Peru: Day 4 Aguas Calientes to Cusco

We woke up this morning in Aguas Calientes (the tourist village below Machu Picchu) to rain. By the time we were ready to start birding, by just walking down the road from the hotel, it was only a steady, but light shower. Birds were active, but it was at times a bit difficult to see them. It gradually improved and after about an hour, it began all but stopped. Weather got better all day.

White-capped Dipper

Torrent Duck female (There were also a male and three young nearby.)A Bird's Nest-type fern. Perhaps an Asplenium species. (Update: it's a Nephidium, see Brad's comment below -thanks Brad!)These liverworts on a most rock had these cute little parachute-like fruiting structures.We watched hummingbirds at feeders in a well-planted hotel garden (seven species dominated by Chestnut-breasted Coronet), and this strange plant caught my eye. It reminded me of a Phyllanthus from Jamaica, but I'm not certain that's what it is.We had 50 minutes to do some shopping in town before boarding the train for Cusco, and I did my friend Beth a favor by getting her one of the orange rugs made from Alpaca and Llama, and dyed with natural colors. I wasn't sure what she wanted, so as soon as Gary cut everyone free, I rushed to the market, took some pictures, went back to the hotel, uploaded them to my computer and e-mailed the photos to Beth. Then I called her with Skype, told her to check her e-mail, and got her OK for this $50 handmade rug. I think she'll be happy.We then took the 3 1/2 hour train ride to the station of Poroy, a few miles short of Cusco.Some clever marketing hack came up with the idea of selling the tourists on the train high-end Alpaca garments. And they have the attendants stroll down the aisles like a fashion runway. Some sort of fashionable pop mix was playing, and the passengers would applaud each time they strolled by. The sweater worn by the guy was about $165.

Tomorrow we have breakfast at 4:30 and then head over the last crest of the Andes to begin making our way down the wet slope on the Manu Road. Almost certainly no Internet tomorrow.

Peru: Day 3 from Ollantaytambo to Machu Picchu

Today was largely devoted to visiting the ruins of Machu Picchu. As everyone knows, these are impressive Inca ruins, mostly because of the setting and their size. They’re not terribly old, and the vast numbers of tourists does detract from their appeal. But you have to be brain dead to not be at least temporarily awed by them.

We had a professional guide, Vilma, who met us at the train station in Ollantaytambo, about a 15-minute drive from our hotel near Urubamba.

After an hour-and-a-half train ride down the Urubamba valley (following the river where we saw Torrent Ducks), we arrived in the town of Machu Picchu, where we then walked to the line of buses waiting to take tourists up to the ruins.

Here is the view down the valley from the entrance toward the road the buses bring you up.

And here a typical view of the ruins. You can’t quite get the perspective to see how the ruins are situated in relation to the surrounding ridges, peaks, and valleys. It’s simply spectacular.

The Inca were not finished with the ruins before they abandoned them, with the approaching Spaniards apparently being a main factor. But the entire hillside apparently originally looked like this jumble of boulders, which they either chipped away or buried beneath terracing.

The three-hour guided walk from Vilma was interesting, and she was captivating. But it was still a bit much for me, and I was constantly distracted by the various forms of wildlife around the ruins.

This Epilobium sp. (or a closely-related genus) grew here and there on the rocks, but they try to keep the walls mostly plant-free.

This Stenocercus (either ochoai or crassicaudatus) species of lizard was abundant on the rocks.

We saw two Northern Mountain Viscachas, Lagidium peruanum, close relatives of the Chinchilla, and in a disctinctive grouping of New World rodents that includes the Capybara, New World porcupines, cavies, and agoutis, among others.

Incidentally, I learned from Vilma that the extra “c” in Picchu is there because you’re supposed pronounce it. Ma-chu peek-chu.

After lunch at the hotel by the ruins, we birded the road a bit, then rode a bus down to the bottom of the steep canyon and birded for the rest of the afternoon.

I was constantly distracted by butterflies, such as this interesting swallowtail.

And this unassuming skipper. But I found the white edge and the distinct spots to be very unusual field marks for a grass-skipper. I’ll have to ask the experts to find out what it is.

And despite it not being much of a birding day, we still managed 68 species such as this immature Fasciated Tiger-Heron on the river rocks. (Note: all my bird pics are either digiscoped or digibinned, such as this one. I held my little point-and-shoot camera up to my binoculars.)

Here’s the group looking down at the tiger-heron.

Some new birds for me today included Inca Wren, Black-streaked Puffbird, and Green-and-white Hummingbird.

Peru: Day 2 from Lima to Cusco to Urubamba

We had an early start this morning. Departing our Miraflores hotel at 4:30 a.m., we were well on time for our 7:00 flight from Lima to Cusco.

This is not long after takoff, looking SW toward the Pacific Coast.
Our first birding stop east of Cusco at Laguna Huacarpay. Here we had Wren-like Rushbird and Many-colored Rush-Tyrant. Easy names to get wrong by accident. I think I had a Tyrant-Like Head-Rush after seeing them.
We had much better views of Plumbeous Rail than this.
Slate-colored Coot from the same spot.
Wildflowers in the tundra-like vegetation on the lake shore.
Rufous-naped Ground-Tyrant in the short grass along the road.
This Bearded Mountaineer, a fabulous endemic hummingbird, was in a weedy row of Tree Tabacco. The iridescent green gorget is tipped in violet.
We had a picnic lunch in the shade of some eucalyptus nearby.
Then another fantastic hummingbird, the Giant Hummingbird. Largest in the world.
Late in the afternoon we arrived at this gorgeous hotel near Urubamba, Valle Sagrado Lodge.

Tomorrow: Machu Picchu.

Peru: Day 1 near Lima

I'm in the district of Miraflores, a part of Lima, for the start of a WINGS tour led by Gary Rosenberg. This is Gary's last tour with WINGS, and I'm here to observe – my first step in learning how to lead this tour starting next year.

This is a West Peruvian Dove, common in the neighborhood near our hotel. It looks a lot like the White-winged Doves back home in Tucson, but with a more intense shade of eyeshadow. They sound completely different though, and there's little wonder it's now considered a separate species. I saw it in Ecuador in 1992 when they were lumped.

Even more common is the Eared Dove, a close relative of the Mourning Dove. It lacks the really long central tail feathers. It was odd, seeing these two species together in this dry habitat, behaving just like ours do back home.

This is our hotel on a relatively quiet back road in the neighborhood.

I took a walk a few blocks down to the Pacific Ocean and was surprised to find that we were on a bluff well above the shore. I had to walk quite a ways before I found a road down.

Here's a view looking north from a very upscale shopping plaza at the edge of the bluff. Down below on the spit is a fancy restaurant and club with Inca Terns roosting on it and feeding in the surf.

You have probably seen one of these flies on your bathroom wall. Or perhaps on some other bathroom wall, like the public restroom by the beach where I spotted this one. It's a moth fly, in the subfamily Psychodinae. Some species live their entire life cycles in the scum on the inside of a drain. They are harmless and do not carry any diseases.

Outside, I spotted only one species of butterfly, this Fiery Skipper. Not such an exotic thing, its caterpillars feed on Bermuda Grass even in my back yard in Tucson.

One of the more conspicuous birds on this part of the coast is Belcher's Gull, here an immature bird.

This is an adult Belcher's Gull.

Bolivia Teaser

I'll eventually add a bunch a photos from my 19-day trip to Bolivia with my friends Keith and Dylan. Here's a teaser photo from the Paraguayan border east of Ibibobo, Tarija department.

Night Driving near Tucson

On August 12, 2009, just a couple days before I left for my three-week trip to Bolivia, I did some night driving on roads west of Tucson with some friends.

Couch's Spadefoot

Red-spotted Toad

Scolopendra polymorpha

unknown wolf spider with babies on back

White-throated Woodrat

McNulty Private Tour in SE Arizona

Here are a few photos from a one-day private tour I led to Florida Canyon and California Gulch on August 11, 2009.

Bee fly, Anthrax irroratus

Barytettix humphreysii

Yellow-bellied Grasshopper, Boopedon flaviventris

Hanging-theif robber fly, Diogmites sp.

Five-striped Sparrow

Bee fly, Hemipenthes sp.

Mohave Rattlesnake

Passiflora foetida