Sorry for the wait - more boring Peru Pix...

Has been a while but I've been very busy painting all sorts of birds. Well, I guess one has to make a living somehow. I have no recent news so this is the first instalment of videograbs from my recent trip to Peru. Sorry, I have nothing else to bore you with just now... it can only get worse until the moths start flying.

Here are a few grabs from the final couple of days of the trip, mostly at a remarkable site called Marcapomacocha. Is in the high Andes and is well over 4000 metres above Lima, which is about four hours away by car.


A rather distant adult Andean Condor seen from the road with buses and trucks whizzing by. No trip to the high Andes is complete without a few Condors and we saw about eight on this day!


A singing Junin Canastero near the railway at Marcapomacocha. This bird was feeding a youngster in the bunchgrass. Was great to watch this endemic bird at close range.


A nice study of the great-looking White-fronted Ground-Tyrant. This is the largest of the ground-tyrants and it is always fun to watch them as they strut around on the boggy terrain.


One of the star birds at Marcapomacocha is the otherworldly Diademed Sandpiper-Plover, aka DSP. It is usually easy to find here though only one or two birds are normally encountered. There is nothing else like it and you walk away from the bird feeling like you've just seen something very special...


Just as special in a different way is the highly localized White-bellied Cinclodes. Endemic to the high Andes of central Peru this amazing bird is probably easier to see at Marcapomacocha than anywhere else in it's very small range. It's a brilliant bird with a lot of character and a dangerous feeding action!


One of my favorite birds of the high Andes is the lovely Slender-billed Miner. It is common but you never see too many, if you see what I mean. I like the subtle patterns on the plumage and, of course, that slender bill sets it apart from its cousins.


I had a bad dip with this wonderful bird last year so I was determined to nail it this time. Endemic to the high Andes of central Peru and restricted to patches of Polylepis forest it is usually essential to be on-site just as the sun hits the trees. We did this and low and behold the birds appeared right on cue! It was fantastic... and a relief! In the end we saw about eight individuals. And then they were gone.

So there you have it. Don't be shy with your comments now...