Madeira Day 1

  Since I would be going away for the best part of two months at the end of the year, I decided to take Laura away somewhere nice to attempt to soften this blow. Since whale-watching had long been a topic of conversation, the eventual destination I decided upon was Madeira, since it has a wide variety of cetacean species, as well as stunning scenery and a very relaxed lifestyle. We had three nights on the island and made plans to do several whale-watching trips to maximise our chances of a Rorqual or equally large whale sighting. 

  Our flight from Paris landed us in Madeira at midday, and we had booked our first trip for 14:00 from Funchal that afternoon. To save costs on a hire car, our AirBnB was located just outside the city centre of Funchal, from where we could easily walk to several whale watching operators. Because it was already September and tourist season was slowing down, the motorboat trip I booked with Ventura do Mar was rearranged for the following morning, so I eventually arranged a catamaran tour with Magic Dolphin.

  This was a less intimate experience, since the Catamaran was full with what I would estimate to be around 70 people, but it was still a good start to our trip as we managed to find a group of Short-finned Pilot Whales on this first afternoon. They showed very nicely from the boat, lingering around us rather than swimming off. These were the only cetaceans that we saw, but it was very enjoyable. The catamaran trip finished with a slow cruise back along the coastline, bringing us back late afternoon. In addition to the whales, it was great to be reacquainted with Corys Shearwater and Bulwers Petrel whilst on the catamaran, even if they were not the target of the trip. 

-Short-finned Pilot Whale

-East Atlantic Sally Lightfoot Crab

-Clouded Yellow

Brittany exploring for Aquatic Warbler

   I had only just returned to Paris after Peru when my good friend David Darrell-Lambert informed me that he was going to spend a few days in the south of Brittany in northern France looking for Aquatic Warblers, a trip which sounded excellent and I promptly invited myself along for the ride. Thanks to Davids sleuthing online we had a contact in the area, so had been provided with some information on good areas of where to search. The ringing station in the area sees most of the action, but it is private and not a destination for tourists, so we had to make the best of it by exploring in the field. 

  There were several sites around the ringing station full of reedbeds, which we spent hours exploring hoping for an Aquatic Warbler, but we ultimately failed to find one. The reedbeds were full of activity, with Sedge and Reed Warblers in good numbers, as well as large numbers of Bluethroats. Apparently, the Bluethroats in the area are a shorter-winged subspecies part of the White-spotted Bluethroat group. Zitting Cisticola was another good bird we saw regularly whilst exploring the reedbeds, a species I have not seen properly since my work in Spain several years ago.

  In addition to the reedbed species there were a lot of nice migrant species in the area, providing some very enjoyable birding. We managed small numbers of Whichats, Wheatears, Pied Flycatchers and Spotted Flycatchers, as well as a single Common Redstart. The latter is not common in the area, but for us there were locally abundant species that were much rarer for us to see. I saw only my second ever Cirl Buntings and Melodious Warblers, as well as getting views of Red-backed Shrike, Wryneck and Black-winged Kite. Every day we would see something of interest that would lift our spirits and keep us working towards our goal. 

  We also spent one afternoon birding the Parc naturel regional de Brière, which was a large wetland and arable area where we enjoyed some pleasant birding. The rarest species we found was a hazy Little Stint on the scrape, feeding alongside Wood Sandpipers and Green Sandpipers. But the other goodies included a few showy Water Rails and a nice Black-crowned Night Heron. 

  For the hotter parts of the days there were several insect species to keep us interested. I enjoyed seeing my first Southern Darters, which seemed to be the default darter species in the area. Odonata was not especially abundant, but there were several species of Butterflies of interest notably my first Wood White, and other goodies such as Long-tailed Blue and Mallow Skipper. Mammals were thin on the ground, but we saw a handful of Coypu including a very tame individual at one of the sites we frequented. 

  On our final morning, thanks to our contact in the area, we were able to visit the private ringing station, but too late to see the two Aquatic Warblers they caught in the morning there. But there was plenty of enjoyable birding around seeing many of the same species, and in the hand we saw a Wryneck and a Quail! Although we were disappointed to leave without our main target, this was an excellent way to finish off our few days birding! 

-Quail

-Wryneck

-Black-crowned Night-Heron

-Water Rail

-Cirl Bunting

-Zitting Cisticola

-Common Redstart

-Purple Heron

-European Honey Buzzard

-African Sacred Ibis

-Black-winged Kite

-Coypu

-Common Wall Lizard

-Wasp Spider

-Mallow Skipper

-Wood White

-Southern Darter

-Scarlet Darter

Peru - Day 44; Iquitos & Departure

   For whatever reason, I had booked an early morning (08:10) flight out of Iquitos, before my evening flight out of Lima. That meant I would have a solid 10 hours to pass in the airport in Lima, an airport which is not full of acitivies. Still, it gave me some time to work on the report for the trip, so it was not wasted time.

  My final birds in Iquitos were Blue-grey Tanager, Smooth-billed Ani, Yellow-headed Caracara and Feral Pigeon. It has been a long but very enjoyable trip in Peru with some excellent mammals and birds seen. 

Peru - Day 43; Muyuna Lodge & Iquitos

   For my final morning in Muyuna we crossed the river to explore an area of terra firme in search of a few remaining target species. The crossing took place during the dark so we were in place for first light, before we set off exploring.

  The main target here was the Black-backed Crake, and it did not take us long to find one in an area of cultivation in the middle of the forest. However, seeing it was a different issue, as crakes usually are. After some effort we got views of two individuals crossing a small open area on the path, but it was the third individual that finally stopped for us as it moved in the dense understory. I managed to get a few photos of the birds head protruding from the leaves, before it ran back inside.

  Next we headed inside the forest to try and track down some manakins, hopefully the Orange-crested Manakin but sadly we only managed White-bearded and Golden-headed. The forest was quiet overall, and although I managed to see some nice birds like Black-faced Antbird and Broad-billed Motmot, it was a slow end to my time in Muyuna.

  We returned to the lodge mid-morning, passing a small group of Tucuxi on the way. Once at the lodge I had a few hours to organize my things before the boat took us away at 13:30. Unfortunately, this boat broke down just before the Amazon river, meaning we had to wait half an hour for a replacement, and extended our already long travel time. In the end, I did not make it to Iquitos until 17:00, concluding my time in the Amazon. 

-Reddish Hermit

-Black-banded Crake

-Green Iguana

-Greater Sac-winged Bat

Peru - Day 42; Muyuna Lodge

   For my final full day at the Muyuna Lodge, Moises had planned to search the forest just a little upriver for primates, with the hope of picking out some of the rarer species found in the area. We had a slightly later breakfast at 05:00 and then headed upriver and into the forest. Once again the weather was dark and gloomy, and this kept the forest understorey dark for much later than would have been ideal.

  Since primates were the main focus of the morning, it makes sense to start with them. Despite the poor light conditions, we had a lot of success with finding the primates, although getting good views and photos proved more challenging. We encountered Eastern Pygmy Marmoset a few times, as well as a large mixed group of Humboldt's Squirrel-Monkeys and Brown Capuchins. In this group we spotted three Monk Saki high in the canopy, but they quickly disappeared.  Shortly after we added the Colombian Red Howler to the morning list, but once again they quickly disappeared.

  The main target of the morning was the Spix's White-faced Capuchin, and they proved tricky to pin down. Moises heard a group at one point but they moved off before we could see them. It took us a while but we found a second group further in the forest. These also cleared off very quickly, but one individual decided to sit on a palm leaf, staring at us for a few seconds, allowing us to actually see the animal before it fled into the canopy.

  For birds it was a rather frustrating morning. The highlight was a nice pair of Golden-crowned Spadebill, which did not show especially well but were still a delight to see. Amazonian Trogon was also a new species for me, but it was difficult to see well in the terrible light conditions. Otherwise the selection of birds was very limited. A pair of Plumbeous Antbirds was nice, but the singing Collared Puffbird would not show at all.

  After lunch we headed out again, this time taking the boat into the Amazon to try and find the Amazon River Dolphins or Botos, since we had not had a chance to photograph them the previous day. What followed was a fantastic afternoon with double figures of these dolphins emerging all around around boat, including some animals that must have been two metres in length, and some that were incredibly pink. Although I enjoyed seeing this species in Bolivia, this experience far eclipses it.

  At night we took the boat out and headed upriver. It was a little cool tonight and that is maybe why we had limited diversity of mammals, with only ample Amazonian Bamboo Rats and a couple of Capybara. The birds were a little more interesting with a Common Potoo and a Pauraque, as well as several Boat-billed Herons. 

-Spix's White-faced Capuchin

-Monk Saki

-Coppery Titi

-Amazon River Dolphin

-Plumbeous Antbird

-Golden-crowned Spadebill

Peru - Day 41; Muyuna Lodge

   Today we once again commenced with a 04:30 breakfast before setting off in the boat and into the Amazon. There were a few species in the riverine islands that I had not managed to connect with in Explorama Lodge, so those were our priority for the morning. It took about 45 minutes to reach the first island, with the morning once again hampered by overcast conditions courtesy of last nights rain.

  The first island was very enjoyable. As we arrived more than 50 Sand-coloured Nighthawks were flying around overhead, although they disappeared as the sun came up. Around 50 Black-billed Thrushes all came out of roost in the reeds, which was enjoyable to watch. Then we got down to work. Parker's Spinetail came out first, although I had seen this species well before, followed by White-bellied Spinetail which was one of the targets here having got such poor views the previous time. Sadly, the latter Spinetails arrival coincided with a group of Amazon River Dolphins passing, and assured I would see more dolphins I concentrated on the Spinetail. Sadly those were the only Boto I saw today. We finished off on the island with two male Black-and-white Antbirds.

  After a couple of short and unproductive stops we crossed the river and spent an hour birding in the disturbed habitat near to the Comunidad de Fomento. Here, we had a lot of success with my two main outstanding bird targets, both of which appeared at almost the same time. First was Bay Hornero, which was very responsive to playback and showed nicely but never out in the open. In the trees above we then spotted a Varzea Thrush, but sadly it did not stick around particularly long. Pleased with these developments, we continued birding a little bit more but failed to find anything of real note.

  We tried one more trail during the morning, but more to check the state of the trail for a different morning. The last hour or so of our excursion was spent trying to track down the two species of dolphin that live in the river here. Although we never refound the Boto, we found several groups of Tucuxi which was the new species for me. Although they came very close to our boat, they were wildly unpredictable as to where and when they would surface, so it took some time to get any kind of decent photo. However, with some patience and luck I finally managed it.

  There was another rainstorm over lunch, but once it passed we took the boat out upriver to try reach a lake deeper in the forest where there were chances for Giant River Otter, and even Amazonian Manatee. Sadly we did not find either of these species, the latter would have been absolutely incredible, but the birding was enjoyable. Hoatzin was a new bird for this phase of the trip, and they are always quirky to see. A male Plum-throated Cotinga was nice to see and we finished off with a flyover Short-tailed Nighthawk.

  Due to the weather and the business of the lodge, we decided to save my final nocturnal activity for the following night. 

-Varzea Thrush

-Bay Hornero

-White-bellied Spinetail

-Black-and-white Antbird

-Scarlet-crowned Barbet

-Short-tailed Parrot

-Humboldt's Squirrel Monkey

-Green Iguana

-Tucuxi

-Yellow-headed Sideneck