Today was the only day we had made a reservation at any point during our trip. This was to visit the lake Junin and have a local guide take us out on a boat in order to try and track down the very rare and endangered Junin Grebe. Our initial plan was to arrive the evening prior, but slowed down by birding we could not make it in time and ended up staying in the town of Junin itself.
From our lodging in Junin, it was about a half-hour drive to our guide, Ceasar’s, house where we met up at 06:00. Sadly the morning took a slight turn for the worse when we saw that one of our rear tyres had gone flat, but fortunately, it did not take long to change and then we were ready to roll.
Our first target was to try for the Junin Rail at a spot known to Ceasar at the edge of the lake. While most groups search for this bird in the night, our delayed arrival meant we could only start searching in the morning. But this worked out fantastically well, as we had brilliant views of at least one Junin Rail scurrying around an open cut in the reeds. Ceasar had also put down some corn for the bird, and it did stop to feed in the open, offering absolutely fantastic views of this rare and secretive bird, found only in the margins of this lake.
With the rail safely seen, we set off to the boat that would take us out into the lake. In total the boat trip took about 3.5 hours, but we were rewarded with multiple encounters with the Junin Grebe. They did take some effort to separate from the very similar Silvery Grebe that also lives on the lake, and that we encountered multiple times, but by the end of the morning we had it sussed.
For the next two hours or so, we cleaned up on multiple outstanding targets in the area. First we had a nice pair of roosting American Barn Owls in a mud-walled barn, followed by a distant Streak-throated Canastero. With Ceasar we then added Dark-winged Miner, Black-breasted Hillstar and finally Junin Canastero. All local and rare species of the high altiplano.
We did not miss a single bird during the day, and left around mid-afternoon very satisfied with how things had unfolded. After getting the tyre repaired in Junin, we then drove three hours south to the town of Conception, which would be our base for the next two days.
Lake Junin: Ornate Tinamou, Andean Goose, Crested Duck, Puna Teal, Yellow-billed Teal, Andean Duck, Chilean Flamingo, White-tufted Grebe, Silvery Grebe, Junin Grebe, Black-winged Ground Dove, Black-breasted Hillstar, Plumbeous Rail, Common Gallinule, Giant Coot, Andean Coot, Black Rail, Andean Avocet, Andean Lapwing, Puna Snipe, Andean Gull, Great Egret, Western Cattle Egret, Black-crowned Night Heron, Puna Ibis, Cinereous Harrier, American Barn Owl, Andean Flicker, Mountain Caracara, Aplomado Falcon, Common Miner, Dark-winged Miner, Wren-like Rushbird, Buff-breasted Earthcreeper, Cream-winged Cinclodes, Junin Canastero, Streak-throated Canastero, Many-colored Rush Tyrant, Andean Negrito, Ochre-naped Ground Tyrant, Black-billed Shrike-Tyrant, D'Orbigny's Chat-Tyrant, House Wren, Chiguanco Thrush, Black Siskin, Rufous-collared Sparrow, Peruvian Sierra Finch, Ash-breasted Sierra Finch, Bright-rumped Yellow Finch,
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