Owls of Northern Peru

Owls of Northern Peru

Owls are our favorite bird family, and we love to show owls to our clients and friends. We have designed this 14-day itinerary to take you to Northern Peru and show you some of the best birds of this part of the planet, like Marvelous Spatuletail, Peruvian Plantcutter, Tumbes Tyrant, Rufous-crested Coquette, Grey-breasted Mountain Toucan, Andean Condor, Torrent Duck, Chestnut and Ochre-fronted Antpittas, Royal Sunangel, Lulu’s Tody-Flycatcher, and of course as many owls as possible.

The endemic Koepcke’s Screech Owl is one of our many fantastic owl targets on this trip (photo Alan van Norman).

Birding Ecotours has been operating tours in Northern Peru for almost a decade and has been pioneering in developing a tour like this.

Our main objective during this trip will be to track down and show you possibly 18 species of owls. All of them have been recorded on previous Birding Ecotours tours, so we have good knowledge of where they are to be found.

Ferruginous Pygmy Owl is often active during the day.

From Lima we will fly to the tropical city of Tarapoto, where we will have the chance to see typical Amazon lowland species like White-throated Toucan for those who have never been in the lowlands before and to visit some nice hummingbird feeders with species like the endemic Koepcke’s Hermit, Gould’s Jewelfront, Black-throated Mango, and White-necked Jacobin, among others. Other species we might find include Hoatzin, Carmiol’s Tanager, Slaty-capped Shrike-Vireo, Slate-colored Grosbeak, Buff-fronted Foliage-gleaner, Green Honeycreeper, Black-faced Dacnis, Paradise Tanager, and many more. At night we will try for our first target of the trip, Tawny-bellied Screech Owl.

We will continue our trip, exploring an interesting area with a diverse mosaic of habitats like black river waters, open savanna and grasslands, and humid forest. Here we can find birds such as Sungrebe, Point-tailed Palmcreeper, Oilbird, a great set of hummingbird feeders visited by Rufous-crested Coquette, Black-throatedand Long-tailed Hermits, White-chinned and Golden-tailed Sapphire, Brown Violetear, and Grey-breasted Sabrewing. Others birds here include species like Rusty-backed Antwren, Black-faced Tanager, Wedge-tailed Grass Finch, Masked Duck, the endemic Huallaga Tanager, Lafresnaye’s Piculet, Fiery-throated Fruiteater, Black-and-white Tody-Flycatcher, and others. At night we will try for Band-bellied Owl, Stygian Owl, Striped Owl, Black-banded Owl, Tropical Screech Owl, and Vermiculated Screech Owl. Ferruginous Pygmy Owl can be seen by day and at night.

We will look for some owls at their day roosts, such as this Stygian Owl.

Later we will visit the pristine montane forest of Abra Patricia. On the way to the mountains, we will look for Andean Cock-of-the-rock and Versicolored Barbet among others. Here we will have a chance to find the first mixed feeding flocks of the tour. Our base at the mountains will be the Long-whiskered Owlet Lodge, and from here we will explore the area, looking for the endemic Chestnut and Ochre-fronted Antpittas, other classic cloudforest species like Pearled Treerunner, Streaked Tuftedcheek, White-capped Tanager, Chestnut-crested Cotinga, Green-and-black Fruiteater, Royal Sunangel, and Lulu’s Tody-Flycatcher, among others. At night we will try for Rufous-banded Owl, White-throated Screech Owl, Cinnamon Screech Owl, and the famous and mysterious Long-whiskered Owlet, one of the least-known owl species in the world, which was seen for the first times in 2008 and 2010, respectively.

We will visit the hummingbird feeders at the Huembo Interpretation Center, where we will have close-up views of the endemic Marvelous Spatuletail, and at night we will try for the elusive Buff-fronted Owl and for Koepcke’s Screech Owl.

The Leymebamba mountains are not only a very rich archeological area with impressive pre-hispanic buildings, but also very rich in avian diversity, with species like the endemic Yellow-scarfed Tanager, Scarlet-bellied Mountain Tanager, Golden-headed Quetzal, Northern Mountain Cacique, Blackish Tapaculo, and the endemic Russet-mantled Softtail, and we will also try for the recently recorded Neblina Tapaculo. Our main target here will be the Andean Pygmy Owl.

Tropical Screech Owl, another of our screech owl targets.

Finally we will descend to the coast for two days, looking on the way for species like Maranon Crescentchest, Maranon Spinetail, and the endemics Little Inca Finch, Peruvian Plantcutter and Rufous Flycatcher, and many more. Our last targets of the tour are West Peruvian Screech Owl, Pacific Pygmy Owl, and Burrowing Owl.

If you are a keen birder and have a particular fondness for owls, this is your trip! Come with us and discover this magical land and some of the best owls of this part of the world.

Please contact us for further details.

Please note that the itinerary cannot be guaranteed as it is only a rough guide and can be changed (usually slightly) due to factors such as availability of accommodation, updated information on the state of accommodation, roads, or birding sites, the discretion of the guides and other factors. In addition, we sometimes have to use a different international guide from the one advertised due to tour scheduling.