Paracas National Reserve

Our 3-day Paracas birding tour is the classic introduction to Peru's south coast — a desert peninsula where the cold Humboldt Current drives one of the richest concentrations of seabirds and shorebirds in South America. Four hours south of Lima, the Reserva Nacional de Paracas, the Ballestas Islands, the Pisco wetlands and the huarango (mesquite) forests around Ica pack an extraordinary variety of coastal, marine and desert birds into a single unhurried circuit. For anyone searching for a Paracas birding tour, a Ballestas Islands boat trip, or simply the best birdwatching on Peru's south coast, this is the trip that shows you the whole cross-section — and every site comes with its own free downloadable checklist.

The heart of the tour is the Reserva Nacional de Paracas, Peru's oldest marine protected area, where red-sand cliffs fall to a turquoise bay and the desert runs empty to the horizon. Its mudflats and salt lagoons hold Chilean and Andean Flamingos, Peruvian Thick-knee, American and Blackish Oystercatchers, Surfbird, Ruddy Turnstone, Red Knot and thousands of migratory shorebirds, while the beaches at Lagunillas, La Mina and Playa Roja bring the endemic Surf Cinclodes onto the rocks and Inca Tern overhead. At Sequión we look for the endangered Peruvian Tern on its desert breeding grounds, and the open pampa adds the endemic Coastal and Thick-billed Miners and Raimondi's Yellow-Finch — 224 species are on our free Paracas National Reserve checklist.

On the second morning we board a boat from El Chaco for the Islas Ballestas, the wildlife-crammed guano islands everyone calls 'Peru's Galápagos.' The crossing passes the giant Candelabro geoglyph etched into a dune, then delivers close views of Peruvian Booby, Guanay and Red-legged Cormorants, Peruvian Pelican, Humboldt Penguin and Peruvian Diving-Petrel wheeling over a South American Sea-lion colony thousands strong. In the afternoon we bird the Pisco and Caucato wetlands — the Río Pisco river mouth with its reedbeds and lagoons — for Great Grebe, Wren-like Rushbird, Plumbeous Rail, White-cheeked Pintail, waterfowl and yet more shorebirds.

The final day turns inland to the desert oases and huarango forest around Ica, where a green thread of river valleys and vineyards cuts between towering dunes. Here we search the mesquite for the endemic Black-necked Woodpecker and Slender-billed Finch, with Vermilion Flycatcher, Amazilia and Oasis Hummingbirds, the tiny Peruvian Sheartail, Croaking Ground Dove and dry-country seedeaters. We run it as a relaxed small-group tour — two to six birders — led by expert local guides, with comfortable hotels in Paracas and all transport, the boat trip and reserve entry taken care of: the most complete way to bird Peru's south coast, and each of the four sites has its own downloadable checklist so you can tick as you go.