Habana Ranch - El Cutal Ranch

Alarms rang at 4.30am for some of the group, whilst I eked out another 15 minutes in bed! Following breakfast we drove to El Habana and stopped along the way to seeRusty-collared Seedeater, Bay-winged Cowbird, Masked Gnatcatcher, Swallow-tailed Hummingbird, and White-rumped Monjita. Of course all the usual species were seen along the highway such as Jabiru, Rufescent Tiger-Heron, Whistling Heron, plus several Large-billed Terns. 

Upon arrival we had a little look around the open area and saw Black-billed Thrush, Palm Tanager, and Blue-headed Parrot flew by, before walking into the gallery forest. First birds seen were Ruddy Pigeon and Olivaceous Woodcreeper, before the first of many Black-tailed Trogons appeared. 

Band-tailed Manakin

A male Band-tailed Manakin showed well, as did White-eyed Attila and Sulphur-bellied Tyrant-Manakin. 

Sulphur-bellied Tyrant-Manakin

A Hauxwell’s Thrush put in an appearance. High up in the canopy a pair of Guira Tanagers joined Plain Inezia, with Mouse-coloured Tyrannulet and Forest Elaenia, Narrow-billed Woodcreeper coming lower to check us out. 

Forest Elaenia

A Blue-tailed Emerald was next up with first a female seen, shortly followed by a fine male, then a Streaked Xenops flew in. Upon reaching the lake, we saw our first Anhinga but apart from that it was really quiet, so we took a side trail and found Black-fronted Nunbird, more Black-tailed Trogons including a party of three birds, Blue-throated Piping-Guan and Little Cuckoo. 

Black-fronted Nunbird

Black-tailed Trogon

Walking back up the trail Jules found a Rufous Casiornis, an awesome Pale-crested Woodpecker gave walk away views, and a surprise find in the form of Ash-coloured Cuckoo was much appreciated by all. Driving back to our ranch a White Monjitawas spotted and our first Chalk-browed Mockingbird joined us for lunch.

Pale-crested Woodpecker

After lunch we drove further into El Cutal ranch land seeing Great Pampa-Finch, Blue and Ruddy Ground Doves, White-tailed Hawk, and some more Jabiru. 

Jabiru

A small pool held White-backed Stilt,Greater Yellowlegs and Solitary Sandpiper. We also saw Green Ibis, Pale-vented Pigeon, White-bellied Seedeater, and Nacunda Nighthawk. 

Nacunda Nighthawk

We arrived at a large lake where several Velvet-fronted Grackles were seen – this is soon to be split as Bolivian Grackle. 

Scissor-tailed Nightjar

At dusk we drove back to the lodge and the number of nightjars was phenomenal with Little and Scissor-tailed Nightjars and a Common Pauraque seen. 

Sunset at the lake

Trinidad - El Cutal Ranch

This was the day of our much-anticipated search for the Critically Endangered Blue-throated Macaw. We left early doors and drove out into the Llanos de Moxos, an area that is pretty much an extension of the Brazilian Pantanal. The first bird of the day was a Scissor-tailed Nightjar perched on the road just before daybreak. The scenery certainly looked exactly the same as the Pantanal and driving along in the early morning light we saw many Jabiru, lots of Rufescent Tiger-Herons, Whistling,Capped and Cocoi Herons, RoseateSpoonbills, Plumbeous Ibis, Black-collared and Savanna Hawks, Blue-and-yellow Macaw, Toco Toucan, Sunbittern and Black-backed Marsh-Tyrant. 

Rufescent Tiger-Heron

Sunbittern - not the best photo in the world....!

Other goodies seen included Plain-crowned Spinetail, Fuscous Flycatcher, Yellow-olive Flatbill, and Golden-green Woodpecker.

Upon arrival at the first macaw site we quickly scoped a pair of Blue-throated Macaws, and lapped up the views. This was our primary reason for coming all this way and everyone was truly elated to get such great views. We then drove across the bumpy plains to another site where we found another group of macaws. Also here were Yellow-chevroned Parakeets, Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture, Peach-fronted Parakeets,Short-crested, Streaked and Brown-crested Flycatchers, Silver-beaked Tanager,Greater Thornbird, Lineated and a superb White Woodpecker.

Blue-throated Macaws were seen very well today

After lunch back at the lodge we set off into the Llanos de Moxos for some 3.5 hours to El Cutal Ranch. Along the way we saw many more of the typical Pantanal birds seen earlier in the day, as well as Green Kingfisher, Black-capped Donacobius, Unicoloured Blackbird, Crane Hawk, Large-billed Tern, Grey and White Monjitas, Lesser Yellowlegs, Solitary Sandpiper, Scarlet-headed Blackbird, and a pair of superb Red-and-green Macaws.

We reached the lodge at El Cutal ranch just before sunset.

Our base for the next few nights...

Birding at sunset on El Cutal Ranch

Santa Cruz - The Beni

The Botanical Gardens in Santa Cruz are a well known birding hotspot, which I was looking forward to visiting once again. Within a few minutes of arriving we were watching Amazonian Motmot and Blue-crowned Trogon beside the car park. 

Amazonian Motmot

Blue-crowned Trogon

The lake was full of Western Cattle Egrets, along with Great Egret, Cocoi Heron, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Bare-faced Ibis, and we also saw Amazon and Ringed Kingfishers here as well. A Red-crested Finch also put in an appearance before we began our search of this wonderful habitat. Overhead, flocks of Red-shouldered Macaws were seen, whilst a few Dusky-headed Parakeets fed on a flowering tree beside the car park. 

Dusky-headed Parakeets

We walked inside and found Buff-throated and Black-banded Woodcreepers, a brief Limpkin, Rufous-browed Peppershrike, Green-cheeked Parakeet, Scaly-headed Parrot, Blue-winged Parrotlet, and best of all an extremely showy Bolivian Slaty Antshrike. We also saw Black-and-gold Howler Monkey, Black-tailed Marmoset, Brown Titi Monkey, Bolivian Squirrel, and 5 Three-toed Sloths.

Blue-winged Parrotlet

Bolivian Slaty Antshrike (male)

Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth

By the time we had returned to the car park it was 10.30am and getting rather hot, so we hung around in the shade for a little while and found a Southern Yellowthroat that proceeded to sing repeatedly from a few different exposed perched right in front of us. 

Southern Yellowthroat

There was also our first Rusty-margined Flycatcher and Shiny Cowbirds here as well. Then we drove to a restaurant for an early lunch before heading back to the airport for our early afternoon flight to Trinidad.

After an hour’s flight we arrived to the sweltering conditions and quickly transferred to a lodge on the outskirts of the town. We had an hour to chill out in the air-conditioned rooms before venturing out into the gardens where Scarlet Flycatcher and Hudson’s Black Tyrant were personal favourites. 

Hudson's Black Tyrant

Scarlet Flycatcher - a split from Vermillion Flycatcher

Other birds seen here included Grey-crested Cachalote, Greyish Saltator, Orange-backed Troupial, Common Tody Flycatcherand a Gilded Sapphire. Driving out across the wide open space of the Llanos de Moxos gave us Black-collared Hawk, Southern Screamer, 

immature Snail Kite

Southern Screamers

Snail Kite, Red-capped Cardinal, White-rumped Monjita, Yellow-chinned Spinetail, Black-throated Mango, Brown-chested and Grey-breasted Martins, the soon-to-be-split Plain Softtail and Solitary Black Cacique. 

Rather frustratingly a Scissor-tailed Nightjar showed briefly as we drove back to the lodge, but we’d have to wait a bit longer for that one.

Bolivia Here We Go!

Following an overnight flight via Miami the group from the UK arrived in Santa Cruz an hour earlier than expected at 5:15am and met up with John and Josh from Canada and Miguel Castalino, our guide. We then spent the next few hours birding in the vicinity of Viru Viru Airport and pretty quickly racked up a decent list of birds. Sayaca Tanagerwas the first bird of the trip, and definitely wasn’t House Sparrow– I don’t care what anyone says! Around the car park we saw Southern Lapwings, Cattle Tyrant, Purplish Jay, Saffron Finch, Chopi Blackbird, numerous Burrowing Owls and a flyby Bare-faced Ibis. 

Purplish Jay

Southern Lapwing

Driving out of the car park we were surrounded by grassland dotted with small bushes and almost immediately found a Red-winged Tinamou feeding underneath a billboard. In fact we found a further two birds and had excellent views from the bus.

Yellow-headed Caracara

We explored the nearby roads finding Fork-tailed Flycatcher,Grassland Sparrow, several Roadside Hawks, many Southern Crested Caracaras, a couple of Yellow-headed Caracaras, Harris’s Hawk,Guira Cuckoo, and a few Wedge-tailed Grass Finches. Scanning an open 

area with short grass produced a female Spectacled Tyrant, Buff-necked Ibis, Greater Rhea, 

a pair of Campo Flickers, a perched Aplomado Falcon, American Kestrel, with flocks of White-eyed Parakeets and Blue-fronted Parrots flying over. A perched Blue-winged Parrotlet was scoped in a nearby tree, whilst a group of Speckled Chachalacas disappeared quite quickly. Groups of low-flying White-collared Swifts put on a pretty good display of aerial manoeuvrability, and we also found Blue-black Grassquit, Great Kiskadee, Boat-billed Flycatcher,Picui Ground-Dove, Crested Oropendola, a calling Barred Antshrike,Scarlet Flycatcher (a recent split from Vermillion Flycatcher), Pale-breasted Spinetailand a few Crested Oropendolas. 

We then headed towards a dry woodland on the edge of Santa Cruz, and along the way saw 4 Maguari Storks and a Savanna Hawk, before driving along a sandy track into the open forest where a Rufous Hornero patrolled a garden, our first Plush-crested Jays appeared and a Chestnut-eared Aracari posed nicely at the top of a Cecropia tree. A pair of Moustached Wrensgreeted our arrival in the forest and although fast moving and tricky to see most of the group had decent views. A pair of Rufous-tailed Jacamarsthen flew in, but the views of White-wedged Piculet blew everyone away. 

Fawn-breasted Wren

A Fawn-breasted Wren was particularly obliging, and we also saw Black-backed Grosbeak, a furtive Rusty-fronted Tody-Flycatcher, Blue-tufted Starthroat, Plain-crested Tyrannulet, Suiriri Flycatcher, Southern Beardless Tyrannule tand a family of Tropical Parulas. A large tree held some Crested Oropendola nests, and a Giant Cowbird was seen inspecting one of the nests, but our eyes were drawn to the very confiding Crimson-crested Woodpecker that flew in right in front of us. By now it was 10.30am and getting very hot, so we headed to the very nice Hotel Cortez for lunch and a siesta.

Crimson-crested Woodpecker

We set out to Lomas de Arena in the late afternoon and encountered our first taste of chaotic Bolivian roadworks which delayed our arrival a little. But it was worth the wait as we turned up some real crackers beginning with a demure Tawny-crowned Pygmy-Tyrant that skulked in the shadows but eventually gave surprisingly good views. The same spot also had an invisible Bolivian Slaty-Antshrike, a Great Antshrike, Narrow-billed Woodcreeper and some raucous Thrush-like Wrens. We walked along the sandy track to a clearing where a pair of Little Woodpeckers were displaying, a gang of noisy Smooth-billed Ani appeared, a pair of Red-crested Cardinals were feeding in the bushes, and best of all, a pair of Rufous-fronted Thornbills gave prolonged views. Further exploration revealed Creamy-bellied Thrush, Scaly-headed Parrot, a tiny White-bellied Tyrannulet, Chestnut-fronted Macaw,White-banded Mockingbird and a Yellow-tufted Woodpecker. It had been quite a day but with the light fading fast we returned to our great hotel for dinner and some much needed sleep.

Denali Highway

A long day began with a 6am departure for the Denali Highway and ended at 10;45pm…. What a day this was and with some of the best scenery of the entire tour complimenting a select bunch of bird and mammal sightings culminating in our first Grizzly Bear, a sow with two year old juveniles. 

The superb Denali Highway

We made lots of stops along the drive to view the numerous lakes and scenic overlooks and the first lake held a drake Surf Scoter and our first Lesser Yellowlegs, as well as a pair of Spotted Sandpipers. We followed this with a flock of 5 Bohemian Waxwings, a very confiding singing Arctic Warbler, there were close Wilson’s Warblers, Red Fox Sparrow, a flyover flock of White-winged Crossbills, Grey-cheeked Thrush, Swainson’s and Varied Thrushes, Bohemian Waxwing, a family of Grey Jays, Northern shrike, Alder Flycatcher, Rough-legged Hawk, Common and Red-throated Loons, Wilson’s Snipe, Barrow’s Goldeneyes, Caribou, and a Porcupine. 

Arctic Warbler

Bohemian Waxwings

Surf Scoter

Townsend's Warbler

Upland Sandpiper

Wilson's Warbler

American Porcupine

Our return journey proved to be a long drive of over two hours seeing a pair of distant Beavers, and on a crystal clear lake a drake Surf Scoter, several Red-necked Grebesand a flock of White-winged Scoterswere present. But nearing the end of the drive we were rewarded with a pair of Upland Sandpipers, with one of them stood on the road in front of us, and finally a Northern Hawk Owl perched majestically on top of a Black Spruce with snow-covered mountains forming the perfect backdrop behind him. 

Northern Hawk Owl - a little distant....

A return to our favourite restaurant and some of the local ‘Panty Peeler’ ale caused some amusement before finally retiring to our cabins for the night at 10;45pm.

The next day we went to Denali National Park, but in my opinion its not worth it. Yes you could get lucky with some great mammals but you're stuck in the park's bus and as a birder you haven't got the freedom to do what you want. So i'd skip it next time and do the Denali Highway for a second day. That's a great day out and still plenty to see there.

Grey-cheeked Thrush

Grizzly Bear

Denali National Park