Tragedy sometimes occurs unexpectedly when adventuring, just as in life in general.
I wish it weren’t so.
In 2010 I was invited to participate in a specialty bird tour of Peru. The tour was organized by one of the top listers (a person who has seen a very large list of species in the world). Although I had been to Peru 3 times previously, the proposed trip was completely about areas I had never birded. I accepted with eagerness. The trip was organized with the top bird tour operator in Peru-Manu Expeditions and its legendary owner/birding guide Barry Walker.
I had been on other trips with a number of the 9 folks signed up for the tour, and some who were new, but all were serious listers. I was excited. The tour began with 18 days on the central highway leading to the central Andes. Then a full day’s pelagic trip out the port of Callao into the Humboldt current 50 miles off the coast of Peru, followed by 8 days in Amazonian Peru starting at the city of Iquitos. The following makeshift map should give you some idea of Peruvian geography.
Figure 1: Makeshift Map of Peru
The whole point of this particular arrangement was to go places that most birding tours do not go. First, a few days were spent up the coast from Lima in the mountains at a place called Huaraz.
Figure 2: Habitat at Huaraz
Then we came back to Lima and started on the road out of Lima-the Central Highway that immediately goes into the coastal mountains that are the backdrop to lima. Within 4 hours we were at Marcapomacocha at an altitude of almost 15,000 feet.
Figure 3: Lake Marcapomacocha at 15,000 feet
After checking out the fantastic specialty birds at that location we continued on. We were transported in the Manu Expeditions tour bus.
Figure 4: Manu Expeditions Tour Bus
We needed nightly accommodation and there were some rather basic hotels along the road that provided our shelter on most nights.
Figure 5: Fundo El Pedregal in Santa Eulalia
And of course we shared rooms.
Figure 6: Shared Quarters for Birders
During the day, it was inconvenient to find a town to get our meals, so Manu Expeditions typically provided them in the open air.
Figure 7: Open Air Dining
On morethan one occasion, we needed to get to the far shore of a lake or pond to see specific species. We were provided with inflatable rafts for getting there.
Figure 8: Our Boating Excursions
The mountain roads were a sight to see and traverse.
Figure 9: Typical Mountain Roads
Some of the locations were not easily accessed by the bus, so we had to walk.
Figure 10: Some Days We Walked
At one of the locations called Bosque Unchog we had to go in by mule.
Figure 11: Travel into Bosque Unchog
We were at Bosque Unchog for several days, so we had to camp.
Figure 12: Three Nights at Bosque Unchog
And I was on that wonderful excursion into the mountains.
Figure 13: The Intrepid Birder
Yes, the trip was about birds, and there were many at Bosque Unchog. Here is one beautiful example.
Figure 14: Golden-collared Tanager
The following map shows some of the locations we visited
Figure 15: Mountain Sites Highlighted
On our way back to Lima, we encountered many caravans of cars waving flags. We were told that some kind of election was going on and that the voters had to return to the town of their birth to vote. Ouch.
Figure 16: Voters Returning Home to Vote
We arrived in Lima in time for a comfortable night at the Manhattan hotel.
Figure 17; Manhattan Hotel-Lima
The next morning, we were up at the crack of dawn and on our way to the port of Callao.
Figure 18:Port of Callao-Peru
There we boarded a boat similar to the one shown in Figure 19, but quite a bit larger.
Figure 19: Two Tier Pelagic Birding Boat
We needed a good-sized boat because three birding groups had come together for this trip. There were at least 30 birders I our group plus our tour leaders plus the supporting staff. There were probably about 50 people onboard.
Our goal for the day was to get out into the Humboldt current which was about 35 nautical miles offshore.
Figure 20: Humboldt Current
The current carries with it an abundance of sea life. That concentration of sea life attracts an abundance of pelagic birds. Many of these birds can’t be seen closer to shore.
We boarded the boat and were off. There were sights to see along the way and folks got their binoculars out immediately. Not far from the port we came upon a colony of Humboldt Penguin.
Figure 21: Colony of Humboldt Penguins
After that most folks were up on their feet seeing what they could see. The sights were many an verified, including cormorants, gulls, terns, boobies, and even some roust sea lions.
Figure 22: Eager birders
When land was behind us, everyone sat and relaxed as the captain motored us out to sea. It was a few hours with not much happening. Old friends chatted with each other. New acquaintances spent time getting to know each other. The weather was perfect, and the tour operator offered light snacks and soft drinks. Guys like me made sure their sunblock was liberally applied, as no shade was to be had.
At last, we were to the Humboldt current. The deck crew brought out the buckets of chopped up fish and began tossing them in the water (chumming). It was not long before the birds began to appear. In they came, gulls, terns, albatrosses, petrels of various varieties, shearwaters, diving-petrels and storm petrels. I saw a total of 36 species that day, almost all of them out at sea and all of them only possible along the coast. Everybody was thrilled, including me.
Figure 23: Typical Bird Flock Following Boat
Of the 36 species I observed, two were species I had never seen before (Lifers). These two birds were the reason I was interested in this day of the trip. Sought and found-Ringed Storm-Petrel and Markham’s Storm-Petrel. The next figure is Ringed Storm-Petrel.
Figure 24: Ringed Storm-Petrel
A grand time was had by all on the Humboldt current. The birds were plentiful. People were busy and excited as new species were logged. By the afternoon pretty much everyone had had their fill and were ready to head back for land.
Sometime in mid-afternoon we headed back to Callao. Everyone was happy for the rest and the snacks that the crew provided.
Halfway back to shore disaster struck. We could hear the calling from below. “Where is Alfredo? Has anybody seen Alfredo? These shouts grew in intensity, and we could hear a great scurrying about. We certainly knew that something was amiss.
The captain then came down from the helm and talked to us.
“One of the crew brought on to do chumming seems to be missing. We have looked everywhere on board and couldn’t find him. I am afraid he has gone overboard. Worse than that, he probably wasn’t wearing a life jacket.”
He went on, “Our course is logged on GPS. I am going to turn around and retrace our course back out to the current, and then turn around again and retrace our path back to here. I need every eye to be on the water searching for Alfredo.”
We all agreed that this sounded like a sensible plan, although I did hear one guy grumbling that, “He was going to be late for dinner”.
The captain executed his plan at a relatively slow speed. Alas, Alfredo was never found.
I wish it weren’t so.
Our group continued our tour to Iquitos and the Peruvian Amazon, but the loss of Alfredo was in my mind the whole time.
The thoughts wouldn’t leave me, “To risk a life just to see some God damn birds. What am I doing?”
So, the 564 species that I saw along with the 68 new birds seemed like so much dross.
I wish it weren’t so.