OUR  NEWLY UPDATED two weeks birding (13 days) trip; from the Pacific cost to the Andes and from Machu Picchu to the Amazon. The birds are genuinely breathtaking and we should encounter around 400 species, including some of the fanciest and most sought-after in the Neotropics.

Southern Peru’s east-slope, temperate birding at its best, featuring several endemics and scenic Andean Puna, plus Machu Picchu followed by great subtropical birding. Good accommodations, easy to moderate terrain with one difficult (optional) hike for Polylepis specialties.

The ruins at Machu Picchu tower above the rushing waters of Rio Urubamba which snakes its way thought the valley fifteen-hundred feet below. By staying one night at Aguas Calientes (6500 feet), and one night at Ollantaytambo, we will be able to experience the site both culturally and for its great birding. Although the ruins alone are worth the visit, the subtropical slopes and the narrow gorge below are surprisingly good for birds.

We’ll also work both sides of the eastern cordillera, traveling to the high pass at Abra Malaga along route that crosses the Andes on its way to the Amazonian lowlands and also Carrizales (bamboo) at the lower side where we regularly see more endemics concentration and mixed species flocks.

Manu Biosphere Reserve is a vast, spellbinding wilderness in southeastern Peru replete with some of the richest flora and fauna to be found anywhere in South America. It offers the uncontained possibilities of an entire ecosystem, from golden grasslands of the Puna zone down the eastern Andean slope through cloaking montane cloudforest into seemingly endless lowland rainforest.

From the Cusco valley, we climb endemic-rich arid slopes to the high Puna zone and then descend past treeline through temperate and subtropical cloudforest down to the foothill zone at the eastern base of the Andes. Based at several comfortable lodges, we will bird up and down one of the “birdiest” roads in the world (MANU ROAD), which ribbons its way through wilderness full of flagship east-slope species like Lyre-tailed Nightjar, Red-and-white Antpitta, Andean Cock-of-the-rock, White-collared Jay, Golden Tanager and Versicolored Barbet, and a handful of endemics and regional specialties. Then we have several days of birding in upper tropical rainforest while based at the lovely elevation of 1600 feet, with hummingbirds at feeders in the garden like Rufous-crested Coquette, Violet-fronted Hummingbird. Enjoy, Tawny-bellied Screech-Owls and Potoos calling outside your rooms at night, and explore a great trail system leading from the garden into several different habitat types.