Bolivia Day 7; Corani Road

  From our base in Tiraque, we drove an hour down the road to the Corani Road, a dirt track which goes through an area of stunning cloud forest where we hoped to enjoy some excellent birding. The weather was on our side, meaning we had no fog or rain to contend with, but it was a little too much on our side, with not a cloud in the sky. The bright and warm conditions were perhaps the reason that we struggled so much in the morning to find birds.

  We made some progress, with a nice pair of Hooded Mountain Toucans showing well, a flock of Pale-footed Swallows blogged overhead and we were able to see a few more Black-winged Parrots. But mixed-species flocks were at a premium, and we ended up spending most of the morning trying to tape out some of the more elusive species in the understorey, all of which we heard, but none of which we were actually able to see. The only other target species I managed to connect with was Fulvous Wren, which showed nicely. It wasn’t until I checked an unidentified hummingbird I had photographed later, did I realised this was also a new species for me, being Rufous-capped Thornbill. 

  It was becoming a frustrating morning so we drove further up the valley to an open area the trip reports we were following describe as being productive. Sadly we found the forest here quite degraded by recently develop plots of land. Still, we were able to drag out the very nice Black-throated Thistletail, before finally delivering one of the main species for the morning, the superb Diademed Tapaculo. This was the one that I most feared missing on our trip, but a nice juvenile male showed extremely well here, allowing me to get some fantastic views.

  By early afternoon, and some lunch, we drove back down to the better forest we had birded in the morning. Some cloud covered arrived around midday and this brought the forest to life, with numerous mixed species flocks passing us containing all kinds of common cloud forest species, as well as others that are more unusual; Southern Mountain Cacique, Rufous-bellied Bush-Tyrant and Pale-crowned Spinetail were all new species for me. Gould’s Inca was a new hummingbird for me, which we found feeding on flowers along the road.

  And I finally managed to drag out one of the area's antpitta species that had been bothering us all day; Bolivian Antpitta. It took some time, but I finally managed to see a bird in the understorey, and it showed very well, calling throughout and offering excellent views. After such a frustrating start to the day, we finished off having had a brilliant day birding.

Species List:
Corani Road: Band-tailed Pigeon, Amethyst-throated Sunangel, Long-tailed Sylph, Rufous-capped Thornbill, Tyrian Metaltail, Gould's Inca, Violet-throated Starfrontlet, White-throated Hawk, Masked Trogon, Hooded Mountain Toucan, Crimson-mantled Woodpecker, Black-winged Parrot, Green-cheeked Parakeet, Bolivian Antpitta, Diademed Tapaculo, Trilling Tapaculo, Montane Woodcreeper, Pearled Treerunner, Black-throated Thistletail, Light-crowned Spinetail, Barred Fruiteater, Streak-necked Flycatcher, Cinnamon Flycatcher, White-banded Tyrannulet, White-throated Tyrannulet, Rufous-bellied Bush Tyrant, Maroon-belted Chat-Tyrant, Rufous-breasted Chat-Tyrant, Pale-footed Swallow, Mountain Wren, Fulvous Wren, Common Chlorospingus, Bolivian Brushfinch, Southern Mountain Cacique, Citrine Warbler, Spectacled Whitestart, Superciliaried Hemispingus, Hooded Mountain Tanager, Grass-green Tanager, Scarlet-bellied Mountain Tanager, Chestnut-bellied Mountain Tanager, Blue-and-black Tanager, Blue-backed Conebill, Masked Flowerpiercer,