Peru - Day 17; Chunco Lodge

   From our base in Puerto Maldonado, we awoke and had a nice breakfast before pickup by our next destination, Chunco Lodge. The Amazonian lodge would be our home for the next two nights, along with some exploration of the surrounding rainforest. We were collected by our guide, Gabriel, at 10:30 and after some light paperwork we took a minibus for two hours along the road to the port. We were not alone, with a tour group of some eight US birders of various keen-ness along for the ride. We made a couple of stops along the way, with one featuring a Scarlet Flycatcher as the highlight, and another featuring a Least Grebe.

  Once at the lodge, around 13:00 we had lunch and then headed off for an afternoon break before the coolness and afternoon activity. This time was spent around the main lodge area where some hummingbirds were visiting the verbena flowers in the gardens. Only three species came during my visit; Reddish Hermit, White-chinned Saphire and a new one for me with a female Butterfly Coquette. A few vultures flew over including an adult King Vulture and finally two Greater Yellow-headed Vultures, a long overdue tick for me. And to wrap it all off, we had a brief visit from a Saddle-backed Tamarin and a longer stay from a group of Black-capped Squirrel-Monkey with a Tufted Capuchin in tow.

  For the afternoon we visited the lodges 40 meter high canopy tower. This gave excellent views of the surrounding rainforest and from it were able to observe several species of common parrot and plenty of Oropendolas, including a new one for me with Olive Oropendola. White-throated Toucan and Chestnut-eared Aracari were appreciated birds, with the former also being new for me, and we had an excellent show from two Black-tailed Tityra and a large group of Yellow-tufted Woodpecker. Whilst up here we had distant views of two Dusky Titi Monkeys.

  At night we had a walk around the trails, and found a few interesting bits. The thermal found a birds nest, which we left in peace, and a mysterious large heat signature turned out to be a Red Brocker deer, which was remarkably calm as I approached but eventually slunk away before I could manage any pictures. Our first snake of the trip, a small Caiman, as well as some tarantulas in their holes made for an enjoyable evening.