Perhaps you’ve been wondering the absence of my humble self from the Dawn Chorus for most the past two months. Or perhaps not, as I may be over emphasizing my importance in the grand scheme of things.
In any event, I was in Peru, one of the birdies countries in the world. In fact with over 1800 recorded species Peru has the second highest recorded number of bird species in the world after Colombia.*. So it is a birders paradise. Well sort of. I think it is a paradise for a certain type of birder. It is a wonderful country and if you get a chance to go there you should.
The picture above is not from Peru, it’s from Panama. I spent four weeks in Panama teaching before going to Peru. I didn’t do a lot of birding but the four frigate birds above represent by far the best photo of birds I took during my whole six weeks abroad. Note the dolphin dorsal fins in the lower right of the photo. The frigate birds were following the dolphins to (hopefully) grab a meal as the dolphins scared fish close to the surface.
Side note — One of my students on the boat described it as ‘the best five dollars I ever spent’ (the cost of the boat tour). She was ecstatic at seeing dolphins which seemed a little weird for someone from Florida. The lesson here is not to make assumptions about other people’s experiences.
Below are a couple of other pictures of bird-banding in Panama. First is of a posed lance-billed manakin, the second is of a very definitely not posed or very dignified wood creeper. Following that is a howler monkey that was sleeping above while the banding was occurring.
OK now on to Peru. Peru’s megadiversity is, in part, due to its geographic variety. The country is divided into three major regions, the coastal lowlands, the Andes, and the Amazon.
We spent the better part of a week in the Andes. It was amazing but not very birdy (at least not where we were). I did see a Giant Hummingbird briefly (no photo). Here’s a video to give you a sense of size.
However there were plenty of distractions like Incan ruins perched on incredibly steep hillsides giving everything a ‘Lost World’ sort of vibe.
After the highlands we visited the Amazon. Lots of birds. Here is an overview of the types of birds you might see in the Amazon if you visit with warnings about the perils you might face if you try and see them.
Tinamous. These are vaguely chicken-like birds that are actually more closely related to ostriches! Mostly they are quite secretive but every now and then one will just kind of show up. There was an undulated tinamou that called outside of our cabin all night long (as well as periodically during the day). The extremely short video below gives the call. If you are sad because you didn’t see a tinamou listening to the call will probably make you sadder.
Parrots. Iconic birds of the tropics, parrots are very frequently heard (they are loud!). They are seen pretty often, usually flying directly away from you at great speed and then landing and mysteriously vanishing in the top of a tree. Macaws are a nice exception to this — they are simply too large and bright to not be conspicuous all the time. Below is a really bad photo, digiscoped through binoculars, of a pair of scarlet macaws at their nest. One of my bird viewing peaks of the trip was seeing 10 blue and yellow macaws flying straight at and over me on a small abandoned airstrip in the forest. Peril here is having a heart attack from sheer excitement.
Trogons and Quetzals — Most birders who have gone to southeastern Arizona have probably looked for trogons. In the tropics there are quite a few species. They are fruit-eaters and fairly sedentary. As a result they can be hard to find but fairly easy to get a good look at once you find them. One of the high points of the Amazon birding was finding a Pavonine Quetzal. Quetzals are basically trogons dialed up to 11. The most famous is the Central American Resplendent Quetzal (which is dialed up to about 15). The South American quetzals lack the long tail feathers. The video below gives an idea of our viewing experience.
Hummingbirds — Huge numbers of hummingbird species are found in pretty much every habitat in South America (at least every habitat that has flowering plants). As in North America if there are feeders you can see them really well. Otherwise you usually get brief glimpses.
Toucans — Just like parrots, big toucans are gratifying (easy to recognize, often fly about in the open), while small toucans are challenging. Another trip high point was seeing a golden-collared toucanet.
Really cool big forest birds. This is a group of birds that are not related but share the characteristics of being big and conspicuous. Things like trumpeters, guans, and hoatzins. I highly approve of these birds and will discuss them in part 2.