![The gorge of the Rio Utcubamba is one of the most scenic areas of the tour, and we will traverse much of it, making a few stops for our first chances at Peruvian Pigeon, Black-necked Woodpecker, Speckle-chested Piculet, and Maranon Thrush. <div id="caption_tourlink" align="right"><br>[photo © Rose Ann Rowlett]</div>](https://photos.smugmug.com/SHOWS/South-America/Northern-Peru-Endemics-Galore/i-pMPd46d/0/1bfcbf80/L/P1000321-L.jpg)
The gorge of the Rio Utcubamba is one of the most scenic areas of the tour, and we will traverse much of it, making a few stops for our first chances at Peruvian Pigeon, Black-necked Woodpecker, Speckle-chested Piculet, and Maranon Thrush.
[photo © Rose Ann Rowlett]
![For the first time, in 2008, we saw a troop of Yellow-tailed Woolly Monkeys on the tour! Amazingly, ours were along the road, but this endangered primate is now a realistic chance on a steep trail below the new Owlet Lodge as well. That and other trails offer opportunities for several endemic antpittas and tapaculos. There is yellow on the underside of the tail, but it is the yellowish genital tuft that stands out. <div id="caption_tourlink" align="right"><br>[photo © Richard Webster]</div>](https://photos.smugmug.com/SHOWS/South-America/Northern-Peru-Endemics-Galore/i-ZQQXLzJ/0/26881610/Ti/30-Ti.jpg)
![If we're lucky--and if the moon shines through the clouds--we could enjoy some terrific night-birding at Owlet Lodge, seeing Andean Potoo, White-throated Screech-Owl, or even the near-mythical Long-whiskered Owlet. It should be a stay to remember. <div id="caption_tourlink" align="right"><br>[photo © Rose Ann Rowlett]</div>](https://photos.smugmug.com/SHOWS/South-America/Northern-Peru-Endemics-Galore/i-mnvRp8h/0/2dddd38c/Ti/P1000409-Ti.jpg)
![What are our other hotels like? Who cares, it is the hotel gardens that matter! Like this one with a male Green-tailed Trainbearer (we think, the gorget is rounded). Seriously, there are several very nice hotels on the route, but also several simple, functional small-town hotels that suffice but do not excite. <div id="caption_tourlink" align="right"><br>[photo © Richard Webster]</div>](https://photos.smugmug.com/SHOWS/South-America/Northern-Peru-Endemics-Galore/i-8PQggVH/0/87a03be1/Ti/14%20Trainbearer%2C%20Green-tailed%20Q%20m%20Pomacochas%202200m%20XVII-Ti.jpg)
![The gorge of the Rio Utcubamba is one of the most scenic areas of the tour, and we will traverse much of it, making a few stops for our first chances at Peruvian Pigeon, Black-necked Woodpecker, Speckle-chested Piculet, and Maranon Thrush. <div id="caption_tourlink" align="right"><br>[photo © Rose Ann Rowlett]</div>](https://photos.smugmug.com/SHOWS/South-America/Northern-Peru-Endemics-Galore/i-pMPd46d/0/1bfcbf80/Ti/P1000321-Ti.jpg)
![We'll stop, too, for our first White-capped Dippers, Torrent Ducks, and Fasciated Tiger-Herons, all of which forage in or along the rushing river and are usually spotted from our moving bus. This tiger-banded heron is an immature. <div id="caption_tourlink" align="right"><br>[photo © Richard Webster]</div>](https://photos.smugmug.com/SHOWS/South-America/Northern-Peru-Endemics-Galore/i-G3tmH2F/0/fe82f9b7/Ti/npe07-RAR%20%26amp%3B%20REW1-Ti.jpg)
![With the beginning of the rainy season, the Utcubamba canyon should be green and full of wildflowers, like this native passionflower above Pedro Ruiz. <div id="caption_tourlink" align="right"><br>[photo © Rose Ann Rowlett]</div>](https://photos.smugmug.com/SHOWS/South-America/Northern-Peru-Endemics-Galore/i-dsZ9qk9/0/59f0c149/Ti/npe07-RAR%20%26amp%3B%20REW5-Ti.jpg)
![The Utcubamba (meaning "cotton plain") region was inhabited by the Chachapoya, or "cloud people" before and during the Inca period. While they farmed the river valley, their ceremonial sites were often built atop a hill, or, in some cases, on the side of a hill, as illustrated by the ruins of Macro, visible from our route to Leimebamba. <div id="caption_tourlink" align="right"><br>[photo © Rose Ann Rowlett]</div>](https://photos.smugmug.com/SHOWS/South-America/Northern-Peru-Endemics-Galore/i-xfZRQnj/0/ce320ecc/Ti/npe08RAR-14-Ti.jpg)
![A telephoto view of the site reveals both circular buildings, typical of Chachapoya structures, and buildings that appear to hug the contours of the slope. It is the latter that gave rise to the name for the site, "Macro" meaning "undulating." <div id="caption_tourlink" align="right"><br>[photo © Rose Ann Rowlett]</div>](https://photos.smugmug.com/SHOWS/South-America/Northern-Peru-Endemics-Galore/i-gnrSJLf/0/863428b1/Ti/npe08RAR-13-Ti.jpg)
![Another Chachapoya site--and one increasingly designated "the Machu Picchu of the north," is Kuelap. Time and road conditions permitting, we plan to detour from the Utcubamba valley up to this fabulous citadel that was occupied from around 400 BC to well into the Inca period. A 20-meter-high perimeter wall encloses the ruins of a city that covered 10 acres of mountaintop. <div id="caption_tourlink" align="right"><br>[photo © Richard Webster]</div>](https://photos.smugmug.com/SHOWS/South-America/Northern-Peru-Endemics-Galore/i-mj847Vv/0/bd522433/Ti/npe07-RAR%20%26amp%3B%20REW2-Ti.jpg)
![The interior of Kuelap, partially reclaimed by forest, contained more than 400 circular homes, some with elaborate stone friezes typical of the Chachapoya. There were also four square buildings and several stone friezes more typical of the Incas. <div id="caption_tourlink" align="right"><br>[photo © Rose Ann Rowlett]</div>](https://photos.smugmug.com/SHOWS/South-America/Northern-Peru-Endemics-Galore/i-Bwqj5bR/0/17ecf516/Ti/npe07-RAR%20%26amp%3B%20REW4-Ti.jpg)
![After continuing our journey up the Rio Utcubamba to Leimebamba, we will have two days to bird the high ridge of Abra Barro Negro, or "Black Mud Pass." <div id="caption_tourlink" align="right"><br>[photo © Rose Ann Rowlett]</div>](https://photos.smugmug.com/SHOWS/South-America/Northern-Peru-Endemics-Galore/i-trB9FJv/0/cbdb717b/Ti/npe08RAR-25-Ti.jpg)
![One bird of this stretch is Russet-mantled Sofftail, an endemic ovenbird of uncertain affinities. Unfortunately, it can be a skulker, and this photograph is a bit of an anomaly.... <div id="caption_tourlink" align="right"><br>[photo © Richard Webster]</div>](https://photos.smugmug.com/SHOWS/South-America/Northern-Peru-Endemics-Galore/i-w3mVkqb/0/24095f6b/Ti/19%20Softtail%2C%20Russet-mantled%20above%20Chachapoyas%202900m%20pr%202%20X-Ti.jpg)
![The Coppery Metaltails higher up the road are usually much more obliging! <div id="caption_tourlink" align="right"><br>[photo © Richard Webster]</div>](https://photos.smugmug.com/SHOWS/South-America/Northern-Peru-Endemics-Galore/i-zvVjxSp/0/f847ef63/Ti/52-Ti.jpg)
![After a picnic lunch near the pass, we'll return to tour the Leimembamba Museum and to watch a dizzying array of hummingbirds at the feeders and gardens across from the museum. <div id="caption_tourlink" align="right"><br>[photo © Rose Ann Rowlett]</div>](https://photos.smugmug.com/SHOWS/South-America/Northern-Peru-Endemics-Galore/i-vz386DL/0/ff5ec17f/Ti/npe08RAR-22-Ti.jpg)
![No, we don’t have the feeder angle completely worked out yet, but it has worked quite well in recent years. Although spatuletails are often chased from flowers and feeders by other hummingbirds (such as this Rainbow Starfrontlet), they are persistent and usually manage to sneak in somewhere sometime. <div id="caption_tourlink" align="right"><br>[photo © Richard Webster]</div>](https://photos.smugmug.com/SHOWS/South-America/Northern-Peru-Endemics-Galore/i-Z53RCPk/0/03692449/Ti/12%20Spatuletail%2C%20Marvelous%20m%2C%20R%20Starfrontlet%20Leimebamba%202400m%20111607%20XXVIII-Ti.jpg)
![A second adult male spatuletail, distinguished by its molting head and throat feathers, rests on an exposed branch near the feeders. Uniquely, it has but four feathers in its tail, the two long racket-tipped ones crossing each other and moving independently. <div id="caption_tourlink" align="right"><br>[photo © Richard Webster]</div>](https://photos.smugmug.com/SHOWS/South-America/Northern-Peru-Endemics-Galore/i-sDZsHMS/0/66e7c110/Ti/Spatuletail%2C%20Marvelous%20m%202400m%20above%20Leimebamba%20102108%20IV-Ti.jpg)
![Equally dazzling in its own right is a male Rainbow Starfrontlet, resting for a moment beside the feeders. <div id="caption_tourlink" align="right"><br>[photo © Richard Webster]</div>](https://photos.smugmug.com/SHOWS/South-America/Northern-Peru-Endemics-Galore/i-CQhcQS7/0/c163f9d0/Ti/45-Ti.jpg)
![We'll have the late afternoon to enjoy the numerous hummers, including this Purple-throated Sunangel, buzzing about the garden before closing the day at our charming little hotel in Leimebamba. <div id="caption_tourlink" align="right"><br>[photo © Richard Webster]</div>](https://photos.smugmug.com/SHOWS/South-America/Northern-Peru-Endemics-Galore/i-DrvvGSR/0/ba83dc7d/Ti/48-Ti.jpg)
![The second day on Abra Barro Negro takes us over the top, and down to our other campsite, Balsas, along the Rio Maranon. The scenery is some of the best of the tour, on the descent, and then on tomorrow’s ascent. It is also a transition from wet to dry, as the highest ridges of the eastern cordillera catch Amazonia’s moisture. <div id="caption_tourlink" align="right"><br>[photo © Richard Webster]</div>](https://photos.smugmug.com/SHOWS/South-America/Northern-Peru-Endemics-Galore/i-WzTgJW3/0/274c978b/Ti/20%20Balsas%20from%20E%20092306%20I-Ti.jpg)
![We'll have breakfast on an old terrace of the Rio Maranon near Balsas, surrounded by Peruvian Pigeons and Maranon Thrushes. <div id="caption_tourlink" align="right"><br>[photo © Richard Webster]</div>](https://photos.smugmug.com/SHOWS/South-America/Northern-Peru-Endemics-Galore/i-pkTt6RB/0/c88b7163/Ti/Balsas%20camp%20092406%20III-Ti.jpg)