Independent birding near Cusco (1 Viewer)

[Antpitta'd]

Hi all, making another post for my upcoming trip after all the helpful responses to previous threads. I’ve got some free time around Cusco and would love to do some independent birding. I’ve got a Machu Picchu trek planned and then some time going down the Manu road into the lowlands + Madre de dios, but would love to do a bit closer to Cusco / Ollantaytambo.

I’ve got 4 or 5 days, and was vaguely planning on self-driving to Abra Malaga, visiting Huacarpay lake, and Ensifera camp for the hummers. Main question is how easy is it to do Abra Malaga pass and cloud forest, is it a case of just driving up and stopping periodically at the side of the road? Are there any spots anyone can recommend, or anywhere to stay? Any spots for Royal Cinclodes would be fantastic.

Also any recommendations for other spots that I’ve missed near(ish) to Cusco would be great!

Cheers all

 

[AveryBartels]

Check out Josh Vandermuelen's blog, here's his post about Abra Malaga and Ollantaytambo. If you read through the previous and next blog posts you might find more info on the Cuzco area.

Ollantaytambo And The Abra Málaga Pass

The Sacred Valley is the epicenter of tourism in Peru. Probably well over 90% of all foreign tourists who visit Peru end up here, with their...

joshvandermeulen.blogspot.com

 

[Antpitta'd]

Check out Josh Vandermuelen's blog, here's his post about Abra Malaga and Ollantaytambo. If you read through the previous and next blog posts you might find more info on the Cuzco area.

Ollantaytambo And The Abra Málaga Pass

The Sacred Valley is the epicenter of tourism in Peru. Probably well over 90% of all foreign tourists who visit Peru end up here, with their...

joshvandermeulen.blogspot.com

Thanks very much Avery I'll have a read. In my limited experience is seems like people named Josh create a disproportionately high amount of useful neotropical birding material

 

[temmie]

I hope you can see / open this, but here is a Google map I made.
S-C-Peru
S-C-Peru – Google My Maps

It has some waypoints (for royal cinclodes as well), note that the tapaculo is wrongly named. Most other points will probably still do.

 

[Antpitta'd]

I hope you can see / open this, but here is a Google map I made.
S-C-Peru
S-C-Peru – Google My Maps

It has some waypoints (for royal cinclodes as well), note that the tapaculo is wrongly named. Most other points will probably still do.

This is absolutely incredible, thanks so much. I can confirm I can access it. Will come in handy for Manu also! Many many thanks @temmie