Traveling from Celendin, which is a fair-sized town in the upper Maranon drainage, to Balsas by the Maranon river offers several good birds and a spectacular scenery. Once at the highest pass above Celendin the road drops 2000 metres down to Balsas and the river.
At the higher parts the montane scrub holds typical high-altitude birds as well as some more scarse species like Andean Parakeet, Jelski´s Chat-tyrant, Black-crested Tit-tyrant and Rufous-breasted Warbling-finch (rare). The small village Hacienda Limon about halfway down the slope is the site for Gray-winged Inca-finch and Chestnut-backed Thornbird both localized Peruvian endemics. Other goodies that can be see around here includes Buff-bellied Tanager, Maranon Thrush, Little Woodstar and the Maranon race of Tropical Gnatcatcher.
Further down towards the river the erratic Yellow-faced parrotlet can be seen as well as Buff-bridled Inca-finch and Black-necked Woodpecker, all Peruvian endemics. Andean Condor and Peruvian Pigeon occurs here as well.
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