October 18, 2014

Seems like there is something I’m supposed to remember about this date. Oh yeah, Happy Birthday Molly.

So one more Peru installment. And probably one more wrap up after this one.

In terms of bio-geography, Peru is a pretty amazing place. It’s larger than Texas, smaller than Alaska, but packed with different ecoregions and habitat types. It’s split by the Andes Mountains so it has a number of very different ecoregions within a relatively small area. In addition to differences because of elevation, there are some rain shadow effects between the east and west side of the Andes. So at any given elevation there are different suites of species between the eastern and western slopes. Then throw in a Pacific coastline and the Amazon lowlands for good measure. The “Birds of Peru” field guide mentions 21 habitat types, with one of them being army ants. This is the first time I’ve seen a species listed as a habitat type. Granted I’ve seen some people large enough to create a rain shadow and could be considered be a habitat type.

The Andes – glaciated mountains.

Cloud forest.

Cloud forest interior.

Semi-arid mountains.

Mountain wetlands and lakes.

Jungle lowlands. This is a tributary of the Amazon. Our birding guide grew up in a four family village on the banks of this river not far from this spot.

Jungle canopy. The tall tree is a Brazil nut tree.

Jungle canopy.

Jungle interior.

What it all boils down to is a tremendous amount of flora and faunal diversity in a fairly small area. There are about 700 bird species in North America north of the Rio Grande. Peru, a little larger than Texas, has about 1800 bird species. The “Birds of Peru” weighs three pounds. It’s about the size and weight of a good sized block of scrapple.

Between us we got 168 bird species. I still need to reconcile the list. There may be a couple Stefan got that I did not and vice-versus. Not all were lifers either, since some species are also present in North America. Still, not a bad number considering birding was only part of what we were doing. We met two different couples on dedicated birding trips that had gotten over 400 species.

We were lucky in that we had Elsie, a great birding guide, for the cloud forest portion of the trip. This wasn’t just a job for her. She was as excited as we were with the species we found, and she got three lifers while she was with us. I believe her life list is somewhere over 600 species, just in Peru. Jaime, our Inca Trail guide, and Edar, our jungle guide, were good with the birds but not as good as Elsie.

Walter, our driver with nerves of steel (or no reason to live) and Elsi, bird guide and general naturalist extraordinaire.

So all the ecoregions and different habitat types lead to some specialized species. Like the description for the chesnut-naped antpitta: Common, but restricted to humid montane forests, on east side of northern Andes, north and west of Rio Maranon, between 2200 and 2950 meters. That’s 2950 meters mind you, not 2951.

American kestrel at the Saqsayhuaman ruins.

Andean pootoo doing what pootoos do.

Black-faced ibis.

Cock-of-the-rock – Peru’s national bird.

Golden tanager.

Golden-headed quetzal.

Great pootoo, doing what pootoos do.

Highland motmot.

Hoatzin. This is a missing link bird. The young resemble reptiles and have claws on their wings. They nest over water. If the young are threatened, they drop into the water, then crawl back into the nests using their claws. Eventually the claws fade away.

Group of hoatzin.

Hummingbird (unknown species) on nest. Night photo.

Macaws.

Macaws and parrots. They eat the clay for minerals. Turns out that clay is the primary food for young birds. These very clay licks were featured in National Geographic. Their photographer had a big lens.

Macaws and several species of parrots.

Russet-backed oropendola.

Russet-backed oropendola nests. Most of them are dummy nests to fool predators.

Puna ibis.

Scarlet-bellied mountain tanager.

Rufescent tiger-heron.

Sparkling violetear.

We saw other cool things too. Like capybara – the world’s largest rodent. And the tayra – a large terrestrial relative of the otter. There were several species of monkeys including howler monkeys. They make an unearthly sound that seems impossible for a primate. During one night hike we had a bunch of very unhappy peccaries around us. We never saw them but they were really close by, snorting and grunting their general displeasure with our presence. We had seen some during the day but they pretty much stayed away from us. At night they made it quite clear we were on their turf and they did not want us there. Going back down river we saw endangered bush dogs. Even the boat guide had never seen them before and made the boat turn around to get a better look.

Chinchilla chillin’ at Machu Picchu.

Tayra – relative of the otter.

Capybara – the world’s largest rodent. With a lot more meat than a Guinea pig.

Rare bush dogs. Not a great picture – hand held on a moving boat in low light.

Lots of other cool things too. Like butterflies, turtles, lizards, frogs, dragonflies, and all kinds of interesting things that go bump in the night. Including J.R.R. Tolkien’s inspiration for Shelob. And there’s a whole lot more to be seen. I really need another trip back there. With a really big lens.

Unknown butterflies. While we were birding in the cloud forest there was a group collecting butterflies.

Another unknown butterfly.

Amazon racerunner.

A picture of Fido so she doesn’t get jealous. You’ll never see the term “racerunner” associated with her.

Clear winged butterfly.

Unknown dragonfly.

And now, the things that go bump in the night. The following are all nighttime shots.You really don’t want to mess with anything that is out and about at night in the jungle or cloud forest.

Caiman

A beautiful caterpillar that is probably poisonous.

A very spiky caterpillar that is almost certainly poisonous.

A Scorpion eating a beetle. I’m pretty sure the Scorpion is poisonous.

Scorpion spider. Don’t know if it is poisonous but I wasn’t about to find out.

A beetle with eyespots that glowed in the dark. Don’t know anything about toxicity.

A cool grasshopper with super long antennae. Probably not poisonous but best to be careful.

A butterfly we found at night. Unknown toxicity.

Unknown bug but very cool. Unknown toxicity.

Another unknown bug with Stefan’s finger as a reference. Usual toxicity rules apply.

Walking stick species 1. Probably not poisonous but I’m not going to mess with it.

Walking stick species 2. Probably not poisonous but I’m not going to mess with it.

Walking stick species 3. Probably not poisonous but I’m not going to mess with it.

A frog that hides by looking like the leaf litter. Possibly poisonous but at least it’s a cool frog.

Same frog.

Unknown frog. Possibly poisonous but at least it’s a cool frog.

Shelob. Need I say more?

Oh, yeah, plants. Didn’t have much time to do plants. Did I mention that I really need another trip back there. Properly outfitted with appropriate camera gear. Like a big lens.