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individual of Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle for the trip. The dainty Yellow-billed Tern was also a
regular sight during the journey. Soon the massive Pantiacolla ridge appeared on the horizon and by
late morning we had arrived at Pantiacolla Lodge where we would overnight. We wasted little time
in heading out on the trails both before and after lunch and were well rewarded. The major highlight
of today was our encounter with a family group of Pale-winged Trumpeters. We also enjoyed
fabulous sightings of Striolated Puffbird, White-cheeked Tody-Flycatcher and Brown-rumped Foliagegleaner.
Other highlights from today included Great Tinamou, Broad-billed Motmot, Scarlet-hooded
Barbet, Rufous-headed Woodpecker (alas, only for some), Striated, Manu and White-lined Antbirds,
and Short-tailed Pygmy-Tyrant.
The next morning started off really well with a first-year Long-tailed Potoo on his call perch. After
breakfast we visited a nearby clay-lick where we saw several Blue-headed Macaws perched in
addition to a nice assortment of other parrots that included White-eyed Parakeet. An added bonus
was our first Little Ground-Tyrant of the trip walking along the sandy river bank. Back on the lodge
trails we all managed to catch up with a male Scarlet-hooded Barbet as only a few of us saw the one
yesterday. This near-endemic is one of the more spectacular specialities of southeast Peru. It became
immediately obvious as the morning progressed that a dreaded cold front or friaje had moved into the
area dropping both the temperatures and the bird activity. These cold fronts move into the lowlands
of south-eastern Peru when austral winter storms push north from southern South America. The forest
was much more quiet today but we still managed to have good sightings of Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl,
Lineated Woodpecker, Cabanis’s Spinetail, Olivaceous Woodcreeper, Plain-throated Antwren, and
Large-headed and Dusky-tailed Flatbills. We also had an exciting (and smelly) encounter with a herd
of at least 50 tooth-clacking White-lipped Peccary including a few large males. Then by late morning
we continued downstream on the Rio Madre de Dios towards Boca Manu and the Manu River. The
friaje made for a cold and wet journey today with most of us bundled up in our cold weather gear,
not exactly the sort of temperatures you expect in the Amazon basin! We were all glad to reach the
Manu park guard station by mid-afternoon where we signed in before continuing our journey up the
Manu River to the newly opened Romero Rainforest Lodge inside Manu National Park. Some of the
river birds seen during the journey included Horned Screamer, Bat Falcon, Pied Lapwing, Collared
Plover and Black Skimmer. Everyone was delighted with the accommodation particularly with the
gas-heated hot showers and we were eager to get into the surrounding forest given we were the first
birders to ever stay there. Most participants had previously looked forward to birding inside the
fabled Manu National Park for some time.
Over the next two days we did a fairly thorough survey of the connecting trails between Romero and
the Limonal ranger station walking around 8 kilometres each day sometimes more. However this
distance was manageable thanks to the cool weather of the friaje. We made the most of being in the
field each day by having our cook Aurelio together with our boat crew bring out a fine picnic lunch
(hot!) to wherever we happened to be in the forest around midday. The forest was a mix of
regenerated floodplain with some terra firme and bird diversity appeared to be quite high. One of our
favourite sightings of the whole trip was from the lodge clearing where a male White-flanked
Antwren sat on a low perch and shivered his wings in time with his song, marvellous! Further afield
we saw some goodies in the upland bamboo stands which included Rufous-breasted Piculet, Redbilled
Scythebill, Ihering’s Antwren, Long-crested Pygmy-Tyrant, White-cheeked Tody-Tyrant and
Brown-rumped Foliage-gleaner. We tried our best to find the newly described Rufous Twistwing but
despite our efforts it remains unknown from this particular forest. A Razor-billed Curassow was seen
out on the river bank early one morning as we set off in our boat, and in general we were able to see
a nice collection of Amazonian birds during our stay at Romero. Highlights included Bartlett’s
Tinamou seen on more than one occasion, a superb close-perched Ornate Hawk-Eagle (thanks
Martine!), a Banded Antbird on his understorey song perch, fairly common Casqued Oropendolas, a
lovely pair of Scale-backed Antbirds, the oddly wonderful Musician Wren and a very cooperative
Olive-backed Foliage-gleaner. We looked far and wide along the Romero trails for Black-faced
Cotinga in suitable habitat but had nary a sniff probably due to the friaje. The cold temperatures of
6 Birdquest: The Manu 20011