A few miles north of Paracas is the town of Pisco, and the Pisco River. The mouth of the river is marshy, with lots of pools, stands of reeds and other much sought after habitats. Perfect for migrants waders, as well as hosting a good number of breeding birds. My visit was too short, just a few hours on one afternoon, and I was playing it by ear, were I to return I would try and get to the mouth early rather than bash through the marshes, but it was a great day nonetheless. The main bird of interest were the hundreds of
Wilson's Phalaropes on literally every little puddle, pond and inlet. There were a few other migrant waders present;
Pectoral Sandpiper, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Whimbrel, Grey Plover, Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers, Black-necked Stilt, Killdeer and
Semipalmated Plovers. The only ducks of the trip were here,
Cinnamon Teal and
White-cheeked Pintail. There were quite a few heron species too. Best of the lot was a distant
Cocoi Heron, but there were many
Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron, Great White Egret and
Black-crowned Night Heron.
Puna Ibis, Chilean Flamingo and
Common Moorhen were also fairly plentiful, and the sandbars at the river mouth had many hundreds of
Peruvian Pelicans, Neotropical Cormorants and several gull species.
The short grass held
Peruvian Meadowlark and quite a few
Yellowish Pipit, as well as one apparent rarity, a
Fork-tailed Flycatcher.
The only drawback at the site was the presence of hunters. There seems to be no protection of any kind in the marsh, and several hunters were shooting ducks.
Wilson's Phalarope.
Puna Ibis.
Yellowish Pipit.
Fork-tailed Flycatcher.
Cinnamon Teal.
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