Bolivia trip in search of two more warbler species -December 9-11

PHOTOS TO COME....problem with uploading them to here right now...

After my time in Peru I took a midday flight from Cusco into La Paz, Bolivia to finish out my trip and hopefully add a couple more new warblers species. My targets in Bolivia were Yungas Warbler and Brown capped Redstart. My cold symptoms that developed at the end of my time in Peru almost had me cancel this portion of the trip but I decided to go through with it. After a long wait at the airport in Cusco I took the flight via Avianca to La Paz (this was the only Avianca flight that they didn’t completely change on me). This would be a whirlwind of a trip with just a couple days in the country before flying out of La Paz to Lima and then on to Boston via Miami by a red eye flight (or at least that was the plan). 

Once I arrived in La Paz I had to go through the visa on arrival ordeal to get into the country. There was lots of conflicting information but I prepared the best I could for it. Eventually I got through it and then through customs and immigration before meeting up with the guide. We then made a long drive up into the mountains north of La Paz after fighting the horrible city traffic with our destination being our lodging at Casa Cayuni. This was a rustic spot for sure with no power beyond that provided by a small battery pack that once it ran out we were out of power completely. No Wi-Fi and no cell coverage so truly isolated. There was also an issue with the fact that all three of us looked to be sharing a room despite assurances from the tour company owner that I would have a private room, which was what I paid a lot for. The guide was gracious enough to move a couple of mattresses out of the room and into a nearby kitchen area so I did indeed end up with a private room. 

My full day in Bolivia started off before dawn with a breakfast at our little cabin and then we headed out to walk a part of the famed ‘road of death’. It is a seldom used road now after a new road was built perhaps 20 years ago to make travel safer and more efficient in this area of Bolivia. One of the first birds we came across was a few Yungas Warblers…a quick addition to my warbler list and the first target of the trip. The birds were very active with lots of singing and calling and I got some recordings as well as some fairly decent photos. We then continued further down the road and the only other warbler species seen were Spectacled Redstarts with a few showing well and offering some photo opportunities. The Yungas Warblers continued in the same spot as we made our return walk and I got even more photos. We then drove to a variety of different locations along the road and tried to find the second target warbler of the trip. We dodged on and off rain throughout the morning and into the afternoon and only got caught in a downpour once right near the end of the day. More excitement occurred as we were driving back to the cabin when the guides truck refused to start. Nothing that he tried seemed to work and after multiple stops to try and fix it we coasted down the hill to our cabin. All was not lost as one of our stops had a mixed species flock that included Citrine Warbler, which added a new warbler species for this portion of the trip. A back up ride for me was arranged for the following day if needed as well as a mechanic to try to fix whatever was wrong with the truck. It looked like our birding the next day would be limited to the area around the cabin. 

After waking up early at 3:40 I could not get back to sleep so tossed and turned until it was light enough out. The battery power we had at the cabin ran out during the night so I was not able to fully charge all my devices nor have any working lights in the morning. We had another breakfast outside and had two species of warblers to start our morning with Yungas Warbler and Spectacled Redstart. As we finished up breakfast the guide was actually able to get his truck running again so we quickly packed up and started the final drive up the road of death. Once we were near the top we birded a side road and turned up a few pockets of birds with more new ones. The clouds blew in from time to time but the rain held off. Around 10AM our backup vehicle arrived with a mechanic. The back up truck and the secondary guide went with me to check a few other spots further up the road and then on to our lunch spot where the main guide would meet us and depending on what the mechanic said regarding the original truck would determine how I got to the airport. It was during one of these side trips that I got an ever so brief glimpse of a Brown capped Redstart that was traveling with a mixed flock. The view was literally a couple seconds and that was it so no chance for a photo at all. Far from satisfying documentation but finding the bird was great after so much effort and checked off the last of my target warblers for the trips. With the original truck not dependable enough to make the trip to the airport the backup truck would be used instead. After a lunch we started the drive back to La Paz for what should have been the beginning of my long trek home with the flight scheduled to go to Lima at 7PM. Along the way a few birds were seen in the higher elevations. I had a ticket with BOA airlines, which is a Bolivian based carrier and my flight got delayed multiple times so the entire trip back became a chore to say the least with days spent in various airports before finally arriving home exhausted. 

The Bolivia portion of my trip produced a total of five species of warblers with two of those being new for me. That now brings me down to just eight warbler species I have not yet seen with the remaining species being in the extremely remote Darian area on the border of Panama and Colombia (two species) and the others in Venezuela.

Between Peru and Bolivia on this trip I found a total of a dozen species of warblers with five of those being life birds.