Relatively late start we drive south of Lima towards Pucusana. Our first stop will be a small nature reserve on the outskirts of Lima, Villa Marshes. Here we will see Andean Coot, Puna Ibis, Great and White-tufted Grebes, Cinnamon Teal, White-cheeked Pintail, Franklin’s Gull, Gray-hooded Gull, Bay-winged and Red-backed Hawk. We will make selected stops along the way in agricultural areas particularly for Peruvian Thicknee, Yellowish Pipit, Short-tailed Field Tyrant and others. Other possibilities include a variety of Seedeaters including Drab (endemic), Parrot-billed and Chestnut-throated as well as Scrub Blackbird and long-tailed Mockingbird. After a seafood lunch a boat trip around Pucusana Bay will produce nesting Guanay and Red-legged Cormorants as well as Peruvian Boobies. This is a stunning sight, not to mention the colonies of South-American Sea-lions. . Our targets here are the lovely Inca Tern, Blackish Oystercatcher, Peruvian Pelican, Red-legged Cormorant, Gray Gull, Peruvian Seaside Cinclodes and Humboldt Penguin. A stop in roadside scrub should produce Oasis and Amazillia Hunmingbirds and Peruvian Sheartail. A last stop at San Pedro and Lurin will give us a chance at many shorebirds, Peruvian Tern, Chestnut-collared Swallow, Pacific Bran-colored Flyctacher We return to your hotel in Lima.

Today we will visit the Lomas de Lachay, an area of low coastal hills that are covered in a unique ‘fog vegetation’ (i.e. the sparse plant life obtains its moisture almost entirely from condensation in this almost rainless landscape). Bare desert en route to the Lomas is home to the endemic Coastal Miner, whereas higher up in the hills we may find Grayish Miner and the endemic Thick-billed Miner. At times Least Seedsnipe, Tawny-throated Dotterel and Yellowish Pipit nest in this area, while other birds we may find on the green slopes of the Lomas are Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle, Variable Hawk, American Kestrel, Eared Dove, Croaking Ground-Dove, Oasis and Amazilia Hummingbirds, Vermilion Flycatcher, Blue-and-white Swallow, Hooded Siskin, Grassland Yellow-Finch, Rufous-collared Sparrow and Peruvian Meadowlark. If we are fortunate we will even find the rare and nomadic Raimondi’s Yellow-Finch in this area (mostly November to March). A short distance away is a desolate desert canyon, where among the sparse cacti and large boulders we shall look for the endemic Cactus Canastero, and in more open areas we shall keep an eye out for the small desert race nanodes of the Burrowing Owl. On the return journey we shall diligently search recently plowed fields for the cryptic Peruvian Thick-knee and the diminutive Short-tailed Field-Tyrant, while in hedges and brushy areas we may find Groove-billed Ani, as well as Parrot-billed and Chestnut-throated Seedeaters. A brief visit to the Pacific Ocean shore will enable us to watch the numerous seabirds that feed in the nutritious waters of the cold Humboldt current, including the huge Peruvian Pelican, Peruvian Booby, Guanay Cormorant and Band-tailed, Grey and Kelp Gulls. We return you to your hotel in Lima. L

An early start along the dusty but spectacular Santa Eulalia road will take us high into the mountains above Lima. After crossing a bridge over a tremendous chasm we shall reach a shrubby hillside and small ravine where the rare and endemic Rufous-breasted Warbling-Finch is regularly seen. As the early morning sun hits the slopes we will be sorting through flocks of the much more numerous Mourning Sierra-Finches in the hopes of finding this elusive specialty. Lower down we will enter a mosaic of small farms with irrigated fields and hedgerows, where we will check flowering bushes for the endemic Bronze-tailed Comet. Other endemics we will try to find here are Black-necked Woodpecker, Striated Earthcreeper, Rusty-crowned Tit-Spinetail, Canyon Canastero and Rusty-bellied Brush-Finch. Tall groves of introduced Eucalyptus trees often hold the diminutive Peruvian Pygmy-Owl, and depending on weather conditions the majestic Andean Condor may take to the air. Descending farther, we reach the arid cactus-clad slopes, which are the home to another highly prized endemic, the Great Inca-Finch. Other birds we will look for in the course of the day are Bare-faced Ground-Dove, White-tipped Dove, Andean Swift, Sparkling Violetear, Peruvian Sheartail, Purple-collared Woodstar, Pied-crested Tit-Tyrant, White-browed Chat-Tyrant, House Wren, Long-tailed Mockingbird, White-capped Dipper, Chiguanco Thrush, Cinereous Conebill, Blue-capped Tanager, Mourning Sierra-Finch, Band-tailed Seedeater, Golden-bellied Saltator and Scrub Blackbird. We return you to your hotel in Lima. L