Discovering Villa Carmen’s bamboo specialists

March 3, 2017

I discovered my passion for birds years ago while researching macaws in the Peruvian rainforest in Tambopata, one of the most biodiverse spots on the planet with a wide variety of habitats and around 550 bird species. Among the variety of habitats found there, the most amazing to me was the bamboo forest, one of the largest bamboo patches of the entire Tambopata area, and also a favorite of the late Ted Parker. Specialists like the Rufous-headed Woodpecker, Manu Antbird, Goeldi’s Antbird, and the Red-billed Scythebill could be seen in a day’s hike. I had not seen such a diverse array of bamboo specialists since, until I visited Villa Carmen birding lodge last year while guiding for Field Guides.