BIRDING AT ABRA MALAGA
- From
- Trip Type
- Activities
- Trip Duration
- Group Size
- Habitats Covered
Trip Outline
The once considered by Zimmer «The finest field birder / ornithologist that the world had ever seen.» Ted Parker, showed a high preference for birding at Abra Malaga, that shows a wide gradient habitat where the birds are rare elsewhere. We can also have acces for birding in one of the best preserved Polilepys forest, vital resource for preserving biodiversity and hydrological functions, which will be altered by climate change and challenge the sustainability of local human communities.
Abra Malaga still holds a great number of species including five globally-threatened and eight restricted-range species. The «Veronica» glaciar offers two sides, a Polilepys forest and Cloud Forest, both offers unique ecological conditions and endemics and highly threatened species still easy to spot and photograph.
Itinerary
West Slope (Cloud forest)
Early morning, after 2 hours of car ride, we will start birding at Abra Malaga in the opposite side of the mountains, covering Puna, Elfin and Cloud forest searching speciallities such as Taczanowski´s Tinamou, White-Throated Hawk, Sword-Billed Hummingbird, Amethist-throated Sunangel, Scaled Metaltail, Marcapata Spinetail(Endemic), Diademed Tapaculo ,Urubamba Antpitta (Endemic) and Red-and-White Antpitta (Endemic), Parodi´s Hemispingus (Endemic), Unstreaked Tit-tyrant(Endemic), Gray-breasted Mountain-Toucan, Inca Wren(Endemic), Black capped Hemispingus, Scarlet-Bellied Mountain-Tanager, Plushcap, Yellow-Billed Cacique, Among others. We take our breakfast and dinner at lodge and lunch will be at the field O/N will be in the Dry Urubamba Valley where Tropical Screech-Owl is possible in the night.
East slope (Polylepis)
Thastayoq in Abra Malaga is one of the few villages envolved in reforestation and Environmental Care based in tourism. Our purpose is birding at a very fragile ecosystem that congregates some of the rarest and most restricted bird species. After the breakfast, we will spend some time at the lodge where Swallow-tailed Hummingbird, Red-crested Finch, among others are possible and after a car ride we will go back towards the Abra Málaga for about an hour and start a downhill hike to get to the Polylepis patch, where we will pursuit for Blue-Mantled and Purple-Backed Thronbill, Andean Condor, Junin Canastero(Endemic), Tawny Tit-Spinetail, White-Browed Spineatil (Endemic), Puna Tapaculo, Stripe-Headed Anpitta, Ash-Breasted Ti-Tyrant(Near Endemic), Giant Conebill and Royal Cinclodes(Near Endemic). Among others At mid day we will get a lunch and after it visit briefly Peñas Ruins looking for Creamy-Crested Spinetail (Endemic), Chestnut-Breasted, Mountain-Finch (Endemic), White-Tufted Sunbeam(Endemic), Great Sapphire-wing, etc.
