A week before leaving Arequipa, I noticed on eBird two species of Flamingos were reported at Laguna Salinas! I had thought they'd left for the winter. I quickly found a birding guide who was able to take me on a Flamingo chase! I knew that three species of Flamingos are seen during the summer here, so I secretly hoped for all three! Juan Chalco picked me up at 5am to begin the 2hr drive up thru the mountains to 14,000ft. It was still dark as we drove past Misti Volcano.
The drive up was really interesting as once you get out of the city, it's all curvy, switchbacks up the mountains. We saw a few birds along the way, including a lifer Aplomado Falcon!
As the car climbed higher and higher, we saw our first group of vicunas. We would later see gobs of alpacas, llamas and more vicunas. I loved seeing signs warning of alpaca crossing!
We also saw a viscacha, which is a chinchilla-like, rabbity creature, just chilling on some rocks. I knew my kids would have loved to see this and fortunately a few days later I got to show them one at Colca Canyon. Those photos are better, so check those posts.
My first view of the laguna. It was a really cold morning at this high altitude, -5C (23F)!
Before approaching the lake, we made a short stop at a small lagoon. With a volcano erupting in the distance, we watched an Andean Gull and picked up a few more lifers, including the super cute, Andean Negrito! What a pretty bird, all black with a rusty-brown cape.
We finally made it to our destination, and enjoyed a quick breakfast with a view of flamingos in the distance! It made me a little crazy to not run towards them to get a better look, but I kept my cool. Breakfast was interrupted a few times by a curious wren, some Ground-tyrants, a Cinclodes and Snow Geese.
Now it was time to hike out over the tundra and onto the salt flats. The elevation of Lagunas de Salinas is 14,000ft, so it's easy to get exhausted or out of breath. Juan was good about reminding me to take it slow.
Yellow-billed Teal
Here we got some great looks at a Puna Plover and more Andean Negritos chasing insects on the flats.
The vastness of salt flats make it them a good spot for trick photography. It's easy to create forced perspective shots where it looks like a toy dinosaur is huge and people are tiny, which is what this group was doing.
When we got a bit closer, Juan focused his scope on the flamingos. It looked like they were all Chilean Flamingos, but wait, one had a darker bill, is that an Andean Flamingo? It was! Later Juan picked out just one, smaller James Flamingo among the bunch! Yes, the trifecta!
From left to right: James, Andean, and Chilean Flamingos!
Check out all the alpacas, llamas and vicunas along the edge of the salt flats!
As soon as we left the salt flats and started to made our way back down the mountains, we spotted a young Mountain Caracara perched just off the road!
On the way home, we stopped in the town of Chiguata for a few minutes of birding along the road, and then one more stop just a little further where we came across a shepherd moving her sheep. This turned out to be a great birding spot.
One of the first birds we came across was a Plumbeous Rail! It was just a blur, but Juan played a call and two ran out into the open! We spent quite a bit of time watching this striking Yellow-billed Tit-Tyrant.
Black-throated Flowerpiercer (above) Black Metaltail (below)
The next day we were leaving for a trip to Colca Canyon, so Juan spent a lot of time during the drive back giving me tips on where to stop along the drive to pick up specific birds. Super helpful!
At the end of the day, we'd found 48 species, and I'd picked up 29 lifers! Great day!
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