May
12th,
2018
Hot
and sunny, cloud builds for afternoon thunderstorms up and down the
valley, light rain
I
am awake and up early in order to go out birding, walking the railway
track north again in the semi-darkness of dawn. Scrub Blackbirds are
noisy and I count eight before the next bird goes onto the eBird list
I am doing. Going on the eBird website the night before, I noted that
there wasn't a record for Izcuchaca and I feel a bit of a birding
pioneer. Not that there are many birds, for as the Sun hits the high
hill tops, thousands of feet above the valley floor and as I walk
along to the cemetery building and adjacent football and basketball
pitches, my pen is hardly used. Rufous-collared Sparrows are the most
common bird. There are Sparkling Violetears, Eared Doves,
Band-tailed Seedeaters and Chiguanca Thrushes, with a small,
unconcerned American Kestrel on a telegraph wire. It doesn't fly away
despite me walking right next to it to access a pathway.
There
is a radio mast, painted red and white and surrounded by a high stone
wall. On a wire is a new bird for the year and one that confirms a
bird that Jason Oliver, a birding friend since he was in my class
may, many years ago, and I had at Machu Picchu last year. It is a
White-winged
Black Tyrant,
a small, almost totally black flycatcher-like bird. It has white on
the inside of the tail and I can just make out paler wing coverts but
it is when it flies that the white on the wings really shows. On the
wall that surrounds the mast there is another new bird, a Blue-capped
Tanager.
Not a very distinctive bird, the dark on the face gives a robber's
mask appearance.
I
cross a dirt road and climb a stony path that leads past two dry
dusty fields with cacti and low bushes along the edge. This leads up
the hill and at the top of the second field there is a row of fir
trees, not very tall. As I watch a nearby Band-tailed Seedeater,
another new bird lands on the furthest fir to the left and proceeds
to go from one to the next giving a 'chip' call. It is black-headed,
the black extending down it's back with bright yellow underparts and
a couple of white marks on it's closed wings. It also has a very
large grey bill. A Black-backed
Grosbeak,
another new bird, the morning is going well. A small hummingbird
lands on a telegraph wire and then on a twig projecting from a small
tree very close to me, in fact it is so close that I can't focus the
camera on it! A White-bellied Hummingbird, I try to back off but it
is gone.
After
another two hours of following a dirt road up the hill and exploring
a deep dry, bush and cacti filled ravine and fields, I turn and
return to the village. My eBird list has seventeen species on it,
including a small Eleania species that although the belly is only
faintly yellow, I feel must be a Sierran Eleania, a new species for
me and obviously a new bird for the Green Year list. I have some poor
photographs which I hope will confirm my suspicions over the
tentative identification. Part of the fun in birding is having
conundrums and a small, pale bird deep in a bush with white edges to
tertials and a pale eye ring is just such a thing.
Back
at the hotel I have everything set up to watch the incoming text
service on the BBC website for the Middlesborough vs Aston Villa play
of first leg match. I know that back in the UK my Dad and brother,
Paul will be in the living room watching. Will Dad last the match or
will the tension get to him. Dad is 86 and has heart trouble if he
gets too anxious and this match is an important one for Villa fans
everywhere, including this one in Peru! We want to get back to the
Premiership. An ex student, Chloe has been messaging me on Facebook
about the match and how nervous she is. Well Chloe, have faith. The
boys will do it.
Final
score, 1 – 0 to the Villa! Brilliant. I am sure that everyone in
the village heard me shout when Villa scored in the first half, a
Jedinak header from a corner glanced into the goal via the far post.
It could have been more. Villa hit the post and a mazy run by young
Jack Grealish from his own half has the goalkeeper stretching to make
the save. Well done Villa! Now for the home leg on Tuesday evening.
Can I find a village with the internet by then? I hope so
Outside
again in the early afternoon to go birding I am surprised at how hot
it is now. Just a few days ago I was freezing in Huancayo. A couple
of weeks ago I was pushing the bike as snow fell around me! Now it is
sweltering and I worry that my lips will get badly sunburnt again.
There are practically no birds singing, moving or letting me see them
as I follow the same route up the hill. I don't blame them. It is
hot. Yet clouds are building over the hill tops and after two hours
or so of walking up the hill, rain starts to fall and there are two
thunderstorms, one to the south and another to the north. I shelter
beneath a huge cactus and watch as a bit of hail falls and light
rain. I am lucky that there is ten miles or so between each
thunderstorm and I am in the middle and the rain isn't too heavy.
Lightning flashes and I count.
The
rain stops and I walk back down to the village. The south
thunderstorm seems to be heading around the back of the eastern hills
to join up with it's northern friend. Back in the hotel I fall asleep
surprisingly and find myself waking at around eight. I hadn't
realised I felt so tired and I just undress and go to bed proper.
I'll eat in the morning.
Green
Year list : 191 birds average new birds to list per day : 4.55
birds
altitude
: 9,547 feet
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