OVERVIEW
Our day begins early when we pick you up at your hotel or the Cusco airport and head for the Sacred Valley. On our way to the Chinchero town we pass through farms and high lagoon and stop at several good birding spots so Puna Teal, Andean Goose, Andean Gull, White-tufted Grebe, Puna Ibis, Slate-colored Coot. After lunch in Urubamaba, we make our way to Ollantaytambo, birding as we go, looking for the Andean Swift, White-bellied Hummingbird, Green-tailed Trainbearer, Peruvian Sierra Finch, and Greenish-yellow Finch. We’ll also stop at Yanahuara to look for the Bearded Mountaineer, Rusty-fronted Canastero, Chestnut-breasted Mountain Finch, Sword-billed Hummingbird, Sparkling Violetear, Tyrian Metaltail, Giant Hummingbird, Golden-billed Saltator, Red-crested Cotinga, and many other endemic species.
We’ll spend the night in the Inca town of Ollantaytambo.
Meals: Box lunch,D.
Overnight: Pakaritampu Hotel, Ollantaytambo (2700mts)
Many colored rush tyrant
After an early morning breakfast we’ll drive over the Abra Malaga Pass (4316m/14,160 ft) to the opposite side of the pass and the elfin forest at Canchayoc. Here we will look for the Diademed Tapaculo, Unstreaked Tit-Tyrant, Golden-collared Tanager, Violet-throated Starfrontlet, Parodi´s Hemispingus, Marcapata Spinetail, Tit-like Dacnis, Cuzco Brush-Finch, Rufous-bellied Bush-Tyrant, Puna Snipe and many others. With luck we’ll hear and see the Red-and-White, Rufous and Undulated antpittas.
After a box lunch we’ll walk through vast, subalpine Polylepis woodland, birding for the rare Royal Cinclodes, Ash-breasted Tit-Tyrant and White-browed Tit-Spinetail. Others we will see are the Giant Conebill, Line-fronted and Junin Canasteros, Puna (Andean) Tapaculo, Stripe-headed Antpitta, Thick-billed Siskin, Tawny Tit-Spinetail, Red-rumped Bush-Tyrant, Puna Thistletail and various species of ground-tyrants. Back on the main road we’ll have the opportunity to see the Chestnut-breasted Mountain-Finch and Andean Condor diving over the valley.
Meals: B,Box lunch,D.
Overnight: Pakaritampu Hotel, Ollantaytambo (2700mts)
We’ll spend the morning on the mountainside of the Malaga Pass looking for the birds we didn’t see the previous day, Las Peñas mid elevation toward the pass is an obligated stop for brids like Rust and yellow Tanager, Black-throated & Masked Flowerpiercer, White-tufted Sunbeam, Creamy-crested Spinetail (Endemics). We return to the hotel, have lunch in a nice restaurant and catch the train to Machu Picchu. The two-hour train ride takes us along the scenic Urubamba River to the town of Aguas Calientes (2000m/6561ft). We may see Torrent Ducks, White-capped Dippers, and other water birds along the way. We’ll have relaxed dinner and spend the night in Aguas Calientes.
Meals: B, Lunch,D.
Overnight: Tierra Viva Hotel, Aguas Calientes – Machupicchu (2000mts)
Machupicchu
After an early breakfast and a twenty five-minute bus ride we arrive at the entrance of Machu Picchu. Before we begin our formal tour of these impressive Inca ruins we’ll get a chance to wander around and bird for the endemic Inca Wren, Cusco Brush-Finch and Green-and-White Hummingbird. A guide will help us explore this architectural and archeological gem – one of the new 7 wonders of the World!
The lower elevations, just below Machu Picchu, teem with species such as the Mitred Parakeet, Barred Parakeet, Andean Guan, Cock-of-the Rock, Ocellated Piculet, White-eared Solitaire, Highland Motmot, Variable Antshrike, Grey-breasted Mountain-Toucan, Black-streaked Puffbird, White-crested, Sierran and Highland Elaenias, the endemic Masked Fruiteater, Saffron-crowned, Rust-and-Yellow and Beryl-spangled tanagers, as well as Mottled-cheeked and Sclater’s tyrannulets.
Meals: B, Lunch, D.
Machupicchu
Overnight: Tierra Viva Hotel, Aguas Calientes – Machupicchu (2000mts)
During our second day in Aguas Calientes we will be birding around the Mandor Valley. We should see Pale-legged and Russet-crowned warblers, Masked Fruiteater, Saffron-crowned, Rust-and-Yellow and Beryl-spangled tanagers, Inca Flycatcher, Mottled-cheeked and Sclater’s tyrannulets, as well as the Peruvian national bird – the Andean Cock-of-the-Rock. In the midmorning we’ll catch the train back to Ollantaytambo so the lunch on Urubamba. After we’ll take our private vehicle to Cusco.
Meals: B,L.
Overnight: Costa del Sol Ramada Hotel, Cusco city (3300mts)
Meals: B.
Today we relax and explore the city of Cusco city highlights by our own and according to the flights schedule we transfer you to the airport for the domestic flight to Lima
The end of our tour.
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