Peru - Machu Picchu

After my jaunt around the northeast of the USA I dropped down to Peru for a couple of weeks resting and birding with my colleague and friend Eduardo Ormaeche, Peruvian bird guide extraordinaire (check him out!) and our friend and driver Omar.

Eduardo, Omar, and AWBirder trying our best to block the view of Machu Picchu! 

I wanted to see Machu Picchu and there were plenty of lifers for me in the Cusco region having never been there before so we formed a plan. I really enjoyed the city, great for some R&R (great Pisco Sours) and we had some excellent birding in the mountainous terrain. Plenty of lifers were had, and lots of other great birds that were year ticks etc.. some of the highlights included Bearded Mountaineer, Inca Wren, Cusco Brushfinch, Masked Fruiteater, Giant Conebill, and Marcapata Spinetail and usual species like Andean Cock-of-the-rock and Torrent Duck. 

It was fun, and also challenging with the new camera setup, but got some ok results. Here are a few of them...

Andean Goose

Bearded Mountaineer

Chiguanco Thrush 

Cusco Brushfinch

Fasciated Tiger Heron

Giant Conebill

Golden-crowned Flycatcher 

Inca Wren 

Marcapata Spinetail

Masked Fruiteater

Ochre-naped Ground Tyrant

Pearled Treerunner

 

Plushcap

Puna Ground Tyrant 

Red-crested Cotinga

Scarlet-bellied Mountain Tanager

Slaty Tanager

Sparkling Violetear

Spectacled Whitestart

Tawny Tit-Spinetail

Tufted Tit-Tyrant

Unstreaked Tit-Tyrant

White-throated Tyrannulet 

Yellow-billed Teal

Andy at Machu Picchu