Rufous Potoo is one of the rarest of the potoos, and possible on the Iquitos tour.

The Brown-banded Puffbird is rare and local in Peru, and regularly seen at Mishana.

Paradise Jacamar is seen often from the Canopy Walkway.

Striped Manakin is one of the fanciest of the manakins, and found at Explornapo Lodge.

We often see Sunbittern right on the grounds of Explornapo Lodge.

Another fancy mankin, the Wire-tailed Manakin is found in the flooded forest at Explornapo Lodge.

One of the more improbable-looking birds, the Collared Puffbird can be seen at Explornapo.

The Canopy Walkway is both safe and exciting, and provides access to one of the most incredible aspects of the rainforest - the canopy!

It looks like a giant manakin, the Black-necked Red-Cotinga is one of the more impressive cotingas found at Explornapo.

The Blue-crowned Trogon is one of several trogon species found at the Canopy Walkway

PERU: EXPLORNAPO LODGE, THE CANOPY WALKWAY, AND MISHANA WHITE-SANDS FOREST

2011

Saturday February 5 to Tuesday February 15

Guided by Gary Rosenberg

Price $3800

The Amazonian region of northeastern Peru has an incredibly rich avifauna. The Iquitos area, in combination with a comfortable set of lodges operated by Explorama, makes for an exciting and rewarding short trip, with more than 550 species recorded on our tour’s route. We’ll begin with two days in Iquitos, with daily visits to the interesting white sands forest at the Mishana-Allpahuayo Reserve, at which we will search for no fewer than five new species of birds, that have been recently described from here! We’ll then travel down the impressive Amazon River to Explornapo Lodge and the ACTS Field Station, where we’ll have the better part of seven full days to explore the excellent trails, oxbow lakes, Amazonian river islands and best of all, the famous Canopy Walkway. The forest birding here is excellent, as is the service at the lodges, which have been in existence for more than 40 years!

We’ll have the better part of two and a half days to bird the now-famous Mishana-Allpahuayo Reserve outside of Iquitos. Here we will look for newly described species, such as the Allpahuayo Antbird, Mishan Tyrannulet, and Iquitos Gnatcatcher, among others. The birding here is incredibly interesting, with a number of the species we search for quite rare and local in Peru, such as the fancy Pompadour Cotinga, and the very local Brown-banded Puffbird. The forest birding here is fun and exciting, with a dash of the unexpected!

After Mishana, we’ll travel down the mighty Amazon river to a series of three lodges, Explorama Lodge, Explornapo Lodge, and the ACTS Field Station where the famous Canopy Walkway is located. The Explorama lodge system is not overly fancy, but is quite comfortable, with excellent service – and they cater quite well to a birding tour such as ours. We’ll have an entire week to visit and explore the three lodges, concentrating greatly on both Explornapo and the Canopy Walkway. Here the rainforest is quite intact, and the forest birding is excellent. Will cover a variety of different habitats, from oxbow lakes to Amazonian River Islands, to terra firme forest trails, to the wonderful canopy.

The number of incredible birds we’ll have a chance of seeing is quite impressive – with more than 500 species found at the lodges . We’ll have the chance of seeing about 50 species of antbirds, including the fancy White-plumed Antbird, and several stunning cotingas, hopefully including the lovely Black-necked Red Cotinga. The trip is also great for a nice variety of parrots, toucans, puffbirds, jacamars, tanagers, and of course, flycatchers! We’ll even do some night-birding and possibly encounter incredible birds such as Long-tailed or Rufous Potoo!