The importance of birds at the Chira Valley

Written and photographed by Kevin Jiménez González

 

SULLANA, Peru – The Chira Valley is an area of cultural importance – there are archaeological evidences those give to know it so. Its Pre-Hispanic importance is countersigned in the Spanish chronicles of Agustín de Zárate and Pedro Cieza de León. Its natural resources are abundant, the birds highlighting. It’s not a gamble that Baltasar Martínez de Compañón, who created El principé, actual Sullana City, published a watercolors volume dedicated to birds two centuries ago, after going through the Peruvian Northern and overall after going through the Chira Valley.

 

The birds are around the globe, they own a diversity of colors, sizes, tweets, quills, types of flying, and they are overall in the imaginery of the human being. One example of that is the Andean condor (Vultur gryphus), the being that carries the soul to the eternity after the death. Plus, the birds are making and joining one of the main natural processes of the planet – the pollination.

 

There are endemic species of Peru and Equatorial Dry Forest at the Chira Valley. This last area is shared with the Ecuadorian Southwestern, and it’s in parallel inside the Tumbés endemism region, zone where more than 50 species of endemic birds have been reported, what means that they are not in other zones in the world. Within this Little more than 50 birds, approximately 20 of those species can be seen along the Chira Valley… or maybe more. And which ones are those species of birds?

 

The remarkable are the short-tailed woodstar(Myrmia micrura), that is a hummingbird just 2’2 inches long, considered as the littlest bird of Peru; the white-tailed jay (Cyanocorax mystacalis) that spreads an electrical sound likely the parrots, the collared antshrike(Thamnophilus bernardi)  that has a crest and a black-colored stain between throat and breast –like a tie—and when it spreads its sound, moves its tail energically at the same time.

 

There is also the abundant and pretty noisy Pacific parrotlet (Forpus coelestis) with green quills and a color tone that the same name of the bird already describes it,  the necklaced spinetail(Synallaxis stictothorax) that uses to be in branches and bushes near to the soil, what the human being only calls as undergrowth ignoring that the scrub –what its name is—is vital inside the Equatorial Dry Forest and for this species in particular.

 

In the end, but not meaning there are no more birds, there is the superciliated wren (Cantorchilus superciliaris) that also uses to be amid branches and near to the soil, and that in local folkclore is named as the mockingbird at some places.

 

Migratory species

However, not all are birds of the Equatorial Dry Forest but the Chira Valley, as it is connected to the Pacific Ocean, is a reposting area of migratory birds, especially for the ones known as beach birds, what arrive from North America approximately between September and October to spend the austral summer. Those species use to feed and rest at the sea shores, at the wetlands near to the sea, and also in wetlands that are further the coast line.

 

Regarding wetlands further the sea, there is one much relevant – Laguna de los Patos [Laggon of the Ducks], in Querecotillo District, where, according to the Ebird page, have been registered 140 birds among resident and migratory up to date

 

Aside this interesting place, other highlighted are Poechos Reservoir, the Chira River itself, and the paths in the edge of the valley. For example, in the river’s bank zone in front of Sullana City, in Marcavelica District, it’s possible to see in a morning approximately about 50 species with a medium effort.

 

In fact, there are much more places to watch birds as the el Angolo Hunting Reserve but the matter is not owning more watch places but the condition they have to be exploited for the people who want to do birdwatching, that grows more every year across Peru and the world.

 

So, it’s understood that, aside el Angolo, no one has an exploitation plan for watching the fauna or enjoying the place, and much less a conservation plan. It’s necessary to point out that many of those places suffer from people’s abandonement as they throw trash or debris, or simply they want to disappear them.

 

It must understand that activities as the birdwatching or other related may bring collateral benefits for the people in general, like conserving the resources of the Equatorial Dry Forest and inheriting a natural patrimony appropriate for the future generations.

 

© 2021 by Kevin Fermín Jiménez González. All Rights Reserved. Check out his YouTube channel with more birds footage.