Deluxe Machu Picchu and Abra Malaga: The lost city of the Incas with Endemics and Condors

Day 1: Transfer to your Lima hotel. 

When arriving to Lima, and you have picked up your luggage and past customs, you will find your name at one of the three taxi services on the left in front of you. And a private service to your comfortable three-star hotel in the Miraflores district of Lima. Meals are not included. 

Day 2. Lima coast. Inca Tern, Humboldt Penguin, and Many-colored Rush-Tyrant.

After breakfast, we travel for 40 minutes to Chilca Lagoons, which has recently become a hotspot for the rare Peruvian Tern and Peruvian Martin. We don’t see them every time, but there is a possibility. Regardless, the Chilca Lagoons is excellent for many shorebirds and ducks as well as the recently split Peruvian Pipit. You also have a good chance of seeing Peruvian Thick-knee, Great Grebe, and Many-colored Rush-Tyrant nearby. 

Near the vicinity Hacienda San Andres, it is usually easy to find Vermilion Flycatcher, Drab, Parrot-billed and Chestnut-throated Seedeaters, Collared Warbling-Finch, Streaked Saltator (the unstreaked immaculatus form which may be a future split), and the recently split Rufescent Flycatcher.

After some freshly oven-made bread with different fillings and ice-cream, we continue to the picturesque fishing port of Pucusana, where we get excellent opportunities to photograph the cracking Inca Tern. We also make a short boat ride to get closer views of Humboldt Penguin, Red-legged Cormorant, Peruvian Seaside (Surf) Cinclodes, Blackish Oystercatcher, Guanay Cormorant and Peruvian Booby and Peruvian Pelican. Sometimes also Blue-footed Booby and Peruvian Diving-Petrel can be seen. 

If time permits, we will also make a stop at the most famous Lima wetland Pantanos de Villa. Dinner and the night at hotel in Miraflores.

Day 3. Santa Eulalia. Peruvian Sheartail and Condor. 

We shall make a 4 AM or 4.30 start straight for Santa Eulalia Canyon to be in position when the Condors start flying. We also have a great chance of seeing the rare Rufous-breasted Warbling-Finch. Other west slope specialties are common here, such as Black-necked Flicker, Oasis Hummingbird, Purple-collared Woodstar, Peruvian Sheartail, Bronze-tailed Comet, Great Inca-Finch, Peruvian Pygmy-Owl, Canyon Canastero, Rusty-bellied Brush-Finch, White-winged Cinclodes, Pied-crested Tit-Tyrant, Rusty-crowned Tit-Spinetail, Streaked Tit-Spinetail, Peruvian and Mourning Sierra-Finch and many others.

We will have a picnic breakfast and lunch during the outing. 
Dinner is included at the Hotel in Miraflores. 

Day 4: Cusco-Sacsayhuaman-Ollantaytambo-Aguas Calientes

The tour begins with a 5 am flight from Lima arriving in Cuzco at around 6.30 am. We’ll take a short drive around Cusco’s main plaza with the cathedral and a short stop if time permits to bird close to the impressive Inca ruins of Sacsayhuaman above town Creamy-crested Spinetail, Chestnut-breasted Mountain-Finch, Peruvian Sierra-Finch, Yellow-billed Tit-Tyrant, Chiguanco Thrush, Red-backed Hawk, Black-backed Grosbeak, Sparkling Violetear and Golden-billed Saltator are all possible here.
We then travel over the Chincheros plain with gasping views of the glaciers of the Vilcanota range.
We will leave our main luggage at the Pakaritampu Hotel and repack our day pack with enough clothes and toiletries to last us until tomorrow evening.

Around 11.53 AM we take train to Aguas Calientes. From the train, we shall look out for Torrent Duck, White-capped Dipper, and Torrent Tyrannulet in the stream that runs along the railroad track. Usually, these are also seen in Aguas Calientes depending on the water levels. To save some time, we carry a box lunch to be eaten on the train. 

After checking in at Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel, we will take the bus to Machu Picchu citadel for an afternoon visit. A little known fact is that the light for photography at Machu Picchu is much better in the afternoon than early morning and there are far fewer people. Close to the ruins one can find the endemic Inca Wren, White-winged Black-Tyrant, Dull-colored Seedeater, Highland Elaenia, sometimes Peregrine or Orange-breasted Falcon and Green-and-White Hummingbird.

Back in Aguas Calientes at dusk, those who want can look for Lyre-tailed Nightjar near the hotel.  Fine dining at Hotel Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel where we spend the night. 

Day 5: Birding Machu Picchu. 

An early start with a predawn breakfast. The area below the ruins is rich with birds and many good species can be seen such as: Torrent Duck, White-capped Dipper, Mitred Parakeet, Barred Parakeet, Andean Guan, Andean Cock-of-the Rock, Ocellated Piculet, White-eared Solitaire, Highland Motmot, Variable Antshrike, Black-streaked Puffbird, White-crowned, Sierran and Highland Elaenias, the endemic Masked Fruiteater, Saffron-crowned, Flame-faced, Rust-and-Yellow and Beryl-spangled Tanagers, Mottled-cheeked and Sclater’s Tyrannulet and many more. We do some additional birding at the Pueblo Hotel gardens where both hummingbirds and tanagers attend the feeders. We return to Ollantaytambo after a late lunch, to have enough time to visit also the impressive Ollantaytambo ruins, or birdwatch in the Pakaritampu Hotel gardens. 

Day 6: Birding Abra Malaga

If you are fit, you will leave at 5.30 for the drive to the Abra Malaga pass at 4200m, where we shall make a short but quite strenuous walk to the Polylepis woodland full of endemic and rare birds such as Royal Cinclodes, Ash-breasted Tit-Tyrant, and White-browed Tit-Spinetail. Among other specialties are Giant Conebill, Line-fronted and Junin Canastero, Puna Tapaculo, Stripe-headed Antpitta, Thick-billed Siskin, Tawny Tit-Spinetail, Red-rumped Bush-Tyrant, and Puna Thistletail.
While the fitter participants do their walk the driver will go back to Ollantaytambo to fetch those who have decided not to do the hike. 

At 10 am we all meet up at the pass to continue to the north side of the pass and the wet temperate forest at Canchayoc. The scenery is stunning. 

Here we may see Diademed Tapaculo, Unstreaked Tit-Tyrant, Golden-collared Tanager, Violet-throated Starfrontlet, Parodi´s Hemispingus, Marcapata Spinetail, Tit-like Dacnis, Plushcap, Cuzco Brushfinch, and Rufous-bellied Bush-Tyrant. Leimebamba, Urubamba, and Undulated Antpitta are often heard but can be tricky to lure out into view.

Returning to Ollantaytambo we stand a good chance of encountering Andean Parakeet, Tit-like Dacnis, Junin Canastero, Chestnut-breasted Mountain-Finch, and Golden-billed Saltator. 

In the late afternoon, we drive back to Cuzco and we shall arrive in the early evening. Hotel in Cuzco is included. The included return ticket to Lima is flexible if you want to add more days to your Peru experience. 

Some people may want to stay on in Ollantaytambo for an additional two days to explore Abra Malaga once again and to visit two hummingbird feeder stations with Sword-billed Hummingbird and Bearded Mountaineer, as well as exploring the Sacred Valley for additional cultural highlights such as the Maras salt mines and the village of Pisac. 

Another option is to join a five day trip on the famous Manu Road, which has a large number of feeder stations for hummingbirds and tanagers. The route follows a transect of continuous temperate, subtropical, upper tropical and lowland rain forest from 3600m (12000 ft) to 450m (1500 ft). Around 1000 species of birds have been recorded along this road and the adjacent Manu lowlands. 
Birds like Toucans, Barbets, Andean Cock of the Rock (the lek is only 10m off the road), Trogons and raptors like Solitary Eagle and Black-and-Chestnut Eagle stand out