Peru - Day 38; Allpahuayo Mishana Reserve

   For my final day in Allpahuayo, I decided to walk the same trail as yesterday morning but this time walk counterclockwise around the loop, meaning the best early hours of the day would be in the varilia, and the later hours in the dry forest. It was certainly a more birdy morning than the previous, with over 40 species recorded in total but most of these were commoner birds and I did not manage to add any of my target species to my list. 

  That is not to say there were no good birds, and one of the best birds of my whole stay here happened during this morning when I managed to tape in a Pheasant Cuckoo. It did not sit as well as my previous encounter in Bolivia, but it remains such a stunning bird and always a pleasure to see. I also finally got views of a Double-banded Pygmy-Tyrant but it remained high in the canopy, so not one to live long in the memory. What will live long in the memory was encountering the endemic poison dart frog that lives here, which had a stunning red colouration. Sadly he was too quick for photos, his tiny size helping him scuttle away into the leaflitter.

  The afternoon did not fare much better, as I was caught out by a serious rainstorm. Fortunately it passed allowing me about two hours of birding before dark, but there was nothing much to be seen on that front. Instead I had fantastic views of a Black Agouti feeding in the middle of the path in front of me. Another excellent mammal for my trip list.

  And mammals continued to be excellent into the night. I decided to walk the same trail I had in the afternoon, following gthe Varilla forest northeast from the camp. It produced nothing on the walk up, but on the walk back I thermalled a Yellow-crowned Toro coming out of its cavity hole, followed by a Kinkajou feeding on a palm tree and then finally a Brown-eared Opossum. I made it back just 10 minutes before the rain began once again. 

-Pheasant Cuckoo

-Black Agouti

-Southern Opossum

-Kinkajou

-Yellow-crowned Toro

-Brown-headed Woodlizard

-Anole sp.

-Chutes-and-ladders Hairstreak

Peru - Day 37; Allpahuayo Mishana Reserve

    Although it was another thoroughly enjoyable, and tiring, day at Mishana Allpahuyo Reserve, it was somewhat frustrating as I did not manage to find a single one of my target species, with a heard only Citron-bellied Attila being the closest I came. With the kilometres covered and all the trails walked, through excellent forest, I had hoped that I might have achieved a little more.

  I walked the trails on the southwestern side of the reserve during the morning, passing through some dry forest and some lowland wetter forest. Overall birding was slower than it had been the previous day, and I found no new species for me. A Rufous-backed Stipelthroat and a Red-necked Woodpecker were probably the standouts on the bird front, although there was a nice bonus once I returned to camp, as a very vocal Black Hawk-Eagle was flying overhead calling loudly.

  Near the main entrance to the reserve I had the undoubted highlight of the day with two Equatorial Saki monkeys jumping around in the canopy. At first I thought they might escape before I could get a photo, but one decided to perch for me just at the last minute. And as I was leaving the area, they or another two were showing very nicely on the other side of the path. Without these, the day would certainly have felt more like a disappointment.

  In the afternoon, once the rain finally ceased, I explore the pathways to the northwest of the reserve. This was a completely new area to me, and despite being the afternoon there were a few interesting birds on offer. Another Rufous-backed Stipelthroat was nice, as were the Casque Caciques feeding in a mixed flock of icterids. It must be said though that I felt truly exhausted throughout the walk, as my diet of instant noodles clearly begins to wear me down. 

  My night walk sadly produced very little. A few interesting frogs and a single sleeping White-flanked Antwren were all that I could muster before giving up and deciding to sleep early. 

-Black Hawk-Eagle

-Equatorial Saki

-White-lined Leaf Frog

-Smoky Jungle Frog

-Starry Night Metalmark

Peru - Day 36; Allpahuayo Mishana Reserve

   Today was my first full day in the Allpahuayo Mishana Reserve, and there were several birds I wanted to find, most of which would be difficult to track down. The task before me became all the more ominous as I walked through the forest just after dawn, recognizing only a few of the calls I heard and seeing very few birds.

  I was eased a little when I came to a small clearing and heard my first target, the Ancient Antwren. With some effort I finally got views of the bird high in the canopy, far from ideal but my first key target seen. Continuing on the trail I got my first primate of the day, with the Red Saddle-backed Tamarin. The day continued to get better and better, and I had soon found my second target when I bumped into a female Pearly Antshrike. It took a while for me to work out what exactly I was looking at, as I filtered through my options before getting there. 

  The trail continued and I added possibly the most awkward target that I actually managed to find on this first day, when a Brown Nunlet responded to my speculative playback and then showed very well. Before turning back, I added Humboldt's Squirrel-Monkey before reach a small river and seemingly the end of the trail. The way back was quite warm but still managed to add Rufous-backed Stipelthroat to my successful target list.

  After lunch I tried a different trail. As expected, it was a fairly quiet affair but still enjoyable. I managed to find two lifers with a female Mouse-coloured Antshrike and then an unexpected lek site of Straight-billed Hermit. Perhaps the highlight of the afternoon however, was a small group of White-tailed Titi Monkeys, my first new monkey for this site.

  Once darkness fell I set out on the trails again hoping to track down some rare night birds. That did not transpire, but I still found two different Two-toed Sloths and a stunning snake that was bright red in colour. The highlight however has to be a roosting antbird. I could not work out which species I was looking at until it revealed its head and stunning white crest; a White-plumed Antbird! What a bird to find roosting and a brilliant conclusion to my first day here. 

-Ancient Antwren

-Amazonian Grosbeak

-Pearly Antshrike

-Brown Nunlet

-Plain-winged Antwren

-Rufous-backed Stiplethroat

-Mouse-coloured Antshrike

-White-capped Manakin

-White-plumed Antbird

-White-tailed Titi

-Linnaeus's Two-toed Sloth

-Oxyrhopus occipitalis

-Common Big-headed Frog

-Crethon Daggerwing

-Microstigma rotundatum

Peru - Day 35; ExplorNapo Lodge & Allpahuya Mishana Reserve

  Today was my final day at ExplorNapo, and I had until 14:00 to enjoy the forest here before returning to Iquitos for the next stage of my trip. Despite only getting back from failing to find the Nocturnal Curassow at 01:30, we were still having breakfast at 05:30 and hitting the trails not long after.

  The forest was fairly quiet overall during the morning. It started lively with White-shouldered Antbird singing just behind the lodge, followed quickly by Waved Woodpecker which moved quickly around the canopy tops but never came down for a better view. Many of the species we encountered from the previous days were seen, the highlight of these being a pair of White-cheeked Antbirds which showed considerably better than the birds seen the previous day. Rufous-capped Antthrush was a nice bird to see, my first time in Amazonia after several times in the Atlantic Forest.

  Towards the end of the walk the birding really slowed down. We managed to tape in a Brownish Twistwing near the river, which created a phenomenal noise when doing its actual twist-winging. The only other bird during the second half of the morning was a Buckley’s Forest Falcon, which we saw pass over us several times in response to playback, but never perched conspicuously enough for us to find it. Its quick passes also meant I did not manage any photos.

  At 14:00 I piled into the boat with a group for the Ceiba Tops lodge. For some reason we headed upriver towards the small town of Mazan, before taking a mototaxi across the peninsula there to the town of Indiana, where we picked up another boat to Ceiba Tops. Once at Ceiba Tops, the large group departed and I swapped boats AGAIN to be with another group, eventually making it back to Iquitos at 16:30. Fortunately the next phase of my travelling was less stressful that I had imagined. A mototaxi was flagged down, and after a couple of errands I headed down the Naruta highway to kilometer 26.8, and there as promised was the Biological Station of the Allpahuyo Mishana Reserve, where I would spend the next few nights.

  The station was very basic, but I did not have much time to settle in before the herpetologist team said they were heading out to search for frogs, and I asked if I wanted to join them. And so for my first evening at Mishana, I spent two hours searching for frogs, finding several as well as a Schneider's Dwarf Caiman. A brilliant start to my time in the reserve! 

-Brownish Twistwing

-Rufous-tailed Flatbill

-White-cheeked Antbird

-Striolated Manakin

-White-shouldered Antbird

-Greater Sac-winged Bat

-Separated Stripestreak

-Schneider's Dwarf Caiman

-Pale-striped Poison Frog

-Osteocephalus sp.