Rufous-breasted Warbling-finch, July 16th 2006.

What a climax to our North Peru trip! After a very noisy night of July 14th in the Hotel Peregrino in Trujillo thanks to a party of students staying there, we headed out to Sinsicap. The three hour ride took us into the Andes where after some considerable effort we had excellent views of the rare endemic Russet-bellied Spinetail. "Extras" here included Bay-crowned Brush-finch and best of all, Piura Chat-tyrant. This was a real bonus as we had dipped on this endemic at Abra Porculla earlier in the trip thanks to windy conditions. Our LAN flight to Lima had been put back to 21.40 hrs, so we arrived at Santa Eulalia at 00.30 hrs on 16th with a rave going on in town. With only a couple of hours sleep we wearily made our way up the valley and just after dawn we had good looks at the rare Rufous-breasted Warbling-finch (endemic to Peru - this photo from December 2004) as well as some Rusty-bellied Brush-finches, Streaked Tit-spinetail, Pied-crested Tit-tyrant, Black-necked Woodpecker and Bronze-tailed Comet. Before heading back to Jorge Chavez Airport in Lima we managed to find Great Inca-finch in the midday heat - our fourth inca-finch of the trip.
A great trip and thanks to David, Duncan, Liz & Tony, Jane and John for their company, humour, enthusiasm and bird-finding skills.

Next trip: Bolivia August 2006.