Cusco is awesome, and I mean awesome in the real sense of the
word. It's the perfect city: not too busy; full of history but
not that crap history like you get in Market Drayton about
gingerbread men; fantastic buildings; clean but not fanatically
clean - you know, like in an awful sterile Swiss kind of way; moderately
priced; full of stuff to do and the kind of place where you
could wander about for a month and still feel as though you've hardly seen
any of it. Only the most pathetically sad and shallow of birders
could fail to be excited by Cusco - so go there and enjoy it.
Coca tea in the Cross Keys
pub -
good for altitude sickness
We stayed in the Amaru II Hostal which is just a short walk
uphill from the central Plaza de Armas. There are restaurants
everywhere and you'd be insane not to spend quite a bit of time
in the Cross Keys pub owned by birder Barry Walker - just make
sure you spit on the Port Vale top (a shit football team) that's hung up on the wall by the far
superior red and white stripes of Stoke City :-)
Up the Potters!
Huacarpay
View from the south side
looking north
Easily reached from Cusco by taxi or take the bus for Urcos
from the Avenida de la Cultura. We took a taxi straight to the
Urpicancha restaurant, walked clockwise around the marshes and
then took a bus back to Cusco from Huacarpay. This worked out
really well as it skipped out the bird-less stretch of road along
the north side of the marshes. Huacarpay has a couple of little
shops to get bottled water and chocolate from. Unfortunately we
missed the Bearded Mountaineer.
White-tufted Grebe - 3+ on east side
Neotropic Cormorant - 1
Little Blue Heron - 1 on west side
Snowy Egret - 3+
Cattle Egret - 5+ on south side
Puna Ibis - common
Yellow-billed Teal (Speckled Teal) - 1 west side
Yellow-billed Pintail - 5 on south side
Puna Teal - common
Cinnamon Teal - common
Andean Duck - pair on south side
Cinereous Harrier - ringtail on the west side
Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle - 1 soaring over south side
Variable Hawk - 2 of unknown ssp
American Kestrel - common
Plumbeous Rail - 3+ on south side
Moorhen - common
Andean Coot - common
Andean Lapwing - common
Greater Yellowlegs - 5+ on west side
Andean Gull - seen on journey
Rock Dove - ...ahem...
Spot-winged Pigeon - common
Eared Dove - common
Andean Swift - 2 on west side
Giant Hummingbird - 1 on south side near ruins. Spectacular!
Bar-winged Cinclodes - 1 by south side ruins
Rusty-fronted Canastero - 1 on southeast side between
Urpicancha and ruins
White-browed Chat-Tyrant - 2+
Spot-billed Ground-Tyrant - common
Rufous-naped Ground-Tyrant - west side
Plain-capped (Taczanowski's) Ground Tyrant - vagrant? very
cold grey. no nape patch. bill all black (seen well in scope).
no rufous fringing on wings. very distinct pure white
supercilium which was broad and reached far behind eye. Based
on range it would appear that the recently split Taczanowski's
Ground-Tyrant is the best candidate.
Andean Negrito - 3 on west side
House Wren - 2 by south ruins
Chiguanco Thrush - so common that you have to
call them Chigwanker Thrush, which is a shame as they're nice birds
Hooded Siskin - common at Urpicancha
Cinereous Conebill - common at Urpicancha
Ash-breasted Sierra-Finch - common
Band-tailed Seed-eater - common between Urpicancha & Lucea
Greenish Yellow-finch - 2 at Urpicancha
Rufous-collared Sparrow - common
Yellow-winged Blackbird - common, especially on west side
Sacsayhuaman
Llama worrying is great fun,
but I think this is where my tick may have come from
A spectacular Inca fortress sitting high above the city, and
it's an easy trip by foot from Cusco with a couple of nice birds
and some culture thrown in as well. Just ask any local the way
and follow the gorge up to your right once you pass the little
church. Go early before the hordes arrive. It fills a nice few
touristy hours, but don't alter your schedule for it.
Green-tailed Trainbearer - male at top of gorge
Bare-faced Ground-Dove - 3+ in gorge
Aplomado Falcon - 2 soaring above gorge
Variable Hawk - 1
American Kestrel - common
Andean Lapwing - very common and very tame, so don't forget
your camera.
Andean Gull - 1
Spot-winged Pigeon - 2+
White-browed Chat-Tyrant 3+
House Wren - hi!
Chiquanco Thrush - indeed
Cinereous Conebill - 3+
Ash-breasted Sierra-Finch - common
Band-tailed Seed-eater - 1 male in garden above ruins by
access road
Greenish Yellow-finch - 2
Rufous-collared Sparrow - very very very rare
Machu Picchu & Aguas Calientes
"Where's all my
money gone?"
Providing you can tolerate the physical assault on your
wallet (take plenty of cash, plenty), Machu Picchu is a must-do
experience. Words could never quite describe how you feel when you
first set eyes on this amazing Inca city, so I won't bother trying. We
were both very ill (a combination of altitude, bad food and
alcohol) which meant that birding was near impossible because
fatigue had made us barely able to walk. As a result we couldn't
take a walk up to the Inti Punko which is supposedly good for
Inca Wren. To be honest, birding was pretty much a waste of time
as we hobbled from one bench to another, but apparently if you
don't feel like shit there are some good things to see, none of
which we saw.
Fuck me!
There are many ways of getting to Machu Picchu, and all of
them are expensive. We stayed the night in the town of Ollantaytambo
then took the morning train to Machu Picchu which got us there
just before 9am. For about the first 2 hours we had the place pretty much
to ourselves and it was great. The day-tripper train from Cusco
gets there about 11am and by 11.30 the place becomes very busy,
but it's still great. Make sure you book your train tickets well
in advance: we didn't and ended up sat in the booking office in
Cusco for 4 hours.
The Lyre-tailed
Nightjar site by the Aguas Calientes hot springs
Aguas Calientes is the base for
everyone travelling to Machu Picchu. It's full of hotels and
restaurants, and consequently full of tourists. We didn't have
long here but the good birding is along the train tracks towards
the old Puente Ruinas train station. There are warning signs saying that you will be prosecuted if you walk
through the tunnels - the locals just ignore them, so we did as
well.
The train track to
Puente Ruinas. There was a Cock-of-the-Rock just by that tunnel
Torrent Duck - common on the Rio Urubamba and
viewable from from the train
between Ollantaytambo and Aguas Calientes.
American Kestrel - common
Large Falco sp. - I though Aplomado
Falcon but apparently not
recorded here before? Definitely not a Peregrine.
Andean Gull - from train
Mitred Parakeet - large flock of 20+ feeding along by train
tracks out of Aguas Calientes between the first 2 tunnels
Speckle-faced Parakeet - 2 amongst the Mitred Parakeets
Lyre-tailed Nightjar - walk from Aguas Calientes up to the
hot springs to the kiosk. We
waited by the kiosk and 1 began calling at 6pm and then a
male eventually showed off its ridiculously long tail streamers
over the gorge. Seems to be a regular site.
Green Violetear - 2+ at Machu Picchu
Green-and-white Hummingbird - common around Machu Picchu
White-banded Tyrannulet - 1 at Machu Picchu between the
ticket checkpoint and Inca Trail
Torrent Tyrannulet - common along river
White-crested Elaenia - 1 at Machu Picchu
Andean Cock-of-the-Rock - 1 female at Aguas Calientes along
the train tracks by the first tunnel
Blue-and-white Swallow - common
House Wren - yo!
Gray-breasted Wood-Wren - 1 between first the 2 tunnels along
Aguas Calientes train tracks. Responded very well to pishing
White-capped Dipper - on Rio Urubamba from train
Rust-and-yellow Tanager - 1 between first the 2 tunnels along
Aguas Calientes train tracks.
Rufous-collared Sparrow - howdy!
Golden-billed Saltator - 2 females at Machu Picchu
Slate-throated Redstart - 3+ along railway track by tunnels
Dusky-green Oropendola - 2 with above Parakeet flocks
The excitement of
a Lyre-tailed Nightjar was just too much to handle
Ollantaytambo
A great little town with huge snow capped 6,000m peaks and a
massive ruined fortress towering above. We had a couple of hours
before heading back to Cusco so just walked along the road
towards Quillabamba. There was some nice birding just before the
village of Rumira by the wooden farm. Beware of 2 shithead dogs
in Rumira.
Neotropic Cormorant - 20+
American Kestrel - common
Spot-winged Pigeon - common
Eared Dove - common
White-bellied Hummingbird - 1 just before Rumira
Giant Hummingbird - they just get better every time
Black-tailed Trainbearer - 1 female
Yellow-billed Tit-Tyrant - 1 just after Rumira
Tufted Tit-Tyrant - 1 just before Rumira
White-browed Chat-Tyrant - 1
Brown-bellied Swallow - 50+ over river just after Rumira
House Wren - hola!
Chiguanco Thrush - buenas dias!
Blue-and-yellow Tanager - 1+ just before Rumira
Black-throated Flowerpiercer - 1 just before Rumira
Rufous-collared Sparrow - common
Band-tailed Sierra-finch - common. The females look just like
female Linnets (and vice versa)
Black-backed Grosbeak - 1 just before Rumira. Massive!
Golden-billed Saltator - common
Cinereous Conebill - common
Hooded Siskin - common
Filthy,
backpacking, gap year scum attended by an unusually well behaved
dog
