Huacarpay & San Salvador Birding Tour

Your birding day begins with an early pick-up from your Cusco hotel in private transport. After a scenic 40-minute drive southeast through the Cusco Southern Valley, we reach the Huacarpay Wetlands (3,020 m / 9,900 ft), a RAMSAR site surrounded by ancient Lucre and Wari remains. Around the open lakes, reed beds and scrubby slopes we look for regional endemics such as the Bearded Mountaineer feeding on tree tobacco, the Rusty-fronted Canastero and the vibrant Many-colored Rush-Tyrant. The wetlands also host Puna Teal, Cinnamon Teal, Yellow-billed Pintail, Andean Duck, White-tufted Grebe, Plumbeous Rail, Andean Lapwing, Puna Ibis and Andean Gull, plus Giant Hummingbird and raptors such as Aplomado Falcon and Cinereous Harrier. We then climb to the open puna plains and glacial lakes on the pass toward San Salvador (3,870–4,175 m / 12,700–13,700 ft). With snow-capped peaks all around, we enjoy a freshly prepared picnic lunch before scouting the high lakes and Polylepis scrub for Giant Coot, Andean Goose, Crested Duck, Silvery Grebe, Chestnut-breasted Mountain-Finch, Tit-like Dacnis, Shining Sunbeam, Andean Hillstar and the White-capped Dipper along fast-flowing streams. In the late afternoon we drive back to your hotel in Cusco.