Country: Bolivia
Categories
Bolivia Birding Tour: Blue-throated and Red-fronted Macaws
A 22-day birding journey across Bolivia’s Amazonian lowlands, savannas, cloudforests, dry valleys and high Andes, with an optional six-day Apolo and Palkachupa Cotinga extension.
Read More
Puna Stops en route to La Paz
A few puna stops on the drive to La Paz offer a last chance for anything not yet found on the high-altitude list. The open grassland of the puna, with its canasteros, miners, ground tyrants and yellow finches, is a fitting way to close the high-country birding before the tour turns toward the Yungas, and gives a relaxed opportunity to work a few species with time on our side.
Read MoreMorning Birding near Charazani
We enjoy some final birding early in the morning near Charazani, working the immediate surroundings of the town before the drive to La Paz. It is a last, unhurried opportunity to take in the northern Andes and to pick up anything still missing from the trip list, a quiet end to the extension before the long road south.
Read MoreFinal Birding in the Apolo Region
After some final birding in the Apolo region, the group returns to the dry woodland and cerrado fragments for one last look at the area's specialities, a chance to return to a favoured site or to sit quietly with the Palkachupa Cotinga before the long road back. It is a calm, reflective close to the extension's core quest.
Read MoreFinal Birding around Riberalta
A short final morning or early afternoon of birding around Riberalta closes the Amazonian phase of the tour. It is a last chance to spend time in the humid forest and cerrado at the junction of the Cerrado and the Amazon, and to catch any species still missing from the lowland list before the flight south. The mood is quiet and unhurried, a calm end to the rainforest chapter.
Read MoreCoroico Road Return Birding
Much of the day is spent birding again along the Coroico Road, a further chance to work the middle-elevation Yungas forest for Diademed Tapaculo, Scimitar-winged Piha and the other specialities of the pass, and to fill any gaps in the list. It is a second opportunity in a habitat that rewards patience, before we return through La Paz and continue to Sorata for the night.
Read MoreCochabamba Eucalyptus for Bolivian Blackbird
Close to Cochabamba, Bolivian Blackbirds are usually found singing in introduced eucalyptus trees. These virtually all-black birds, with a subtle flash of brown on the primaries, are endemic to the Cochabamba Valley and belong to a monotypic genus; the range-restricted Brown-backed Mockingbird is also looked for. It is a short, focused early outing to secure a speciality of the valley before the long drive west.
Read MoreCloudforest Birding on Arrival at Los Volcanes
After an early road transfer into the Andean foothills, most of the day is spent birding at Los Volcanes on arrival, effectively adding a first afternoon in the cloudforest basin. The setting — a forested basin beneath immense red sandstone sugarloaf domes — makes itself known immediately, and the first hours give a taste of the near-endemics and mixed flocks that occupy the next day. It is a calm way to settle into the Andes.
Read MoreBirding Stops between Charazani and Atén
The birding stops on the drive to Atén give a first taste of the Apolo valley. Torrent Ducks are very common on the streams, and the dry woodland and roadside holds Band-tailed Nightjar, Crimson-mantled Woodpecker and the aspersiventer form of Variable Antshrike, with another chance for the stunning but uncommon Hooded Mountain Toucan. Near Apolo there is some yungas forest birding, although the roadside is increasingly deforested — the valley's isolation is real.
Read More