Cock-of-the-Rock

The unofficial bird of Peru is the cock-of-the-rock (Rupicola peruvianus). They are a very odd species. The males meet every morning and evening to strut their stuff to the other males in what is called a lek. Because this bird has become such a staple for the tourism industry in Peru, the leks are boarded off from public view and locals let you into the 'viewing area' after paying them a fee. The morning Sean and I went to see the birds, we stayed at the camping platform where another avian research group and they informed us that the current lek (they move every few years) was located about a 45 minute walk up the road. We got up really early and walked up to the lek and arrived right before sunrise. Unfortunately there was no one there to unlock the door for us. We climbed the barbed wire fence (which had a huge drop on the other side that we had to scale to get to the platform) and had our little 15 minute show of male cock-of-the-rocks bobbing and squawking. They left before the sun actually came up over the mountain, so the photos I did get were not ideal. Even so, it was definitely an experience.

Cock-of-the-rock (Rupicola peruvianus)

Cock-of-the-rock (Rupicola peruvianus)

Back at the lodge, they are geared for big time photographers and tourists, they have several hummingbird feeders and put out fruit for the tanagers. It was a really nice day- I could have stayed at those feeders for the whole day!
 

Sparkling Violetear (Colibri coruscans). These guys were the most fierce protectors of the feeders, therefore the most abundant.

Sparkling Violetear (Colibri coruscans). I was playing around with my flash and different shutter speeds. This one has a little slower shutter than the one below where the wings were frozen.

Sparkling Violetear (Colibri coruscans) about to take off.

Sparkling Violetear (Colibri coruscans). No flash on this photo.

Golden-eared tanager (Tangara chrysotis)

Golden-eared tanager (Tangara chrysotis)

Golden tanagers (Tangara arthus) with a piece of fruit. I feel like this one can make a good 'caption me' contest.

Green Jay (Cyanocorax yncas)

Many-spotted hummingbird (Taphrospilus hypostictus)

Many-spotted hummingbird (Taphrospilus hypostictus)

Blue-winged mountain tanager (Anisognathus somptuosus)

 As I like to do... I saved my favorite for last. This hummingbird was so small and beautiful. My favorite hummingbird I saw in Peru!

Booted racket-tail (Ocreatus underwoodii)

More Manu, more color!

Ok, here it goes again! More photos from the lowlands in Peru. I have only 3 short weeks till I leave for South Africa and my goal is to get all my Peru pictures up here before I leave! I have a lot of photos to go so the posts may start to get a bit longer.

Red-barred amarynthis (Amarynthis meneria)

Black-throated nunbird (Monasa nigrifrons)

Blue-headed parrots (Pionus menstruus)

Blue-tailed emerald (Chlorostilbon mellisugus)

Bluish-fronted jacamar (Galbula cyanescens)

Another crazy caterpillar.

Scarlet and blue and yellow macaws in flight.

Yet another photo of a long-tailed tyrant (Colonia colonus), can you tell by now that I really loved these birds? 

Vermillion flycatcher (Pyrocephalus rubinus). I like the red mohawk going on in this photo.

White-eyed parakeets (Psittacara leucophthalma)

An owl monkey came down to check us out. Also called night monkeys, these little guys are not commonly seen in the day-time.

The last three photos were taken on the last day we were at Villa Carmen. (Although this is not the last post of Villa Carmen photos- I'm not going in chronological order by any means) The last day was kinda odd. I was sitting around not really wanting to walk far and Sean came to tell me that he found an aracari (in the toucan family) and showed me where their nest was. I was really excited because I had yet to get any photos of toucans and couldn't believe that I was in Peru for well over a month and had yet to get a toucan photo! The butterfly below was also a really big treat for me because I saw these beautiful butterflies all week and only saw them flying with no chance of photographing them. Finally in the last few hours we were at Villa Carmen, one was resting on a tree and stayed there for a long enough time to get some photos!

Chestnut-eared aracari (Pteroglossus castanotis)

Red flasher (Panacea prola amazonia).

Here is a picture of the red flasher's underside. It was so beautiful!

Starting off with a hoatzin

Today is part two of the Peruvian amazon in Manu. During the week I was at Villa Carmen, I was able to spend all day with my camera. This means there are a lot of photos to post. I think there will be a few more posts from the lowlands.

Hoatzins (Opisthocomus hoazin) are so odd. They all hung out in this one group of trees at sunset every day. It was fun to go check them out, but they spook so easily! They also have the weirdest mohawks going on.

Another photo of my favorite birds of the trip. Long-tailed tyrant (Colonia colonus) male (top, flying down) and female with a nice grub snack. I am guessing the male decided to steal the grub from the lady. Not too classy, ha.

Blue and yellow macaw (Ara ararauna). This bird is one of the Villa Carmen residents who also almost flew right into my tent one day during a nap!

Scarlet macaw (Ara macao). Another one of the resident macaws at Villa Carmen.

Thyridia glasswing (Thyridia psidii ino)

Sapphire-spangled emerald (Amazilia lactea)

Russet-backed oropendola (Psarocolius angustifrons) carrying nesting materials.

Red-capped cardinal (Paroaria gularis)

Sarepta glasswing (Hypoleria sarepta vitiosa)

The last two photos are of the waterfall at Villa Carmen. I couldn't decide which I liked better, so I just put up both.

Visiting the the burst of color that is the Peruvian rainforest

During our week off, which started on Sunday, August 17, we decided to take a trip down Manu road to the sister reserve of Wayqecha, Villa Carmen. Villa Carmen is on a river and about 500 meter elevation. The cheapest way to get down is to hitch hike down Manu road- this is what we attempted. We sat out at the road for 8 hours and very few cars even passed by. 2 stopped but didn't have room for us. There was a mix up with a reserved car for a tourist couple that was staying at the station and their vehicle wasn't gonna arrive till 9pm- which was too late for them. So we caved and took their spots and payed the full fare to get down. We had the last 2 seats in a cramped 'collectivo' which is a 12 person van. It had started raining about 20 minutes before the van arrived and poured the whole way down. Manu road is a curvy, steep, dirt road. In the dark and the rain it was an interesting ride to say the least. It made me feel as if I was on the Indiana Jones ride for 2 straight hours. We even had to drive through 2 waterfalls that were in the middle of the road! We got in very late and so we just set up our tent and ate some food (meat, yay!) and went to sleep.
Waking up on the second day of vacation, I was very unhappy to hear the sound of rain. I really wanted to go look for cool new species to see and photograph. Luckily, that was the only rain we got on our vacation week and we were able to find lots of very cool new species.

A map of Manu road, we stopped at Cock of the Rock on our way back to Wayqecha. Although it was only a 40 mile drive, it takes 2-3 hours because of the curvy and narrow road. Also notice the difference in topography between Wayqecha and Villa Carmen.

This is a blue flasher (Astraptes fulgerator) and the flower, which I don't know the name will appear in a lot of photos because the hummingbirds and butterflies loved them.

Caterpillar that looks like it could kill. They are poisonous, but for us, it is more of a rash reaction.

Sapphire-spangled emerald (Amazilia lactea).

Long-tailed tyrant (Colonia colonus). This was my favorite bird in the lowlands. I spent hours watching the male and female pair perched near their nest.

Long-tailed tyrant (Colonia colonus)

White-eyed parakeets (Aratinga leucophthalma)

Plumbeous kite (Ictinia plumbea). These kites were very common. I love their red tipped wings.

Red-capped cardinal (Paroaria gularis)

Vermillion flycatcher (Pyrocephalus rubinus)

Peru: More Manu

Today I am going to finish out the photos from the first half of working at Wayqecha. (As a reminder, these photos were taken between July 17 and August 16 at about 3000 meter elevation)

Scarlet-bellied mountain tanager (Anisognathus igniventris)

Lymanopoda butterfly. I saw these guys very rarely, maybe only 2-4 times.

White-throated hawk (Buteo albigula)

Fog covering the mountainside.

And now for the last few photos, these were taken after we captured the bird in a mist-net. For non-target species (which varied depending on what we were doing that day), we just collected some basic measurements and photos and then released the bird.

Slaty-backed chat-tyrant (Ochthoeca cinnamomeiventris)

Female great thrush (Turdus fuscater)

Black-throated flowerpiercer (Diglossa brunneiventris). Notice the curved bill- this helps them grab the top of the flower and then pierce the flower with their sharp lower beak.

Yellow-breasted brush finch (Atlapetes latinuchus). These were really abundant around our tents and we very good at making sure I didn't sleep in.

One last photo of Lola. (She made it into every post so far!) Her ruffled feathers amused us and made her really easy to ID in the field.