In April 2025, we led a trip to birding in Peru with good friends who are birdwatchers and photographers, between the Andes near the city of Lima and northeastern Peru (in the regions of San Martín and Amazonas), where we managed to record almost 600 species in fifteen days. The first part of this birding trip in Peru is in Santa Eulalia.
Birding in Peru – Santa Eulalia, the andes of Lima
The birding trip started with Anne and Steve in Lima, from where we headed east to the Andes mountains, specifically to the Santa Eulalia Valley, where we planned to climb to almost 5,000 meters above sea level in three days. The experience was very interesting for everyone,especially at a time when the valley is very green due to the recent transition between the rainy and dry seasons, and where we saw a wide variety of birds.
On the first day, the most notable sightings included the Great Inca-Finch, Peruvian Sheartail, Purple-collared Woodstar, Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle, Black-necked Woodpecker, among others.
On the second day, we continued to the upper part of the valley, where we focused on birdwatching in a queñua forest and where we were able to observe more species, mainly endemic and other very unique ones, including the Andean Condor, White-cheeked Cotinga, Black Metaltail, Black-breasted Hillstar, and Rusty-crowned Tit-Spinetail.
In the afternoon of that same day, we continued on to the highlands, reaching an altitude of over 4,800 meters above sea level, the highest point of our adventure. However, a ice storm blocked our view of some of the target birds, but we still have one more day to search for them. Despite the weather conditions, we were able to observe these important species: Puna Tinamou, Grey-breasted Seedsnipe and Dark-winged Miner.
The third day was magical—that’s the most accurate word to describe our experience—because after the storm always comes the calm, and we found the Peruvian Andes covered in snow, with clear skies and the sun shining brightly.
In addition, we were able to see all of the target birds, and the light and snow effects were simply extraordinary. The key birds observed were: Diademed Sandpiper-Plover, White-bellied Cinclodes, Junin Canastero, and Black-breasted Hillstar.
That morning we left the Andes and returned to the coast, but before catching our flight we went birding on the coast of Lima at sea level and ate a classic pejerrey chalaco sandwich. The most interesting species we observed were Franklin’s gull, Amazilia Hummingbird, Peruvian Booby, Great-tailed Grackle, Harri´s Hawk, among others.
List of registered birds
The birdwatching trip in Peru will continue in a future article…
