Elegant White-collared Jays were also pretty common. Here these two are returning Virgilo's recorded calls.

We hit more rain during the patch where Quetzals and Mountain Toucans are commonly seen. Luckily I had seen the Mountain Toucan in Aguas Calientes while visiting Machu Pichu. I had also seen the Resplendent Quetzal (a long tailed version of the ones found in Peru) in Costa Rica. So I wasn't too disappointed at missing out on these beautiful birds. As we climbed higher, the rain let up again and we saw a nice mixed flock of tanagers. Here is the gaudy Grass-green tanager among the bromeliads of the cloud forest.

The Golden-collared Tanager was also part of this mixed flock.

Next the fog rolled in and visibility went down to about 5 ft! We decided to pick up the pace to see if the clouds would clear. One could see why this place was called the cloud forest! We made our way up to the peak and the clouds cleared. However, once one gets to the Western slope, things become desolate and there isn't much to see. We did see this handsome Mountain Caracara who is a bird of prey that mostly feeds on carrion.

As we left the Manu Road we made one final stop to look for a few hummingbirds. Virgilio wanted to show me the endemic Bearded Mountaineer. We weren't able to see him but we did see the Giant Hummingbird, the largest hummingbird in the world measuring 8 inches in length! When he flies he can barely hover. Maybe this is how the first hummingbirds evolved from birds.

Gowri definitely found an amazing guide in Virgilio. His knowledge of the area, bird/animal calls, recordings of numerous species, persistence, and enthusiasm made for a perfect guide. At the end of every day he would systematically check of everything we had seen in a list he had printed out for me. People who haven't been to the rainforest may not realize that one can hike great distances through it without seeing a single bird or animal. This often surprises people since the biodiversity is so high here. But things are very localized and unless one finds a fruiting tree, a lek, or knows bird and animal calls, it is very easy to see almost nothing. This actually happened to some fellow tourists we met in Ecuador who took a rainforest tour and only saw a rooster and dog! The forest is very dense. In fact, it once rained while we were hiking through the lowlands and we hardly got wet due to the canopy. We then made it out to a clearing and saw how much hard it was raining! We didn't have umbrellas but Virgilio simply gave me a few tropical leaves and these were the perfect umbrella. Below is a picture of Virgilio and I as we left the Manu Road.

We returned to Cuzco and I immediately turned on the laptop to skype with Gowri and Aditya. They had been doing fine in my absence which was a relief. Now all I had to do was board my flight the next day to return home. This was not a trivial matter since I was returning Monday night and Gowri had to leave for a conference on Tuesday. The scheduling couldn't be avoided since we could only get Frequent flier tickets for me on these dates. I had 4 flights that I had to make to get home. Luck went our way again and all of my flights took off on time and the trip ended perfectly!