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Written by Charles Hesse
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Aug 24, 2006 at 12:00 AM |
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RIO CHIDO TRAIL
PERU
Region (Compass)
Lat:00o00´S/00o00´W ha topography msl
Protected/registered status
Best Time for visit (23rd June, 2006)
Birding Site Guide
The Rio Chido trail starts about 3km down from Pomacochas (back towards Pedro Ruiz) and can be easily reached by motor-tricycle or you can walk. From the left bend in the road after Puente Chido, take the wide gravel track up towards San Lorenzo. This trail has some trees on the other side of the river as you walk up and we saw a few nice flocks of birds. Before you reach the bridge over the river higher up, take a left turn where a steeps mud trail leads up. I found the map in Valqui a little confusing but just try and stay on the most trodded trail and keep going up. It can be a depressing walk with all the habitat destruction but even the semi-open habitats have some interesting birds like Emerald Toucanet, Grey-breasted Mountain-Toucan and White-sided Flowerpiercer.
After reaching a large clearing with with some houses you enter a nice patch of forest where we saw Long-tailed Antbird. You enter another clearing after this. From here stick to the right of the clearing past a concrete cattle trough and a cattle trail leads into more forest climbing up steeply. This seems not to be the trail mentioned in Valqui but still has good birding. We had a good mized flock at the beginning with Plushcap, Peruvian Wren, White-browed Hemispingus. Also an unidentified funarid with a rufous round-tipped tail that may have been a softtail. Climbing up this trail you get to a very birdy spot where it flattens out. Here I saw Mountain Cacique, White-collared Jay plus several species of Tanagers. Despite the habitat destruction, the remaining forested areas are definately worth more exploration. It is a tough walk that takes a full day.
I saw 52 species including 2 lifers.
Species seen
Black Vulture Coragyps atratus
Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura
Roadside Hawk Buteo magnirostris
Red-backed Hawk Buteo polyosoma
American Kestrel Falco sparverius
Speckle-faced Parrot Pionus tumultuosus
Green Violet-ear Colibri thalassinus
Sparkling Violet-ear Colibri coruscans
Chestnut-breasted Coronet Boissonneaua matthewsii
Collared Inca Coeligena torquata
Violet-throated Starfrontlet Coeligena violifer
Amethyst-throated Sunangel Heliangelus amethysticollis
Tyrian Metaltail Metallura tyrianthina
Long-tailed Sylph Aglaiocercus kingi
Gray-breasted Mountain-Toucan Andigena hypoglauca Near-threatened
Andean Toucanet Aulacorhynchus albivitta
Crimson-mantled Woodpecker Piculus rivolii
Azara's Spinetail Synallaxis azarae
Pearled Treerunner Margarornis squamiger
Streaked Tuftedcheek Pseudocolaptes boissonneautii
Montane Woodcreeper Lepidocolaptes lacrymiger
Rufous-capped Antshrike Thamnophilus ruficapillus Heard only
Long-tailed Antbird Drymophila caudata
Large-footed Tapaculo Scytalopus macropus Endemic
White-crested Elaenia Elaenia albiceps
White-throated Tyrannulet Mecocerculus leucophrys
White-banded Tyrannulet Mecocerculus stictopterus
Cinnamon Flycatcher Pyrrhomyias cinnamomea
Rufous-breasted Chat-Tyrant Ochthoeca rufipectoralis
Smoky Bush-Tyrant Myiotheretes fumigatus
Barred Becard Pachyramphus versicolor
Blue-and-white Swallow Notiochelidon cyanoleuca
Peruvian Wren Cinnycerthia peruana Endemic
House Wren Troglodytes aedon
Andean Solitaire Myadestes ralloides Heard only
Great Thrush Turdus fuscater
White-collared Jay Cyanolyca viridicyana
Citrine Warbler Basileuterus luteoviridis
Three-striped Warbler Basileuterus tristriatus
Blue-backed Conebill Conirostrum sitticolor
Grass-green Tanager Chlorornis riefferii
Blue-capped Tanager Thraupis cyanocephala
Hooded Mountain-Tanager Buthraupis montana
Lacrimose Mountain-Tanager Anisognathus lacrymosus
Scarlet-bellied Mountain-Tanager Anisognathus igniventris
Plush-capped Finch Catamblyrhynchus diadema
White-browed Hemispingus Hemispingus auricularis Endemic
White-sided Flowerpiercer Diglossa albilatera
Masked Flowerpiercer Diglossopis cyanea
Yellow-breasted Brush-Finch Atlapetes latinuchus
Rufous-collared Sparrow Zonotrichia capensis
Mountain Cacique Cacicus chrysonotus
Other Fauna
A total of -- species of mammals.
There are -- recorded species of amphibians and reptiles.
Flora
Author: Charles Hesse
www.birdingsiteguide.com |
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Last Updated ( Jul 20, 2008 at 06:55 PM )
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