Friends of Priorslee Lake Wildlife Site: Bolivia 2015

4 Oct 15 - 26 Oct 15

Just back from three weeks birdwatching in Bolivia. This land-locked country in the centre of South America is not on many tourist destinations which is a shame. Nearly 1400 species of bird have been recorded there – only just behind Colombia and Ecuador. It has some amazing scenery along its Andean spine. And it is one of the safest countries in which to travel with a very diverse population that includes many ethnic Indian tribes in the mountains

I last birded here in 1992 and was delighted to return and visit many new locations. As everywhere these days there was plenty of evidence of habit destruction – forestry and farming mainly to blame. Not as depressing as many countries where birding is more or less restricted to 'nature reserves'. This is just as well as 'protection' in Bolivia has no real meaning and certainly no enforcement

We logged over 600 species of bird and I photographed as many as I could. In addition I photographed nearly 100 species of butterfly (>3000 species have been identified so far in Bolivia); lots of flowers and a good collection of dragonflies and bugs. And the scenery could not be ignored

I ended up with nearly 6000 photos to sort through. A first sift produce 1150 in a 'best of' so I had to have another sift

What I have included below are the best of the birds with a scattering of the more spectacular butterflies etc. and a few 'views'

Album Here