Carpish and Satipo road. Fund raising special. 8 days
INTRODUCTION:
Carpish, Unchog and Satipo Road
STOP PRESS!!!!! SPECIAL TIME LIMITED OFFER AUG 21-SEP 5. The below trips in September, October, November, December and January are only $999 dollars if booked within this period. Young birders pay only $695 dollars. The price is fixed regardless of numbers of participants. If you book, the the complete cost of the tour has to be paid before September 7.
Feb 15: Young birder special. Special price for young birders. ONLY $699. Older birders may join for only $120/day.
Abr 29: Brian Allen, Michigan
Sep 25: Chris West, Wisconsin
Oct 19: Joel Brady-Power, Washington
Nov 22: Chris Drysdale, BC
Dic 12: Kimberly Sucy, New York.
We are giving you a concise Satipo road and Carpish program meant to be a fund-raiser to the communities in the area to get into eco-tourism. This program is serious contender to compete with Manu road for both species and biodiversity in general as well as excellent roadside habitat which is easy to bird. And as with Manu road - there is very little traffic on the road. It is extremely dense in endemics and also many of the flashy species such as Cock of the Rock, Amazonian Umbrellabird, Grey-breasted Mountain-Toucan, Solitary Eagle, Black-and-Chestnut Eagle, Scarlet-bellied Mountain-Tanager, Barred Fruiteater, Torrent Duck and some 40 species of hummingbirds.
Satipo road now gets some support from RainForest Partnership as well as having set off some of their own money to build a basic community lodge in Apaya. Gunnar raised some money for this by running a Marathon with a pledge, by which people could make donations for this causes. We calculate that the beds at Apaya could be installed as early as October-November 2009 and a basic lodge built by March-April next year at the latest.
In Carpish we shall sleep in the village school one night, where Kolibri Expedition will put in some beds, with sheets, blankets and pillows in the old school building. Your participating in this trips finances this investment.
Unchog – home of the Golden-backed Mountain-Tanager that put a spell on legendary Ted Parker – will be visited during a day trip starting at from Huanuco.
I short: A super trip. Don’t feel bad if you are not doing Manu Road this time. This is just as good….. AND MUCH CHEAPER!!!!...
…..and you are supporting a good cause.
DEPARTURES:
2010
September 26. October 19. November 22. December 12.
2011
January 13.
If the departure dates don't fit you, please suggest another date.
SPECIES IN TOUR:
THE TOUR:
Day 0. Travel with comfortable night bus to Satipo.
The bus leaves at 9pm. When I say comfortable, I do mean that. It is a 9 hour drive in comfortable wide seats that folds down to a somewhat horizontal position. Beats the economy class of your international flight anytime!! During day 0 there may be a pelagic offered or one of our Lima excursions such as that of Lomas de Lachay and Paraiso.
Day 1. Mariposa-Apaya. Community lodging. Torrent Duck and Solitary Eagle.
Birding lower section of Satipo road with targets such as Blue-browed Tanager, Russet Antshrike, Lanceolated Monklet, Spotted Rail, Rufous-sided Crake, Lemon-browed Flycatcher, Umbrellabird, Fasciated Tiger-Heron. Chestnut-crowned Gnateater, Hairy-crested Antbird (foothill form), Peruvian Piedtail. A bit higher up flocks contain Peruvian Tyrannulet, Cinnamon-faced Tyrannulet, Versicolored Barbet, Crested and Golden-headed Quetazal and Deep-blue Flowerpiercer. We shall be on the look-out for soaring Solitary Eagle and Black-and-Chestnut Eagle overhead and Torrent Duck, Sunbittern, Faciated Tiger-Heron and White-capped Dipper on the river. Owling can give Rufescent Screech-Owl, Parauque and Common Potoo. Night in Apaya
Day 2. Apaya-Pucacocha area-Apaya.Black-spectacled Brush-Finch and Lyre-tailed Nightjar.
After some birding in the temperate zone with hopefully Gray-breasted Mountain Toucan, Scarlet-bellied Mountain-Tanager, Unstreaked Tit-Spinetail, Taczanoswski’s Slaty Brush-Finch (a likely split from the ssp in Ecuador) and the white-crowned ssp of Marcapata Spinetail (split??), we shall continue to the Andamarca valley. The climate is warmer and drier here. Many new species to science have been found here in recent years – such as Black-spectacled Brush-Finch, Millpo Tapaculo, a new Thryothorus wren and a new undescribed species of Thornbird. There may be more surprises. Since habitat is so different many species will be added to the list. Possibilities include White-winged Black.Tyrant, Black-backed Grosbeak, Golden-billed Saltator and others. At night we shall search for nightjars such as Lyre-tailed and Swallow-tailed Nightjar and owls White-throated Screech-Owl. Night in Apaya.
Day 3. Carrizales area back to Apaya. Community lodging. Eye-ringed Thistletail and Fiery-throated Metaltail.
Bird Carrizales for Fiery-throated Metaltail, Eye-ringed Thistletail, obscura form of Rufous Antpitta, Pardusco, Tchudi’s Tapaculo, Golden-plumed Parakeet etc.
Higher up regular Andean birds such as Andean Gull, Andean Goose and Andean Ibis may be see. Night in Apaya.
Day 4. Apaya- La Merced-Tarma. Cinnamon-faced Tyrannulet and Creamy-bellied Antwren.
Bird mid section of Satipo road to Apaya village. Peruvian Tyrannulet, Cinnamon-faced Tyrannulet, Versicolored Barbet, Solitary Eagle, Black-and-Chestnut Eagle, Crested Quetazal, Torrent Duck, Deep-blue Flowerpiercer. We shall leave for La Merced around midday to travel in the heat of the day when activity is as lowest. In the afternoon we shall check out some forest patches above San Ramon for the endemic Creamy-bellied Antwren. We drive to Tarma to spend the night there in a comfortable hotel.
Day 5. Junin-Huanuco-Carpish. Junin Grebe and Giant Conebill.
Very early start to reach the shores of Junin Lake. During the months of April-September it is usually possible to see the Junin Grebe from shore, while water levels are high. We have been lucky recently near Carhuamayo town. Other birds here include a number of water birds such as Silvery Grebe, Puna Teal, Yellow-billed Pintail, Andean Duck, Speckled Teal, as well as Correndera Pipit, Common and Dark-winged Miner.
After breakfast we shall continue towards Huanuco passing Polylepis forest on the way with possible species such as Thick-billed Miner, Black-crested Tit-Tyrant, Giant Conebill, Stripe-headed Antpitta and others. Lower down we shall look out for the endemic Brown-flanked Tanager and Baron’s Spinetail and near endemic Black-crested Tit-Tyrant. Near the Huallaga River one can easily find Fasciated Wren and White-bellied Hummingbird.
We continue to the Carpish area. Additional birds to look for especially near the Carpish tunnel include Unstreaked Tit-Tyrant, Tchudi’s Tapaculo, Stripe-headed Brush-Finch, Rufous Spinetail, Peruvian Wren, Yellow-scarfed Tanager, Orange-breasted Falcon, Black-and-Chestnut Eagle, Golden-plumed Parakeet, Scaly-naped Parrots and hopefully Bay and Chestnut Antpitta. Night birding can get Rufous-banded Owl and Andean Potoo. Night in village school at top of Paty Trail.
Day 6. Full day in the Carpish area. Masked Fruiteater and Masked Saltator.
We bird Paty trail with a large number of possible birds like Peruvian Tyrannulet, Band-tailed and Masked Fruiteater, Masked Saltator, Drab Hemispingus, White-eared Solitaire, Grey-breasted Mountain-Toucan, Inca Flycatcher, Bay Antpitta, Buff-browed Foliagegleaner, Orange-breasted Falcon and Chestnut-breasted Wren. At occasions we have seen Red-ruffed Fruitcrow and Masked Saltator here. Comfortable hotel in Huanuco.
Day 7. Unchog. Golden-backed Tanager and Bay-vented Cotinga.
3 AM start for the Golden-backed Mountain Tanager twitch. We have been surprisingly successful with this strategy in the recent past, although no guarantees can be made that we will actually touch gold with this constraint of only having one shot. In any case we hope to see many of the other endemics in the extremely humid cloud covered temperate habitat with patches of elfin forest such as Rufous-browed Hemispingus, Pardusco, Bay-vented Cotinga, Plenge’s Thistletail. Large-footed Tapaculo, Neblina Tapaculo, “Obscure” Rufous Antpitta (ssp obscura most certainly a good species), Baron’s Spinetail, Black-crested Tit-Tyrant, Line-fronted Canastero and more. Comfortable Hotel in Huanuco.
Day 8. Huanuco-Lima Rufous-backed Inca-Finch and Diademed Sandpiper-Plover.
On the way back to Lima we shall search for the endemic Rufous-backed Inca-Finch. A stop at Tilcio and the Marcapomacocha road entrance gives us Giant Coot, Gray-breasted and Rufous-bellied Seed-snipes, Puna Snipe, and of course all the targets Diademed Sandpiper-Plover, White-bellied Cinclodes, Olivaceous Thornbill, Black-breasted Hillstar, Dark-winged Miner and Junin Canastero. Lower down in the valley we shall if time permit also search for Great Inca-Finch, Rusty-bellied Brush-Finch, Peruvian Pygmy-Owl, Rusty-crowned Tit-Spinetail, Black-necked Woodpecker and many more.
PRICES:
Option: CARPISH AND SATIPO ROAD. FUND RAISING SPECIAL. 8 DAYS
Special price from 5 people: Before: $1340 Now: $1090.
Includes night bus to Satipo. Food, lodging, guiding, transport.
100 dollars of the fee is invested in infrastructure in Carpish and if necesary in Satipo road.
CLIENT'S COMMENTS:
Hi Gunnar,
what a spectacular trip it was! Thank you. Especially after being back in Manhattan it seems unreal. - ...the last day with Goyo (to Lomas de Lachay) was worth it, the least seedsnipe and the dotterel. ...........What sticks most to me though is B.Unchog.
