Matarina, Peru
Welcome to Peru. As the first light of day spilled over the desert hills above the rugged coast, those up early could see a scene of low cliffs, a few white-washed islands, and a small man-made port tucked in behind a point of land protected from the open Pacific swell. Captain Skog slowly guided the ship through the narrow entrance and glided alongside the very well kept dock facility. Very quickly we were cleared by the Peruvian officials to start boarding our transportation for the morning trip south to a small but significant nature reserve, Mejia Lagoons.
Driving along the coast the road curved and climbed through this still very dry environment. White volcanic sands of this part of the Atacama covered the rolling landscape. The small tourist community of Mollendo was still waking up as we passed. Beaches in the area attract people from the inland communities during the summer, but now that it is fall in this southern latitude, the sands were left to our exploring. Getting to the coast itself the road paralleled the surf beaten beaches but just inland were fields of onions and rice dotted with spots of bulrushes and cattails. It was this habitat that we were headed to. Once much of the coastline in Peru and northern Chile had salt marsh environments just behind the beaches, but early civilizations and later modern man discovered these areas were ideal for agriculture. Today this habitat is very limited and one of the largest reed marshes in Peru is Mejia Lagoons. Mejia is extremely important to migratory birds both as an area to spend the non-breeding season and as a refueling stop for migratory species going either north to arctic latitudes or south to the southern cone of South America or even inland into the Andes to breed.
Not far into the reserve perched along side of the road and next to its nesting and roosting site was a curious bird, a white burrowing owl. This leuconistic or partial albino bird stuck out amongst the browns of the surrounding vegetation. Some of us also got to see the “normally” plumaged bird, which blended in superbly to its surroundings. Fortunately for this white rarity burrowing owls are a top carnivore and there is not really any other animal that would prey on it. Further in the reserve we took advantage of a few small platforms that were built for observing birds. From the additional height and through spotting scopes the ship’s staff had brought with them we could see the large numbers and variety of birds using the wetlands, including coots, ducks of a couple species, and a diverse number of wading birds. Most people also went the short distance across the flat landscape to walk the beach with its pounding surf. Birds were also scattered along the beach edge including a group of black skimmers that our local guides said had just arrived. Many of the group also made it to the very southern end of the reserve at the river draining the inland farmlands. Collected at the mouth of the river was a large mass of pink-bodied Franklin’s gulls and massive sized Peruvian pelicans.
Returning to the ship for lunch, we watched from the dining room as the captain spun the ship around and re-entered the Pacific Ocean. For the rest of the day we gently sped along observing numerous flocks of shearwaters and near sunset a scattered group of Dusky dolphins. We also were treated to an introductory lecture by Johan Reinhard on the mysterious Nasca Lines.
Welcome to Peru. As the first light of day spilled over the desert hills above the rugged coast, those up early could see a scene of low cliffs, a few white-washed islands, and a small man-made port tucked in behind a point of land protected from the open Pacific swell. Captain Skog slowly guided the ship through the narrow entrance and glided alongside the very well kept dock facility. Very quickly we were cleared by the Peruvian officials to start boarding our transportation for the morning trip south to a small but significant nature reserve, Mejia Lagoons.
Driving along the coast the road curved and climbed through this still very dry environment. White volcanic sands of this part of the Atacama covered the rolling landscape. The small tourist community of Mollendo was still waking up as we passed. Beaches in the area attract people from the inland communities during the summer, but now that it is fall in this southern latitude, the sands were left to our exploring. Getting to the coast itself the road paralleled the surf beaten beaches but just inland were fields of onions and rice dotted with spots of bulrushes and cattails. It was this habitat that we were headed to. Once much of the coastline in Peru and northern Chile had salt marsh environments just behind the beaches, but early civilizations and later modern man discovered these areas were ideal for agriculture. Today this habitat is very limited and one of the largest reed marshes in Peru is Mejia Lagoons. Mejia is extremely important to migratory birds both as an area to spend the non-breeding season and as a refueling stop for migratory species going either north to arctic latitudes or south to the southern cone of South America or even inland into the Andes to breed.
Not far into the reserve perched along side of the road and next to its nesting and roosting site was a curious bird, a white burrowing owl. This leuconistic or partial albino bird stuck out amongst the browns of the surrounding vegetation. Some of us also got to see the “normally” plumaged bird, which blended in superbly to its surroundings. Fortunately for this white rarity burrowing owls are a top carnivore and there is not really any other animal that would prey on it. Further in the reserve we took advantage of a few small platforms that were built for observing birds. From the additional height and through spotting scopes the ship’s staff had brought with them we could see the large numbers and variety of birds using the wetlands, including coots, ducks of a couple species, and a diverse number of wading birds. Most people also went the short distance across the flat landscape to walk the beach with its pounding surf. Birds were also scattered along the beach edge including a group of black skimmers that our local guides said had just arrived. Many of the group also made it to the very southern end of the reserve at the river draining the inland farmlands. Collected at the mouth of the river was a large mass of pink-bodied Franklin’s gulls and massive sized Peruvian pelicans.
Returning to the ship for lunch, we watched from the dining room as the captain spun the ship around and re-entered the Pacific Ocean. For the rest of the day we gently sped along observing numerous flocks of shearwaters and near sunset a scattered group of Dusky dolphins. We also were treated to an introductory lecture by Johan Reinhard on the mysterious Nasca Lines.
