A few weeks ago I got a call to fill in for a colleague leading a Mass Audubon birding cruise on the Peruvian Amazon leaving on March 24. The prospect was daunting – the field guide to the birds of Peru has the heft of an unabridged dictionary, and I had just a week to prepare. At around 1800 species, Peru is neck and neck with Columbia for most bird species of any country in the world.