Tumbes and Iquitos Endemics
18 Days / 17 Nights

	Day 1: Arrive in Lima and transfer to our hotel in Lima.
	Day 2: Morning flight to Tumbes. On arrival in Tumbes (just south of the Ecuadorian border) we’ll transfer to the comfortable Costa del Sol hotel and after an early lunch head out into the mangrove thickets in Tumbes Mangrove Reserved Zone. From a local boat we’ll enter narrow channels in search of Masked Water Tyrant, Rufous-necked Wood-rail, Clapper Rail, White Ibis and Mangrove Warbler. We’ll see many shorebirds and inshore seabirds here as well and there is also a chance of two spécies of Whistling Duck. Herons include: Yellow-crowned and Black-crowned Night-Herons, Little-Blue, White-necked and Tricolored Heron, plus a recently discovered population of Bare-throated Tiger-Heron. Mangrove Black Hawk is also a possibility. In the late afternoon we’ll bird in the desert scrub along the road. Species we expect here include: Pacific Parrotlet, Scarlet-backed Woodpecker, Necklaced Spinetail, Superciliaried Wren, Collared Antshrike, Baird’s Flycatcher, Tawny-crowned Pygmy-tyrant, Pearl Kite, Tumbezian Tyrannulet Tumbes Sparrow and Cinereous Finch. Night at Hotel Costa del Sol. (B,L,D)
	Day 3: We’ll get a very early start to-day so as to be in prime habitat at dawn. We drive east down rutted, dusty roads in four wheel drive jeeps to El Mirador for a dawn breakfast as the birds start to sing. We’ll walk a track with no traffic looking for birds of the drier forest amidst some of the most fantastic bombax forest on earth. Giant green barked, pot bellied trees hanging with spanish moss provide a home for One-colored and Slaty Becards, Tumbes Peewee, White-headed Brush-Finch, Plumbeous-backed Thrush, Ecuadorian Ground Dove, Tumbes Swift, Saffron Siskin, Red-masked Parakeet and many other commoner widely distributed species. In the pm we’ll leave our vehicle and walk slowly a two kilometer stretch of trail where we have had luck with Black-capped Sparrow, Henna-hooded Foliage-gleaner and Scrub Antpitta. We’ll arrive at Quebrada El Faical at dusk with our safari camp already set up. (B,L,D)
	Day 4 and 5: Over the next two days we’ll bird the area between Quebrada Faical and Pozo del Pato and the slopes of Cerro San Miguel - the highest, wettest and greenest part of Tumbes. Here in the Tumbes Reserved Zone, mile upon mile of prime dry deciduous forest stretches as far as the eye can see. The Ecuadorian border is a stones throw away, but unfortunately on that side of the border there is little, or no forest left. Here on the Peruvian side, Ocellots and Mantled Howler Monkeys survive unmolested, as does the very interesting Tumbesian avifauna. Birds we hope to see over the next two days, and that we have seen here in the past include : Pale-browed Tinamou, Gray-backed Hawk, Black-hawk Eagle, Rufous-headed Chachalaca, Crested Guan, Ochre-bellied Dove and Pallid Doves, Gray-cheeked Parakeet, Bronze-winged Parrot, West Peruvian Screech-owl, Green-breasted Mango, Ecuadorian Piculet, Red-rumped Woodpecker, Guayaquil Woodpecker, Blackish-headed Spinetail, Slaty Spinetail, Henna-hooded and Rufous-necked Foliage-gleaner, Chapman’s Antshrike, Grayheaded Antbird, Scrub Antpitta, Pacific Elaenia, Rufous-winged Tyrranulet, Ochraceous Attila, Pacific Royal Flycatcher, Black-tailed Fycatcher, Ecuadorian Thrush, White-vented Plumleteer, Green-crowned Woodnymph, Violet-bellied Hummingbird, Gray-breasted Flycatcher, Pacific Fire-eye, Lesser Greenlet, Yellow-tailed and White-edged Orioles. Nights in camp. (B,L,D)
	Day 6: We’ll bird the morning hours between our camp at Pozo el Pato and Quebrada Faical where we’ll transfer to our jeeps and return to the drier forest for the rest of the afternoon and after lunch bird our way back to Tumbes thru drier deciduous forest , looking especially for Saffron Siskin and Becards, planning
	Day 7: Flight from Tumbes to Lima. If time permits we’ll take a ride south from Lima and visit the Villa marshes and Pucusana for litoral and inshore seabirds Overnight at our hotel close to the airport. (B,L,D)
	Day 8: Early morning flight from Lima to Iquitos and straight onto the Amazon for the fast boat ride to the Sucasari river and the comfortable ACTS canopy walkway lodge. Food and accommodation is excellent and from this lodge we will concentrate on tierra firme birds and especially night excursions for Nocturnal Currasow. We’ll arrive in time for lunch and take our first walk in the afternoon to the medicinal gardens in search of Cinereous Becard and the recently described Orange-eyed Flycatcher. (B,L,D)
	Day 9 and 10: All days exploring the canopv walkway and tierra firme forest. In tierra firme forest and from the canopy walkway we’ll be on the hunt for Dugand’s Antwren, Band-tailed Oropendola, Sapphire-rumped Parrotlet, Olive-striped Antpitta, White-browed Purpletuft, Paradise, Great and Yellow-billed Jacamars, Yellow-browed, Sooty, Bicolored, Lunulated, Spot-winged and Slate-colored Antbirds, Chestnut-belted Gnateater, Collared Antwren, Reddish and Black-spotted Bare-eyes and more. It’s a great place for Manakins, and we’ll visit leks of Band-tailed, Golden-headed, Striped, Blue-backed, Blue-crowned and Wiretailed. We have even seen Red-billed Ground-Cuckoo here. Local staff will be alert during the night for the song of Nocturnal Currasow and if we here one those who wish can participate in a night-time hunt for this rarely seen species. (B,L,D)
	Day 11 and 12: We’ll move to Explornapo Lodge to-day and for the next 2 days explore the varzea forest and river islands. Species we’ll be looking for include Zimmer’s Woodcreeper, Short-tailed Parrot, Lesser Wagtail Tyrant, Castelnau’s Antshrike, Parker’s and White bellied Spinetail, Bay and Lesser Hornero’s, Leaden Antwren, Bicolored and Pearly-vented Conebill, Black and White and Ash-breasted Antbirds, Olive-spotted Hummingbird, River Tyrannulet, and more. In varzea forest we’ll look for the recently described Orange-eyed Flycatcher (common), Yellow-crowned Elaenia, Cinnamon Atilla, Dot-backed Antbird, Velvet-fronted Grackle, Black Bushbird, Black-tailed Antbird (a localized endemic), Whitechinned Jacamar, Spotted Puffbird, and more. (B,L,D)
	Day 13: Early morning birding at Explornapo then by boat down the Amazon to Cumaceba Lodge. If time permits we’ll explore transitional floodplain and varzea forest trails. (B,L,D)
	Day 14: A full days birding at Cumaceba Lodge. This is varzea forest with ox-bow lakes. We’ll be looking here for Red and White Spinetail, Brownish Elaenia, Many-banded, Lettered and Ivory-billed Aracaris, Festive Parrot, Amazonian Barred Woodcreeper, Black-faced Hawk, Agami Heron, Long-billed Woodcreeper, Paradise Jacamar. Yellow-hooded Blackbird, White-eared Jacamar, Cinnamon Attila, Hoatzin and more. Black-tailed Antbirds are common here should we have missed it so far. We should be treated to looks at the Pygmy Marmoset – the worlds smallest primate and Pink River Dolphins should be encountered. Night Cumaceba Lodge. (B,L,D)
	Day 15: Morning birding at Cumaceba Lodge and in the afternoon by river to bustling Iquitos and our air conditioned hotel close to the banks of the Amazon River. We’ll celebrate with dinner in the “Iron House” designed by Eiffel and now home of the Regal Restaurant where our host the British Consul in Iquitos will treat us royally as we dine overlooking the bustling central Plaza in Iquitos. (B,L,D)
	Day 16 and 17: Two full days with early starts from Iquitos at the Allpamayo-Mishana reserve outside Iquitos. Here we’ll be on the lookout for some rare and recently found white sand forest birds – including the newly described Ancient Antwren, Allpahauyo Antbird, Mishana Tyrannulet, Northern Chestnut-tailed Antbird and a yet to be described Gnatcatcher. Other special birds here are Pompadour Cotinga, Yellow-throated Flycatcher, Orange-crowned Manakin, Sulphur-crested Tyrant-Manakin, Cinnamon-crested Spadebill, White-crowned Manakin, Citron-bellied Atilla, Zimmers Tody-Flycatcher, Red-legged Honeycreeper, Yellowbrowed Antbird and more. We’ll try some night birding - White-winged and Rufous Potoo are here as well as the commoner Crested and Spectacled Owls. All nights at a comfortable air conditioned hotel in Iquitos. One afternoon we’ll visit the Nanay river to look for Blackcrested Antshrike and the soon-to-be-split form of the Band-tailed Nighthawk.(B,L,D)
	Day 18: Morning birding around Iquitos and midday flight to Lima for connecting flights home. (B,L)
Departures 2010: Mar 7-24
2010 Rates per person: $5534. Single Supplement: $687 Does not include air Lima-Tumbes-Lima and Lima-Iquitos-Lima