This is the final blog giving my
perspective of a birding trip to Bolivia. Duncan Brooks, Mike Catsis, Brian
Foster, Paul Noakes, Malcolm Oxlade and I had left Marc Brew in La Paz and
Barry Walker, who had flown in from Cuzco to join us, was back in control of
the trip with Richard Amable as his bag man. We left Pepe and the bus at Lake
Titicaca and would be travelling to Apolo, my final destination, in three 4WDs.
29 November. The hotel put on an early breakfast and
we departed in a convoy of three 4WDs at 04:30. We drove parallel to the
eastern side of the lake and soon after dawn turned northeast away from the
Peruvian border and starting to climb. We stopped in a bleak windswept village
where the drivers had breakfast at a roadside stall, a big meal for them. Some
of us went for a second breakfast but meat or fish soup didn’t appeal to me and
I concentrated on taking photos of Bright-rumped Yellow Finches which were
hoping around in the street. Mike was suffering as we continued climbing to
over 4700m, at times with snow right down to below the road giving some spectacular
views The road dropped below the snowline and passed a couple of small lakes but
the county was very bleak. We dropped into a valley and followed a river for
some distance seeing a Fasciated Tiger Heron, too late for our vehicle to stop,
and good numbers of Torrent Duck (I counted 11). Barry was on the lookout for
suitable habitat with a view to seeing some of the birds we had missed but without
success. The road crossed a couple of ridges, one of which was forested, but at
only 1600m was not high enough for Mountain Toucans or Cotingas. We stopped at
a roadside café and an impressive waterfall and walked a short section of road through
reasonable habitat without seeing anything noteworthy but by now we were at a
relatively low altitude and it was quite hot. Our vehicle had a puncture and we
walked to a bridge over a small river while it was being changed. It turned out
to be fortuitous providing my only new bird of the day, a Mottle-backed Elaenia
found by Barry. Not what I was hoping for but better than nothing, and OK as
elaenias go. We arrived in Apolo mid-afternoon, tried and failed to fill up
with petrol (a delivery was expected that evening) and after enquiring in the
main square were directed to our accommodation nearby – the excellent
Hospederia del Monasterio Nuestra Senora de Nazareth. We dumped our bags in
clean basic rooms that were perfect for our needs and headed out for two hours
birding along the upper Madiri valley before dark. It was very poor,
surprisingly so with very little activity at all. We returned to the Monastery
where an excellent meal had been prepared for us. The lack of fuel in town was
a concern although seeing a La Paz bus parked in an alley near the main square
suggested a possible escape route if no fuel materialised. Talk of a Rockjumper
trip being stuck without fuel in Apolo for a couple of days wasn’t encouraging
and once we had been dropped at the monastery our drivers joined a queue at the
only garage …
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| Bright-rumped Yellow Finch at 'second breakfast' |
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| Bolivian Altiplano on the way to Apolo |
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| terraced hillsides |
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| dropping into a deep valley |
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| Richard and Duncan admiring the waterfall |
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| unbroken forest on the way to Apolo |
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| puncture |
30 November. Today we were hoping to see one of the
main birds of the trip, Palkachupa Cotinga, and prior to departure from the
Monastery I tied my telescope onto the broken tripod head with a bootlace in the
hope of burning views. We were up at 04:00 and quite relieved when our vehicles
arrived fully fuelled. The monastery had put out coffee for those wanting it
and we departed at 04:15 with local guide William. We drove to Murri where we
arrived soon after dawn and were introduced to the local farmer who was waiting
for us and on whose land the cotingas were breeding. There was then a period of
pointing in various directions where I assume he was telling William where
recent sightings had been. As he pointed in pretty much every direction, apart
from the way we had come, I wasn’t terribly reassured. We set off down the
track towards the nearest forest patch, scanning exposed dead branches in the
hope one might be sitting out. As it was a cold, dull morning with some light
drizzle this didn’t seem very likely and we had no success. We were told it was
too early to visit the nest site and continued walking. It was somehow typical
of this trip that this should be the case on a rare occasion when we were in
the field at or soon after dawn. A fly by Burnished-Buff Tanager gave brief
hope it might be something more interesting (Green-capped) but sadly not. Our
anxiety was making itself apparent to our guide and we were told it was just
over the next hill or around the next corner several times, us being conscious
of a cloud bank rolling down the hillside behind us. We were now in a more open
area with scattered bushes rather than forest patches in gullies. Barry, Paul
and I were a little behind when Richard started waiving. We hurried on,
arriving just as a male dropped from view. A female was still on view and rather
smart, but not the stunner we had hoped for. The low cloud then rolled in
leaving us very unimpressed with proceedings. William wandered off and after what
seemed like an age, but was probably less than ten minutes, called us over –
he’d found another pair. They were in the mist but fortunately it slowly
cleared leaving us with excellent scope views in improving visibility. I was
very glad to have my telescope with me but was regretting having left my small
digiscoping camera behind, not that I’d had much success with it. We spent a
couple of hours with the cotingas seeing 4-5 including a male on a nest. We
started to drive back to Apolo but had only gone a few kms, if that, when we
saw another two cotingas by the track. More superb scope views of a brilliant
bird. We stopped a couple of times on our return to Apolo seeing White-eared
Puffbird, Dark-throated Seedeater and Burrowing Owl. Back in Apolo the others
had lunch in town while I walked to a nearby river. I mistimed my return
assuming they would take the usual hour but it was nearer two, not that there
was much to keep my by the river but it had been more pleasant than an Apolo
street. We returned to the upper Madiri Valley but it was as birdless as the
previous afternoon with the exception of a superb White-bellied Pygmy-Tyrant. We
also saw a distant pair of Black and White Hawk Eagles entirely due to
Malcolm’s persistence. He pointed them out on the far side of the valley unsure
of what they were. I dismissed them as Swallow-tailed Kites, Paul did likewise
and none of us thought it worth getting out a scope to be sure. Brian took a
photo and when zoomed in it showed what they really were, but by now we had
moved on. Fortunately they hadn’t moved when we returned and scope views
confirmed what they were. Well done Malcolm, I’d completely under-estimated the
distance involved. Another excellent evening meal in the monastery finished the
day well.
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| just over that hill, anxiously looking for cotingas |
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| male and female Palkachupa Cotinga in the mist |
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| fortunately it soon cleared revealing how spectacular they were |
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| Malcolm and Paul in Palkachupa habitat |
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| another pair |
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| but not for long |
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| old Palkachupa nest |
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| male on a nest |
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| zoomed in |
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| how different the bill shape appears |
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| White-eared Puffbird |
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| Dark-throated Seedeater, much nicer than its name suggests |
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| Burrowing Owl |
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| Ruddy Ground Doves |
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| Crested Oropendola |
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| Chestnut-eared Aracari |
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| Coral Snake |
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| very distant and greatly magnified Black & White Hawk Eagles, full marks to Malcolm for not dismissing them as Swallow-tailed Kites |
1 December. Not that I had realised it at the time
but today was to be the day that the timing of the trip had been planned around.
The trip’s timing was not, as I had been led to believe, to give us the best
chance of seeing Pulkachupa Cotinga as that could be seen anytime from
September onwards. It was to see a new species that has not yet been formally
described but is widely known about in certain circles. I resisted looking at
photos Barry had of it not wanting to spoil the surprise. With this in mind we
were up at 04:15 and departed at 04:30 to drive to the site. We arrived at a
river crossing at 06:00 on a dull morning with low threatening clouds. The
river was quite high and stories of others being stuck for 2-3 days before
being able to cross were not welcome. William waded across and it was not as
deep as we feared – little more than knee high. All three 4WDs crossed with no
trouble and it was then a 45 minute drive to the main site. We started walking
the road but Barry soon became concerned at not hearing any song from our
target. It was supposed to be common and very vocal here in early December.
After half an hour of seeing little it started raining quite heavily. William
wasn’t too concerned about the rain affecting the river level and we decided to
try a higher area further along the road in the hope that it might be above the
clouds. We started climbing but after a while the gravel road gave way to mud
and our vehicle, in the lead at this point, started slipping badly even in 4WD.
We carefully turned around and returned to the original site but by now the
rain was torrential and William was starting to worry about our getting back
across the river. We couldn’t risk it and drove back feeling very dejected at
our failure and somewhat anxious about the river. An anxious 45 minutes later
we were back at the river and thankfully it didn’t seem any higher than when
we’d crossed it earlier. It was still raining hard and the site wasn’t close
enough to return to and try again. Barry told us there had been a few sightings
on the Apolo side of the river and we reluctantly crossed back. We spent the
rest of the day birding along sections of the road as the weather improved. It
was slightly better than previous afternoons with Amazonian Motmot, Umbrellabird
and a Bat Falcon my only trip birds although I later discovered I was again in
the wrong car having missed Chestnut-headed Crake and a tinamou crossing the
road. Communication between cars was virtually not existent, not that it would
have helped this time. We were back at the monastery late afternoon and some of
us birded the grounds without seeing much. After another excellent meal I was
rather sorry to be leaving.
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| crossing the river (outbound) |
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| Oropendola nests but not much else |
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| river crossing (return) |
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| despondent birders |
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| the Bat Falcon didn't look any happier with the weather |
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| Crimson-crested Woodpecker |
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| Roadside Hawk |
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| Amazonian Motmot, always against the light |
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| Blue Morpho |
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| nice to see it with its wings open even if they were a bit tatty |
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| Pale-breasted Thrush |
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| Pale-vented Pigeon, quite colourful by South American standards |
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| the monastery, an excellent place to stay |
2 December. We left Apolo at 04:30 for the drive
back to Lake Titicaca stopping at an area of decent forest soon after dawn and
walking a section of the road. A Riverbank Warbler hopping along the roadside
was a good start but the site provided nothing else noteworthy. Our next stop
added an unexpected Cabanis’s Spinetail and we continued to a rest-stop used by
the La Paz buses. It was about half-way and had a restaurant, shop and down
some steps a basic toilet. Most male bus passengers didn’t use the toilet
preferring the roadside, no surprise there, but the chemicals left behind
attracted some impressive butterflies even if the smell when photographing them
wasn’t pleasant. We followed the valley up above the tree line seeing fewer
Torrent Ducks on the way, just 3 males for me. At one stage the vehicle in
front of us stopped to look at something. I was just about to get out and ask
what it was when they drove off. It turned out to be another Fasciated Tiger
Heron which they thought we could see. Unfortunately not, as it would have been
nice to get photos. We continued up onto the Altiplano where we made a few
stops with Mike again being increasingly affected by the altitude. At one of
the first I caught up with Rufous-webbed Bush Tyrant, something I had been
disappointed to have been in the wrong vehicle for on the way to Apolo. Two were
on the hillside above us at one stop but soon flew off. At another stop Barry
taped in a Puna Canastero while we stopped at a small lake to see Giant Coots
not from a moving vehicle. We tried likely habitat for Golden-spotted Ground
Dove with no success before driving back down to Lake Titicaca. We arrived at
the hotel at 18:00 with the light much better than on our previous visit. We
scoped the lakeside from the veranda seeing Short-winged and White-eared
Grebes, Many-coloured Bush Tyrant and a female Cinereous Harrier. A nice finish
to the trip for Duncan and I. Brian, Malcolm, Paul and Mike (if he was sufficiently
recovered) had another day to look for Berlepsch's Canastero.
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| lowland forest soon after dawn |
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| Riverside Warbler |
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| Yellow-tufted Woodpecker |
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| Russet-backed Oropendola |
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| Olive-sided Flycatcher |
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| Malachite (Siproeta stelenes) |
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| nice from above too |
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| Rusty-tipped Page (Siproeta epaphus) |
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| Erotia Sister (Adelpha erotia) |
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| Charanzi with football pitch taking centre stage |
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| Rufous-webbed Bush Tyrant habitat |
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| Buff-breasted Earthcreeper |
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| responded well to tape, this one had aspirations to be a roadrunner |
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| on the Altiplano |
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| roadside stop |
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| our leader |
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| Giant Coot |
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| Andean Flicker |
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| Puna Canastero |
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| Yellow-billed Teal |
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| working the fields looked very hard |
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| Altiplano village |
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| another Andean Flicker |
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| Lake Titicaca |
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| view from our hotel patio |
3 December. It was Election day and no vehicles
were allowed on the roads between towns without a permit. Fortunately we had
ours and Duncan and I left with Barry and Richard in two vehicles to drive to
El Alto. We were on the same flight to Cuzco but Barry was adamant it left at
09:40 whereas our tickets said 10:40. It was prudent to assume the former. We
were up at 05:00 had breakfast and departed at 05:30 soon after dawn. The
others did likewise for their trip to Sorata but Mike was still feeling very
bad and didn’t go and so missed the canastero which they found quite easily.
With no traffic on the road a journey that could have taken 90 minutes took us
50. We arrived just before 06:30 and I was not surprised to find our flight was
at 10:40 (Barry was apparently still on Peruvian time which was an hour
behind). It would have been nice to have that hour birding around the lake but
it is unlikely we would have seen anything we hadn’t already. Our flight was
more or less on time. We said goodbye to Barry and Richard in Cuzco where
Duncan and I had a six hour wait. We wandered around the airport and ventured
into the car park sitting on some steps for a while, some distant flyover
Andean Gulls the only notebook entry. We then flew to Bogota where another
three hour wait before flying to London where Duncan and I parted and after a
short wait I caught a bus home.
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| over El Alto |
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| leaving Bolivia, Titicaca and the Peruvian border in the far distance |
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| approaching Cuzco |
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| leaving Cuzco |
It had been an enjoyable trip with a good bunch of people
although both Jon and Rod were sorely missed, at least by those of us who had travelled with them regularly. I was glad I had gone, having had some initial
misgivings most of which proved groundless or in the event didn’t materialise. Bolivia was a great if somewhat tiring country to travel around with excellent birds, some spectacular scenery and friendly people and I'd wholeheartedly recommend it. That said our trip could have been a lot more successful and with birding
that is often what a trip is measured by. One expected Jon’s targets to take priority but compromises
seemed much greater this time. The size of the group was less of an issue than at
one stage when 11 were coming and most of the time the group was manageable
although having a bus took longer to travel to and between sites. A smaller
group in two 4WDs would have been better although communication between them might
have been an issue. It seemed it was within the bus, the first Mike and I knew
of 2 Chestnut-crested Cotingas (one of our top priority birds) being seen from
it was when we read the trip report the following month. Why did we
not stop? The main compromise on the trip was probably its timing - to be at Apolo
on 1 December which ironically turned out to be too early anyway. Going late in
the season as we did had caused Nick to drop out while Marc had to leave early
to be back by the start of December. I also had early December work commitments
and would have had to leave early had I not been close enough to the end of my
career to insist. I would not recommend November as we were in Bolivia at the start of the wet season - the bad
weather we encountered in the cloud forest rather confirmed this - when a
lot of birds had established territories and were too busy breeding to react to playback. It was a high a price to pay to look for an undescribed
species that didn’t feature too near the top of most of our priority lists.
Even higher when we were probably the first birders to go and not see it! The
timing might not have been so serious had we been guided by someone that knew
all the sites or at least had researched them thoroughly beforehand rather than
relying on what often seemed like a quick look at ebird the night before. Jon had apparently turned down Barry’s
most experienced guide as being too expensive. That seemed like a false economy to most of us, pleasant as Richard was …
Thanks to Brian, Duncan, Malcolm, Marc, Mike and Paul for
excellent companionship, some good finds and making the trip enjoyable. Jon and Rod had the original idea, just very sad they didn't make it and that I'll likely never do another trip with Jon. Thanks to Jon for putting the group together and Barry for
organising it. Barry’s knowledge of South American birds and their
vocalisations was truly impressive and added a lot to the trip in the short time he was with us.
Richard was cheerful, good to travel with and tried but was clearly out of his
depth at times, not having visited many of the key sites before. Fortunately Paul’s meticulous research gave us a few key species that would
otherwise have been added to an already too large ‘missed’ list. Paul also rushed his lunch at Los
Volcanes
to take me back to where they'd seen a responsive Slaty
Gnateater
. Much to my relief it was still in the area ...
