Junin rail (Laterallus tuerosi)

Junin Lake, Junin Peru. Jan 16, 2020

comments (7)

Thibaud Aronson

Lion

This is one of the two bird species that are entirely restricted to Junin Lake, sitting at 4200 masl in Central Peru, and very much the harder of the two to see. As with many rails, they spend their time slinking amid the dense vegetation that surrounds the lake, but unlike larger species, this one essentially never comes out into the open.
Fortunately I went out with the one local expert, who has lived on the lakeshore his entire life. He has set up a couple of points where he has cut 50 cm wide strips in the vegetation. He sets his camouflaged speaker on one side and plays back a bit of song, and after a little bit of time, a bird will come to check it out!
Interestingly, there is a related species in North America (some lump the two together), widely considered the hardest bird to see in the US. As far as I know, nobody has tried this approach to see them! Posted 5 years ago
1. Christine Young
  
  Lion
  
  Fantastic encounter, Thibaud. It's so cool that you got to see this bird! Posted 5 years ago
2. 1. Thibaud Aronson
    
    Lion
    
    Thanks Christine! Posted 5 years ago
3. Ferdy Christant
  
  Lion
  
  When I first saw your photo, not reading your description yet, I got this instinctive feeling: this looks like a terribly difficult bird to see. Without knowing anything about the bird lol. Very nice job!
  
  How are you doing otherwise? Posted 5 years ago
4. 1. Thibaud Aronson
    
    Lion
    
    Haha good intuition!
    I'm doing fine mostly, I'm in an area of Peru that hasn't been hit by the virus, so they're taking very serious measures to keep it that way, plus the national quarantine has just been extended until April 12th. We'll see what happens then...
    What about you? Posted 5 years ago
  2. 1. Ferdy Christant
      
      Lion
      
      So does that mean you can't go home?
      
      I'm doing fine. It's been a very boring 2 weeks working from home, but other than that, no complaints. Posted 5 years ago
    2. 1. Thibaud Aronson
        
        Lion
        
        Good to hear it :)
        Well I was planning on being in South America all year anyway, so that's not an issue. I just hope I can start moving again reasonably soon. Posted 5 years ago