Headed up to La Cumbre at 4450m and made our first stop at a lake surrounded by some of the best scenery of the our to date complete with a flock of Andean Goose, Crested Ducks, and flocks of Baird’s Sandpipers.
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| Great scenery up here... |
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| Andean Goose |
We drove along a side track and came across a Slender-billed Miner, followed by a pair of Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe that we watched feeding below us for quite some time. Amazingly a flock of Grey-breasted Seedsnipe were then found, followed by Puna Ground-Tyrant, and White-winged Diuca-Finch. We returned to the lake where a flock of Andean Gulls were in the parking area, and we also picked up a nest-building Giant Coot and a flock of Andean Swallows.
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| Andean Gull |
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| Great scenery at La Cumbre to watch seed snipe in... |
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| Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe |
Driving on we took another side track where a Streak-throated Canastero was found, along with Andean Ibis, Cinereous Ground-Tyrant, Black Siskin, Peruvian, Plumbeous and Ash-breasted Sierra-Finches. Next up was a bird I’ve dipped four times on - Scribble-tailed Canastero. But it’s a bogey bird no longer as we had great views of a singing bird in the high-altitude grassland today! Wow! A few Mourning Sierra-Finches at the same locality hardly got a look in!
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| Cinereous Ground-Tyrant |
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| Scribble-tailed Canastero |
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| And more great scenery... |
Moving on to the Pongo valley the rain came in making things tricky for us, but we had Cinereous Conebill, Black-throated Flowerpiercerand Spot-winged Pigeon.
Our picnic lunch was consumed on the bus as it was still raining and then we drove to another site where Diademed Tapaculo was well and truly nailed with views on the ground as expected followed by views of it in a bush overhead…! I know right…! A flock was then discovered with Citrine Warbler, Violet-throated Starfrontlet, Bolivian Brush-Finch, Moustached Flowerpiercer and a pair of Rufous-bellied Bush-tyrants.
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| The famous Coroico Road.... Also known as The Road of Death... |
Eventually by early afternoon we arrived at the famous Coroico Road, also called more ominously ‘The Road of Death’. Well it was dead this afternoon, save for a splendid pair of Barred Fruiteaters and a confiding Yungas Pygmy Owl.
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| Barred Fruiteater |
So at 4pm we decided to head to the fantastic Rio Selva Resort way below us at 1140m. It took a while to get there but it was worth it, as Torrent Tyrannulet, Black Phoebe, Pale-breasted Thrush, Swallow Tanager, Mottle-backed Elaenia, and both Social and Dusky-capped Flycatchers were all new additions to our list.
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| Pale-breasted Thrush |
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