We arrived in San Damian just after 4pm and decided to backpack up to a campsite rather than camping in town. This gave us a better shot at Koepke's Screech-Owl (which we heard but didn't see) and Russet-bellied Spinetail, a fairly rare mid-elevation Peruvian endemic. We had to work hard first thing in the morning for the spinetail, but eventually all got good looks!
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The town of San Damián. Note our two vehicles (with Julio and Lucho) in the center of town. |
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The San Damián health building. |
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We are loaded up and ready for the two-hour hike |
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We felt like the trail went "straight up" . . . The temps were fairly hot, so by the time we arrived at the campsite, we were drenched in sweat! |
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Our camping destination was wayyyyyyy up there, just below the further "knob" in the saddle. When I figure out how to draw an arrow with photoshop, I'll add it to this image! |
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At first glance this arid habitat looked pretty bleak. However, we did see some neat wildlife along the way including a couple lizards. |
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Here's a different lizard. |
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And here's an incredible desert amaryllis. |
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close-up |
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Jeff searching for a Russet-bellied Spinetail. |
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David spots the Russet-bellied Spinetail! |
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Incredible mountain scenery here. |
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After successful birding above San Damián, we hiked back down to town the next morning around 9:30ish. You can see San Damián as that little dot in the middle of the photo. |
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Our reward for a successful hike down was to spend a few minutes in this store (note the earthen floor) in San Damián and enjoy a nice room-temperature beverage :-) |
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Goyo's making sure we're heading in the right direction! |
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We left San Damián late morning and drove for hours through an agricultural valley toward the coast. |
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Typical housing along the agricultural valley. |
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Another typical roadside scene in Peru . . . |
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We finally hit the coast and starting heading South along through the Atacama Desert, which runs from Peru down through Chile and is one of the driest deserts in the world! |
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Lomas de Lachay is a preserve featuring some very unusual habitats in a "moist" section of the Atacama desert (mostly from fog). Here we saw Grayish Miners and the endemic Cactus Canestero! Please note that one must contact Ernesto Malaga at xenospingus@yahoo.com to secure the proper permits to visit this "off-limits" section of the reserve. |
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Sr. Juan surveying our final tailgate breakfast in Peru 2003! |
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Packing up the truck after breakfast |
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We then visited the main entrance to Lomas de Lachay, where we saw Thick-billed Miners and Band-tailed Sierra-Finches among other goodies. |
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Loasa urens (Loasaceae) |
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close-up |
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Dan gazing at Oasis Hummingbirds |
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Derb, Harry, & Jeff watching a Thick-billed Miner |
After leaving Lomas de Lachay, we continued south toward Lima, stopping at some coastal marshes along the way for some good wetland birding where I photographed several good birds. Check them out on my Birds of Peru Photo Gallery. It was here that I also managed a decent dragofly shot. In general, we didn't see many dragonflies, and those that we did see were quite tough to photograph!
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Sid Dunkle says this Darner is probably in the genus Rhionaeschna, recently split from Aeschna. |
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Finally we continued South along the Pan-American Highway through the town of Ventanilla (seen here) and then into Lima, the capital of Peru. |
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Ventanilla is probably not my first choice of vacation villages . . . |
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Inca Cola, the number one drink in Peru, was often our beverage of choice! |
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You can see from the billboard picture why we preferred Inca Cola over some of the other choices . . . |
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The Hotel Mami Panchita -- our excellent accomodations in Lima! |
ITINERARY: Jump to another section of the trip.
Created on ... December 16, 2003 | jeffpippen9@gmail.com