a: The CotaPata Cloud Forest

Behind the Cotapata Petrol Station, there is an old road that leads to an extensive trail system through a beautiful cloud forest. Thanks to Sjoerd Mayer for the description of the trail.

Indeed, at the end of the trail there is a small gold panning operation as well as a number of old mine shafts. There is also an abundance of bird life but which requires a great deal of patience to find and observe as the vegetation is very thick and because the birds often travel in mixed species flocks. This means that most of the time there will not be any birds in sight and then all of a sudden, as a mixed species flock moves through, the trees are filled with individuals of many different species. At this point, it is challenging to fix on one bird and concentrate on that bird to pick out some identifying features.

On the hike, toucans, tanagers, tufftedcheeks, thistletails and warblers were observed. Sign of the Andean Spectacled Bear was also found.

The good things about the cloud forest are the adundance of ferns, mosses, orchids, bamboos and other plant life. In turn, this diversity of plant life encourages a diversity of animal life. The downside of the cloud forest is that this diversity is due to the large amount of rain, fog and moisture in the air. The best way to deal with the clouds and rain is to set out early in the morning before the clouds build up and when the visibility is high...