Foothill avifauna of the upper Urubamba Valley, dpto. Cusco, Peru

The upper Urubamba River is an inter-Andean valley in south-east Peru that originates in the altiplano of dpto. Cusco. From Quillabamba, at c.1,000 m and above, the vegetation is arid and shorter in stature as a result of a rain shadow that arises from moisture catchment by high cordilleras to the east. The effects of the rain shadow are much reduced just north of Quillabamba where the vegetation is much taller and lush. The avifauna of the upper Urubamba remains poorly known despite explorations commencing as early as 1868 in the region. Berlepsch & Stolzmann reported on M. J. Kalinowski’s 1896 collections from the upper Urubamba. Chapman’s summary of the Yale University–National Geographic Society’s expedition (1915), his and George Cherrie’s work (1916) and that of H. Watkins (1917) provided a solid foundation of our knowledge of this area. Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science further explored the area with five expeditions in 1974–79, and the birds of Machu Picchu were treated by Walker & Fjeldsa. Most of the above field work was concentrated at higher elevations of the upper Urubamba Valley. However, recently, as part of a multiinstitutional rapid biological inventory, D. Lane and T. Pequeno provided data for the foothill avifauna in the Zona Reservada Megantoni, in the central Urubamba Valley, dpto. Cusco. Herein, we present results from surveys in March–April 2009 of two foothill sites in the upper Urubamba Valley, dpto. Cusco (Fig. 1), by DG & BW, and by teams Foothill avifauna of the upper Urubamba Valley, dpto. Cusco, Peru