Peru - Day 44; Iquitos & Departure

   For whatever reason, I had booked an early morning (08:10) flight out of Iquitos, before my evening flight out of Lima. That meant I would have a solid 10 hours to pass in the airport in Lima, an airport which is not full of acitivies. Still, it gave me some time to work on the report for the trip, so it was not wasted time.

  My final birds in Iquitos were Blue-grey Tanager, Smooth-billed Ani, Yellow-headed Caracara and Feral Pigeon. It has been a long but very enjoyable trip in Peru with some excellent mammals and birds seen. 

Peru - Day 43; Muyuna Lodge & Iquitos

   For my final morning in Muyuna we crossed the river to explore and area of terra firme in search of a few remaining target species. The crossing took place during the dark so we were in place for first light, before we set off exploring.

  The main target here was the Black-backed Crake, and it did not take us long to find one in an area of cultivation in the middle of the forest. However seeing it was a different issue, as crakes usually area. After some effort we got views of two individuals crossing a small open area on the path, but it was the third individual that finally stopped for us as it moved in the dense understory. I managed to get a few photos of the birds head protruding from the leaves, before it ran back inside.

  Next we headed inside the forest to try and track down some manakins, hopefully the Orange-crested Manakin but sadly we only managed White-bearded and Golden-headed. The forest was quiet overall, and although I managed to see some nice birds like Black-faced Antbird and Broad-billed Motmot, it was a slow end to my time in Muyuna.

  We returning to the lodge mid-morning, passing a small group of Tucuxi on the way. Once at the lodge I had a few hours to organize my things, before the boat took us away at 13:30. Unfrotunately this boat broke down just before the Amazon river, meaning we had to wait half an hour for a replacement, and extending our already long travel time. In the end, I did not make it to Iquitos until 17:00, concluding my time in the Amazon. 

Peru - Day 42; Muyuna Lodge

   For my final full day at the Muyuna Lodge, Moises had planned to search the forest just a little upriver for primates, with the hope of picking out some of the rarer species found in the area. We had a slightly later breakfast at 05:00 and then headed upriver and into the forest. Once again the weather was dark and gloomy, and this kept the forest understorey dark for much later than would have been ideal.

  Since primates were the main focus of the morning, it makes sense to start with them. Despite the poor light conditions, we had a lot of success with finding the primates, although getting good views and photos proved more challenging. We encountered Pygmy Marmoset a few times, as well as a large mixed group of Squirrel-Monkeys and Brown Capuchins. In this group we spotted three Equatorial Saki high in the canopy, but they quickly disappeared.  Shortly after we added the Colombian Red Howler to the morning list, but once again they quickly disappeared.

  The main target of the morning was the White-faced Capuchin, and they proved tricky to pin down. Moises heard a group at one point but they moved off before we could see them. It took us a while but we found a second group further in the forest. These also cleared off very quickly, but one individual decided to sit on a palm leaf staring at us for a few seconds, allowing us to actually see the animal before it fled into the canopy.

  For birds it was a rather frustrating morning. The highlight was a nice pair of Golden-crowned Spadebill, which did not show especially well but were still a delight to see. Amazonian Trogon was also a new species for me, but it was difficult to see well in the terrible light conditions. Otherwise the selection of birds was very limited. A pair of Plumbeous Antbirds was nice, but the singing Collared Puffbird would not show at all.

  After lunch we headed out again, this time taking the boat into the Amazon to try and find the Amazon River Dolphins or Botos, since we had not had a chance to photograph them the previous day. What followed was a fantastic afternoon with double figures of these dolphins emerging all around around boat, including some animals that must have been two metres in length, and some that were incredibly pink. Although I enjoyed seeing this species in Bolivia, this experience far eclipses it.

  At night we took the boat out and headed upriver. It was a little cool tonight and that is maybe why we had limited diversity of mammals, with only ample Amazonian Bamboo Rats and a couple of Capybara. The birds were a little more interesting with a Common Potoo and a Pauraque, as well as several Boat-billed Herons. 

Peru - Day 41; Muyuna Lodge

   Today we once again commenced with a 04:30 breakfast before setting off in the boat and into the Amazon. There were a few species in the riverine islands that I had not managed to connect with in Explorama Lodge, so those were our priority for the morning. It took about 45 minutes to reach the first island, with the morning once again hampered by overcast conditions courtesy of last nights rain.

  The first island was very enjoyable. As we arrived there were more than 50 Sand-coloured Nighthawks flying around overhead, although they disappeared as the sun came up. Around 50 Black-billed Thrushes all came out of roost in the reeds, which was enjoyable to watch. Then we got down to work. Parkers Spinetail came out first, although I had seen this species well before, followed by White-bellied Spinetail which was one of the targets here having got such poor views the previous time. Sadly the latter Spinetails arrival coincided with a group of Boto River Dolphins passing, and assured I would see more dolphins I concentrated on the Spinetail. Sadly those were the only Boto I saw today. We finished off on the island with two male Black-and-white Antbirds.

  After a couple of short and unproductive stops we crossed the river and spent an hour birding in the disturbed habitat near to the Comunidad de Fomento, and here we had a lot of success with my two main outstanding bird targets both appearing at almost the same time. First was Bay Hornero, which was very responsive to playback and showed nicely but never out in the open. In the trees above we then spotted a Varzea Thrush, but sadly it did not stick around particularly long. Pleased with these developments, we continued birding a little bit more but failed to find anything of real note.

  We tried one more trail during the morning, but more to check the state of the trail for a different morning. The last hour or so of our excursion was spent trying to track down the two species of dolphin that live in the river here. Although we never refound the Boto, we found several groups of Tucuxi which was the new species for me. Although they came very close to our boat, they were wildly unpredictable as to where and when they would surface, so it took some time to get any kind of decent photo. However, with some patience and luck I finally managed it.

  There was another rainstorm over lunch, but once it passed we took the boat out upriver to try reach a lake deeper in the forest where there were chances for Giant River Otter, and even Amazonian Manatee. Sadly we did not find either of these species, the latter would have been absolutely incredible, but the birding was enjoyable. Hoatzin was a new bird for this phase of the trip, and they are always quirky to see. A male Plum-throated Cotinga was nice to see and we finished off with a flyover Short-tailed Nighthawk.

  Due to the weather and the business of the lodge, we decided to save my final nocturnal activity for the following night. 

Peru - Day 40; Muyuna Lodge

   My first full day at Muyuna started with a 04:15 wakeup before at 04:30 breakfast. Once this was completed myself and Moises set off upriver in our boat, with the main goal of finding the Wattled Curassow. On the journey upriver we found our first Capybara of the trip, picked up in the thermal as we headed upriver.

  The morning was unfortuanately overcast but there was decent bird activity. It did not take us long to hear our first Curassow but it sounded far in the early morning gloom. Forunately not long after, one flew across the river in front of us and alighted in a tree in clear view. The light remained terrible but it was good to have this target safely in the back.

  As we continued we eventually found another Curassow, but the problem remained. The third individual we found was however much better. The light had improved by this point and so photos were better, and the bird was closer which was nice. It even flew over us as it passed from one side of the river to the other, where it continued to show well.

  Throughout the morning the birding was good, and I picked up several new species. The most important of these was the Black-tailed Antbird, which was a cracking little bird that showed well but sadly never in the clear open. When it sang its wings quivered, which was a fantastic quirk to see. Additionally I had new species in American Pygmy Kingfisher, Cinnamon-rumped Foliage-Gleaner, Short-tailed Parrot and Festive Amazon.

  It continued to be a great trip for mammals, with another trip tick and a new species this morning. The trip tick, specifically for Iquitos, was a group of Colombian Red Howler, including a female with an infant, and Brown Cappuchin was also a trip tick for this section, but the views were terrible. Finally I was shown a Night Monkey roosting in a tree cavity, my first time seeing one of these monkeys like this.

  After lunch we headed back out in the motorboat, heading back up the same stretch of river but this time aiming to travel further and with the main target in mind being that of Anaconda. Sadly this failed to materialize, but it was a pleasant afternoon regardless. The highlights were roosting individuals of both Great and Common Potoo, the latter close and the former quite distant. 

Peru - Day 39; Allpahuayo Mishana Reserve & Muyuna Lodge

   It being my last morning in Allpahuayo Mishana I gave it one last go to find at least one more of my target species for the site. I opted to walk the same lower trail as I had the previous evening, and I had some success here with one more target species added. Unfortunately it was a pretty low level target species; Citron-bellied Attila, but having heard it twice the two previous days and not seen it, it was good to finally lay eyes on it. There was also two more Brown Nunlet in the same area which was nice, and a decent sized mixed-species flock also passed through.

  But the highlight of the morning has to go to the Great Tinamou that I spooked off the path as I was heading back. Fortunately, instead of flying or running away, it opted to stand motionless and pray that I did not see it. This allowed me to get some fantastic views, and even move around without the bird flinching, giving me much better views that I managed when I saw this same species in Los Amigos a few weeks ago.

  That concludes my time in Allpahuayo Mishana. At 10:00 I packed my things and at 11:00 Muyuna Lodge passed by to collect me. I jumped into the van and headed to the dock from where the boat would transfer us to Muyuna. The boat journey passed through a fantastic heronry, mostly Great Egrets as well as a few commoner species. Hundreds of egrets got up from the banks in front of us, scattering as we motored by.

  During lunch I was introduced to my guide, Moises, and the plan was made for the afternoon. We would start with the trails behind the lodge, to hopefully track down my most wanted mammal for the trip, pre-Ocelot of course. That being the Pygmy Marmoset. And it did not take us long to track them down. They live in the Mahogany trees behind the lodge, and with a little playback they come down from the canopy to feed on the sap. We also encountered another group in another tree later on, meaning that in addition to the first individual, we also got to see at least four together. And they were just as awesome as I had expected, fantastic animals with great personailities, seemingly unbothered by our presence.

  There was also some excellent birding to be done behind the lodge. The mosquitos were absolutely awful, but that did not put us off and we soon started making progress with my targets. First to fall was Rufous-necked Puffbird, a smart species with a fantastically quirky tail movement when we saw it, swinging from side to side. Next we had brilliant views of Blue-necked Jacamar before rounding out the walk with a pair of Saturnine Antshrike, although it was already getting dark at this point and viewing was difficult.

  We had hoped to head out exploring for animals and owls after dark, and although the rain made it a little nervous, in the end we managed to have an hour searching the river after dark. Our main target was Black-banded Owl but sadly we had to leave this as heard only. We did manage to find a sleeping Muscovy Duck and several Boat-billed Herons. On the mammal front we found two Brown-throated Three-toed Sloths, and an assortment of large rats but little else. The fish jumping in the lagoon we visited were spectacular, with one even ending up in the boat before I threw it back overboard. An enjoyable evening. 

Peru - Day 38; Allpahuayo Mishana Reserve

   For my final day in Allpahuayo, I decided to walk the same trail as yesterday morning but this time walk counterclockwise around the loop, meaning the best early hours of the day would be in the variila, and the later hours in the dry forest. It was certainly a more birdy morning than the previous, with over 40 species recorded in total but most of these were commoner birds and I did not manage to add any of my target species to my list. 

  That is not to say there were no good birds, and one of the best birds of my whole stay here happened during this morning when I managed to tape in a Pheasant Cuckoo. It did not sit as well as my previous encounter in Bolivia, but it remains such a stunning bird and always a pleasure to see. I also finally got views of a Double-banded Pygmy-Tyrant but it remained high in the canopy, so not one to live long in the memory. What will live long in the memory was encountering the endemic poison dart frog that lives here, which had a stunning red colouration. Sadly he was too quick for photos, his tiny size helping him scuttle away into the leaflitter.

  The afternoon did not fare much better, as I was caught out by a serious rainstorm. Fortunately it passed allowing me about two hours of birding before dark, but there was nothing much to be seen on that front. Instead I had fantastic views of a Black Agouti feeding in the middle of the path in front of me. Another excellent mammal for my trip list.

  And mammals continued to be excellent into the night. I decided to walk the same trail I had in the afternoon, following gthe Varilla forest northeast from the camp. It produced nothing on the walk up, but on the walk back I thermalled a Yellow-crowned Toro coming out of its cavity hole, followed by a Kinkajou feeding on a palm tree and then finally a Brown-eared Opossum. I made it back just 10 minutes before the rain began once again. 

Peru - Day 37; Allpahuayo Mishana Reserve

    Although it was another thoroughly enjoyable, and tiring, day at Mishana Allpahuyo Reserve, it was somewhat frustrating as I did not manage to find a single one of my target species, with a heard only Citron-bellied Attila being the closest I came. With the kilometres covered and all the trails walked, through excellent forest, I had hoped that I might have achieved a little more.

  I walked the trails on the southwestern side of the reserve during the morning, passing through some dry forest and some lowland wetter forest. Overall birding was slower than it had been the previous day, and I found no new species for me. A Rufous-backed Stipelthroat and a Red-necked Woodpecker were probably the standouts on the bird front, although there was a nice bonus once I returned to camp, as a very vocal Black Hawk-Eagle was flying overhead calling loudly.

  Near the main entrance to the reserve I had the undoubted highlight of the day with two Equatorial Saki monkeys jumping around in the canopy. At first I thought they might escape before I could get a photo, but one decided to perch for me just at the last minute. And as I was leaving the area, they or another two were showing very nicely on the other side of the path. Without these the day would certainly have felt more like a disappointment.

  In the afternoon, once the rain finally ceased, I explore the pathways to the northwest of the reserve. This was a completely new area to me, and despite being the afternoon there were a few interesting birds on offer. Another Rufous-backed Stipelthroat was nice, as were the Casque Caciques feeding in a mixed flock of icterids. It must be said though that I felt truly exhausted throughout the walk, as my diet of instant noodles clearly begins to wear me down. 

  My night walk sadly produced very little. A few interesting frogs and a single sleeping White-flanked Antwren were all that I could muster before giving up and deciding to sleep early. 

Peru - Day 36; Allpahuayo Mishana Reserve

   Today was my first full day in the Allpahuayo Mishana Reserve, and there were several birds I wanted to find, most of which would be difficult to track down. The task before me became all the more ominous as I walked through the forest just after dawn, recognizing only a few of the calls I heard and seeing very few birds.

  I was eased a little when I came to a small clearing and heard my first target, the Ancient Antwren. With some effort I finally got views of the bird high in the canopy, far from ideal but my first key target seen. Continuing on the trail I got my first primate of the day, with the Red Saddle-backed Tamarin. The day continued to get better and better, and I had soon found my second target when I bumped into a female Pearly Antshrike. It took a while for me to work out what exactly I was looking at, as I filtered through my options before getting there. 

  The trail continued and I added possibly the most awkward target that I actually managed to find on this first day, when a Brown Nunlet responded to my speculative playback and then showed very well. Before turning back, I added Humbolts Squirrel-Monkey before reach a small river and seemingly the end of the trail. The way back was quite warm but still managed to add Rufous-backed Stipelthroat to my successful target list.

  After lunch I tried a different trail. As expected it was a fairly quiet affair but still enjoyable. I managed to find two lifers with a female Mouse-coloured Antshrike and then an unexpected lek site of Straight-billed Hermit. Perhaps the highlight of the afternoon however, was a small group of White-tailed Titi Monkeys, my first new monkey for this site.

  Once darkness fell I set out on the trails again hoping to track down some rare night birds. That did not transpire, but I still found two different Two-toed Sloths and a stunning snake that was bright red in colour. The highlight however has to be a roosting antbird. I could not work out which species I was looking at until it revealed its head and stunning white crest; a White-plumed Antbird! What a bird to find roosting and a brilliant conclusion to my first day here. 

Peru - Day 35; ExplorNapo Lodge & Allpahuya Mishana Reserve

  Today was my final day at ExplorNapo, and I had until 14:00 to enjoy the forest here before returning to Iquitos for the next stage of my trip. Despite only getting back from failing to find the Nocturnal Curassow at 01:30, we were still having breakfast at 05:30 and hitting the trails not long after.

  The forest was fairly quiet overall during the morning. It started lively with White-shouldered Antbird singing just behind the lodge, followed quickly by Waved Woodpecker which moved quickly around the canopy tops but never came down for a better view. Many of the species we encountered from the previous days were seen, the highlight of these being a pair of White-cheeked Antbirds which showed considerably better than the birds seen the previous day. Rufous-capped Antthrush was a nice bird to see, my first time in Amazonia after several times in the Atlantic Forest.

  Towards the end of the walk the birding really slowed down. We managed to tape in a Brownish Twistwing near the river, which created a phenomenal noise when doing its actual twist-winging. The only other bird during the second half of the morning was a Buckley’s Forest Falcon, which we saw pass over us several times in response to playback, but never perched conspicuously enough for us to find it. Its quick passes also meant I did not manage any photos.

  At 14:00 I piled into the boat with a group for the Ceiba Tops lodge. For some reason we headed upriver towards the small town of Mazan, before taking a mototaxi across the peninsula there to the town of Indiana, where we picked up another boat to Ceiba Tops. Once at Ceiba Tops, the large group departed and I swapped boats AGAIN to be with another group, eventually making it back to Iquitos at 16:30. Fortunately the next phase of my travelling was less stressful that I had imagined. A mototaxi was flagged down, and after a couple of errands I headed down the Naruta highway to kilometer 26.8, and there as promised was the Biological Station of the Allpahuyo Mishana Reserve, where I would spend the next few nights.

  The station was very basic, but I did not have much time to spend settling in before the herpetologist team said they were heading out to search for frogs and I asked if I wanted to join them. And so for my first evening at Mishana, I spent two hours searching for frogs, finding several as well as a small Caiman. A brilliant start to my time in the reserve!