Winging it in Oxapampa

If you see a little Smoke-colored Pewee in Oxapampa, Peru, don’t call your doctor.  Call a birdwatcher.  Yes, a bird watcher. A smoky-colored pewee is just one of the three hundred bird species that will blow up your Merlin phone app in this high jungle bird mecca of Peru.

Who named these birds in Oxapampa? Who knows. But you got to wonder if God licked one of those Kambo frogs  or did a shot of ayahuasca before creating some of these colorful creatures. Some birds, like the the Tanager below, would be better named flying stained glass windows. (Photo courtesy of Bosque de Churumazu).

Other birds, like the Green Jay, look like my dad’s golf pants. Sorry, no pictures. And there is the famous Cock of the Rock, which I miraculously did photograph. It’s that orange popsicle thing dangling from the tree. I know. My photo ranks right up there with blurry Big Foot sightings. But I did see it. The bird, not Big Foot.

OK, let’s back up about this bird-watching adventure. Somehow, through a series of phone clicks, I got connected with a bonified bird-watching group in Oxapampa, Peru. Yes, real bird watchers. Guys  who know bird whistles the way a Swifty can spit out lyrics to Shake it Out. These bird-watchers took me under their wing, where it didn’t matter if I knew Spanish because, well, when you bird watch, you don’t talk. You point, listen and adjust the knobs on your binoculars. So in borrowed rubber boots and slathered in bug spray, I tiptoed through the jungle as their tag-along, as they snapped photos with expensive cameras, many with lens the length of my arm. 

One of the bird watchers was Julio (above), is a ranger at the Yanachaga-Chemillén National Park. Julio is responsible for a good share of the photographs in this bird book, Aves of Peru, which is about the girth of an old Sears Roebuck catalog. If you are Peru, you can order the book here.

If you visit Oxapampa, you’ll also want to visit Chorbamba, and Rayantambo falls, three places that sound like lyrics from a Ritchie Valens song. But you have to travel to Pazuzu, a few hours further, to see the Cock on the Rock.

Now let me warn you, traveling to Pazuzu requires nerves of steel as the roads would be better named paths. Part of the drive, you’ll be testing your car’s axle on clay potholes and splashing through small streams. Other sections of the road are literally crumbling off the side of the cliff. We had close calls with cattle, other cars and suspension bridge cables.

All I could think about during the two hour trip to the park was if my sisters had a copy of my will.  And one other thing: what are the credentials of this driver? The criteria I used to pick this tour guide was based on his ability to speak some English and the quality of his photos in his tourist booth in the city center I never asked how many stars the last passenger gave the driver, like on Uber.

But I also got amazing tours, like with Eduardo from Bosque de Churumazu. He’s a retired IBM executive who exchanged his corner office for  a machete and binoculars. He brought me bird watching on his property, where he is raising bees and planting various trees. “I must warn you, there are poisonous snakes in the around here”. But his machete wasn’t use to dice a venomous slithering creature, but to shop down evasive plants. Luckily, I didn’t see any snakes, but a new curious monkeys, and a colorful bird called a mot-mot.

The birdwatching group went to Rica Villa for a day, to the Languna El Oconal Wetlands. This is where Midwestern birds travel for their holidays. The birdwatchers were excited to see some migratory birds, including the broad-winged hawk, which is common in the Midwest. The great egret was my fave, being the Dalai llama of the bird world, standing still in a meditative pose.  

Of course, we did what bird watchers do best: eat. Breakfast included some of the world’s best coffee, brewed strong and poured out of this carafe into cups of hot water.

I saw a few creepy crawly things, too.

Even in Oxapampa, bird watching is not like Disney cartoon,  where birds wait for you to see them.  Bird watching is more like a game of Where’s Waldo, hunting for a fleck of color or movement in the trees. Or you can wait for one to invite itself to your table.

As for my bird photos? I did get these Cock-of-the-Rock bathroom signs and uh, a snap shot of a phone.

I also snapped a few photos of my hotel’s longtime guest, a copy cat, and stray dogs, which can be a real nuisance in Oxapampa.

Thank you Percy, Julio, Jorge, Eduardo and fabulous forest rangers for the most excellent adventure in Oxapampa!

How to get to Oxapampa?

It’s about an eleven hour bus ride from Lima, that is, if there are no mud slides along the way, which can add delays, So along with a few snacks and water, bring a cocktail of dramamine and altitude sickness medicine.