Peru - Day 14; Amazonia Lodge & Cock-of-the-Rock Lodge

   The previous days rain continued during the night, and although it had stopped by the morning it was still grey and damp conditions to be birding. Our boat back to civilization, and the car, was at 09:00 and so there were only a few hours of daylight left before we would be leaving the lodge. First I birded the Jeep Trail and then finished with a small detour to try to see the Amazonian Antpitta again.

  No sooner had I started my walk did I get arguably the bird of the morning, when a Razor-billed Curassow dashed into the forest as I walked past. I was able to keep track of its moving behind the vines, but it never came out into the open fully for a good photo, leaving me with just glimpses through the trees. A very impressive bird to see! There was good activity along the trails, with commoner antbird species and a few other commoner rainforest birds. I finished the walk by finally getting my own eyes on the previous days Amazonian Antpitta. It still required some effort, and he did not show well but I had achieved my task!

  Due to the immense rainfall of the preceeding day, the river was an absolute torrent and at times the boat struggled to get upstream against the current. Once we were back at the car we headed back up the Manu Road to Cock-of-the-Rock Lodge where we had spontaneously reserved a night. Due to having no stops at lower altitudes we arrived just before midday and spent the time birding the garden. It was alive with mammals, with at least four Brown Agouti running around and a group of Tufted Capuchin monkeys feeding in the bamboo behind the kitchen.

  The main target for the garden here is the Peruvian Piedtail, a range restricted but otherwise unspectacular hummingbird. Having dipped it before I was quite keep to see it now, and it did not take long before I spotted the bird feeding on the Verbena flowers at the top of the garden. Sadly it was too brief on this occasion, and I had to wait an hour for it to reappear again. Once it did reappear I was too slow for photos, and had to wait again for a third appearance to get some pictures. Fortunately this time I was more prepared and I was able to get a few record shots of the bird.

  At the end of the afternoon we visited the Cock-of-the-Rock lek site just up the road from the lodge. I had heard good things about this lek, but whilst it was enjoyable it still did not compare to my experience in Colombia. There were six males here, but most were largely concealed by the vegetation, and the display action was quite limited. The birds spent most of their time slowly looking around whilst their plumage glowed around them.