macaws are visible from the blinds. Red-and-green Macaw is a highlight and the beautiful Orange-cheeked Parrot is a regular visitor here. We’ll spend the rest of the day traveling, first by boat and then by van, to Puerto Maldonado, where we spend one night.

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Day 14: Travel to Ollantaytambo

Today we take a commercial flight back to Cusco; depending on flight schedules, there may be some time for some morning birding near Puerto Maldonado, where there are some stakeouts for the localized White-throated Jacamar. After a lunch in Cusco, we will drive north into the Sacred Valley to the town of Ollantaytambo for a two-night stay.

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Day 15: Abra Málaga

We need an early start as we drive over a very high pass at 14,000 ft (4,300 m) and then down to some beautiful temperate forest in the shadow of the imposing 19,000 ft (5700 m.) Veronica Peak. We’ll start by looking for Inca Wren, Puna Thistletail, Three-striped and Parodi’s Hemispinguses, Scaled Metaltail, Marcapata Spinetail and others, before returning to the pass for a fairly short but tough hike to some groves of Polylepiswoodland with several globally threatened species such as Ash-breasted Tit-Tyrant, White-browed Tit-Spinetail, and if we are really lucky, maybe a Royal Cinclodes. Later in the afternoon, we’ll make another stop to look for the endemic White-tufted Sunbeam before returning to Ollantaytambo.

 

Day 16: Machu Picchu

After the long day yesterday we will enjoy a bit of a lie-in, though we’ll want to check the grounds of the hotel for White-bellied Hummingbird. and a few other birds. We will catch a mid-morning train to Aguas Calientes at the base of Machu Picchu. The rest of the day we will have free to explore the beautiful and fascinating ancient Inca ruins. We will have a local guide to give us a walking tour of the ruins, or you may choose to explore on your own. There aren’t too many birds to be seen in the ruins, but we might encounter the endemic Green-and-white Hummingbird, and can look for Inca Wren if we missed it yesterday. We spend one night in a hotel in Aguas Calientes. (PLEASE NOTE: We need to take a train to the ruins on this day, and luggage is strictly limited on the train. Therefore it will be necessary to leave most of our luggage with our hotel and driver in Ollantaytambo. We will reconnect with the luggage again on day 17).

 

Day 17: Aguas Calientes and return to Cusco

The train usually doesn’t leave until after lunch (though schedules may change), so we should have a full morning to bird the subtropical cloudforest around Aguas Calientes. This area is good for species like Masked Fruiteater, Variable Antshrike, Rust-and-yellow Tanager, Silver-backed Tanager, Gould’s Inca, and Sclater’s Tyrannulet – all birds that we probably would not have seen on the Manu road. Optionally, some people may wish to return to the ruins for a final visit, though you will have to buy another entry ticket and bus fare to do this – this will be extra to your tour fee). We’ll take the afternoon train back to Ollantaytambo, where our vehicle will pick us up (complete with our main luggage, which we will have stored on the morning of day 16 with our driver at the hotel), and take us back to Cusco, where we spend the night.

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Day 18: Lima and Pucusana

We fly back to Lima in the morning, then head south to the fishing village of Pucusana, where the harbor is jam packed with Inca Terns, Belcher’s, Gray-hooded, and Gray Gulls, Guanay and Red-legged Cormorants, and more. We’ll take a short boat ride to look for Humboldt Penguin and Surf Cinclodes (bring seasickness pills if you are susceptible). Making our way back to Lima, we can target Peruvian Thick-knee and Short-tailed Field Tyrant, and check some wetlands for more waterbirds. We’ll have a day-use room in a Lima hotel before heading to the airport to catch evening international flights.