Today would be our final day visiting Bosque Unchog, and so far it had really failed to deliver on its promise. We had managed to find most of our targets, and the birding had been good, but we had hoped for more, and the targets had required far more effort than we had expected in order to find them. Today was our last chance at finding what was remaining, which unfortunately included two new Tapaculos, and to hopefully photograph the Neblina Tapaculo, after only I saw one on the first afternoon.
The latter task was completed surprisingly easily in the
end, after having so much grief and effort for nothing over the past week,
today we managed to get one easily. Myself and Rich visited a known territory,
whose occupant had not responded to playback at all despite our efforts, and my
plan was just to wait and see what happened. And we did not have to wait long,
as after a few minutes I turned around to see our quarry perched out on the
open grass. Obviously he was quick, so only a few photos were managed, but it
was enough, before he flew across the river and into thick bamboo. In the
afternoon we returned, and during a two-hour watch we saw the bird twice, once
when two birds started singing together, before joining up in the same bush,
and the other when just a single jumped out of the bamboo.
Unfortunately all the other species gave us the slip once
again. My waiting in various patches of woodland did produce two excellent
encounters with very showy Chachapoyas Antpittas, including one that started
singing right over my head, but did not yield any more tapaculos. However, the
Antpittas were absolutely fantastic, and go some way to help offset the
disappointment.
Other birds were once again limited. I enjoyed my best views
of the Golden-backed Mountain Tanager, with a pair coming in to feed right
above my head while I was watching one of the Chachapoyas Antpittas, and then a
group of at least four feeding on yellow flowers in the canopy. Another bird
that opted to feed directly above me was a group of three Bay-vented Cotinga,
although views were hampered by the lower strands of vegetation.
Also of note, we encountered a deer whilst driving up in the
morning. My exclamation at spotting cross the fields certainly startled
everyone else in the car, but it also meant everyone was able to get onto the
animal quickly. A quick check on Inaturalist suggests it is a Peruvian
White-tailed Deer, which is a subspecies of the widespread North American
species.
And that wraps up our time at Bosque Unchog and the state of Huanuco as well, tomorrow we will head to the state of Ancash where we will enjoy some more high Andean birding, away from the delights of the cloud forest.
Bosque Unchog: Coppery Metaltail, Violet-throated Starfrontlet, Andean Lapwing, Mountain Caracara, Chachapoyas Antpitta, Neblina Tapaculo, Tschudi's Tapaculo, Pearled Treerunner, Many-striped Canastero, Bay-vented Cotinga, Ochraceous-breasted Flycatcher, White-throated Tyrannulet, Brown-bellied Swallow, Grass Wren, Great Thrush, Paramo Pipit, Rufous-collared Sparrow, Slaty Brushfinch, Citrine Warbler, Pardusco, Golden-backed Mountain Tanager, Scarlet-bellied Mountain Tanager, Yellow-scarfed Tanager, Blue-backed Conebill, Moustached Flowerpiercer, Black-throated Flowerpiercer, Drab Hemispingus,
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