This time this year, we are seeing far too much of the A55, the 4-lane highway that links home in North Wales to the motorway network covering the rest of the UK. It’s a good way to get to other birding sites, but there’s not much birding along the way. You might see an old Nissan Bluebird, maybe overtake a Reliant Robin, and if it’s the weekend of Llandudno’s classic car rally, you might be lucky enough to flush a Humber Snipe, but generally the best you can hope for is a flyover by a Raven, a Carrion Crow, or possibly a Common Buzzard.This time last year, however, we were birding a very different kind of road, the famous Manu Road in Peru. This is a rough track which winds its way through the mountains from Cusco down into the lowlands. It’s single track all the way, with a vertical cliff going up on one side of you and a sheer drop going down hundreds of feet to a river at the bottom of the valley, way way below you. But don’t worry, you can’t see the drop, or even how much you’re walking out on an overhang because the Manu Road is lined with dense vegetation on either side. Not that you’re there for the scenery anyway, you’re there for the birds, and the Manu Road has these in spades. Catch a mixed feeding flock as it works its way through a fruiting tree and you’re in birding heaven: Versicoloured Barbet, Plum-throated Cotinga, Orange-bellied Euphonia, Blue-naped Chlorophonia, Black-and-white Tanager, Grass-Green Tanager, White-winged Shrike-Tanager, Green-and-gold Tanager, Masked Crimson Tanager, Turquoise Tanager, Paradise Tanager, the list just goes on and you don’t know which way to look first.
Perhaps the most incredible spectacle though, was the lek at Cock-of-the-Rock Lodge, http://www.inkanatura.com/cockoftherockslodge.asp. From the cover of a hide, you can enjoy the sight of the bright orange male Cocks-of-the-Rock lekking at close range as they try to outdo each other in a bid to impress the rather dowdy brown females. Photos taken in the pre-dawn light really don’t do justice these bizarre brightly-coloured birds with bulbous crests as they strut their stuff, making loud shrieking and grunting noises and jumping up and down on a branch to attract attention.
Given that the only orange on show on the A55 is the inevitable line of traffic cones around yet more roadworks, no prizes for guessing where we’d rather be right now!