Còndor andí (Vultur gryphus)
Comencem pel millor bimbo i la pitjor foto: per fi he vist el rapinyaire més gros del món!!! Se'm va escapar a l'Ecuador i se'm va escapar a Colombia... a la tercera va la vençuda!!!
The Colca Canyon is probably the best place in Perú to see Andean condors. So much so that you have to pay to get there by car. There is a fee por Peruvians, another one for Latinos and another one for the rest of foreigners. As a Catalan I said I obviously was a Latino, but it turns out they have a very exclusivist concept of beig a Latino. I patiently explained to them what Catalans are and where Catalan comes from and eventually they agreed to let me pay the Latino fee!
Colibrí d'Atacama (Rhodopis vesper)
A la ciutat d'Arequipa vaig trobar aquest niu i durant els deu dies que vaig estar-hi vaig veure creixer aquests dos petits colibrís. Cada 15 o 20 minuts paraeixia algun dels pares i els alimentava, fins que van tenir plomes a les ales i van volar!
Oasis hummingbird
Right next to the flat of my partner I found this nest with two chicks, that grew up and up by the day!
Aligot tricolor (Geranoaetus polyosoma)
Efectivament aquest aligot normalment té tres colors (marró, negre i blanc), però alguns tenen aquest plomatge tot fosc.
In the city of Arequipa I was lucky enough to see a quite unusual plumage of this hawk and unlucky enough of being puzzled by it for a long time until some experts identified it for me.
Gavina andina (Chroicocephalus serranus)
La ciutat d'Arequipa, on vaig fer aquesta foto, es troba a 2300 metres d'altitud. I és que la gavina andina és la gavina que viu a més altitud del món: se la troba fins als 5300 metres!
The river that crosses Arequipa is the Chilli river. I bet its waters are really chilly. But Andean gulls have no problem with low temperatures, they can breed in mountains permanently covered in snow!
Xoriguer americà (Falco sparverius)
El xoriguer americà és més maco i més mono que l'europeu. Perdoneu, però algú ho havia de dir.
American kestrel
I saw my first American kestrels in Ecuador (three years ago), but I have not managed to take a good picture of them until now.
Rascló de bec sagnant (Pardirallus sanguinolentus)
No us perdeu el nom científic i el nom català d'aquest ocell... hi ha cada flipat! Total, per una taquesta vermella al bec.
I saw this bird while visiting the Uros, an ethnic group that lives in floating islands that they have built in the Titicaca lake for centuries. But, as you can see in the picture, nowadays they use motor boats to go fishing.
Cabusset del Titicaca (Rollandia microptera)
Però l'estrella del llac no és el rascló de nom peliculero, sinó el cabusset endèmic que hi habita! Entre lo dels uros, entre que és el llac navegable més alt del món (la superficie del llac està a 3812 metres d'altitud) i entre que té un ocell endèmic, el Titicaca és el llac més fascinant del món!
If you take an organized boat tour to see the floating islands of the Uros you will see the Titicaca grebe on the way. You can only see it on this lake, and surely you will never see it anywhere else, because it cannot fly!
Esquirol nan amazònic (Microsciurus flaviventer)
Ja no estem als Andes, ara ens adentrem a la selva amazònica, a l'est del país.
Amazon dwarf squirrel
While we (a group of foreigners taking a three-day-tour to the Manu National Park) were having lunch, a little chap also came to have its meal.
Araçarí collbrú (Pteroglossus castanotis)
Els araçarís són de la familia dels tucans però una mica més petitets.
Chestnut-eared araçari
Yes, an English word that uses this letter that Catalans consider very Catalan but that is also present in Portuguesse, where araçari comes from, and French.
Aviat ho sabrem (Ameiva ameiva)
L'únic rèptil que vaig bimbar en tot el viatge encara no té nom en català, però un grup de treball del Termcat, format per herpetòlegs i lingüístes, està batejant tots els amfibis i tots els reptils del món. Quina intriga... com es dirà? Corredor/a amazònic/a? Curser/a de la jungla? Cursador/a de l'Amazònia?...
Amazon racerunner
Can you believe I saw a single reptile in a month in Perú? For the most part of the trip I was between 2000 and 4000 metres, where no reptiles or amphibians live. Or I was in a dry desert. The jungle, which seems more promissing, is so dense that reptiles and amphibians see you but you don't see them. And in a chaotic and overpopulated city like Lima neither reptiles nor amphibians thrive much. So there you go: 75 bird lifers, 9 mammal lifers, 1 reptile lifer and 0 amphibian lifers in this trip.
Duc crestat (Lophostrix cristata)
A plena llum del dia vam veure aquest duc dormint en un arbre al costat del riu Madre de Dios.
Crested owl
Where we saw this owl our guide told us that an isolated tribe lives, and that he has seen them some times: they go completely naked (they don't even wear any loinclothes) and the Peruvian government estimates there are about six hundred of them. Well, we didn't see them but we saw very well an owl that is usually only seen as a silhouette in the night.
Torlit del Perú (Hesperoburhinus superciliaris)
Ja no som a la selva. Tot lo contrari. En el Desert de Nasca -on hi ha els famosos dibuixos gegants- s'hi troben, com és lògic, espècies de desert. Vaig veure una dotzena de torlits i un no pot evitar preguntar-se què mengen: aparentment no hi ha res!
Peruvian thick-knee
The Nasca Desert looks like Mars, but with some geoglyphs (the technical name of the giant drawings some people made in the desert some two thousand years ago) and some thick-knees. What did I like the most? Well, I knew what I was going to see when I visited the Nasca Lines, but the thick-knees were a complete surprise!
Zopilot capvermell (Cathartes aura)
Els zopilots tenen el cap completament pelat, no com els voltors europeus que tenen una mica de borrissol: els voltors europeus són uns cagats, si has de perdre les plomes les perds del tot!
Turkey vulture
First time I take a good picture of this bird, although I had seen it in the USA, Costa Rica, Panamá and Ecuador. I didn't see it in Turkey, though! No, of course, this family is exclusive from the New World.
cau la tarda en una barqueta
Hem arribat a la costa, i en aquesta petita barca set pelicans del Perú (Pelecanus thagus) i quatre corbmarins neotropicals (Nannopterum brasilianum) s'hi disposen a passar la nit.
a lovely fishing boat
I have finally hit the coast. Seven Peruvian pelicans and four neotropic cormorants have found this boat next to the beach to sleep the night and I have also found the boat to take a sunset picture.
Mim cuallarg (Mimus longicaudatus)
Finalment som a Lima, última parada en el viatge. El darrer dia, hores abans d'agafar l'avió, encara vaig bimbar aquest mim, exprimint-li tot el suc (sacándole los impuestos, que diuen els peruans) als últims moments.
Long-tailed mockingbird
I am finally in Lima, the last stop in my trip. Just as the mockingbird is about to take flight, I was about to take a flight when I ticked my last lifer in Perú.
