SAN CARLOS 
PERU

CAJAMARCA (Compass)

Lat:00o00´S/00o00´W ha topography msl 
Protected/registered status 
Best Time for visit (13th June, 2006)

 

Birding Site Guide

This is an easily accessible site to see the vulnerable endemic Great Spinetail. Take a bus towards Cajabamba from Cajamarca. Several companies have buses leaving, most in the afternoon. We took a Rojas Bus which left at 2pm costing 6s. They also have a bus leaving at 9am and you could conceivably do this as a day trip from Cajamarca. Combis also leave Cajamarca regularly for San Marcos but I didn't find out where from. To get to the site early in the morning, it's definately better to stay in San Marcos for the night. We stayed at the Hospedaje Inclan, just 1 block from the plaza. An OK double was 20s. 

To get to the site follow the instructions in Valqui. Walk out of town back towards Cajamarca, over the bridge and up the hill. Turn right on the trail at the first sharp bend, just after the km 57 marker. There are little motorbike taxis in town that will take you up there for just 1s. I walked all the way up the trail until it reached a small settlement. This is too far up for the spinetail. Just go up until you get to a big grassy clearing. At the beginning of this on the right look for a little trail up the slope. About 5 minutes up here was a good place for spinetails and I saw several pairs. They are responsive to playback and can be very vocal. Just before I got back to the road, I saw Buff-bridled Inca-Finch and Tropical Gnatcatcher on the left (coming down). I saw 25 species including 2 lifers.


Species seen

  • Eared Dove Zenaida auriculata
  • Croaking Ground-Dove Columbina cruziana
  • Striped Cuckoo Tapera naevia Heard only
  • Sparkling Violet-ear Colibri coruscans
  • Spot-throated Hummingbird Leucippus taczanowskii Endemic
  • Amazilia Hummingbird Amazilia amazilia
  • Speckled Hummingbird Adelomyia melanogenys
  • Purple-collared Woodstar Myrtis fanny Heard only
  • Black-necked Woodpecker Colaptes atricollis Endemic
  • Great Spinetail Siptornopsis hypochondriacus Endemic Vulnerable
  • Tawny-crowned Pygmy-Tyrant Euscarthmus meloryphus
  • Vermilion Flycatcher Pyrocephalus rubinus
  • White-winged Black-Tyrant Knipolegus aterrimus
  • House Wren Troglodytes aedon
  • Chiguanco Thrush Turdus chiguanco
  • Tropical Gnatcatcher Polioptila plumbea
  • Bananaquit Coereba flaveola
  • Hepatic Tanager Piranga flava
  • Buff-bridled Inca-Finch Incaspiza laeta Endemic
  • Blue-black Grassquit Volatinia jacarina
  • Yellow-bellied Seedeater Sporophila nigricollis
  • Dull-colored Grassquit Tiaris obscura
  • Rufous-collared Sparrow Zonotrichia capensis
  • Scrub Blackbird Dives warszewiczi
  • Hooded Siskin Carduelis magellanica


Other Fauna 
A total of -- species of mammals. 

There are -- recorded species of amphibians and reptiles. 

Flora 

Author: Charles Hesse

 

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