​We pick you up at 06:00 am from your Cusco hotel early as this is a long day with many birds and sights to see. Your bird tour leader will greet you after breakfast and we will then head out south of town to Huarcapay Lakes. The lakes are surrounded by Inca and pre-Inca ruins. Here we will make a brief stop for a variety of high Andean waterfowl including Puna, Yellow-billed and Cinnamon Teal, Yellow-billed Pintail, Andean Duck and other wetland-associated birds. White-tufted Grebe and Slate-colored Coot will be here too. Depending on the time of year migrant North American shorebirds (waders) may also be present. We will be specifically on the look-out for Wren-like Rushbird, Many-colored Rush-tyrant, Yellow-winged Blackbird, Puna Ibis, Plumbeous Rail and Andean Negrito. Birds of prey we may see include Aplomado Falcon, Cinereous Harrier, Variable Hawk and Black-chested Buzzard-eagle. In the surrounding arid scrub, we will look for the endemic Rufous-fronted Canastero and Streak-fronted Thornbird. Continuing our journey over the highest point of the journey above Huancarani. We should find the endemic Bearded Mountaineer feeding in the tree tobacco (Nicotania sp.), along with Giant Hummingbird and Trainbearers. Peruvian, Ash-breasted and Mourning Sierra-finches will also be here, as well as Greenish Yellow-finch, Golden billed Saltator and Blue and Yellow Tanager.

Later we’ll look for the endemic Chestnut-breasted Mountain-finch. We should see Andean Hillstar, Andean Flicker, Black-throated Flowerpiercer and Chiguanco Thrush and other high Andean birds including ground-tyrants and Canasteros. Our next stop will be to look for the endemic Creamy-crested Spinetail. Traveling on we will arrive at the last Andean pass, Ajcanacu, and if the weather is clear we will be able to look out over the Amazon basin as it stretches into the distance, just as the Incas did when they would worship the sun rising over the endless rainforest.

In the afternoon we’ll arrive at the Wayqecha Cloud Forest Birding Lodge at an altitude of 2,800 meters for the lunch (13:00h). Wayqecha boasts six freshly renovated cabins which offer from your balcony a magnificent view to watch clouds roll across the Andes and Cloud Forest. Each cabin features comfortable beds (your choice of single, double or twin) with private, well appointed, bathrooms with hot showers. A brand-new dining room, lounge and bar welcome you for meals and provide comfortable seating for reviewing your lists at the end of the day.

Before the dinner you’ll be treated a brief talk about the scientific research conducted by ACCA at Wayqecha, this activity is optional and you can arrange directly with you guide.

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At breakfast we will be greeted with a varied dawn chorus, we’ll spend time around the lodge which has some attractive Hummingbird feeders and a worm feeder for the elusive endemic Urubamba Antpitta.

After an early hot breakfast, we then have a full day exploring the humid temperate forest from tree line down for such species as Mustached Flowerpiercer, Tit-like Dacnis, Golden-collared Tanager and Puna Thistletail. We will then spend the rest of the day birding downhill through the forest, looking for mixed feeding flocks that will contain Grass-green Tanager, Hooded Mountain-tanager, Black-throated Tody-flycatcher, Barred Fruiteater, White-banded and White-throated Tyrannulets and many more. If we are lucky, we may see Peruvian Treehunter, Golden-plumed Parakeet or even Greater Scythebill. Possibilities are many but we hope to encounter mixed species flocks comprising tanagers, flycatchers and ovenbirds. Gray-breasted Mountain-toucan, Collared Jay and Mountain Cacique are some of the many species we may find. One evening we may go to a favorite spot where we have had luck calling in Swallow-tailed Nightjar. We will then return for a second night.

​At breakfast we will again be greeted with a varied dawn chorus, with both Red and White Antpitta and Urubamba Antpitta calling (endemics). We’ll spend time around the lodge which has some attractive Hummingbird feeders and a worm feeder for the elusive endemic Urubamba Antpitta. We will then leave the Lodge and spend the whole day birding down a little-travelled road, bordered with pristine forest, until we reach our next destination. Some of the special birds which we will look for today include: Black and Chestnut Eagle, Andean Guan, Scaly-naped Parrot, Crimson-mantled Woodpecker, Bar-bellied Woodpecker, the endemic Marcapata Spinetail (endemic) and Fulvous Wren (endemic), Barred and Band-tailed Fruiteaters, Ochraceous-breasted Flycatcher, Barred Becard, Pale-footed Swallow and many tanagers. We will also encounter a wide variety of hummingbirds including Goulds Inca, Chestnut-breasted Coronet, Violet-throated Startfrontlet, Amethyst-throated Sunangel, Purple-backed Thornbill, Scaled Metaltail and White-bellied Woodstar. The list is endless. We will then spend the night at the comfortable Lodge at an altitude of 1,300 meters at San Pedro.

Early in the morning we are planning to visit the an Andean Cock-of-the-Rock lek, this will be a great opportunity for photos and observation of such a charming bird then we return to the lodge to have the breakfast overlooking the birdy garden and Hummingbird feeders, accompanied by the singing of Andean Solitaires and Paradise Tanagers, we will leave Cock-of-the-Rock lodge and spend the day birding slowly down the road until we reach our next lodge. We will pay particular attention today to the stretch of upper tropical zone forest between 1,500- and 800-meters altitude. This upper tropical zone forest has disappeared on much of the Andean slopes in South America because of its suitability for cash crops such as tea, coffee and coca. Fortunately, in this part of Peru this forest remains untouched. In winter we will be keeping a keen eye out for a spectacular newly described Inti Tanager, which we have seen on several of our tours. Other birds which we may see on this stretch of road include: Rufous-breasted Wood-quail, Speckle-faced Parrot, Yungas and Russet-crowned Warblers, Long-tailed Sylph, Lanceolated Monklet, Versicolored Barbet, Rufescent Antshrike, Rufous-lored Tyrranulet, Marble-faced Bristle-tyrant, Fulvous-breasted Flatbill, Golden-collared Honeycreeeper, White-winged Tanager, Yellow-throated Bush-tanager and the endemic Black-backed Tody-flycatcher. We plan to arrive at the comfortable Manu Biolodge in time for some birding in the lodge grounds. Nights at Manu Biolodge, at an altitude of 500 meters. The welcoming independent cabins have with floor-to-ceiling screened windows. Each well-appointed cabin features comfortable beds (your choice of single, double or twin) with mosquito nets and a luxurious private bathroom. A large dining room, lounge, and bar welcome you for meals and provide comfortable seating for reviewing your lists and relaxing at the end of the day.

We will spend these days two days working the birdy garden at the Lodge and trails. The lodge has a bird list of over 650 species. There are butterfly bushes in the lodge garden that attract various hummingbird species, including the pretty Rufous-crested Coquette, Golden-tailed Sapphire, Blue-tailed Emerald, Black-eared Fairy and Wire-crested Thorntail. The possibilities around the Lodge are enormous and we will bird a variety of habitats, including floodplain and hill forest. Some of the many species that we will be on the look-out for include: Wattled Guan, Military and Blue-headed Macaws, Pheasant Cuckoo, the endemic Koepcke’s Hermit, Chestnut-capped Puffbird, Fine-barred Piculet, Red-billed Scythbill, Thrush-like Antpittas, Rusty-belted Tapaculo, Mottle-backed Elaenia, Red-billed Tyrranulet, Johannis’ and Yellow-browed Tody-tyrant, Ornate Flycatcher, Band-tailed, Fiery-capped and Round-tailed Manakins, White-thighed Swallow. We will also have the possibility of night birding whilst staying here and in the past, we have seen Mottled Owl, Black-banded Owl, Tawny-bellied Screech-owl, Great, Long-tailed and Common Potoos. The area around Manu Biolodge lodge is characterized by large stands of Chusquea bamboo and we will spend the morning looking for some specialties of this micro-habitat, such as White-cheeked and Flammulated Tody-tyrants, Large-headed Flatbill, Dusky-cheeked Foliage-gleaner, Rufous-headed Woodpecker, Manu, White-lined and Goeldi’s Antbirds, Red-billed Scythebill, Bamboo Antshrike, Ornate and Dot-winged Antwrens. Scarlet-hooded Barbet is here too, along with a wide variety of foothill species. There are feeders where Amazonian Antpitta and Tinamous attend. One day we’ll bird the road to Atalaya planning to be at the Atalaya look out over the Madre de Dios River and visit two sets of Hummingbird feeders to add yet more species to our Hummingbird list. There is much to see here at this comfortable lodge and not only birds, we shall surely meet some troops of primates and other Amazon wildlife.

After breakfast, with a packed lunch, we’ll head back up the east slope of the Andes making stops along the way for species, we have missed on the way down arriving in the late afternoon in Cusco for the night.