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WINGS Birding Tours – Photo Gallery

Peru: Rainforest Lodges of the Madre de Dios

On this tour we stay in two jungle lodges which use local materials in the construction of the cabins, here an example from Los Amigos…
…and here some cabins at Tambo Blanquillo. photo Luis Raffo
The interiors are simple, but clean and with en suite bathrooms. photo Luis Raffo
The common areas are inviting, well-built structures as well. photo Luis Raffo
To get to these lodges we use a combination of an internal flight, a ride in a van, and finally a covered, motorized canoe.rn Peru
We’re in a jungle wilderness at both places; Los Amigos sits on a high bluff overlooking the Madre de Dios River.
We spend much of our birding time on the trails, but one of the highlights at Tambo Blanquillo is a canopy platform.
One of the most delightful and memorable outings will be our paddle on a serene oxbow lake, looking for several special birds and Giant Otters.
Both have a variety of habitats within the Amazonian rainforest biome, here a palm swamp at Los Amigos.
The bird lists are famously long. We’ll see some birds in familiar families, such as the oddly colored Cream-colored Woodpecker…
Or the impressively big Red-necked Woodpecker.
And most people should easily recognize members of the parrot family, even on their first trip to the tropics. White-bellied Parrots are more often heard than seen.
We’ll have a chance to visit a collpa or clay lick to get close views of Red-and-green Macaws, among other parrots.
Distantly related to ducks and geese is the Horned Screamer, which we might see on a gravel bar in one of the rivers.
But probably entirely unfamiliar to birders first visiting the American tropics are members of the cotinga family, such as this Purple-throated Fruitcrow.
Bare-necked Fruitcrow is a canopy dweller, like many other cotingas.
The Cinereous Mourner, a relative of the becards and tityras, is easily overlooked in the midstory of the forest.
Not so for the showy members of the tanager family. In good light the colors on this Masked Tanager glow.
Another neotropical family with many colorful members are the manakins. Band-tailed Manakin maintains leks along some of our trails.
The relatively plain Fiery-capped Manakin must been seen well to be appreciated.
Peru is rich in jacamar species. Purus Jacamar can be found in the stunted vegetation around the edges of oxbow lakes.
White-throated Jacamar is scarcer, and family groups prefer small clearings around tree falls in the forest.
Bluish-fronted Jacamar is a more widespread member of the family in Peru, found in many edge habitats.
Very widespread but everywhere extraordinarily rare is the fabled Harpy Eagle; we could get this lucky.
We’ll take a few night walks, where you never know what you’ll find – here an Amazonian Mottled Owl.
As we slowly walk through the forest, many other forms of life will draw our attention, such as this metalmark.
There are many confusing species of clearwing butterflies that flit in the forest understory.
There is also a high diversity of mammals here, and we’ll pause in our birding to admire them, such as these Peruvian Spider Monkeys.

 

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