2007 Tour Narrative
WINGS’ first ever Bolivia: Birds and Plants tour began with a bonus visit to the Titicaca Basin due to a delay in our flight to Cochabamba, the intended start of the tour. We drove from La Paz to the famous lake and saw migrant Wilson’s Phalaropes, Speckled Teal, Giant Coot, Crested Duck and Andean Flicker. The birding highlight was a close-up pair of Titicaca Grebes with their chick riding on the back of one while being fed by the other. The plants in the tundra-like habitat nearby were fascinating studies in miniaturization — “belly flowers” in the Aster and Gentian families primarily. Fields of quinoa, potatoes, and barley created checkerboards of color in the otherwise dry plains, and the snow clad peak of Cerro Illampu provided a spectacular backdrop. Upon returning to La Paz, we said goodbye to Santiago and still breathless (or even a bit queasy) from the altitude, departed for Cochabamba where we met our drivers and local guides for the rest of the tour.
We started our first full day in the field in the gorgeous treeline scrub near Corani Dam where several Black-hooded Sunbeams made the day as we ate our field breakfast. Because little information is published on the plants of Bolivia, botanizing here and in the nearby cloud forest was confined to naming general groups, families, and genera. We saw a delightful array of plants including orchids, ferns (among them an elegant tree fern), melastomes, lobelias, and several species of Baccharis, Fuchsia and Passiflora. The birds were more easily identified and some were not found elsewhere on our route, including Scarlet-bellied Mountain-Tanagers, Bolivian Tyrannulet, Masked and Mustached Flowerpiercers and Rufous-breasted Chat-Tyrants. A surprise sighting of Great Thrush near the dam added another bird to our tour checklist.
On the way up Cerro Tunari the next day we birded and botanized in cactus-strewn grassy slopes, brushy draws and open Polylepis groves, where Gray-hooded Parakeets, multiple Giant Hummingbirds, a Giant Conebill, a single Cochabamba Mountain-Finch were seen. We also noted several interesting cacti, giant pink and purple Passifloras, Carica quercifolia trees with fruits and orange flowered Mutisia as well as numerous wildflowers. Another lucky sighting was a high elevation snake that was only recently discovered by herpetologists: Tomodon orestes. We climbed to 14,800 feet and stood shivering in the dwindling atmosphere but enjoyed seeing Cordilleran Canastero, Taczanowski’s Ground-Tyrant and several other birds before heading back down to the warmth of Cochabamba. We later enjoyed some free time and a wonderful dinner at Cabanas Tolavi and slept to a chorus of Andean Treefrogs outside our rooms.
On the long but scenic drive to Comarapa, stops yielded Andean Avocet and Great Pampa-Finch. A detour to the ruins of Incallajta had us intrigued by the variety of composite shrubs, including one, likely a Tagetes, that released a strong scent of anise. We finished the drive with two flat tires and mystery jumping mice in the foggy stretch of Siberia.
We awoke in Comarapa in totally different habitat and had a fabulous first birding stop on the side of a dry river bed near Tambo. Here we scored a huge number of new birds in short order, including a very confiding Planalto Hermit, Glittering-bellied Emerald (couldn’t be named more appropriately), White-fronted Woodpecker, Bolivian Earthcreeper and Black-capped Warbling-Finches. Most of the plants were also new and had spines – Acacia, Harrisia, and Prosopis, for example, – but all was lush following what must have been an abundant rainy season. For our picnic lunch, we stopped at what first appeared to be sunny, baked, dusty roadside. But on closer inspection we were at the edge of a cliff where a flock of 54 Red-fronted Macaws erupted from below, one of the most thrilling moments of the tour and a sight few people have ever witnessed. We also had good looks at “Cliff” Monk Parakeets, a species sure to be split some day. Globular Parodia cacti were in bloom, and it was here we first became acquainted with the odd shrubby cacti Quiabentia and Pereskia as well as Jatropha and Cnidoscolus. Characteristic of these hilly areas was the lovely tree Schinopsis haenkianus with its dark green foliage and clusters of red, winged fruits. Cactus forests of Neoraimondia and Harrisia were also common.
Before leaving the dry valleys we spent a morning in the cloud forests of Siberia, where orchids (the bright yellow and fragrant Cyrtochilum aureum was a favorite), Podocarpus, Weinmannia, Alnus and many other trees cloaked the hillsides. We had amazing views of Buff-banded Tyrannulet, Montane Woodcreeper and Cinnamon Flycatcher, heard a very close Spotted Nightingale-Thrush and Rufous-faced Antpittas and were treated to fly-by views of Scaly-naped Parrots.
Our next day’s destination was the northernmost extension of the Boliviano-Tucuman moist forest. We managed to connect with our main target of Tucuman Parrots (in flight only) and better yet was a Giant Antshrike that gave us amazing views, as well as Rufous-capped Antshrike, Rufous-bellied Thrush and unforgettable flocks of Mitred Parakeets and Blue-fronted Parrots. The changeover in plant life was phenomenal here. The striking white blooms of a Luehea steinbachii (same family as Basswood), a gorgeous Epidendrum secundum orchid, the large cut leaves of Bocconia and various roadside flowers (Clitoria, Cuphea, Lythrum, Lobelia and a rosy mallow) at our picnic lunch stop were memorable. We finished the day with a drive back to Samaipata and then the descent into the idyllic surrounds of Refugio Los Volcanes.
At Refugio Los Volcanes we went on a few leisurely hikes, first up the river trail and the Condor overlook, then up the road, then back up the river trail and on half of the Orchid loop. Some of us even recouped from the previous days’ drives by just staying at the lodge clearing. Memorable birds here were Green-cheeked Parakeet, Plush-crested Jay, Slaty Gnateater (great views), Andean Condor and a first local record of Olive-sided Flycatcher (a rare vagrant this far south) in the spotting scope. Viewing orchids, Gloxinias and *Begonias, making ink prints from leaves and a demonstration of anatto (achiote) coloring were some of the plant highlights, but it was our wade down the stream at Refugio Los Volcanes that put the icing on the cake. This leisurely stroll in paradise was punctuated by a Turkey and immature King Vulture perched close by; we could smell, but couldn’t see, what had attracted them to the river’s edge. Clumps of the gorgeous lady’s slipper orchid Phragmipedium caricinum grew like weeds on the water-pounded boulders.
The last morning in this haven, a few of us made the serious hike out of the valley, but we all ended up walking most of the way back to Bermejo and saw some fine birds along the way, such as Pearly-vented Tody-Tyrant and Masked Yellowthroat. A delay due to car trouble meant making a beeline to Camiri without much roadside birding but the drive was pleasant along the amazingly good highway that connects Santa Cruz with Argentina. At our lunch stop we enjoyed our best views of Blue-winged Parrotlet and enjoyed enormous slabs of beef served in a typical Santa Cruz style.
We spent the last full days of the tour and our last morning in different Chaco desert habitats – foothills, plains, and rich wetlands – north and south of Camiri. Most of our best birds (including our best looks at them) and fascinating and beautiful plants occurred here. Some of the highlights were White Woodpecker, Guira Cuckoo, Spot-backed Puffbird, Southern Screamer, Purple-throated Euphonia (a tree full of them, surely attracted by the lovely orange mistletoe berries), Red-crested Cardinal, Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, Orinoco Goose and Ruddy Duck. Great plants here included the serpent-like cactus Harrisia pomaniensis, soccer ball-sized Gymnocalycium, and tree form Stetsonia and Quiabentia cacti. Spectacular trees included the swollen, spiny, and wildly formed Ceiba insignis, coppery barked Cochlospermum tetraporum, Pseudobombax sp., Parkinsonia praecox and Prosopis alba. Butterflies of amazing variety added another dimension to our visit and one lucky turn of a rock exposed a gorgeous widow spider, Latrodectus corallinus.
On arrival in Santa Cruz, some participants shopped for souvenir arts and crafts, coca tea and Singani, a potent Bolivian liquor. We enjoyed a delicious final dinner of Bolivian specialties and made our farewells.
Rich Hoyer