Birding Ecuador

Introduction: Birding Ecuador

2010-11-13T11:44:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the birding blog I maintained during the years that I lived and birded in Ecuador. Actually, I only became a birder after a few years of exploring this country, from the high Andes to Amazonia, and being regularly confronted by its remarkably diverse avifauna, almost in spite of myself. Whether it was the rare Andean Condor circling overhead as I climbed one of the country’s famous volcanoes, the Blue-Footed Boobies diving dramatically as I surfed the fine breaks along the western coast, or the many tanagers, hummingbirds, and toucans that my partner Aimee and I regularly encountered on our weekend travels, I couldn’t help but become interested and passionate about neotropical birds. As is the way with birding, I soon grew obsessed with seeing and learning as much as I could about the birds of Ecuador, publishing my experiences and insights as they developed on this blog while recording well over a thousand species.

One of my principles of birding in Ecuador was to bird independently whenever I could, acquiring knowledge and understanding first-hand, instead of simply ticking species off a list with the help of a guide. Indeed, as a resident of the country, time and proximity were luxuries of mine, and I could afford to return to birding sites multiple times to locate most of the specialties on my own. Birding is a human endeavor, however, and hence by nature a social activity, and while most of my trips were conducted independently, I am indebted to many ornithologists, conservationists, guides, and friends for sharing information, insights, and experiences with me. In turn, I share my observations and resources with you, hopefully creating the impression that Ecuador is a spectacular and safe country that birders of every level can successfully visit, whether on a tour or by themselves. If you read through my reports, please keep in mind, though, that these are only the thoughts and impressions of one birder and that the country has much more to offer, for better or worse, than I had time and opportunity to experience.

As you consider Ecuador as a future birding destination, please feel free to contact me with any questions. I’ve since moved on to living and birding in Tanzania, but Ecuador will always be the source of my passion about wildlife and my commitment to conservation.

Sani Lodge: June 2-5, 2010

2010-07-05T13:43:00.002-07:00

To be honest, after five days of strenuous birding with Oscar Tapuy at Sacha Lodge, as well as having just completed one of the best mornings of birding I've ever had in Ecuador, I was ready to return to Quito. Still, I had made arrangements to stay three more days down river at Sani Lodge, and I wondered if perhaps my luck was turning on this trip. Another day in Amazonia is another chance to see a Harpy Eagle, I also figured, and I certainly wasn't going to see much of interest back in the capital city. When the covered canoe picked me up from the Sacha boat house, though, and I saw Domingo's welcoming smile, I felt rejuvenated as if I had just arrived in the eastern lowlands. Domingo is a freelance bird guide who works primarily for Sani Lodge, and although he doesn't carry a Leica scope or even an iPod, I've seen better birds with him than with any guide I've worked with, as he prefers to discover birds in the forest instead of attracting them. The oxbow lake at Sani is of the most beautiful and timeless landscapes, too, and would make the perfect place for my final reflections on living, and birding, in Ecuador.

Before heading out that afternoon, Domingo and I shaped the itinerary for the next couple of days, discussing the birds I was looking for and his recent observations in the area. Remarkably, he told me about a trail on the south side of the Napo that led to a Black-Necked Red-Cotinga lek, passing through good territories for the Point-Tailed Palm-Creeper and Wing-Banded Antbird, where he had also seen the Rufous-Vented Ground-Cuckoo and Amazonian Royal Flycatcher on several occasions. This sounded too good to be true but definitely worth a morning's visit. Then, we discussed the canopy tower, where he had seen a Harpy Eagle three months ago, perched in a tree only fifty meters away. While Harpy and Crested Eagles are sometimes surprised on the forest floor as they're eating prey that's too heavy to carry back up to the canopy, towers and walkways give birders the best chance to see these extremely rare raptors, unless there is a known nest in the area. Domingo said there was also a territory for the Varzea Mourner nearby, and we could paddle through varzea and bird the Coto Trail in the afternoon. In the meantime, we could search for the Collared Puffbird and Black Bushbird in several spots behind the lodge, as well as visit another river island for Barred Antshrike and Plain-Crowned Spinetail and search for owls, such as the Black-Banded Owl, after dinner. Even if I only saw a few of the birds we mentioned, it would be an amazing stay.

As it turns out, Domingo had never seen the cotingas displaying at the site himself, as his cousin had told him about the lek, having passed it many times on his way to hunt and fish in the forest south of the Napo River. We tried to get there as early as we could, but it still took us several hours as we had to first travel from the lodge to the river, then cross the river to his cousin's property, and finally hike an hour along the trail. Sadly, there was no sign of the cotinga, which is one of Ecuador's most spectacular birds from what I've read and heard. Happily, a pair of Wing-Banded Antbirds responded immediately to playback, offering good but quick looks at one of the more difficult antbirds in the country. In addition, a pair of Ochre-Striped Antpittas were calling along the trail throughout the morning, undoubtedly running through the forest with no chance of being seen. We made a half-hearted attempt to chase one down and succeeded in trapping it in an impossible dense patch of ground cover without managing the slightest glimpse of the bird. Several displaying male Blue-Backed Manakins was a noteworthy observation, but the bird of the morning was almost certainly a male Gould's Jewelfront bathing in the dew-coated moss covering the bark of a small tree. Domingo and I watched flabbergasted as this glorious hummingbird preened just a few meters in front of us, its brilliant plumage changing color with each movement. We missed the other megabirds sometimes found along the trail, but I told Domingo that if the lek is a sure thing, then birders will definitely visit Sani more often, as the only other lek I've heard of in Ecuador is a significant trek from the pricey Napo Wildlife Center.

To round out the morning, we returned to his father's property on the north side of the Napo to check for a pair of roosting Spectacled Owls that my dad and I had missed in August of last year. As we walked by his father's home, we heard a group of Black-Spotted Bare-Eyes calling and gave chase as they moved quickly deeper into the forest. Although we didn't get good looks at any of the birds, we did find a huge swarm of army ants and decided to return to the site more cautiously after searching for the owls, which were finally where they were supposed to be. Roosting owls, especially the flighty Spectacled Owl, are never a given observation but generally a worthwhile one for attempting, even if it makes for a long hike, you'll definitely see some good birds on the way. When we returned to the swarm, Domingo spotted the antbirds again, and this time we watched one perch for a good twenty seconds before dashing away. The Black-Spotted Bare-Eye is ornately patterned and strangely graced with a red eye patch instead of the more typical blue one; I can say that it's definitely worth chasing for days until you finally get good looks at one. The sun was blazing in the sky when we pulled up at the river island, which was devoid of activity except for a pair of dandy Lesser Wagtails and the ubiquitous White-Bellied Spinetail. We must have disturbed a dozen roosting Ladder-Tailed Nightjars, too, before giving up our search for the Barred Antshrike and returning to the lodge for lunch.

After coming up empty on yet another attempt for the Collared Puffbird, we hit a site along the entrance canal to the lodge for the Long-Tailed Potoo. Domingo assured me that he had a failsafe stakeout for the bird, which would respond to playback at dusk by perching out in the open above the canal. Of course, we missed it, but we did see three Amazonian Umbrellabirds in the late afternoon, returning back over the Napo River for the night with a group of Russet-Backed Oropendolas. On the following morning, our visit to the tower got off to a good start with a sighting of a scarce austral migrant, Swainson's Flycatcher, in the canopy of the same tree as the tower. Pied Puffbird, Yellow-Browed Tody-Flycatcher, and Black-Bellied Thorntail were other good observations, but then it started to rain, continuing for the next three hours as we waited it out in our ponchos in the company of a pair of Eastern Sirystes that were feeding on mosquitoes, it appeared. Finally, the weather cleared and we descended to the canoe, paddling towards the Coto Trail for my final afternoon birding in Ecuador.

When it rains in the morning and then clears up at midday, there is often a noticeable boost in bird activity in the afternoon, and I kept my fingers crossed as we got started, soon after encountering a group of trogons at the dock, including Amazonian Violaceous, Amazonian White-Tailed, and Black-Tailed Trogons. Our luck held, as over the next few hours we found the Gray-Winged Trumpeter, Undulated Antshrike, Brownish Twistwing, Chestnut-Winged Foliage-Gleaner, Blue-Black Grosbeak, White-Chested Puffbird, Lanceolated Monklet, Black-Faced Antthrush, Black-Tailed Flycatcher, and Rufous-Breasted Piculet. The monklet in particular was a terrific sighting as we approached it slowly to within two meters as it perched motionlessly while waiting for its prey; this was likely the same bird that my dad and I observed in August along the same trail and in the very same spot. The low-hanging sun seemed to penetrate through the forest more than usual as we returned to the canoe late in the afternoon, having missed some great birds like Salvin's Curassow but having seen many others, as well as a troop of Common Wooly Monkeys.

Domingo paddled us back to the lodge slowly but methodically, a journey that took over an hour in the fading light. I sat back in my chair as outraged Hoatzins flew back and forth over the narrow canals while pairs of Black-Capped Donacobius flicked their tails in annoyance at our passing. A group of Rufescent Tiger-Herons flushed up as we paddled by, and a near-adult Agami Heron did the same a few meters later as we drifted by almost at arm's length, certainly too close for my telephoto lens to capture. Once we reached Challuacocha, the famed oxbow lake that the lodge borders, the sun had already set, and a group of Capped Herons were roosting already in a cecropia tree along the shore. Aimee and I had visited Sani Lodge six years ago on our first trip to the eastern lowlands, well before I had any serious interest in birds, and I found it remarkable how much further I could peer through the forest than before. Back then, the dark lake under the setting sun was all I could see, a fabulous curtain behind which great knowledge and truth and especially mystery must lie. Since then, I had seen and learned so much about birds and the forest beyond, and the many sudden evening sounds and subtle flickers of movement had eventually become familiar. Still, I found it strange how the mysterious unseen and unheard beckons even more strongly now.

Notable birds seen: Rufescent Tiger-Heron, Agami Heron, Capped Heron, Cocoi Heron, Snail Kite, Double-Toothed Kite, Yellow-Headed Caracara, Speckled Chachalaca, Common Piping-Guan, Marbled Wood-Quail, Sungrebe, Limpkin, Gray-Winged Trumpeter, Wattled Jacana, Yellow-Billed Tern, Black Skimmer, Ruddy Quail-Dove, Black-Headed Parrot, Hoatzin, Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, Spectacled Owl, Ladder-Tailed Nightjar, Short-Tailed Swift, Neotropical Palm-Swift, Straight-Billed Hermit, White-Necked Jacobin, Black-Bellied Thorntail, Gould's Jewelfront, Golden-Tailed Sapphire, Black-Tailed Trogon, Amazonian Violaceous Trogon, Ringed Kingfisher, Amazon Kingfisher, Green Kingfisher, Green-and-Rufous Kingfisher, White-Chinned Jacamar, Pied Puffbird, White-Chested Puffbird, Lanceolated Monklet, Black-Fronted Nunbird, Yellow-Billed Nunbird, Swallow-Winged Puffbird, Chestnut-Eared Aracari, Channel-Billed Toucan, White-Throated Toucan, Rufous-Breasted Piculet, Chestnut Woodpecker, White-Bellied Spinetail, Chestnut-Winged Hookbill, Chestnut-Winged Foliage-Gleaner, Black-Tailed Leaftosser, Spot-Winged Antshrike, Banded Antbird, Silvered Antbird, Black-Spotted Bare-Eye, Wing-Banded Antbird, Black-Faced Antthrush, Ash-Throated Gnateater, Slender-Footed Tyrannulet, Lesser Wagtail-Tyrant, Yellow-Browed Tody-Flycatcher, Brownish Twistwing, Gray-Crowned Flatbill, Black-Tailed Flycatcher, Swainson's Flycatcher, Cinnamon Attila, Eastern Sirystes, White-Browed Purpletuft, Plum-Throated Cotinga, Amazonian Umbrellabird, Wire-Tailed Manakin, Blue-Crowned Manakin, Blue-Backed Manakin, Black-Capped Donacobius, White-Breasted Wood-Wren, Rufous-Bellied Euphonia, White-Lored Euphonia, Opal-Rumped Tanager, Opal-Crowned Tanager, Masked-Crimson Tanager, Slate-Colored Grosbeak, Red-Capped Cardinal, Blue-Black Grosbeak, Lesser Seed-Finch.

Yasuni National Park: June 29-July 2, 2010

2010-07-05T13:43:00.001-07:00

Yasuni National Park is arguably the most biodiverse place in the world, although its approximately 10,000 square kilometers of humid forest are severely threatened by oil production, illegal logging, and colonization. While avian diversity here is spectacular with close to 600 species present in the park, tree, amphibian, and bat diversity is even more impressive, especially on a small scale, where in just one hectare of forest there are more tree, shrub, and liana species than anywhere else in the world. Interestingly enough, the park is also home to several indigenous groups, namely the Huaorani, including small groups of uncontacted people. Visiting the edges of the park is relatively easy from a base at one of the many jungle lodges along the lower Napo River; exploring the park at length is considerably more complicated as access is limited to a handful of research stations and villages located within the park boundaries.

Given its size, the Napo River functions as a barrier for some birds, with certain species only found to the north and others only to the south of the huge river, such as the Chestnut-Belted and Ash-Throated Gnateaters. In addition, much of the forest along the southern side of the Napo is terra firma, while the forest on the northern side where most of the lodges are located is varzea forest, or forest that is seasonally flooded. This creates an even stronger impression of there being different avifauna on either side of the river. Although I had visited the southern side of the river several times, birding excellent terra firma forest for several days, most of the birds I was hoping to encounter on my trip to the eastern lowlands were more likely to be found here within the park boundaries, especially along the trails behind the park's famous parrot and parakeet clay licks. Both Sacha and Sani Lodges include full-day excursions to the park in their birding programs, so on four separate days my guides and I took a motorized canoe and box lunches to see what we could find.

On our first day here, Oscar and I briefly stopped at one of the river's many islands on our way to the trails behind the parakeet clay lick. Here we found many island specialists that I was still missing from my country list, including the Lesser Wagtail Tyrant, Fuscous Flycatcher, and White-Bellied Spinetail. We also encountered a Small-Billed Elaenia, an uncommon austral migrant, in the tall grasses along the edge of the island. In the park itself, it was disappointingly quiet, and it took us less than ten minutes to walk a stretch of trail that had taken us two hours to walk several years ago on a previous visit as there had been so much bird activity. Again, there was no response from either the Great Jacamar, Collared Puffbird, Rufous-Capped Antthrush, or Striped Manakin at their many territories along the trails, and we didn't find any army antswarms either. Nevertheless, we pushed on deeper into the park searching for the Ochre-Striped Antpitta in the hilly terrain, finding the Yellow-Billed Jacamar, White-Eyed Tody-Tyrant, Banded Antbird, and Black-Bellied Cuckoo along the way. Perhaps the best bird seen on the day was a group of Gray-Winged Trumpeters that were headed towards us along the trail, the iridescent feathers on the chest of one individual clearly visible as it paused in front of us before dashing into the forest on its powerful legs.

Our itinerary was more or less the same on our second day in the park, and we stopped again at the same river island, this time to connect with the diminutive Gray-Breasted Crake, which we successfully spotted in dense ground cover. Along the same trails in the park, we first located a silent Brown Nunlet waiting motionless for its prey to pass by. Then, we had nice views in the scope of another birding group that had lined up a calling Sapphire Quail-Dove. The thrill of the morning, though, was certainly discovering a huge group of army ants, forming a swarm that wasn't well-attended by birds but was definitely exciting. Several scorpions were chased out of their cover in the roots of a tree as ants attacked them, and a variety of unusual birds came by to capture insects fleeing from the swarm, including the Yellow-Billed Nunbird, Wire-Tailed Manakin, and Rufous-Tailed Foliage-Gleaner. We also noted several antbirds in the area, although they were very wary of our presence, including the Sooty, Bicolored, and White-Plumed Antbirds. Although this wasn't a classic antswarm, we were heartened by our luck in at least finding ants, and perhaps our positive attitude yielded one final good bird before the rain started for the day, a pair of massive Great Jacamars responding nicely to playback.

On our third day in the park, Oscar and I headed to a different network of trails, located significantly upriver from the clay licks and called Providencia. We found a few good birds along the way as we wound through flooded forest in our motorized canoe, including the Olive-Faced Flatbill and Cinnamon-Throated Woodcreeper. Once on the trails, bird activity seemed low yet again, until a Rufous-Capped Antthrush finally responded to Oscar's repeated trolling. Calling aggressively as it perched in the open at several locations around us, the bird yielded superb looks and even some photographs, although a digiscope would have captured the moment better. Buoyed by this sighting, we then encountered another antswarm, getting exquisite views of the White-Plumed Antbird as it surveyed the scene intently. Amazingly, a male Striped Manakin was heard calling nearby, which we located with a bit of effort and watched feeding on berries in the understory as it hopped up from below. Now that we had established some momentum, the birds seemed to just keep coming, and I picked up several new antwrens in quick succession with Oscar's help, Dugand's and Long-Winged Antwrens.

Our attention was then drawn to a pair of calling birds in some dense ground cover that turned about to be the impressive Undulated Antshrike, a massive and beautifully patterned bird. Both the male and female were seen out in the open as they pumped their tails and called in irritation while responding to Oscar's deft use of his recording equipment. This encounter was certainly one of the big surprises of the trip, as the antshrike is described as being rare and local in the field guide. Next, while tracking down a group of male Blue-Backed Manakins, we heard an Ochre-Striped Antpitta calling in the distance. This large and strikingly colored antpitta was the only antpitta species I had yet to see or hear in Ecuador (I have now seen them all except for the Bicolored Antpitta, which was heard-only along the La Bonita Road), and so we set off to find it immediately after hearing its call. Oscar and I had discussed the challenges of actually seeing this bird at great length already, as it runs along the forest floor without pause making it extremely difficult to spot. As it turns out, a pair of birds were calling and responding well to Oscar's recordings, indeed covering a lot of ground between calls. We set up low on a hill where the undergrowth wasn't too dense and waited for the antpitta to run by, which it did, pausing uncharacteristically on a fallen tree trunk to look around. Then, it absconded into dense ground cover, where I amazingly found it after scanning for a few minutes through my binoculars. I watched it call for a while, admiring its rich orange chest and black-striped belly, while Oscar marveled over a group of White-Bellied Spider Monkeys that were causing a commotion in the canopy above us.

Buzzing from this much sought-after encounter, I had little time to reflect as Oscar directed my attention towards a pair of Lunulated Antbirds that were calling nearby. These antbirds are rarely found away from antswarms but responded aggressively to playback, and I had great looks at a male calling at close range. At this point it was well past midday, and I was in danger of missing my ride to Sani lodge, so we hustled back to the river along the trail that had yielded so many terrific birds in just a few hours. Indeed, it had been one of my best mornings ever birding in Ecuador and easily made up for an entire week of relatively low bird activity. While there had been no sign of the Hairy-Crested Antbird, Collared Puffbird, or Reddish-Winged Bare-Eye, we had witnessed many of the avian treasures of Yasuni National Park, where I would still spend yet another day with Domingo, my guide at Sani Lodge.

Notable birds seen: Yellow-Headed Caracara, Black Caracara, Spix's Guan, Gray-Winged Trumpeter, Gray-Breasted Crake, Rufous-Sided Crake, Collared Plover, Sapphire Quail-Dove, Blue-and-Yellow Macaw, Scarlet-Shouldered Parrotlet, Black-Bellied Cuckoo, Ladder-Tailed Nightjar, Great-Billed Hermit, Straight-Billed Hermit, Gould's Jewelfront, Yellow-Billed Jacamar, Great Jacamar, Brown Nunlet, Yellow-Billed Nunbird, Golden-Collared Toucanet, Cinnamon-Throated Woodcreeper, Rufous-Tailed Foliage-Gleaner, Black-Tailed Leaftosser, Undulated Antshrike, Plain-Throated Antwren, Ornate Antwren, Long-Winged Antwren, Dugand's Antwren, Banded Antbird, Spot-Winged Antbird, Warbling Antbird, Sooty Antbird, White-Plumed Antbird, Lunulated Antbird, Bicolored Antbird, Scale-Backed Antbird, Rufous-Capped Antthrush, Ochre-Striped Antpitta, Ash-Throated Gnateater, Golden-Headed Manakin, Blue-Backed Manakin, Striped Manakin, Wire-Tailed Manakin, Amazonian Umbrellabird, Small-Billed Elaenia, Lesser Wagtail-Tyrant, White-Eyed Tody-Tyrant, Olive-Faced Flatbill, Fuscous Flycatcher, Drab Water-Tyrant, Musician Wren, Long-Billed Gnatwren, Slate-Colored Grosbeak.

Sacha Lodge: June 28-July 2, 2010

2010-07-05T13:42:00.000-07:00

My final birding trip in Ecuador, at least for the time being, was to the eastern lowlands, where I have spent comparatively little time birding during my six years living in the country, as it's easily the most expensive and difficult region to bird. For the independent birder, the options in the eastern lowlands are few, as sites are remote and require several types of transport, including plane and boat, to reach. Plus, birding in Amazonia is as challenging as it gets, with approximately 600 species present and almost all bird detection and identification done by ear. Sure, you could learn the birds here by yourself, but it would take many months and plentiful access to a variety of unique habitats, including varzea forest and river islands, not to mention terra firma forest canopy, one of the more inaccessible bird habitats in the world. The shortcut is to select from a range of jungle lodges located along the lower Napo River, the finest of which certainly must be Sacha Lodge. These lodges provide expert bird guides and diverse itineraries designed so that visiting birders can experience many of the different ecosystems of far western Amazonia.

Coordinating with both Sacha and Sani Lodges, I set up a week-long itinerary with two of the best guides in the region focusing on terra firma forest on the southern side of the Napo, where I hoped to expand my country list and track down a few rare species. My targets for the trip were mostly spectacular and little-seen birds, such as the Harpy Eagle, Agami Heron, Rufous-Vented Ground-Cuckoo, Ochre-Striped Antpitta, and Black-Necked Red-Cotinga, all species that would be on any visiting birder's lists. But there were a few other classic eastern lowlands birds that I hadn't seen yet, including the Collared Puffbird, Long-Billed Woodcreeper, Black-Spotted Bare-Eye, and Striped Manakin. I figured a week should be enough time to sweep up these glaring omissions on my country list and give me a final chance to find a megabird or two. And if the trip ever felt extravagant, I would simply rationalize it as my last hurrah, a well-deserved reward for years of hard work driving myself to remote locations in Ecuador and slowly learning birds on my own.

Several weeks in advance I forwarded my desired bird list to Oscar Tapuy, who I had worked with on my previous visit to Sacha Lodge and who is the most renowned and experienced native guide in the eastern lowlands. We discussed our plan for the next four days during the two-hour boat ride from Coca to the lodge, deciding that we would spend two and a half days on the south side of the Napo in search of antswarms and obligate antswarm followers as well as terra firma forest birds that are more territorial. We would also spend some time walking the trails behind the lodge itself as well as pass one morning on the canopy walkway. Making short visits to varzea forest and river island habitat would round out my program, which I hoped wouldn't be adversely affected by weather. (While Ecuador's weather cycles are diverse and complex, the eastern lowlands can be quite wet still in June and July, only really drying out in August.)

Considering all the time that I spent in protected forest on the south side of the Napo River during the week, I've decided to describe my experiences there in a separate post about Yasuni National Park. I'll use the following paragraphs to relay my experiences on the north side of the Napo, within the 2000 hectare grounds of the lodge itself. Access to the lodge from the Napo involves a twenty-minute walk along a boardwalk that passes through varzea forest. Although this path, called El Anden, is heavily trafficked by arriving and departing guests as well as by workers bringing in food and supplies, during the early morning and late evening hours it is excellent for birding, offering more mobility than a canoe ride through the several varzea canals branching off from Pilchicocha, the oxbow lake that the lodge borders. Considering the number of trips we made off the lodge property, Oscar and I passed through El Anden many times, the highlight of which was one afternoon when we got clear but quick looks at both Gray-Necked Wood-Rail and Cinereous Tinamou, coaxing out a Hauxwell's Thrush, a scarce austral migrant, as well. Several times along this path we also encountered fast-moving groups of Black-Spotted Bare-Eyes, perhaps the most spectacular antbird in the Ecuadorian Amazon, but failed to see them clearly as they stayed lowed to the ground and didn't respond to playback. Before dawn on one morning we heard the rare Buckley's Forest-Falcon calling in the distance, although it wasn't responsive to playback either.

With Jaime, one of the lodge's native guides, paddling us around in a narrow canoe, we made several late-afternoon excursions into La Orquidea, a narrow canal that passes through dense and tangled varzea forest. This is certainly the least strenuous and most magical birding experience I've ever had as birders float silently through flooded forest, acutely aware of every sudden sound and motion around them. On both occasions, we trolled for Long-Billed and Striped Woodcreepers, hoping to surprise a feeding Agami Heron along the way. Finally, a pair of Long-Billed Woodcreepers responded to playback, coming in close and putting on quite a show as they flipped their strangely-shaped heads about and responded with their powerful and haunting calls. While we never encountered an Agami Heron in this fashion, we did surprise a juvenile one morning in pre-dawn darkness at the beginning of the Anaconda canal, where Oscar has frequently found them. The bird jumped up onto a fallen palm trunk, frozen in the spotlight for a moment, while I assessed its rapier-like bill and dark-colored plumage. Although it didn't present quite the same image as in the field guide, it was good enough to tick.

Our morning on the canopy walkway, which is one of its kind in Ecuador, was graced with good weather but short on birds. In fact, we spent less than two hours scanning the treetops before Oscar pronounced that we would be better spending our time walking the trails down below. Generously, he first played a recording of the Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl for a few minutes, attracting a swarm of colorful tanagers and allies in the crown of a nearby tree. I clicked away happily on my camera as Gold-and-Green and Masked Tanagers, Purple and Green Honeycreepers, Black-Faced and Blue Dacnis, and Orange-Bellied and Rufous-Bellied Euphonias searched about for the intruder to mob. The commotion even attracted a Zimmer's Flatbill, which was a first for me. The only other noteworthy sighting for me was finding a Dwarf Tyrant-Manakin perched on a treetop, although I would have been content spending the rest of the morning observing familiar birds, considering how unique and privileged is the viewpoint from the walkway.

Unfortunately, the hours we spent walking the trails behind the lodge were decidedly unfruitful, as activity was very low. Only the most common birds were calling, and even then only occasionally, and there were hardly any mixed understory flocks. Oscar was repeatedly dejected as he came away empty after trolling for my target birds, commenting on how quiet and calm the forest was and how it must be the unseasonably wet weather that was reducing bird activity. Granted I was a little frustrated too, if only to have to suffer through listening to the same recording of a Collard Puffbird every five minutes (we never did find one). Thankfully, there were a few surprises to be found along these trails, including this magnificent Lined Forest-Falcon that we flushed from the understory but perched again in some cover nearby. Other notable birds seen or heard here were White-Chested Puffbird, Black-Spotted Bare-Eye, and Black-Banded Owl, the latter heard only.

Ultimately, my visit to the eastern lowlands coincided with a period of low bird activity, but Oscar is probably the best guide to work with in such situations, as he has a wealth of stakeouts to try for skulkers and territorial birds, and he is relentless in his use of playback to draw out shy or quiet birds. Although we didn't have too much to show for three consecutive fourteen-hour days of birding, our final morning on the southern side of the Napo River, to be covered in the next post, made it all worthwhile. From there I would head to Sani Lodge for another two full days of birding terra firma forest, finally concluding my six years of birding Ecuador.

Notable birds seen: Cinereous Tinamou, Cocoi Heron, Agami Heron, Rufescent Tiger-Heron, Greater Yellow-Headed Vulture, Slender-Billed Kite, Double-Toothed Kite, Black Caracara, Lined Forest-Falcon, Laughing Falcon, Spix's Guan, Gray-Necked Wood-Rail, Red-Bellied Macaw, Hoatzin, Pauraque, Short-Tailed Swift, Lesser Swallow-Tailed Swift, White-Necked Jacobin, Gould's Jewelfront, Long-Billed Starthroat, White-Chested Puffbird, Swallow-Winged Puffbird, Scarlet-Crowned Barbet, Chestnut-Eared Aracari, Ivory-Billed Aracari, Golden-Collared Toucanet, Cream-Colored Woodpecker, Long-Billed Woodcreeper, Cinnamon-Throated Woodcreeper, Short-Billed Leaftosser, Black-Tailed Leaftosser, Black-Spotted Bare-Eye, Wire-Tailed Manakin, Dwarf Tyrant-Manakin, Spangled Cotinga, Plum-Throated Cotinga, Amazonian Umbrellabird, Bare-Necked Fruitcrow, Zimmer's Flatbill, Olive-Faced Flatbill, Musician Wren, Rufous-Bellied Euphonia, Opal-Crowned Tanager, Paradise Tanager, Green-and-Gold Tanager, Masked Tanager, Red-Capped Cardinal, Slate-Colored Grosbeak.

Reserva Las Gralarias: June 26, 2010

2010-06-27T08:52:00.000-07:00

A short visit to Reserva Las Gralarias was a twitch in the truest sense of the term. An active nest of the Hoary Puffleg had recently been found along one of the reserve's trails, so I simply had to stop by for my first looks at this difficult Choco endemic hummingbird, which resides in dark forested ravines and hardly ever visits feeders. Interestingly enough, this year in January the puffleg was regularly seen at one of the reserve's feeder stations that is heavily surrounded by vegetation, although I neglected to see it myself, as the twitch didn't seem as urgent as it does now that I have less than two weeks left in Ecuador.

The nest itself is cup-shaped and hanging from an exposed fern growing right along the trail. When I first arrived on site, the female was not on the nest, and when she arrived went through a noisy distraction act, perching nearby and calling loudly to draw my attention away from the location. After taking in quick but good looks at this subtle puffleg, which appears a little like a hermit with its tail curled inwards in flight, I retreated for a few minutes. Returning stealthily to the nest area, I observed the female seated on top of the nest, not inside, where one downy nestling lay. It's difficult to say whether this brood will be reared successfully (there were originally two eggs), but I'm confident I didn't hurt its chances with my observations.

Notable birds seen: Velvet-Purple Coronet, Hoary Puffleg, Spotted Barbtail, Flame-Faced Tanager.

Mashpi: June 26, 2010

2010-06-27T08:38:00.001-07:00

Mashpi is a recently popularized site in the northwestern foothills that is quickly growing renowned for its impressive collection of Choco endemic bird species. The wet mossy forest along the roads in the area boasts Moss-Backed Tanager, Pacific Tuftedcheek, Orange-Breasted Fruiteater, Black Solitaire, Glistening-Green Tanager, Indigo Flowerpiercer, and Choco Vireo, the latter just discovered at the site by guide Dušan M. Brinkhuizen. Indeed, the news of the vireo, which is a very rare and endangered species and one of the most difficult of the Choco endemics to see in Ecuador, is bound to increase the site's fame even further, especially considering its proximity to Mindo (the vireo is known from one other remote site in Ecuador in Esmeraldas Province).

With little time left in Ecuador, I wanted to try for a few more unseen Choco endemics myself, including the vireo, of course, but also the Black Solitaire and a few hypothetical species to the area, such as Star-Chested Treerunner, Yellow-Green Bush-Tanager, and Purplish-Mantled Tanager. After taking Aimee to the airport in Quito for her own departure on an early-morning flight, I drove down to the site and shortly was observing a pair of Moss-Backed Tanagers at close range feeding on ants crawling along the roadside. Overhead, a pair of gorgeous Toucan Barbets looked on as I photographed the feeding birds, which were behaving more like flycatchers than tanagers. Further down the road that leads to the new reserve, I encountered a terrific mixed flock with both Glistening-Green Tanager and Orange-Breasted Fruiteater as well as Strong-Billed Woodcreeper and Smoky-Brown Woodpecker.

Approaching the section of the road where Dusan found the vireo, I laughed at my chances of actually finding the bird myself, as I was without playback and unfamiliar with the bird's habits and behavior. Happily, I met guide and conservationist Alejandro Solano along the road, who had just seen the vireo himself, and he led me exactly to the spot where we found the bird high in the canopy along the roadside. Looking and sounding like the common Brown-Capped Vireo, the bird behaved differently, defending its area territorially as mixed flocks moved through and staying behind as they left and growing quiet again. While it wasn't a spectacular sighting, it's always inspiring and poignant to witness an endangered species, and I'm grateful to Dusan and Alejandro for sharing their knowledge and observations.

Notable birds seen: Blue-Fronted Parrotlet, Purple-Bibbed Whitetip, Wedge-Billed Hummingbird, Brown Inca, Golden-Headed Quetzal, Toucan Barbet, Crimson-Rumped Toucanet, Smoky-Brown Woodpecker, Golden-Olive Woodpecker, Strong-Billed Woodcreeper, Pacific Tuftedcheek, Tawny-Breasted Flycatcher, Orange-Breasted Fruiteater, Choco Vireo, Andean Solitaire, Choco Warbler, Swallow Tanager, Glistening-Green Tanager, Moss-Backed Tanager, Black-Chinned Mountain-Tanager, Ochre-Breasted Tanager, Yellow-Throated Bush-Tanager, Black-Winged Saltator.

Refugio Paz de los Aves: June 6, 2010

2010-06-08T06:14:00.000-07:00

My third trip to Refugio Paz de los Aves was definitely the most spectacular. Having already seen all four species of antpitta that Angel Paz has successfully habituated, I was hoping instead to located the Cloud-Forest Pygmy-Owl, a Choco endemic that I've been chasing the last few months that is seen occasionally on his property. Like other pygmy-owls, this species is mostly diurnal and moves about unpredictably, often associating with mixed flocks as it's bombarded by hummingbirds, euphonias, and other small birds that it predates upon. Also like other pygmy-owls, it has a highly distinctive and repetitive call, a series of pu-pu's that can last upwards of a minute. When I called Angel on Saturday night from Mindo, he reported that the pygmy-owl had been seen that morning calling frequently right near the fruit feeders, so Aimee and I decided to pay him one last visit.

There was one other group of birders there, guided by Vinicio Perez of Birdwatchers' House in Mindo. Angel directed them to the Andean Cock-of-the-Rock lek while we explored the trails in search of the pygmy-owl. Just as he locates the antpittas, Angel would whistle the call at various points along the trails, hoping for a response (he hasn't named the owl yet like he's named the individual antpittas, such as Maria, Willy, and Susan). Getting no response, we decided to wait out the early morning and try again around 8:30am, which he explained was a more common time to hear the pygmy-owl vocalize. So, Aimee and I next spent an incredible half hour at the lek, watching two male Andean Cock-of-the-Rocks playfully chase each other in front of the viewing blind.

We returned to walking the trails with Angel afterward, continuing our search for the pygmy-owl as well as the Dark-Backed Wood-Quail, another very difficult Choco endemic that appears regularly at the site. Again not getting a response, Angel surprised me when he asked me to use playback on several occasions, breaking his own strict rules about the use of playback on his reserve. Perhaps these rules only apply to more territorial birds like antpittas, or perhaps he just really wanted to please us. Regardless, we still failed to get a response as the morning grew later; however, we did meet Susan, a female Moustached Antpitta, who responded quickly to some hand-tossed worms alongside the upper trail.

We descended back to the new fruit feeders that Angel and his brother built a few months ago, just in time for a fantastic gathering of birds (the old fruit feeders attracted too many Sickle-Winged Guans, which in turn disturbed the nearby Andean Cock-of-the-Rock lek). Black-Chinned Mountain-Tanagers and Toucan Barbets aggressively fed on the bananas, some even perching on the hand of Vinicio Perez to feed, while Dark-Backed Wood-Quails and White-Throated Quail-Doves skulked along the ground picking up the left overs. Then a pair of Crimson-Rumped Toucanets and a group of Blue-Winged Mountain-Tanagers came in, as cameras continued to click away, capturing this splendid show, truly one of the best natural spectacles in Ecuador.

After getting an eyeful of the wood-quail, we dropped back down the trail to try for the pygmy-owl again, this time finally getting a response from a tree just overhead, where a mixed flock was busy foraging about. With a bit more effort, we finally located the Cloud-Forest Pygmy-Owl, stolidly perched on an open branch as Fawn-Breasted Brilliants and Slate-Throated Whitestarts mobbed it from above. Thrilled with our luck, we all patted each other on the back and made our way up the hill for breakfast, a feast of bolones and empanadas. On the way, we ran into Rodrigo, Angel's brother, who had located the Ochre-Breasted Antpitta that Angel has named Shakira. This diminutive grallaricula has a distinctive bobbing display that it makes as it calls, shaking its body much like the popular Colombian singer.

Notable birds seen: Dark-Backed Wood-Quail, Cloud-Forest Pygmy-Owl, Empress Brilliant, Velvet-Purple Coronet, Toucan Barbet, Red-Headed Barbet, Crimson-Rumped Toucanet, Tyrannine Woodcreeper, Moustached Antpitta, Ochre-Breasted Antpitta, Olivaceous Piha, Andean Cock-of-the-Rock, Black-Chinned Mountain Tanager, Golden-Naped Tanager.

Mindo: June 5 , 2010

2010-06-08T05:23:00.001-07:00

Having dropped off the car with its new owner, Aimee and I continued on by bus to Mindo for the rest of the weekend, looking to finally ride the famous zip lines there, as well as to do a little birding. Sadly, good birding can only be found increasingly far away from town as it grows steadily both in population and popularity with tourists from Quito. Now, the once famous dirt road leading up to the Mindo-Nambillo Reserve is busy during the weekends with car and lorry traffic, and regional specialties like the Cloud-Forest Pygmy-Owl are rarely seen (I photographed this individual the following morning well outside Mindo at Refugio Pas de los Aves). An early morning or late afternoon along the road could still yield some decent birds though, such as the White-Throated Spadebill we found calling vigorously in the undergrowth and raising its yellow-feathered crest.

Notable birds seen: White-Capped Dipper, Crimson-Rumped Toucanet, White-Throated Spadebill, Torrent Tyrannulet, Guira Tanager, Golden-Naped Tanager.

Old Nono-Mindo Road: June 5, 2010

2010-06-08T05:21:00.001-07:00

Descending the northwest slope of Volcan Pichincha from Yanacocha Reserve, Aimee and I took our faithful Toyota Landcruiser on a final expedition, winding along the old Nono-Mindo Road towards the Tandayapa Valley. We had missed the Black-Breasted Puffleg at Yanacocha earlier in the morning but decided to stop by Verdecocha Reserve, where it has also been observed. Unfortunately, we learned at the entrance gate that visits are only by reservation and that the rare hummingbird is hardly ever seen at the feeders and only occasionally found further up in the reserve. Cruising along the Alambi River, we stopped periodically to try for the Beautiful Jay (the lower part of this road passes through excellent temperate forest now protected as part of the Ecoruta, or Paseo del Quinde). Almost no birds were calling this late in the morning, much less the distinctive Beautiful Jay, but we did find a pair of dapper White-Capped Dippers feeding in the river.

Notable birds seen: White-Capped Dipper.

Yanacocha Reserve: June 5, 2010

2010-06-08T05:00:00.000-07:00

In my last weekend in Ecuador with my own transport, I chose to visit Yanacocha Reserve one last time in search of the Black-Breasted Puffleg, perhaps the rarest hummingbird in the world. Although this country endemic is supposed to be present at the reserve during the months of May through July, it hasn't been observed yet this year, nor did Aimee and I find it on Saturday morning. We found very little in fact, as intense sun and high winds buffeted the elfin forest, driving birds into the understory. After spending an hour fruitlessly waiting at the hummingbird feeders, we decided to head down slope along the old Nono-Mindo Road. (The Giant Conebill pictured here is on the bird list for the reserve, although I've never seen it at this site myself.)

Notable birds seen: Black-Chested Buzzard-Eagle, Golden-Breasted Puffleg, Purple-Mantled Thornbill, Mountain Velvetbreast, Sword-Billed Hummingbird, Great Sapphirewing, Pearled Treerunner, White-Throated Tyrannulet, Superciliaried Hemispingus, Scarlet-Bellied Mountain-Tanager.

23 de Junio: May 24, 2010

2010-05-31T14:07:00.000-07:00

There are thousands of places to observe birds in Ecuador, and new sites are being popularized all the time, such as Mashpi Reserve on the northwestern slope, which quickly became a big hit this year when the Indigo Flowerpiercer and other difficult Choco endermics were found there in mossy forest. 23 de Junio is a small village on the south side of the Rio Blanco, located about forty-five minutes by car from San Miguel de los Bancos. A group of farmers there are giving conservation a shot, protecting swaths of montane forest for avitourism. Most notably there are two Long-Wattled Umbrellabird leks in the area, and Black Solitaire has been seen occasionally feeding on palm fruit. Aimee and I visited the site with our guide Julia Patino on a rainy Sunday morning and saw very little despite waiting at the observation area for three hours. Given it's distant location almost two hours from Mindo, it's hard to say whether this site will catch on with birding groups, but you're welcome to arrange a visit ($15) through Luis Ajila (081030948) to try for one of South America's best birds.

Notable birds seen: Gray-Headed Kite, Yellow-Tufted Dacnis, Guira Tanager.

Mindo: May 22-24, 2010

2010-05-31T14:03:00.001-07:00

With just a handful of difficult birds left to see in the Mindo region, or the subtropical zone of the northwestern slope, I contracted a birding guide for the weekend to help me track down a few elusive species, including the Crested Guan, Sunbittern, Cloud-Forest Pygmy-Owl, and Black Solitaire. Tom Quesenberry, the affable and insightful owner of El Monte Lodge, recommended Julia Patino, one of the few female birding guides in the country and among the most knowledgeable and experienced guides in the area (she freelances as well and can be reached at 086162816). Indeed, she proved to be an excellent guide and an affable birding companion as we spent the morning along the ridge road bordering the Mindo-Nambillo Reserve, picking up some great species like the Green-Fronted Lancebill, Rufous-Breasted Antthrush, and Tiny Hawk, the latter of which she spotted at an immense distance, perched up high and in the open in the bare crown of a tree.

Later in the morning, we tried for the Crested Guan at a finca further down in the valley. The sun was blazing by then and birding activity was low, but we did track down a calling Barred Puffbird and spotted a female White-Winged Tanager in a mixed flock. Despite the abundance of fruiting trees on the property, we only heard Crested Guan way down the ridge in the forest below, although a nice surprise was a Gray Hawk that alighted momentarily in front of us. Julia was definitely dogged in her attempt to located my missing birds, calling Angel Paz throughout the weekend for updates on the Cloud-Forest Pygmy-Owl that is occasionally seen on his property, and taking us to a little-visited site on Sunday to try for Black Solitaire. Surprisingly, I found the Sunbittern on my own, crossing the Rio Mindo one afternoon in the tarabita that provides access to the lodge. There I was swinging over the river in a small cart while trying to photograph this scarce bittern as it flashed its gorgeous wings angrily along the shore.

Notable birds seen: Tiny Hawk, Gray Hawk, Sunbittern, Green-Fronted Lancebill, Barred Puffbird, Rufous-Breasted Antthrush, Club-Winged Manakin, White-Winged Tanager.

Reserva las Gralarias: May 22, 2010

2010-05-31T13:54:00.000-07:00

I had originally planned to visit the southwestern lowlands during this holiday weekend in search of birds endemic to the Tumbes bioregion, but I was soon overwhelmed in planning the logistics of the trip, as buying airline tickets and renting a car proved cost prohibitive considering the few new species I would likely encounter. Then, I strongly considered driving south to visit Cajas National Park and Jocotoco's Yunguilla Reserve in search of two Ecuadorian endemics, the Violet-Throated Metaltail and the Pale-Headed Brush-Finch, but this seemed a long and exhausting trip for a three-day weekend. Ultimately, Aimee and I settled on a simple getaway to Mindo, visiting several sites in the area while staying at the excellent El Monte Lodge, and considering the nice handful of new birds seen, I'm happy the weekend worked out the way it did.

Reserva las Gralarias, located a half hour outside of Mindo, is a reliable site for several difficult Choco endemics, including the Beautiful Jay and Hoary Puffleg, both of which I've failed to track down over the last several years. I missed them again this morning, but Aimee and I delighted in two large groups of beautiful Plate-Billed Mountain-Toucans and a pair of excitable Rufous-Headed Pygmy-Tyrants. Another Moustached Antpitta nest was found recently on the reserve; although the nest was empty, it's still remarkable to consider that this species was only discovered just over a decade ago in Ecuador, before its call was recorded, and before the northwestern slope was crawling with birders. A female Scaled Fruiteater was another nice highlight, but I was really hoping to spot the Barred Hawk that was calling periodically throughout the sunny morning.

Notable birds seen: Brown Inca, Velvet-Purple Coronet, Plate-Billed Mountain-Toucan, Toucan Barbet, Tyrannine Woodcreeper, Strong-Billed Woodcreeper, Scaled Fruiteater, Uniform Antshrike, Flavescent Flycatcher, Rufous-Headed Pygmy-Tyrant, Gray-Breasted Wood-Wren, Three-Striped Warbler, Russet-Crowned Warbler, Golden-Naped Tanager, Beryl-Spangled Tanager, Blue-Winged Mountain-Tanager, Dusky Bush-Tanager.

Birds of Ecuador Postage Stamps

2010-05-20T14:44:00.000-07:00

I was contacted a few months ago through my blog by Correos del Ecuador, which is the Ecuadorian national postal company, as they were looking for photographs of rare birds of Ecuador that had never been represented in a postage stamp before. Flattered, I replied that I was happy to share any images I had taken during my birding trips around the country, hoping to have a few for which they were looking. I was dismayed to receive the list of desired birds, though, as they were mostly skulkers or pelagics, including the Striated Antthrush and White-Vented Storm Petrel. Still, I had a few decent photographs of the Gray-Breasted Mountain-Toucan and Common Potoo, two other species on the list, so I decided to go ahead with the philatelic project and allow the artists to create stamps from my photographs.

After reviewing my photographs of the desired species, the artists decided they would cull images directly from my blog instead, leaving me immensely curious about what birds and photographs they would ultimately use. Today, I finally received the results of the project, which was to be exhibited this year in Antwerp at Birdpex 6, an international "bird-only" stamp exhibition held every four years. While I admit to being surprised by the actual birds chosen for the stamps to represent Ecuador's "megadiversity," I'm pretty smitten with the slick product, which presents the four colorful stamps in a cleverly designed package in the shape of a tree (the images of the White-Winged Swallow, Toucan Barbet, and Crimson-Rumped Toucanet are mine, while the image of the Blue-Crowned Motmot is of Juan Carlos Valarezo).

There's also an informational flier that uses one of my images of a Turquoise Jay, which is a common enough bird on both slopes in Ecuador, but doesn't range much further outside the country. Perhaps my favorite part of the production, though, is the commemorative stamps, which depict two highly contrasting tanagers, the Scrub and Silver-Beaked Tanagers. The former is a subtle and sometimes hard to find tanager of the inter-Andean valley, while the latter is a striking but common tanager of open areas in the eastern lowlands.

It's worth mentioning that there are some outstanding resources on the Internet of the birds of Ecuador. Roger Ahlman of Andean Birding regularly updates his gallery of Birds of Ecuador, and Nick Athanas of Tropical Birding has outstanding digiscoped images of neotropical birds that are extremely difficult to find, much less photograph. Glenn Bartley recently published a gorgeous book of the birds of Ecuador, and Sam Woods also of Tropical Birding maintains one of my favorite birding blogs with awesome photographs of his guiding excursions in Ecuador. The best non-Internet publication of Ecuadorian birds has to be Murray Cooper's recent book Plumas, which meaningfully presents the country's avian diversity by organizing the bird photographs into distinct ecological zones. Frankly, these other sources would have proven more fruitful for the postage stamp project, but I'm proud to contribute nevertheless.

Yanacocha Reserve: May 2, 2010

2010-05-02T11:27:00.000-07:00

The weather has been gruesome in the highlands during the last few weeks, but it's now or never if I'm going to lay my eyes on the endangered Black-Breasted Puffleg, one of Ecuador's very few country endemics. This rare and extremely local hummingbird resides only on the northwestern slope of Volcan Pichincha, surfacing for a few months every year at Yanacocha Reserve, located just an hour's drive from Quito. Supposedly the months of May through July are the best times to find the hummingbird at the many feeders at the reserve, although there have been occasional reports of the bird in other seasons and altitudes, including Verdecocha Reserve, which is significantly down slope, and Reserva Las Gralarias, which is way down by Mindo.

Although it rained much of the previous day and night, I figured correctly that there would be clear weather for a few hours in the morning, arriving at the entrance to the reserve just after dawn. Having encountered a Curve-Billed Tinamou along the road, I was feeling pretty good about the day's prospects, noting a few mixed flocks along the Trocha Inca as I headed straight for the feeders, which are located a few kilometers back from the entrance. A pair of Barred Fruiteaters showed well as they foraged actively in the trees along the trail, making their characteristic high-pitched whistle all the while, but I was focused this morning on finding the mythical puffleg.

There are a few birds in the reserve, though, that would stop even the most goal-oriented birder in his tracks, one of which is the Ocellated Tapaculo. This magnificent skulker is one of South America's finest birds, but it's heard way more often than seen in its temperate forest habitat. Amazingly, a pair was calling right next to the Trocha Inca, and with a little coaxing from my iPod one individual flew up into a tree at eye level and proceeded to call and display for several minutes. Aside from the spectacular coloration of the bird, note the incredibly long and pointed hind claws directed backwards in the photograph above. This observation was a fair consolation for missing the puffleg yet again, despite spending over an hour at the feeders. The park guards report that the hummingbird hasn't been observed yet this year but that last year it was seen regularly during June and July.

Notable birds seen: Curve-Billed Tinamou, Purple-Mantled Thornbill, Golden-Breasted Puffleg, Sword-Billed Hummingbird, Mountain Velvetbreast, Pearled Treerunner, Tawny Antpitta, Blackish Tapaculo, Ocellated Tapaculo, Streak-Throated Bush-Tyrant, Crowned Chat-Tyrant, White-Banded Tyrannulet, White-Throated Tyrannulet, Barred Fruiteater, Red-Crested Cotinga, Blue-Backed Conebill, Superciliaried Hemispingus, Scarlet-Bellied Mountain-Tanager, Black-Chested Mountain-Tanager, Rufous-Naped Brush-Finch, Stripe-Headed Brush-Finch.

My Thousandth Bird Seen in Ecuador

2010-04-28T19:21:00.002-07:00

Other countries in South America like Brazil, Peru, and Colombia have significantly more bird species than Ecuador, but none exhibit a higher density of avian diversity. Imagine a country the size of the state of Colorado that has over sixteen hundred bird species spanning several distinct endemic bird areas. Add the unique avifauna of an isolated archipelago like the Galapagos, and you're envisioning a birder's paradise, where just a few hours, and a few dollars, can leave you surrounded with over a hundred new birds. Seeing a thousand species in Ecuador over the course of a few years is actually a pretty reasonable goal, and I've even heard of visiting birders ticking over nine hundred in just over a month of hardcore birding.

Looking back at my country list as it's grown longer, I've become increasingly more critical of some of my observations, especially those from years ago. Really, I've seen both the Green-Fronted and Blue-Fronted Lancebills? As I haven't noted them on my own in the last few years, what if my bird guide from long ago was mistaken? And was that truly a Red-Billed Tyrannulet that I saw in a clearing below Sumaco, I wonder, or was it just highly likely? Some sightings I was absolutely positive about at the time, but now they seem so rare and unusual that I must have been mistaken, such as the Peruvian Antpitta I spotted during my first visit to Cabañas San Isidro and haven't heard or seen since. Ultimately, ninety-five percent of my ticks are certain, and who knows how many species I've seen without realizing it anyway. The number is only special, then, for its plausibility, not its actual value.

Fortunately, the bird itself was a special one. The Andean Potoo is one of those extremely local and rare birds that is probably more widespread than ornithologists think but is almost impossible to find. This nocturnal bird rarely vocalizes, roosts during the day in perfect camouflage, and is only know in Ecuador from three locations according to the field guide, one of which is the Guacamayos Ridge Trail and Cabañas San Isidro area. I found a pair of these potoos while walking the Las Caucheras Road the other night in search of a much more common nightbird, the Rufous-Banded Owl. Swooping out over the road in the moonlight and silently returning to its perch having caught a moth, the potoo seemed as if it was from another world. Indeed, when I illuminated it with my spotlight thinking it was an owl, I was first baffled by the sight of this alien-looking bird, its long layered tail, general mottled appearance, and eyes glowing in the dark like hot coals.

Cabanas San Isidro: April 23-25, 2010

2010-04-25T13:08:00.000-07:00

As my six years in Ecuador finally draw to a close, the fewer opportunities I have for birding. During the last couple of weekends Aimee and I have been preoccupied with making moving arrangements, whether from Ecuador or to Tanzania, and the only bird I've had the chance to study since Semana Santa has been the Black-Tailed Trainbearer that feeds on the flowering shrubs outside my classroom. With even more work approaching on the horizon, I decided to cut loose briefly from my responsibilities in Quito and spend the weekend at Cabanas San Isidro, relaxing and watching birds. San Isidro is, of course, one of the finest birding institutions in Ecuador, located two and a half hours from Quito in the subtropical zone on the eastern slope of the Andes. With a little luck the trip was also to produce my one thousandth bird seen in Ecuador, but more on that later.

There aren't a lot of birds on the reserve's list that I haven't seen by now, excepting the vagrants and several rarities, but I was confident that I'd find at least a few new species while still enjoying the more common birds, such as the Saffron-Crowned Tanager, Barred Becard, Blackburnian Warbler, and Masked Trogon. Indeed, San Isidro is one of the easiest birding sites in Ecuador, as mixed flocks regularly sweep through the grounds of the lodge each morning to glean from the trees arthropods that are attracted to the overhead lights at night. Often the birds come down to eye level, easing the tension in birders' necks and offering outstanding opportunities for photography as well. Although it rained after breakfast on both mornings of my visit, I had the good fortune to observe a mixed flock from the rooftop deck above the common area, photographing the Rufous-Breasted Flycatcher, Montane Woodcreeper, and Flame-Faced Tanager, among others, from just a meter or two away.

The birding is so good from the lodge itself and from the access road, which cuts through gorgeous montane forest as you pass beyond the lodge, that birders don't often venture out on one of the many trails. I've had some success on the trails during previous visits, including finding the Peruvian Antpitta, Black-Chested Fruiteater, and Wattled Guan, but it's always hard work and results in a lot fewer birds seen. Still, after the rain let up on Saturday morning I walked out on the road to the Rock Trail, which starts about ten minutes from the entrance and heads up to the ridge, where I've seen Crested Quetzal and White-Capped Tanager in the past. I was delayed on the road by mixed flocks, though, one in particular moving through the chusquea bamboo that contained the Lineated Foliage-Gleaner, Black-Eared Hemispingus, Long-Tailed Antbird, Rufous-Crowned Tody-Flycatcher, and Plushcap. When I finally arrived at the ridge itself I was greated by a large flock of White-Capped Parrots as well as a single Black-Billed Mountain-Toucan that was generous enough to perch in the open for me but unfortunately not in good light.

After lunch I headed out on the Log Trail with the manager who is from Costa Rica and something of a birder himself. While working on constructing a new water pipe the previous day, he had noticed a pair of Chestnut-Breasted Chlorophonias building a nest overhead. Although the Log Trail makes for exceptionally difficult birding, especially as it's often overgrown with bamboo, I simply had to see one of the reserve's finest birds and take advantage of this unique opportunity. As promised, the cholorophonias were in the midst of building a nest when we arrived, but the conditions were poor for photography. As it started to rain, I decided to wait around for an hour on the chance that it might clear up while the manager returned to the lodge. This ended up being a poor decision on my part as he stumbled not only upon a pair of magnificient White-Capped Tanagers at close range, but also discovered a Jaibiru as well in the marsh near the road! This rare vagrant is only occasionally found in the remote northeast of the country, although it's common in tropical countries further to the north such as Venezuela. Owner and guide Mitch Lysinger was ready to drive out immediately from Quito, though, when he learned of the report of this incredibly unusual record.

Despite missing these two excellent birds, I was to experience a bit of redemption later that evening when looking for the Rufous-Banded Owl along the road. San Isidro is a great place for night birding, as the forest is seemingly filled with owls, nightjars, nighthawks, and potoos. The lodge even has a resident pair of owls that are yet to be described, looking somewhat like Black-Banded Owls but being quite distinct in appearance and vocalizations. I've seen the famous owl a few times already, although it wasn't accessible this weekend, but I've yet to track down the Rufous-Banded Owl, which is markedly more common and less mysterious. Even though I didn't bring any audio equipment, I decided to try both evenings for the owl, walking the road for an hour with my spotlight and listening for its characteristic hoots. On the way back from a late afternoon trip up the Rock Trail on Saturday, I was surprised by a huge nightbird swooping past me in the moonlight. Immediately switching on my spotlight, I noticed a pair of fire-red eyes glaring back at me from an exposed perch in a nearby cecropia tree. Thinking it was an owl at first, I was struck by the bird's long tail and repetitive feeding habits, only slowly realizing that it was not an owl but the rare and local Andean Potoo. Eventually, I discovered another individual perched nearby, observing for half an hour my one thousandth bird in Ecuador while standing dumbfounded in the middle of the road.

The following morning I awoke at 5am with the sound of a Rufous-Banded Owl calling seemingly just outside my cabin. As I scrambled to get myself together, a downpour commenced and I gave up any chance of finding the owl, especially without playback. The rain continued through the early morning, letting up just before it was time to feed the antpittas, both the White-Bellied and Chestnut-Crowned Antpittas. Much has been reported on this successful phenomenon of feeding antpittas worms at various birding sites in the tropics, but only recently did I finally hear a good explanation of why these secretive birds are so easily accustomed to the routine, almost regardless of species. Harold Greeney, founder of nearby Yanayacu Reserve, recently started a thread on Aves Ecuador Yahoo Groups positing the following theory. He's found that often when he's stomping through the forest undergrowth, and not birding cautiously, that an antpitta will follow him and sometimes approach within a few meters. As these birds typically eat worms, perhaps they have evolved to follow large mammals, such as tapirs and bears, that often turn over logs and dig in the earth in search of food. It's a fascinating idea and a plausible one too, considering that these large mammals are herbivores and that many other birders have made similar observations. At any rate, only the White-Bellied Antpitta was curious enough to see what two large mammals were up to this morning, picking up a beak-full of worms that we had carelessly dropped on the ground.

Notable birds seen: Sickle-Winged Guan, White-Throated Quail-Dove, White-Capped Parrot, Red-Billed Parrot, Andean Potoo, Tawny-Bellied Hermit, Golden-Headed Quetzal, Highland Motmot, Black-Billed Mountain-Toucan, Emerald Toucanet, Masked Trogon, Crimson-Mantled Woodpecker, Azara's Spinetail, Pearled Treerunner, Lineated Foliage-Gleaner, Montane Foliage-Gleaner, Tyrannine Woodcreeper, Strong-Billed Woodcreeper, Long-Tailed Antbird, White-Bellied Antpitta, White-Creseted Elaenia, Rufous-Breasted Flycatcher, Rufous-Crowned Tody-Flycatcher, Golden-Crowned Flycatcher, Barred Becard, Black-Billed Peppershrike, Turquoise Jay, Brown-Capped Vireo, Pale-Eyed Thrush, Glossy-Black Thrush, Blackburnian Warbler, Black-Crested Warbler, Three-Striped Warbler, Russet-Crowned Warbler, Fawn-Breasted Tanager, Chestnut-Breasted Chlorophonia, Saffron-Crowned Tanager, Flame-Faced Tanager, Golden-Naped Tanager, Black-Capped Tanager, Beryl-Spangled Tanager, Black-Eared Hemispingus, Plushcap, Chestnut-Capped Brush-Finch, Olivaceous Siskin.

Cabañas Yankuam: March 30-31, 2010

2010-04-03T14:58:00.000-07:00

Aimee and I last visited Cabañas Yankuam in the Cordillera del Condor in remote southeastern Ecuador two years ago, and since then it has lost its status as being at the end of the road. Indeed the road now continues on the other side of the Nangaritza River and will eventually loop around through the southern part of Zamora-Chinchipe province, linking up with Palanda, a small town several hours south of Tapichalaca Reserve. The growth is representative of the dominance of the mining industry in this region, as domestic and international companies increase their foothold in Ecuador and provincial leaders experiment with their newly found power and influence, building roads and infrastructure projects not because they're needed, but simply because they can.

The next few years, then, should lay bare the region to birders as well, and it's expected that knowledge of bird distributions in this region of the Andes will alter significantly as endemic species to the Marañon drainage and Cordilleras del Condor and Cutucú shift their populations as deforestation increases. The spectacular and highly-localized Orange-Throated Tanager will be among the most notably tracked birds as it responds to changing environmental pressures in both Peru and Ecuador. Already at Cabañas Yankuam, which has become the best base in either country for seeing the bird during the last five years, the situation is changing. No longer do visiting birders who want to find the tanager travel upriver to the Shuar community of Shaime, and then trek hours through deep mud and pastureland to a distant, forested hill, which we did ourselves two years ago. All that's required now is a twenty-minute boat ride and a gentle stroll along the new road from Miazi back to Cabañas Yankuam. With good weather, and a bit of luck, seeing the tanager is almost a sure, and easy, thing.

Aimee and I made the trip to Cabañas Yankuam during Semanta Santa last week, breaking up our stay at Cabañas Copalinga to attempt the Orange-Throated Tanager again, having missed it last time. We were the only guests at the time but benefited from the recent experience of visiting birders who left outstanding accounts of their observations at Shaime and along the new road. The local guide and boatman was happy to take us up river to Miazi for $20, walking with us far enough to indicate where the tanager is frequently seen along the road. Within thirty minutes of being in good habitat, we heard the bird's distinctive call as a small group of three tanagers foraged in the canopy far overhead. Although it's of a monotypic genus, the tanager looks and behaves much like the mountain-tanagers of the Andes, being large and chunky like a Hooded Mountain-Tanager and colored strikingly like a Blue-Winged Mountain-Tanager. The bird's orange throat is truly a wondrous feature, seemingly glowing when seen in front of a background of green. We encountered another active group of five tanagers shortly afterward that was foraging even closer to the road, searching through the mossy and bromeliad-laden branches of mature trees.

During the rest of our walk we enjoyed some large mixed flocks, one in particular that contained Red-Billed Scythebill and another that was loaded with tanager species, including the lovely Turquoise Tanager. Although it seems sacrilegious to say, the highlight of our excursion was seeing a group of Military Macaws flying overhead and then land in a fruiting tree well over a kilometer away. Setting up the scope in the middle of the road, we watched these gorgeous parrots feed for over an hour as they maneuvered about in the canopy of the tree, their splendid long tail feathers trailing behind them awkwardly. (The photograph of the macaws was the product of hand-held digiscoping but is worth including here as a record shot, I think.) There is a lot more birding to be done from Cabañas Yankuam, including visiting the top of the tepui nearby, which supposedly offers Bar-Winged Wood-Wren, Roraiman Flycatcher, and Royal Sunangel; however, Aimee and were happy to return to Copalinga that afternoon, where the birding is just as good and the comfort much greater. The trip was supposed to be a vacation, after all.

Notable birds seen: Laughing Falcon, Black Caracara, Spotted Sandpiper, Military Macaw, Blue-Headed Parrot, Gray-Breasted Sabrewing, Glittering-Throated Emerald, Collared Trogon, Violaceous Jay, Gilded Barbet, Black-Mandibled Toucan, Channel-Billed Toucan, Golden-Olive Woodpecker, Yellow-Tufted Woodpecker, Red-Billed Scythebill, Olivaceous Woodcreeper, Streaked Xenops, Ecuadorian Tyrannulet, Golden-Faced Tyrannulet, Olive-Chested Flycatcher, Black Phoebe, Golden-Winged Tody-Flycatcher, Short-Creseted Flycatcher, Black-Crowned Tityra, Thrush-Like Wren, Black-Capped Donacobius, Buff-Rumped Warbler, Purple Honeycreeper, Black-Faced Dacnis, Yellow-Bellied Tanager, Paradise Tanager, Green-and-Gold Tanager, Bay-Headed Tanager, Turquoise Tanager, Masked Tanager, Blue-Necked Tanager, Magpie Tanager, Grayish Saltator, Crested Oropendola, Yellow-Rumped Cacique, Orange-Throated Tanager.

Podocarpus National Park, Bombuscaro Entrance: March 28-April 1, 2010

2010-04-03T14:56:00.000-07:00

Simply put, Podocarpus National Park in southern Ecuador is one of the world's great natural reserves, protecting an exceptional amount of plant and animal diversity from the paramos of the high Andes to the humid montane forest of the eastern foothills. While access to the park is somewhat limited with only two principal entrances, the Cajanuma Sector outside Loja and the Bombuscaro Sector outside Zamora, visiting birders can tick upwards of two hundred bird species in just a few days of exploring the trails in these two regions. Although basic and inexpensive accommodation is available within the park in both sectors, it's much more comfortable to stay in a hotel in Loja or Vilcabamba when visiting the Cajanuma Sector or in Zamora when visiting the Bombuscaro Sector. And for those birders willing to spend a few extra dollars for additional comfort and convenience, Cabañas Copalinga is the perfect base for visiting the Bombuscaro Sector, located just two kilometers from the entrance to the park along a quiet dirt road.

Looking for peace and quiet, as well as a few new bird species, Aimee and I spent the recent Semana Santa vacation in the province of Zamora-Chinchipe, staying four nights at Copalinga and one night at Cabañas Yankuam in the Cordillera del Condor. Although I had birded Bombuscaro several years before, I missed a number of the unique bird species often found in the reserve, including the White-Breasted Parakeet, Black-Streaked Puffbird, and recently described Foothill Elaenia. As I was missing relatively few species at Cajanuma, including the Neblina Metaltail and Orange-Banded Flycatcher, I decided to concentrate my efforts on birding the eastern foothills and locating these and other species unique to southeastern Ecuador. (The Yellow-Throated Bush-Tanager is not unique to southeastern Ecuador, by the way, and is almost annoyingly common at Bombuscaro, traveling in large, noisy, monospecific understory flocks.)

Aimee and I spent one afternoon and two full mornings birding the small network of trails at Bombuscaro, which are basically restricted to an elevation of 1000m (the private trails at Copalinga, on the other hand, offer access to an elevation of 15000m while passing through outstanding montane forest). Each morning a pair of Highland Motmots greeted us in the parking lot, perching out in the open as they casually flicked their tails back and forth like a grandfather clock, while I geared up to search for my target birds, including the Northern White-Crowned Tapaculo, Olive Finch, Sharp-Tailed Streamcreeper, Equatorial Graytail, Striped Manakin, and Orange-Crested Flycatcher, as well as the above mentioned species. Despite making our first visit to the park this trip on a sunny afternoon, Aimee and I quickly found a group of calling Foothill Elaenias around the park headquarters. This confusing flycatcher wasn't described until after the publication of the Ecuador Field Guide by ornithologists Niels Krabbe and the late Paul Coopmans; it is best identified by voice but also has a distinctive facial pattern and three yellow wing bars. I've heard the elaenia is regularly found at the park headquarters, which is a small clearing in the middle of good foothill forest, where visitors purchase their entrance ticket. I also saw a small flock of White-Breasted Parakeets fly into the crown of a large tree from this area but was unable to locate them after they had perched within.

On the next morning, our first good find was a pair of Black-Streaked Puffbirds calling along the Green Jay Trail. With patience and a bit of playback, we were able to located these scarce birds in the mossy branches of the trees way overhead. Moving on along the trail, which regularly receives rave reviews from birders as it offers a seemingly birdier understory than the principal Higuerones Trail, we found a Blue-Crowned Manakin, flushing a Short-Tailed Antthrush onto a low perch in the process. Proceeding deeper into the park along the Higuerones Trail, which runs alongside the Rio Bombuscaro, we eventually came to a footbridge off the Campesino Trail. Here in the undergrowth I thought I heard the persistent call of the rare and secretive Olive Finch above the noise of the river. With just a modicum of effort we were both onto this foothill specialty, long enough to capture a few record shots, including the photograph below.

Bombuscaro, though, is famous for its canopy flocks, which reportedly bombard the entrance trail, park headquarter, and Higuerones Trail. Indeed, the trick isn't finding the flocks but locating a good viewing point as they often pass above at ridiculous speeds and horribly back-lit conditions. Fortunately the Higuerones Trail winds through several open quebradas, or ravines, in which birders can usually find open lines of site into the canopy of fruiting trees below. On the way back from the Olive Finch sighting, Aimee and I encountered a megaflock that contained about a dozen species of tanagers, many woodcreepers and furnariids, and a few even more desirable species, including the Yellow-Breasted Antwren, Gray-Mantled Wren, and Equatorial Graytail. The latter is truly a specialty of the reserve, but although I heard a pair of them calling in the canopy far above, I never caught even a glimpse of the bird. Figuring I would catch up with them later, Aimee and I returned to Copalinga for lunch, startling a feeding Amazonian Umbrellabird along the entrance trail and noting a Fasciated Tiger-Heron further down on the river.

Several mornings later, I returned to the reserve by myself hoping to bag a few more new species for my country list. Passing quickly into the forest without so much as a wave at the Highland Motmots, I soon found a canopy flock and ran to the nearest viewpoint in the hopes that they would come my way. Amazingly, the flock entered the quebrada below me, and I watched entranced as one species of tanager after another passed by close enough for photographs. Although this flock didn't contain the Equatorial Graytail, I was lucky to observe a mating pair of Yellow-Breasted Antwrens at close range from above, even noting the subtle spotted crown of the male. Particularly confusing in this flock were the several species of bristle-tyrants, one of which might have been the subtle Spectacled Bristle-Tyrant, although I wasn't familiar enough with the field markings of the bird to make the identification at the time. In general, the avifauna at Bombuscaro is loaded with tyrant flycatchers, and visiting birders would do well to study the sector's bird list well in advance, paying particular attention to the tyrannulets, flycatchers, flatbills, and bristle-tyrants.

Speaking of tyrant flycatchers, later that morning I would finally run into one of my last target birds for the trip, the Orange-Crested Flycatcher. This small, understory flycatcher is highly local in the southeastern and northwestern foothills, and while Bombuscaro is a regular site for the bird, it still took me several visits to locate it. Catherine at Copalinga might be able to give you more up to date information, but I found a small group of them at the first quebrada just after the Green Jay Trail meets back up with the Higuerones Trail (I had been trolling for them briefly in each quebrada during my other visits, having heard that they were somewhere along this several kilometer long trail). Very similar to the Flavescent Flycatcher, this little yellow bird was a subdued but fitting reward to my efforts at Bombuscaro.

Notable birds seen: Fasciated Tiger-Heron, Ruddy Quail-Dove, White-Breasted Parakeet, Green Hermit, Black-Eared Fairy, Brown Violetear, Fork-Tailed Woodnymph, Highland Motmot, Inca Jay, Coppery-Chested Jacamar, Red-Headed Barbet, Black-Streaked Puffbird, Lafresnaye's Picculet, Olivaceous Woodcreeper, Ash-Browed Spinetail, Montane Foliage-Gleaner, Rufous-Rumped Foliage-Gleaner, Yellow-Breasted Antwren, Short-Tailed Antthrush, Variegated Bristle-Tyrant, Ecuadorian Tyrannulet, Foothill Elaenia, Yellow-Olive Flatbill, Olive-Striped Flycatcher, Ruddy-Tailed Flycatcher, Orange-Crested Flycatcher, Olive-Chested Flycatcher, Black Phoebe, Lemon-Browed Flycatcher, Amazonian Umbrellabird, Blue-Crowned Manakin, White-Crowned Manakin, White-Breasted Woodwren, Gray-Mantled Wren, Buff-Rumped Warbler, Black-Faced Dacnis, Yellow-Bellied Tanager, Paradise Tanager, Green-and-Gold Tanager, Spotted Tanager, Bay-Headed Tanager, Masked Tanager, Blue-Necked Tanager, Orange-Eared Tanager, Golden-Eared Tanager, Yellow-Throated Bush-Tanager, Slate-Colored Grosbeak, Olive Finch, Orange-Billed Sparrow, Crested Oropendola.

Cabañas Copalinga: March 28-April 2, 2010

2010-04-03T14:19:00.000-07:00

Considering my target of seeing 1000 birds in Ecuador before moving from the country in just a few months, and having limited vacation time left, I had to decide where to spend Semana Santa in order to maximize the potential number of new birds seen as well to provide Aimee and me with some much needed rest and relaxation. Should we tour the western coast, birding from Esmeraldas to the Santa Elena peninsula? Should we return to the eastern lowlands for another expensive but rewarding stay at one of several lodges there? Should we stay close to Quito and visit a number of well-birded sites in search of a few birds at each location? Of all the places we've visited over the last few years, Cabañas Copalinga clearly stood out as the finest balance of birding potential and peace and quiet. To southern Ecuador it was, then, and we set off early on Sunday morning by plane from Quito to Catamayo, which serves as the airport to Loja, Ecuador's southern most city in the highlands.

Birders visiting Ecuador for the first time typically don't make it down to southern Ecuador, choosing instead to explore the Chocó region, the eastern lowlands, and perhaps a few sites in the northern highlands. That would certainly be my plan, if I hadn't have lived here for the last six years. It's usually on the second or third trip that birders are attracted to the Tumbes region in southwestern Ecuador, making a grand tour of it by also visiting famous sites in the highlands and southeastern Ecuador as well, including Tapichalaca Reserve, Podocarpus National Park, and more and more frequently Cabañas Yankuam in the Cordillera del Condor. For those who eventually do visit the region, there's no question that Cabañas Copalinga is their favorite place to stay, rivaling Cabañas San Isidro for the best small-scale, all-inclusive birding experience in Ecuador. Owned and managed by an intelligent, sincere Belgian couple, Copalinga is located within walking distance from the Bombuscaro entrance of Podocarpus National Park, offering exquisite private cabins, delicious food, and outstanding bird habitat whether on the grounds of the lodge itself or the extensive trail network leading back up the ridge.

Despite Bombuscaro's well-deserved fame, I spent two full days of my stay here simply birding the private reserve at a variety of different altitudes, finding an impressive collection of species I had almost no chance of seeing in the park, including Gray Tinamou, Scarlet-Breasted Fruiteater, Band-Bellied Owl, White-Shouldered Antshrike, Blackish Rail, White-Breasted Parakeet, and Crimson-Bellied Woodpecker. In our downtime, Aimee and I spent hours watching the hummingbirds at the verbena bushes in the parking lot and observing mixed flocks passing through the forest from the comfort of the dining area. We even did a bit of birding from the balcony of our cabin, finding a pair of Golden-Winged Tody-Flycatchers in the bush just in front of the railing and a group of Speckled Chachalacas roosting in a nearby tree every evening. Catherine, the owner and star birder of the region, is probably the best reason to bird the private reserve as much as the park since she knows exactly where and when to find each bird on the Copalinga list, tipping me to some of my best observations on the trip, most notably those of the near country-endemic White-Breasted Parakeet.

After enjoying a cup of coffee with Catherine upon our arrival mid-morning on Sunday, Aimee and I spent a while marveling over the hummingbird activity at the flowering verbena hedges surrounding the parking lot. Several Spangled Coquettes were busy dipping into the lavender flowers while avoiding aggressive Glittering-Throated Emeralds and Violet-Headed Hummingbirds, including a juvenile male that already boasted an orange crown feather. Then, a breath-taking adult male Wire-Crested Thorntail zipped in and proceeded from flower to flower unmolested by the other hummingbirds. Over the next few days, we'd check in periodically, noting a low-feeding Ecuadorian Piedtail on one occasion, an adult male Long-Tailed Sylph on another, and a magnificent raptor gliding across the canyon just overhead at dusk, most likely the scarce Solitary Eagle. While enjoying a beer late one afternoon, we were shocked to see what appeared to be a diminutive Spangled Coquette moving rapidly from flower to flower, only later to be informed that it wasn't a baby hummingbird but a Sphinx's Moth whose coloration and flight immitates that of the coquette, a ridiculous mistake.

The trail network at Copalinga is varied and well-maintained, offering birders who are staying in the cabins access to excellent montane forest from 1000 to 1500 meters (day use of the trails or visits to the nectar and fruit feeders are not permitted). I made three separate excursions up the ridge, making two long morning loops up the blue, yellow, and red and then down the green trails, and one afternoon loop up the green, across the yellow, and down the blue trail. My first morning loop was a tremendous experience, as I tracked down a calling Scaled Antpitta, lucked onto a male Scarlet-Breasted Fruiteater, spotted a roosting Band-Bellied Owl, and stumbled onto a Gray Tinamou on the trail. I also found a pair of solitary Foothill Antwrens in the undergrowth as well as a pair of Yellow-Breasted Antwrens in a mixed canopy flock. In search of the Striped Manakin on a hot afternoon, I instead found several Blue-Rumped Manakins, a group of White-Backed Fire-Eyes at an antswarm, and an irritated female White-Shouldered Antshrike in a dense tangle of vines in the undergrowth. And on our final morning, Aimee and I encountered several pairs of Coppery-Chested Jacamars, a calling Olive Finch, and a gorgeous tanager flock, including Yellow-Bellied, Spotted, Guira, Paradise, Golden, Green-and-Gold, Bay-Headed, Masked, and Blue-Necked Tanagers.

Returning from the park one hot afternoon, I asked Catherine for a birding recommendation for the afternoon. In addition to describing a nearby stakeout for the Blackish Rail, she mentioned that there was a small fruiting tree just along the road near the gate whose fruits were the favorite of the White-Breasted Parakeet, which along with the Coppery-Chested Jacamar are the star birds of the region. Having briefly seen a flock of parakeets dive into the crown of a tree earlier that morning around the park headquarters, I was anxious to get better looks at one of my target birds and one of the country's most beautiful. Although the tree was attracting a fair amount of attention from other birds, including the Ecuadorian Tyrannulet and Olive-Striped Flycatcher, the parakeets weren't present, so I set off to find the rail, which I eventually saw after much playback and searching. The following afternoon, though, I briefly heard a group of flying parrots and dashed off to the tree that Catherine had described. Over the next hour, I watched transfixed as four splendid White-Breasted Parakeets gorged themselves on ripe fruit just a few meters away at eye level.

Aimee and I broke up our four-night stay at Copalinga with a single night at Cabañas Yankuam, located three hours away by car in the Cordillera Condor. While the birds there were amazing and the food was quite good, we couldn't wait to return to the Paradise Tanager Cabin at Copalinga, where we would relax on the balcony during the early afternoons and listen to the rushing Bombuscaro each night. With twelve new bird species seen just on the reserve, as well as four rejuvenating nights of deep sleep enjoyed, our stay was exactly what we had hoped for. It couldn't have ended better either when Aimee saw both the Coppery-Chested Jacamar and the White-Breasted Parakeet on our final morning's walk.

Notable birds seen: Grey Tinamou, Solitary Eagle, Speckled Chachalaca, Blackish Rail, White-Throated Quail-Dove, White-Breasted Parakeet, Band-Bellied Owl, Gray-Chinned Hermit, Green Hermit, Spangled Coquette, Violet-Headed Hummingbird, Wire-Crested Thorntail, Ecuadorian Piedtail, Violet-Fronted Brilliant, Glittering-Throated Emerald, Fork-Tailed Woodnymph, Long-Tailed Sylph, Lineated Woodpecker, Crimson-Bellied Woodpecker, Coppery-Chested Jacamar, Red-Headed Barbet, Lafresnaye's Picculet, Golden-Olive Woodpecker, Spotted Barbtail, Streaked Xenops, Montane Foliage-Gleaner, Rufous-Rumped Foliage-Gleaner, Lined Antshrike, White-Shouldered Antshrike, Yellow-Breasted Antwren, Foothill Antwren, White-Backed Fire-Eye, Scaled Antpitta, Northern White-Crowned Tapaculo, Ecuadorian Tyrannulet, Yellow-Crowned Tyrannulet, Olive-Striped Flycatcher, Golden-Winged Tody-Flycatcher, Scale-Crested Pygmy-Tyrant, Olive-Sided Flycatcher, Olive-Chested Flycatcher, Black Phoebe, Scarlet-Breasted Fruiteater, Andean Cock-of-the-Rock, Blue-Rumped Manakin, White-Necked Thrush, Tropical Parula, Canada Warbler, Black-Faced Dacnis, Blue Dacnis, Swallow Tanager, Paradise Tanager, Green-and-Gold Tanager, Spotted Tanager, Yellow-Bellied Tanager, Guira Tanager, Bay-Headed Tanager, Blue-Necked Tanager, Magpie Tanager, Ashy-Throated Bush-Tanager, Yellow-Throated Bush-Tanager, White-Lined Tanager, Grayish Saltator, Olive Finch, Orange-Billed Sparrow.

Quito Botanical Garden: March 27, 2010

2010-03-27T16:20:00.001-07:00

Aimee and I are headed to Southern Ecuador during Semana Santa, with plans to bird the Bombuscaro entrance of Podocarpus National Park and the Cordillera del Condor with bases at Cabañas Copalinga and Cabañas Yankuam, respectively (yes, I'm going after the Orange-Throated Tanager again). Before heading south, though, we made an early morning visit today to the Quito Botanical Garden in search of unusual migrants. Roger Ahlman has been recording some unusual sightings here during the last few years, including a Great Crested Flycatcher last year, and he tipped us on to a Northern Waterthrush that is wintering here. With a bit of playback, we were on the bird just a few minutes after arrival, noting little more than a lethargic Swainson's Thrush and a bold Plain-Breasted Hawk during the rest of our brief visit.

Notable birds seen: Plain-Breasted Hawk, Black-Tailed Trainbearer, Swainson's Thrush, Northern Waterthrush.

Laguna San Marcos: March 21, 2010

2010-03-27T16:15:00.000-07:00

Laguna San Marcos is a paramo lake located northeast of Volcán Cayambe on the eastern slope. It's a favorite haunt for trout fisherman and folks looking for a scenic place to picnic, although I've never heard of anyone birding here. The lake is surrounded by temperate and elfin forest habitat as well as marsh and paramo, and there is a poorly maintained trail around the lake offering the bold birder access to this rather wild environment. I visited the lake last Sunday with intrepid Mark Thurber, author of Climbing and Hiking in Ecuador, with plans of circumambulating the lake and more. While we eventually grew tired of crawling through tapir tunnels and turned back, I did manage to see a Paramo Tapaculo and a nice mixed flock including Black-Backed Bush-Tanager and Golden-Crowned Tanager. On the lake itself were plenty of ducks, especially Andean Coots, and we must have flushed at least a half-dozen Noble Snipe in the marsh on the south side of the lake, most of which flew off spectacularly into the sky. Leaving the lake, which is located on the edge of the Cayambe-Coca Reserve, we had quick looks at an Andean Condor in the far distance as well as great views of a pair of Black-Chested Buzzard-Eagles being hawked by two Carunculated Caracaras.

Notable birds seen: Andean Ruddy-Duck, Yellow-Billed Pintail, Andean Teal, Andean Coot, Andean Condor, Black-Chested Buzzard-Eagle, Carunculated Caracara, Noble Snipe, Glowing Puffleg, Tawny Antpitta, Paramo Tapaculo, White-Throated Tyrannulet, White-Banded Tyrannulet, Brown-Backed Chat-Tyrant, Grass Wren, Scarlet-Bellied Mountain-Tanager, Golden-Crowned Tanager, Black-Backed Bush-Tanager, Pale-Naped Brush-Finch.

Yanacocha Reserve: March 20, 2010

2010-03-27T16:03:00.000-07:00

Although I haven't birding Yanacocha Reserve for over a year, coming back here, which just an hour's drive from Quito, is like coming back home. With dozen's of visits under my belt, I've birded at this site more frequently than any other site in Ecuador, having seen most of the birds on the list as well as adding a few of my own, including Gorgeted Sunangel a few years ago. Still, I've yet to see the star bird of the reserve, the endangered, endemic Black-Breasted Puffleg, an extremely rare hummingbird only found on the northwestern slope of Volcán Pichincha. While March is not the time to see it, I still thought the reserve was worth a Saturday morning visit as a warm up to May through July, the critical months for observing the puffleg at this altitude.

Of course, I've missed plenty of other birds here too, including the Andean Pygmy-Owl, which I tried for on several occasions this morning with the aid of playback. While I did here it calling once in the temperate forest far below down slope, the recorded call did stir some other bird activity, including a single Golden-Crowned Tanager, which perched cautiously in a tree nearby at eye level. Perhaps a group of male Barred Fruiteaters were also roused from their foraging as they started calling incessantly just along beginning of the Trocha Inca, the main trail through the reserve. These striking cotingas are always easy to hear and nearly impossible to find, except this morning, on which I had some unusual luck.

Missing the Rainbow-Bearded Thornbill that often haunts the open shrubby habitat along the next section of the Trocha Inca, I stumbled on to a Black-Chested Mountain-Tanager that was acting even shier than usual. Maybe it was due to the Plain-Breasted Hawk that was perched on a bush nearby, flushing quickly as I rounded a bend in the trail. Amazingly, this was my first time encountering this common raptor, although I would see it again the following weekend, strangely enough at the urban Quito Botanical Garden. Shortly after ticking this lifer, I ran into a mixed flock with an excellent mating pair of Barred Woodpeckers. Also present was the Superciliaried Hemispingus, Blue-Backed Conebill, Hooded Mountain-Tanager, and Grass-Green Tanager.

As most of the hummingbird feeders were empty in the hummingbird gardens at the end of the first stage of the Trocha Inca, I decided to continue through the tunnel to another stretch of good habitat, finding some flowering trees containing a number of Purple-Mantled Thornbills. These unique hummingbirds have the shortest bills of any in the world, having adapted perfectly for feeding at these very trees. I watched them for over an hours, trying my best to capture the striking purple mantle of the male but only managing a few passable images. The hummingbirds, though, were continually chased off their territories by an aggressive group of tanagers and flycatchers, including a pair of Rufous-Breasted Chat-Tyrants that were calling incessantly.

Notable birds seen: Plain-Breasted Hawk, White-Collared Swift, Purple-Mantled Thornbill, Sapphire-Vented Puffleg, Barred Woodpecker, Pearled Treerunner, Streaked Tuftedcheek, Blackish Tapaculo, Smoky Bush-Tyrant, Crowned Chat-Tyrant, White-Banded Tyrannulet, White-Throated Tyrannulet, Barred Fruiteater, Rufous Wren, Glossy-Black Thrush, Masked Flowerpiercer, Glossy Flowerpiercer, Red-Crested Cotinga, Blue-Backed Conebill, Superciliaried Hemispingus, Scarlet-Bellied Mountain-Tanager, Black-Chested Mountain-Tanager, Hooded Mountain-Tanager, Golden-Crowned Tanager, Rufous-Naped Brush-Finch, Stripe-Headed Brush-Finch.

Reserva las Gralarias: March 14, 2010

2010-03-16T05:51:00.000-07:00

Reserva las Gralarias is an important private reserve on the northwestern slope protecting several critical watersheds located outside of Mindo. Preserving over 400 hectares of subtropical forest and regenerating woodland in the Choco bioregion across an altitude range of 1790 to 2370m, the reserve is host to a hefty number of restricted-range species, including Orange-Breasted Fruiteater, Toucan Barbet, Plate-Billed Mountain-Toucan, Beautiful Jay, Black-Chinned Mountain-Tanager, Hoary Puffleg, Yellow-Breasted Antpitta, and Purple-Bibbed Whitetip. Owned and managed by the erudite Jane Lyons, who is something of a matriarch of birding in northwestern Ecuador, the comfortable guest house makes a great base for birding the region, and groups from Mindo Bird Tours are often found here, a secluded site over three kilometers from the Calicali-Independencia highway (day use of the 12 kilometers of trails costs $10 and must be arranged in advance).

Staying informed about recent bird sightings through the observation database at Aves Ecuador, I noticed that a Moustached Antpitta nest had recently been found and documented within the reserve. As this antpitta has continued to elude me on both slopes, at regular sites such as the Guacamayos Ridge Trail and Refugio Paz de las Aves, it was time to go after what should have been a sure thing, as the nestlings had only hatched a week or so ago. I was also hoping to pick up a few other new birds, including the Rufous-Breasted Antthrush, Beautiful Jay, and Hoary Puffleg, the latter which was regularly recorded at one of the hummingbird feeder stations in January. And if I needed yet another reason to visit, it's always nice to bird in a new area, even if you've visited dozens of sites in the same region and are already familiar with the avifauna.

Leaving Quito around 4am, I arrived at the reserve at dawn with the northwestern foothills and lowlands laid out magnificently before me in the growing light. Checking in with Jane to get a trail map and the latest information on bird sightings, I hit the upper section of trails, finding a few mixed flocks in quick succession. Starting things off with the Streaked Tuftedcheek, Buff-Fronted Foliage-Gleaner, Flavescent Flycatcher, and Dusky Bush-Tanager, I next lucked on to a group of tanagers, including the excellent Black-Chinned Mountain-Tanager, several of which were mixed in with a larger group of the similar patterned Blue-Winged Mountain-Tanager. After picking up Plate-Billed Mountain-Toucan, Toucan Barbet, and Golden-Headed Quetzal, I moved down slope along the Puma Trail, encountering a noisy group of Powerful Woodpeckers that were calling frequently and drilling loudly into trees as they progressed slowly through the forest.

Reaching the lower section of trails, where the reserve's research station is located, I made my way to the Moustached Antpitta nest with the help of one of the frog researchers who is studying there. Staking out the nest from a respectful distance for a half an hour, I witnessed an adult Moustached Antpitta bringing worms to the nestlings several times. Hopping quickly through the forest and then stopping abruptly, as all larger antpittas seem to do, this secretive bird was shockingly revealed performing its most surreptitious of activities. A bit discombobulated by the experience, I climbed slowly back up towards the guest house, at one point coming face to face with a female Scaled Fruiteater that flew off before I could ready my camera. Taking a break at one of the nectar and fruit feeder stations, I talked for a while with a young man who is researching the courtship displays of male woodstars, focusing here on the Purple-Throated Woodstar. No one has ever really studied these birds before, which adds credence to the feeling that birding in South America is still an act of exploration, where each birding trip has the potential to contribute to ornithological knowledge.

During the rest of the day, I chased after a group of Beautiful Jays that Jane had heard calling from the next watershed to the north. While I never had sight nor sound of them, I did find a few other birds of note, including a pair of delightful Rufous-Crowned Tody-Tyrants, a Spotted Barbtail, and a Purple-Bibbed Whitetip at one of the hummingbird feeder stations. A final surprise was crossing paths with a giant earthworm on one of the trails. Over a meter long and maybe ten centimeters in diameter, this worm almost made me lose my lunch as it inched its way through the leaf litter, its translucent body revealing a huge vein of rich dark earth inside.

Notable birds seen: Sickle-Winged Guan, Andean Emerald, Purple-Bibbed Whitetip, Brown Inca, Velvet-Purple Coronet, Purple-Throated Woodstar, Golden-Headed Quetzal, Masked Trogon, Toucan Barbet, Plate-Billed Mountain-Toucan, Crimson-Mantled Woodpecker, Powerful Woodpecker, Streaked Tuftedcheek, Spotted Barbtail, Scaly-Throated Foliage-Gleaner, Buff-Fronted Foliage-Gleaner, Moustached Antpitta, Spillman's Tapaculo, Streak-Necked Flycatcher, Rufous-Crowned Tody-Flycatcher, Flavescent Flycatcher, Cinnamon Flycatcher, Scaled Fruiteater, Turquoise Jay, Sepia-Brown Wren, Gray-Breasted Wood-Wren, Three-Striped Warbler, Russet-Crowned Warbler, Golden-Naped Tanager, Beryl-Spangled Tanager, Blue-Winged Mountain-Tanager, Black-Chinned Mountain-Tanager, Dusky Bush-Tanager, Chestnut-Capped Brush-Finch.

Chontal: February 27, 2010

2010-02-28T11:43:00.001-08:00

Three years ago a colony of Oilbirds was finally located outside the town of Chontal which is in the northwestern foothills in the province of Pichincha (residents of the area had been aware of these noisy nocturnal birds for many years without knowing the exact location of their roost). Although the site is off the beaten birding path, it is certainly much easier to visit than other well-known Oilbird caves in the eastern foothills, including those outside of the towns of Macas, Puyo, and Zamora. I heard about this site, which is covered well in this report by guide Nick Athanas at Aves Ecuador, a few years ago but waited to visit until just recently. While Aimee and I had once seen a depleted colony of Oilbirds in a cave near the Shuar village of Shaime in southern Ecuador, we were in definite need of a more meaningful oilbird experience before we left the continent.

Oilbirds are a monotypic family of birds from South America that are unique in a number of ways. First, they are the only nocturnal frugivores of the order of birds; second, they gregariously roost in caves or ravines by day in large colonies of hundreds or thousands of birds; third, they are one of the only bird species to use echolocation, although their low frequency sonar system pales in comparison with the complexity of those of insectivorous bats. While they look similar to nightjars, they are remarkably large with strong hooked bills, and their head shape looks more appropriate to a hawk than a nightjar. When fruit is scarce during the dry season, Oilbirds have been known to travel over 100km in a night while foraging.

After visiting Refugio Paz de las Aves on Saturday morning, Aimee and I drove out towards Chontal to the Morales family farm which is near the gorge where the Oilbirds roost (call the cellphone 082671837 in advance to arrange for a visit, which costs $10 per person). Arriving in the heat of the early afternoon after a bouncy one-hour drive from the main highway, we shortly boarded a tractor which took us a kilometer down a track through cultivated fields towards the gorge. A short walk took led us to the edge of the gorge which is remarkably steep and narrow, creating very dark and cave-like conditions except for during the middle of the day. Descending three tall bamboo ladders, the second of which was wet and slippery due to a waterfall plunging alongside, we got down on eye level with the Oilbirds, which were roosting tightly together in small groups. Although we only disturbed a few individuals that subsequently changed perches, I was ashamed to see that several others were incubating eggs or had nestlings underneath them. Despite my misgivings, the experience was still powerful and haunting as we were surrounded by over one hundred dark and empty-eyed birds roosting in fetid and dank conditions while occasionally emitting strange-sounding clicks and squawks. Indeed, climbing out of the gorge with my safety harness too tightly fastened almost felt like a narrow escape.

Notable birds seen: Oilbird, Yellow-Tufted Dacnis.

Refugio Paz de las Aves: February 27, 2010

2010-02-28T07:20:00.000-08:00

Refugio Paz de las Aves is the best birding show on the northwestern slope, as Angel Paz and his brother Rodrigo orchestrate a veritable symphony of performances from a wide range of bird families, including antpittas, cotingas, toucans, hummingbirds, and tanagers. Each morning on a small patch of subtropical forest outside Mindo, visiting birders are witness first to a raucous Andean Cock-of-the-Rock lek, then to a feeding frenzy at the fruit feeders, next to a series of mystifying antpitta encounters, and finally to a gorgeous display of hummingbird activity. Typical highlights of a visit include sightings of a fine handful of Chocó restricted-ranged species, including the Toucan Barbet, Yellow-Breasted Antpitta, Black-Chinned Mountain-Tanager, Velvet-Purple Coronet, and Violet-Tailed Sylph, and occasional appearances are also made by Orange-Breasted Fruiteater, Dark-Backed Wood-Quail, Dusky Bush-Tanager, and Purple-Bibbed Whitetip.

The creation story of this spectacle is now well-known, and Angel Paz is currently enjoying celebrity status in the world of neotropical birding. His reputation is well deserved as he's changed the nature of avitourism, with sites all over the Andes now practicing his unique feeding techniques, succesfully habituating different antpitta species from Venezuela to Peru. Antpittas, of course, are a notoriously difficult family of birds to observe, and with a few exceptions species are generally heard way more often than seen as they skulk in dense undergrowth and rarely come out into the open. Angel Paz has habituated four different species which can be seen more or less regularly on his property, the Giant Anpitta, Yellow-Breasted Antpitta, Moustached Antpitta, and Ochre-Breasted Antpitta, and he is currently working on a fifth species, the Scaled Antpitta, which is proving to be more difficult than the others. He has trained park rangers at other reserves in Ecuador, including Cabanas San Isidro and Tapichalaca Reserve, helping to guarantee almost ten ticks on visiting birder's country lists, including the famous Jocotoco Antpitta.

On my first visit I had missed the Moustached Antpitta, which seems less predictable than the other two, with the Ochre-Breasted Antpitta being only a seasonal visitor. Although I've heard this elusive species at a few sites on both the eastern and western slope, I figured the easiest, and most fun, way to see it was with Angel's help. Aimee loves visiting with Angel as well, respecting him more for his innovative conservation efforts than his aplomb with antpittas, so we decided to make a weekend out of this single twitch, hopefully finding a few others. It's quite easy to arrange a morning's visit to Refugio Paz de las Aves, by the way. All you have to do is call him on his cellphone (087253674) a day or two before to coordinate the logistics. Given the popularity of the site, just don't expect to be the only group of birders there.

Arriving from our hotel in San Miguel de los Bancos, we met Angel and his brother at 6am along the road to his property which branches discretely off the main highway from Quito to Mindo around kilometer 66. In the half light of dawn, they took us down to the new Andean Cock-of-the-Rock lek, as the one on Angel's propery has diminished significantly in activity in the last few months. Approximately fifteen birders and guides in three groups marveled over this classic neotropical avian display while I tried to locate a Scaled Antpitta that was calling nearby. Although I didn't manage to see it, I've now seen or heard every antpitta species in Ecuador except for the Ochre-Striped Antpitta of the eastern lowlands, with just three heard-only species, the Moustached, Scaled, and Bicolored Antpittas. The real treat of the first stage of our visit, though, was the incredible tanager flock that was feeding in the fruiting trees near the lek. In the growing light we had amazing eye-level looks at Metallic-Green, Golden, Flame-Faced, Beryl-Spangled, and Golden-Naped Tanagers all of the beautifully colored tangara genus.

Driving up to Angel's property, we then descened into a steep forested gorge to his fruit feeder, where a host of large frugivores were anxiously awaiting him. Indeed, a Toucan Barbet practically jumped onto Angel's shoulder as he tied up some bananas to a tree limb, the barbet impatiently calling all the while from just a foot away. Sickle-Winged Guans mobbed the fruit while a pair of Crimson-Rumped Toucanets looked on, and the rest of us stared in amazement from a few meters away. The local Black-Chinned Mountain-Tanagers failed to make an appearance but the equally colorful Blue-Winged Mountain Tanagers soon descended as Angel through sticks at the guans to clear some space at the feeding platforms. The last time we were here an Olivaceous Piha came in to eat some grapes, but Angel said that it wasn't around these stays as there was plenty of natural fruit available in the forest.

Next, it was time for the antpittas, for which Angel and Rodrigo had been calling throughout the morning as we slowly walked the trails. Having meticulously prepared worms for the birds, the brothers then call them by name out from the forest to feed them, which isn't always as easy as it sounds. First, was Maria, the Giant Anpitta that made Angel famous, who we found perched out in the open on a mossy tree stump. Having successfully raised a brood in recent weeks, Maria looked proud and self-content, remaining perched for almost ten minutes on the stump as Angel photographed her from a meter away. Then, we proceeded further down the trail to the stream at the bottom of the gorge, where Willy, the Yellow-Breasted Antpitta, was waiting expectantly for a handout. Sometimes, this bird can take an hour for Angel to locate and prod down to the feeding site, but this morning it took less than a minute before we were face to face with this simply patterned Chocó endemic. My blood pressure rose as it was now time to look for Susan, the Moustached Antpitta, as Shakira, the Ochre-Breasted Antpitta, hadn't been seen recently. We spent the next hour calling for it in its usual areas without any luck despite Angel's dogged persistance. On the other hand, with Rodrigo's help we did find a male Orange-Breasted Fruiteater sitting stolidly in a dense tree for several minutes.

Although I was a bit disappointed with missing the Moustached Antpitta, as well as the Barred Hawk that was heard calling overhead as we waited expectantly, we spent a few happy minutes at the hummingbird feeders watching the Velvet-Purple Coronet, Violet-Tailed Sylph, Empress Brilliant, and Booted Rackettail before heading up to have breakfast at the entrance to the reserve. Angel's wife lovingly prepares visiting birders coffee with bolones de verde and empanadas de queso, which satisfyingly rounds out the morning. Granted this isn't the type of birding that helps me work up an appetite as it mostly involves standing around while Angel and Rodrigo deliver the birds, but it's a great treat nevertheless.

Notable birds seen: Sickle-Winged Guan, Toucan Barbet, Crimson-Rumped Toucanet, Long-Tailed Antbird, Giant Antpitta, Yellow-Breasted Antpitta, Orange-Breasted Fruiteater, Andean Cock-of-the-Rock, Golden-Crowned Flycatcher, White-Breasted Wood-Wren, Metallic-Green Tanager, Golden-Naped Tanager, Flame-Faced Tanager, Golden Tanager, Blue-Winged Mountain-Tanager, Dusky Bush-Tanager.

Mirador Rio Blanco: February 26, 2010

2010-02-27T11:19:00.000-08:00

This hostal-restaurant is famous among birders for having one of the best fruit feeders on the northwestern slope, which has received visits from such sought-after species as the Emerald, Glistening-Green, and Rufous-Throated Tanagers as well as the Yellow-Collared Chlorophonia. Located in the town of San Miguel de los Bancos, just fifteen minutes past the turnoff to Mindo as you travel the main highway from Quito, Mirador Rio Blanco boasts active fruit and hummingbird feeders, incredible views of the Rio Blanco, tasty food and juices, and comfortable and inexpensive accommodation (the cabins cost $10 per person; call ahead at 2770307). In fact, I've used the hostal as a base for birding the northwestern foothills probably a dozen times, visiting Milpe Bird Sanctuary, Mashpi Reserve, Rio Silanche Bird Sanctuary, and other sites in the area from here as it's more conveniently located than Mindo itself. Aimee and I recently spent a rather noisy Friday night here, finding Green Thorntail, Green-Crowned Woodnymph, and Long-Billed Starthroat at the hummingbird feeders before dark. By dawn the next morning we were enjoying Andean Cock-of-the-Rock at Refugio Paz de las Aves.

Notable birds seen: White-Collared Swift, Green Thorntail, Green-Crowned Brilliant, Green-Crowned Woodnymph, Long-Billed Starthroat, Red-Faced Spinetail, Golden Tanager.

Playa de Oro: February 13-16, 2010

2010-02-17T14:44:00.000-08:00

The Choco lowlands are fast disappearing in Ecuador as logging and mining interests have overwhelmed private conservation efforts. Even public reserves such as the Cotocachi-Cayapas National Park are severely threatened by illegal logging, hunting, and colonizing due to poor management and a lack of resources. Only three major sites in the northwestern province of Esmeraldas remain, and these are generally remote and difficult to access for independent birders: Rio Canande Reserve managed by the Jocotoco Foundation; Bilsa Biological Reserve, run by Fundacion Jatun Sacha; and Playa de Oro Reserve, operated by the small Afro-Ecuadorian community of Playa de Oro. All three reserves offer huge tracts of humid lowland and foothill forest with many of the region's best endemic species on display, including the Banded Ground-Cuckoo, Long-Wattled Umbrellabird, Rufous-Crowned Antpitta, and Blue-Whiskered Tanager; however, the 10,400 hectare Playa de Oro Reserve is unique for being the only one that is community owned and operated.

Indeed, birding Playa de Oro is a truly unique experience, as it offers perhaps the most difficult but rewarding birding in the entire country. The challenges are many: arranging a visit takes considerable preparation as there are no means of communicating directly with the lodge; accessing the reserve requires first multiple trips by bus or an arduous and expensive journey by car, and then an expensive ride upriver in a motorized canoe; walking the trails can be extremely wet, muddy, and confusing as insects hound you incessantly while birds move rapidly more than forty meters overhead; and the lodge itself, although comfortable, is basic with few of the conveniences found at high-end lodges in the eastern lowlands. There are no canopy towers, knowledgeable guides, or dry cabinets, and almost 90% of the birding, as Scott Olmstead notes in his informative trip report from 2008, is first done by ear (Dušan Brinkhuizen echoes the sentiment in his own excellent 2009 trip report). This is experts-only, Indiana Jones-style birding, one might say, where the rewards are barely enough to cover the expenses of the trip.

What are the rewards then, I reconsider, as I sit here writing this while still covered in hundreds of chigger bites? Canopy flocks contain Scarlet-and-White, Blue-Whiskered, Rufous-Winged, Emerald, and Golden-Chested Tanagers, as well as Rufous Mourner, Scarlet-Breasted Dacnis, Slate-Throated Gnatcatcher, Lita and Choco Woodpeckers, and Orange-Fronted and Five-Colored Barbets. Antswarms attract Bicolored, Spotted, Immaculate, and Ocellated Antbirds as well as Spot-Crowned Antvireo, Song Wren, and Tawny-Faced Gnatwren. Understory flocks boast Broad-Billed Sapayoa, Lemon-Spectacled Tanager, Green Manakin, Pacific Flatbill, Checker-Throated Antwren, and Black-Striped and Northern Barred-Woodcreepers. And the forest floor is home to Berlepsch's Tinamou, Banded Ground-Cuckoo, Tawny-Faced Quail, Black-Headed Antthrush, Rufous-Crowned and Streak-Chested Antpittas. While you might go for hours on an individual day without seeing or hearing any of these or other outstanding birds, their promise should sustain you through the various hardships involved in a visit (see Choco lowlands expert Olaf Jahn's extensive bird list for the reserve, courtesy of Andean Birding).

I recently dragged Aimee out to this remote destination for four days with several promises of my own, to tour a new area of Ecuador, to enjoy some good coastal food, and to see a few Choco restricted-ranged species, perhaps even the Long-Wattled Umbrellabird, with which she's mildly obsessed. We first drove down the Ibarra-San Lorenzo Road early on Saturday morning, passing through Lita and Alto Tambo along the way, which are remote birding sites in their own right, and then hooked back up the Rio Santiago on a dirt road to the village of Selva Alegre. For better security we left our car at a village further upriver, and then traveled by boat to El Tigrillo Lodge along with one other tourist with whom we divided the $50 charge. After installing ourselves in our rustic room, which gratefully contained a mosquito net, we sat down to a delicious lunch as the humidity started to rise. We were soaked in sweat before we started birding our first trail, La Paila Trail, which leads upriver starting behind the lodge. We picked up Song Wren, Immaculate Antbird, and Northern Barred-Woodcreeper before it started to pour, and the rest of the rainy afternoon was spent birding from the covered balcony of the lodge. The woodland area right around the lodge ended up being quite productive as canopy and understory flocks frequently passed through. On different occasions I recorded Red-Legged Honeycreeper, Lemon-Spectacled Tanager, Red-Rumped Woodpecker, White-Bearded Manakin, Purple-Chested Hummingbird, and Choco Poorwill from the same spot on the balcony.

The following morning we traveled fifteen minutes by motorized canoe upriver to the Cascada Trail. The boatman gave us instructions about the trail and we agreed to meet back at the river six hours later, as Aimee and I set off alone into towering humid forest. As the trail climbs steeply, we got good looks at a pair of Spotted Antbirds, several Lemon-Spectacled Tanagers, lekking Red-Capped Manakins, and a singing Dagua Thrush. The trail then continues along relatively flat ground passing by several magnificent trees. A few canopy flocks were heard overhead, but I could only pick out Rufous-Winged and Scarlet-and-White Tanagers, as I craned my neck upwards for ten minutes in hopes of finally seeing a Golden-Chested Tanager. After scaring, and getting scared by, some noisy Rufous-Headed Chachalacas, we spotted a large group of Stripe-Billed Aracaris in a bare tree in the distance. I encouraged Aimee to search the group perhaps for the umbrellabird, but it went unobserved. Returning from the picturesque waterfall, we made our way back along the same trail, locking on to a pair of Broad-Billed Sapayoas that were trilling softly to each other while moving with an understory flock. This subtle but unique bird is perhaps the top target species at the reserve as it's very rare at other sites in the northwestern lowlands. As we neared the river I pointed out a Spotted Antbird right out in the open, just as Aimee exclaimed that I was standing in the middle of an antswarm. We gaped around in amazement as waves of ants climbed over our rubber boots and started biting us, leaving us with little inclination to look or listen for other antbirds that might be attending the swarm.

Having stumbled into one of the great natural spectacles of the neotropics, I decided to remain at the swarm for a while and then walk back to the lodge on foot via the recently constructed ridge trail that connects the Cascada Trail with the Penon del Santo Trail. Bitten but smitten with our excursion, Aimee returned to the lodge for lunch and a nap. The swarm had moved a few meters off the trail, but many more birds were in attendance, including a large group of Bicolored Antbirds, a Song Wren, and several Tawny-Faced Gnatwrens. I waited for an hour on the off chance that an Ocellated Antbird, Rufous-Crowned Antpitta, or Banded Ground-Cuckoo might join the swarm but without any luck. Continuing on the new ridge trail as it started to rain, I encountered another understory flock with Lemon-Spectacled Tanager and Broad-Billed Sapayoa. Shortly afterwards, I found another antswarm just off the trail with a family group of Ocellated Antbirds in attendance. Easily the star antbird of the northwestern lowlands, the gorgeously patterned Ocellated Antbird typically dominates antswarms, presiding at the front and having the first chance to snatch up arthropods fleeing the leaf litter from marauding ants. I was disappointed Aimee wasn't with me to observe these charismatic birds, but managed to take a few blurry photographs for her enjoyment. An hour before completing the journey back to the lodge, I flushed a Tawny-Faced Quail from the undergrowth and quickly chased after it to get amazing looks at this striking bird. Flushing several more on the following day, I noticed that the bird doesn't usually fly far and is fairly easy to follow as it perches on a low branch.

Julio the boatman took me back across the river to the lodge, and I rested for a while on the balcony with Aimee. Despite the light rain, at dusk we heard a pair of Choco Poorwill's calling right nearby, so I got out the spotlight to track them down. I managed to locate one as it flew overhead into a tree in response to playback and then returned to the balcony of the lodge to spotlight it at eye level. That night it rained so hard I dreamed I was submerged in water, swimming through the forest as I looked for birds; in fact, later on in the week a state of emergency would be declared in the province due to the torrential rains. On the following morning, Aimee and I made the reverse journey that I had completed the previous afternoon, birding the Penon del Santo Trail, the new ridge trail, and the lower part of the cascade trail. There's an outstanding mirador along the ridge trail that offers incredible views of the canopy below and the forest on the other side of the river, and I was hoping we'd arrive there in time to observe a few mixed canopy flocks. Approaching the mirador we didn't see much, though, encountering little more than a pair of Cinnamon Woodpeckers and a mixed understory flock with Broad-Billed Sapayoa and Black-Striped Woodcreeper. I managed to track down a Double-Toothed Kite that I spotted shifting perches overhead, and we also located a diminutive Golden-Crowned Spadebill after much difficulty, but the morning was disappointingly quiet overall. Even stumbling upon a pair of Blue-Whiskered Tanagers singing in the understory was more frustrating than rewarding as I failed to get Aimee on to the birds before they moved on. By the time we arrived at the mirador, the sun was blazing high above and we were exhausted by the journey. My hopes of watching a Golden-Chested Tanager from above were squelched as we moved on to complete the morning's excursion.

Meeting up on the Cascada Trail with the other tourist who was staying at the lodge and her guide, I decided to push on ahead in search of birds as Aimee lingered behind to chat with them as we all made our way slowly down to the river. Far above in the canopy I located a pair of Guayaquil Woodpeckers bickering with each other, pointing them out to the group as they moved past. After getting Aimee on to the birds, I noticed she was missing her walking stick, which she had left a few minutes back up the steep trail at the tree swing the guides had made from some lianas. Offering to get it for her, I hustled uphill and found the stick upright in the mud just where she had left it. Turning to go, I heard an unusual plaintive bird call from the undergrowth just behind the tree that sounded familiar only because I had listened to it dozens of times on tape. Quickly and quietly I made my way towards the source as I spun the wheel of my iPod to the Streak-Chested Antpitta. This boldly patterned antpitta is only found in Ecuador in the far northwestern lowlands and is much more frequently seen than heard according to the field guide, so I held my breath and nervously searched for the calling bird before it fled deep into a nearby ravine. Positioning myself behind a tree, I peered around it while playing a recording of the call, briefly catching the bird through my binoculars as it flitted its wings with its back turned towards me. Another brief playback of the call had the bird turned towards me and fully out in the open for five seconds as it fluffed its breast feathers and returned fire. Five minutes later, I was blabbering to Aimee about this remarkable encounter, which seemed the very pinnacle of luck and skill as this was the only instance that I would hear the antpitta during our four-day visit and wouldn't even have happened had not Aimee forgotten her stick and I had done my homework.

In the afternoon I headed back out on the trails behind the lodge as it threatened to rain. In an understory flock I finally found a pair of Pacific Flatbills as well as a single Green Manakin tagging quietly along. Along with the Sapayoa, these three birds are easily confused by sight and should be closely studied in advance by visiting birders. Passing by the resident Tawny-Faced and Lemon-Spectacled Tanager flock at the beginning of the Pueblo Trail, I shortly came across a treefall, surprising a female Stub-Tailed Antbird at her territory. A short burst of playback brought the male on the scene as he slowly circled the territory calling loudly at each stop. This Choco endemic isn't as fun to observe as the Ocellated Antbird, for example, but it prefers edge habitat and open treefalls and is usually seen out in the open, making it easy to observe at least. Heading further up the trail, I finally decided to turn around after flushing a Ruddy Quail-Dove, sadly not the Olive-Backed Quail-Dove I had been hoping for. It soon started to pour again, and I returned to the lodge for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Although we had carved out a few hours on the following morning for birding before we made the return journey back to Quito, the rain had continued all throughout the night to the following mid-morning, making the prospect of birding the trails unpleasant and unproductive. Having seen ten new species on the trip and a good number of Choco restricted-range species, I decided to chill on the balcony instead and enjoy the mixed flocks that were braving the wet weather through my scope. Indeed, the Rio Santiago had risen dramatically over the last few days, and we would later have to wait in our car at a small river crossing for several hours as the water level diminished enough for us to drive safely across. Throughout our stay at Playa de Oro, I kept remarking to Aimee that I was so glad I had waited to visit the reserve until I had several years of experience birding in Ecuador and enough knowledge to successfully track down difficult species on my own. With a guide, or with much lower expectations, a novice birder in the neotropics could definitely have an amazing time here, but for me the trip was truly a consummation of all my previous effort and observation.

Notable birds seen: Little Tinamou, Neotropic Cormorant, Little Blue Heron, Turkey Vulture, Double-Toothed Kite, Tawny-Faced Quail, Spotted Sandpiper, Ruddy Quail-Dove, Maroon-Tailed Parakeet, Rose-Faced Parrot, Mealy Amazon, Choco Poorwill, Bronzy Hermit, Band-Tailed Barbthroat, White-Whiskered Hermit, White-Necked Jacobin, Green Thorntail, Purple-Chested Hummingbird, Ringed Kingfisher, Green Kingfisher, Broad-Billed Motmot, Rufous Motmot, White-Whiskered Puffbird, Stripe-Billed Aracari, Chestnut-Mandibled Toucan, Red-Rumped Woodpecker, Guayaquil Woodpecker, Cinnamon Woodpecker, Western Woodhaunter, Buff-Throated Foliage-Gleaner, Northern Barred-Woodcreeper, Black-Striped Woodcreeper, Spot-Crowned Antvireo, Pacific Antwren, Checker-Throated Antwren, Spotted Antbird, Immaculate Antbird, Stub-Tailed Antbird, Bicolored Antbird, Ocellated Antbird, Black-Headed Antthrush, Streak-Chested Antpitta, Olive-Striped Flycatcher, Pacific Flatbill, Golden-Crowned Spadebill, Sulphur-Rumped Flycatcher, Gray-Capped Flycatcher, Rufous Piha, Red-Capped Manakin, Blue-Crowned Manakin, Green Manakin, Broad-Billed Sapayoa, Dagua Thrush, Stripe-Throated Wren, Song Wren, Southern Nightengale-Wren, Tawny-Faced Gnatwren, Slate-Throated Gnatcatcher, Choco Warbler, Red-Legged Honeycreeper, Yellow-Tufted Dacnis, Scarlet-and-White Tanager, Golden-Hooded Tanager, Blue-Whiskered Tanager, Rufous-Winged Tanager, Lemon-Specatacled Tanager, Ochre-Breasted Tanager, Dusky-Faced Tanager.

Bosque Humedal de Yalare: February 13, 2010

2010-02-15T15:00:00.000-08:00

Bosque Humedal de Yalare is a confusing and informal site in the far northwestern lowlands, offering swampy humid forest and woodland to be birded mostly from the roadside. Very few birders make it out to this degraded and dangerous corner of Ecuador despite the avifaunistic attractions, including Black-Chested Puffbird, Five-Colored Barbet, Slaty-Tailed Trogon, and Brown Wood-Rail. On our recent trip to Playa de Oro, Aimee and I stopped for an hour to explore the area, although it was already late in the morning and bird activity had dropped off for the day. We noted good roadside forest and woodland starting at about 16km from San Lorenzo to Borbon but decided to try birding a side road that branches off to the left from the village of Yalare. Following Roger Ahlman's map and directions for the site in his well-known country report, we ended up several kilometers down this side road in decent but patchy forest that was owned and managed by a plywood company. I fruitlessly played tape for the trogon and the puffbird and searched a small pond for any sign of the wood-rail without any luck. A solitary Yellow-Margined Flatbill and a male and female pair of Red-Legged Honeycreepers were the highlights of our short visit here, which would pale in comparison with our rich and varied experience in the majestic Playa de Oro Reserve. Ultimately, on another visit to the region I'd like to spend a full morning birding this site from a base at nearby Tundaloma Lodge.

Notable birds seen: Plumbeous Kite, Double-Toothed Kite, Black-Cheeked Woodpecker, Long-Tailed Tyrant, Yellow-Margined Flatbill, Black-Crowned Tityra, Red-Legged Honeycreeper.

Atacazo: February 6, 2010

2010-02-10T15:28:00.000-08:00

Reaching almost 4500m, Atacazo is part of a larger volcanic complex located immediately south of Pichincha, making it easily accessible from Quito. On Saturday Mark Thurber and I had planned to hike around the backside of the main peak towards Ninahuilca, a sizable volcanic dome, passing through temperate scrub, woodland, and forest along the way. Unfortunately, it was a miserable day of weather in the highlands and visibility was extremely low in the paramo, making our descent down the western slope of the mountain nearly impossible. Although this isn't a proper birding site, the rare and endemic Black-Breasted Puffleg has been recorded here, and the paramo and woodland patches on the eastern slope of the mountain offered plenty of fine birds, whether seen or heard, including Ocellated Tapaculo, Andean Guan, Andean Snipe, Paramo Pipit, and Curved-Billed Tinamou. The latter was flushed along the roadside towards the end of the day as we finally reached our car after hiking for hours in the pouring rain.

Notable birds seen: Curve-Billed Tinamou, Variable Hawk, Andean Snipe, Ecuadorian Hillstar, Blue-Mantled Thornbill, Many-Striped Canastero, Bar-Winged Cinclodes, Plumbeous Sierra-Finch, Paramo Ground-Tyrant, Grass Wren, Tawny Antpitta, Scarlet-Bellied Mountain-Tanager, Paramo Pipit.

Foz do Iguacu, Brasil: December 25-26, 2009

2010-02-01T13:00:00.000-08:00

The highlight of the region that Aimee is covering in the new edition of Lonely Planet Brasil is without a doubt Iguacu Falls. Located on the border of Brasil and Argentina, the system of waterfalls is among the most spectacular in the world, compromised of over 250 individual waterfalls, some plunging over 80 meters, and spanning almost 3km of the Iguacu River. Although other waterfalls in the world may rival Iguacu in terms of volume and height, the setting of these falls is truly unique, as the river winds its way through hundreds of square kilometers of pristine subtropical forest before reaching the area of the falls. Although access to the forest on either side of the border is extremely limited, the trails, walkways, and roads that form the infrastructure for general visitors offer excellent birding opportunities.

During her research trip last month, which overlapped with my vacation, Aimee and I spent two full days in the area of the falls, taking in the spectacle from almost every trail and walkway on either side. Staying in the city of Puerto Iguacu, which is accessible by plane or bus from Rio de Janiero or Sao Paolo, we traveled by bus on the first day to the Brazilian side of the falls, which offers a better panoramic view of the falls but from a limited perspective. The Argentine side, on the other hand, allows visitors to reach the precipice of the most impressive section of the falls, la Garganta del Diablo, from a magnificent walkway right along the edge of the cliff. The principal approach to the falls from the Brazilian side takes the visitor past a series of viewpoints, each more dramatic than the last, while passing along mature forest edge. Although birding is a secondary attraction here, I couldn't help skipping several viewpoints while chasing after a beautiful Toco Toucan. Perhaps the most iconic of all the toucans, the Toco Toucan is simply patterned with a marvelously large bright-orange bill. Despite its relatively common status in the region, I was thrilled to track one of my target birds down almost immediately upon arrival and could now relax a bit and enjoy the falls.

Of course, the other target bird here is the Great Dusky Swift, which nests in the cliffs behind the falls and can be seen feeding on insects trapped in the maelstrom of the falls. Watching these large swifts expertly navigate the chaotic vortex of water and wind swirling about is simply astonishing, as they capture prey, carry nesting material, and even mate in this absurdly dynamic environment. From the Brazilian side, the swifts and other swallows can be seen in flight and at rest behind a number of individual falls, although I understand they are harder to find in rainy weather. While Aimee walked out along the walkway into the mist at the base of la Garganta del Diablo, I watched mesmerized as the swifts plummeted in the air over a lower section of the falls while chasing after prey, flying faster than the water fell and then returning to the cliff face just behind the lip of the falls, where they sometimes congregate in large groups.

After having lunch at cafe near the last viewpoint, I birded the forested grounds while Aimee completed taking her notes. Although it was midday and activity was low, I was happy to spot a perched Plumbeous Kite, a spectacular pair of Green-Headed Tanagers, and a confiding group of Plush-Crested Jays. It was neat to see the other tourists awakening to the wildlife around them as well, although most people were more focused on photographing the hoards of Coati that were plundering food at the restaurant than observing the birds. After checking out a mating pair of Violaceous Euphonias building a nest in a tree in the parking lot alongside some noisy caciques, Aimee and I left the park in one of the many double-decker busses that transport tourists from the entrance gate to the viewpoints. Given the time of day, I decided to skip the one trail on the Brazilian side that provides access deep into the forest; this can only be walked in the company of a guide, which didn't sound like much fun either.

Just across the street from the entrance to the falls on the Brazilian side is a refuge for injured or captured birds from South America and other parts of the world called Parque de Aves. Normally, I wouldn't enjoy observing caged birds, but the enclosures are very large and set right in the middle of the forest, creating the illusion that you're observing birds at close range from the ground to the midlevel of the understory. You can actually enter the larger enclosures and approach toucans and tinamous within a meter. It was particularly interesting to find some of the Atlantic rainforest endemics here that I had missed at REGUA, or Reserva Ecologica de Guapiacu, including Black-Fronted Piping-Guan, Saffron and Spot-Billed Toucanets, and Spot-Winged Wood-Quail.

It's a bit of a hassle to reach the Argentine side of the falls from the city of Iguacu by public transportation, but after a few hours Aimee and I were back in front of the falls on the following day, this time viewing them from above as we walked along the edge looking out over plummeting water. Given the width of the river just before the falls, the habitat here is almost like a marsh and Neotropic Cormorants, Anhinga, Greater Ani, Yellow-Headed Caracara, and Snail Kite were commonly seen from the walkways. Of course, the Great Dusky Swift was the most spectacular species present, especially at the U-shaped Garganta del Diablo falls, where hundreds of birds were swooping about in the mist. Although I wasn't birding very seriously, I managed to spot some other good species here, including Swallow and Green-Headed Tanagers, Toco Toucan, Campo Flicker, and Green Ibis. For the dedicated birder with more time, there is a trail on the Argentine side that can be walked and birded without a guide, although arriving on site at an early hour via public transportation can be challenging. Birding groups, therefore, usually stay at the Sheraton located within the national park itself and quite near the falls.

Mangaloma: January 30, 2010

2010-01-30T19:28:00.001-08:00

Mangaloma is a sizable reserve in the northwestern lowlands located only a thirty minute drive from San Miguel de los Bancos. At 200 hectares itself, plus another 500 hectares of non-protected humid forest, the site contains more than enough habitat to support a healthy population of birds, making it a clear winner over Rio Silanche in terms of its birding potential and longevity as a conservation project. While not often visited by birding tours, Mangaloma is famous for its occasional sightings of the Banded Ground-Cuckoo, which is one of the great mythical birds of the world, a magnificent Chocó endemic that is basically never seen except at antswarms and even then rarely. The site deserves more notoriety, though, for its other outstanding endemic foothill and lowland species, including the Rufous-Crowned Antpitta, which has almost reached mythical status itself due to habitat loss.

I arranged my visit by phone, following the instructions in Charles Hesse's excellent trip report from 2006 (making arrangements beforehand is mandatory, and non-guided visits cost $10). Scouting out the site on Friday evening, I found the reserve without trouble following Sam Woods' thrilling account of his twitch of the Banded Ground-Cuckoo of 2006, noting that the access roads have improved to the point where four-wheel drive is no longer necessary (high clearance still is, though). I saw a few good birds in the woodland approaching the entrance to the reserve including Silver-Throated Tanager and Scarlet-Backed Woodpecker, and heard a pair of White-Throated Crakes calling loudly from some pastureland. Returning to los Bancos for the night, I spoke with Patricio, the owner of the Restaurant Mirador los Bancos, who told me that Dusan Brinkhuizen and two clients had visited Mangaloma on Wednesday having seen both the Long-Wattled Umbrellabird and Rufous-Crowned Antpitta. The latter obviously shocked me, as the antpitta is rare and local even where the boldest birders fear to tread in the northwestern lowlands (it could be just uncommon and local in unexplored parts of Cotocachi-Cayapas National Park, though). Now knowing the full potential of my visit, I had trouble getting to sleep that night.

Starting early enough that morning to encounter several Pauraque on the access road, I rang for Alvaro, the park ranger, at the gate, and he led me down to the beginning of the Blue Trail, from which two loop trails, the Red and Yellow, branch off. It was raining lightly and the trail was wet, muddy, and very slippery as I made slow progress up the hill from the river. Stopping at a clearing full of vines, I found a pair of Dusky Antbirds that were joined by Chestnut-Backed Antbirds, all calling noisily from the undergrowth and difficult to get good looks at. Leaving my scope behind at a fallen tree, I entered mature forest finding an understory flock after a few minutes, filled with Ochre-Breasted Tanagers and several species of antwren. Between the two junctions where the Red and Yellow Trails rejoin the Blue, I suddenly walked into what seemed like an antpitta crossfire, as at least two Rufous-Crowned Antpittas were loudly calling away on either side of the trail. Having only heard but not seen this unique antpitta at Rio Canande several months ago, I steeled myself for a battle to get a glimpse of one. Strangely, it didn't take much effort, as they were already so close to the trail and stopped moving once they launched into their thirty second series of monotone whistles (check out Roger Ahlman's superb recording at Xeno Canto). Breathlessly, I watched just the head of a male as he called from deep within the undergrowth, his long, black eye stripe striking and crown richly colored. I caught up with him again down the trail and pushed into the undergrowth deeper this time, as he let me approach within a few meters as he continued to call for almost a minute. This time I had my camera ready and with my ISO value set to one million, or something, I fired away on my 300mm lens (this photograph hasn't been cropped). The bold facial pattern, the fine barring on the breast and belly, the delicately spotted wings, the richly streaked back -- this is perhaps my finest bird seen in Ecuador.

With something like pure joy in my heart, I made my way further up the Blue Trail, slipping and falling repeatedly in the mud, smiling like an idiot all the while until I eventually lacerated my forearm on some cut bamboo. Pushing ahead, I encountered some great forest birds including Golden-Winged Manakin, Black-Headed Antthrush, and Indigo-Crowned Quail-Dove. Groups of Tawny-Faced Gnatwren were everywhere, and I located a Plumbeous Kite perched in a bare tree way overhead. When I reached the top of the hill it finally stopped raining for a few hours, and the bird activity increased dramatically with large tanager flocks moving overhead and Choco and Chestnut-Mandibled Toucans calling from all sides. One great flock in particular held Gray-and-Gold Tanager and Rufous Mourner, which were both seen at eye level given the steep slope of the ridge. Frankly, I thought the mourner was a cotinga but it's classified as a tyrannid, despite looking just like the Rufous Piha and very similar to the laniocera mourners, all cotingas. Sometimes I'm glad that the construction of knowledge isn't my business.

With my arm bleeding through my shirt it was only fitting at this point as a reward to see a displaying Long-Wattled Umbrellabird out in the open, almost at eye level in a relatively bare tree thirty meters away. Jet black and back lit, the bird was a little tough to see at first despite its large size, but as my eyes adjusted I slowly parsed its outline, visually tracing its incredible features for the first time. First, one notices the heavy crow-like beak that is almost completely umbrella-ed by a dashing crest combed over into a ridiculous curl that would make any greaser proud. Almost by some force of gravity, the eyes are then dragged down the male's shocking, almost vulgar, wattle which at first looks like a branch or thing apart from the bird. Dramatically extending below a perched bird at rest, the wattle can then be elongated almost to twice that length, reaching 30 cm at its most dangled. The male I was watching seemed to be bouncing his wattle up and down as if it were a spring, making its booming foghorn call several times at widely spaced intervals. Eventually it flew higher into the canopy of a dense tree, but I heard several males calling during the next few hours before it started raining again, very low-pitched and far-carrying. Ready to leave by noon, then, I was soaked, bloody, and covered in mud, but deeply satisfied by my marvelous encounters with two jewels of the Chocó crown.

Update: Alejandro Solano, one of the owners of the reserve, wanted me to reiterate that the playback of calls of threatened and rare birds is strictly prohibited on the property, including that of the Rufous-Crowned Antpitta. Obviously, birders shouldn't be walking the lower trails trolling for the Banded Ground-Cuckoo, either.

Notable birds seen: Plumbeous Kite, Indigo-Crowned Quail-Dove, Pauraque, White-Whiskered Hermit, Green Kingfisher, Pale-Mandibled Aracari, Choco Toucan, Chestnut-Mandibled Toucan, Black-Cheeked Woodpecker, Scarlet-Backed Woodpecker, Spotted Woodcreeper, Streak-Headed Woodcreeper, Pacific Antwren, Checker-Throated Antwren, Dusky Antbird, Chestnut-Backed Antbird, Bicolored Antbird, Black-Headed Antthrush, Rufous-Crowned Antpitta, Sooty-Headed Tyrannulet, Sulphur-Rumped Tyrannulet, Rufous Mourner, Long-Wattled Umbrellabird, Golden-Winged Manakin, Swainson's Thrush, Ecuadorian Thrush, Bay Wren, Tawny-Faced Gnatwren, Choco Warbler, Buff-Rumped Warbler, Yellow-Tufted Dacnis, Gray-and-Gold Tanager, Silver-Throated Tanager, Bay-Headed Tanager, Ochre-Breasted Tanager, Dusky-Faced Tanager, White-Shouldered Tanager, Scarlet-Rumped Cacique.

Milpe Road: January 31, 2010

2010-01-30T08:52:00.000-08:00

After a thrilling morning at Mangaloma, I returned to San Miguel de los Bancos to have lunch and weigh my options for the afternoon. Given that the weather was wet and visibility low, I decided to return to Quito to meet Aimee the following morning, who was finally returning from her six-week research trip in Brazil for Lonely Planet. On passing the Milpe road just outside of town, I noticed that the weather was starting to clear and decided instead to drive the road to see if any unusual birds were drying out on the treetops. This well-known road passes by at least three birding reserves, including Mindo Cloudforest Foundation's Milpe Bird Sanctuary, and is a good site for mixed flocks of subtropical and foothill species, parrots, toucans, and the occasional raptor. It used to be a reliable site for Moss-Backed Tanager as well, which seems to have disappeared for the last few years until very recently. Guide Jose Illanes reported seeing one just last week, as well as a Scaly-Throated Leaftosser feeding nestlings somewhere along the trails.

Driving slowly and stopping whenever I encountered bird activity, I spent the rest of the day observing through my scope Bronze-Winged Parrots and a variety of toucans, at point noting a group of fifteen Chestnut-Mandibled Toucans hanging out in the same tree. There wasn't much mixed flock activity except for some common tanagers and foliage-gleaners, but I did note several large Roadside Hawks and a solitary Plumbeous Kite perched in a treetop far in the distance. Stopping by the office at Milpe Bird Sanctuary to buy a tanager t-shirt, I met the founder Brian Krohnke and asked him about the new MCF property, which indeed runs along the Mindo Pipeline starting at the Tandayapa pass. Having birded this site myself earlier this month and seen some terrific temperate forest birds, I thanked him for opening up access to the area and then made the return trip to Quito in the dark.

Notable birds seen: Roadside Hawk, Plumbeous Kite, Bronze-Winged Parrot, Maroon-Tailed Parakeet, Choco Toucan, Chestnut-Mandibled Toucan, Pale-Mandibled Aracari, Buff-Throated Foliage-Gleaner, Blue-Necked Tanager.

Reserva Ecologica de Guapiacu, Brasil: December 20-23, 2009

2010-01-26T12:59:00.000-08:00

As if living and working in Ecuador wasn't enough of a privilege for a birder, I have also been fortunate enough to travel during my vacations to other South American countries, such as Peru and Suriname, thanks to Aimee's position at Lonely Planet. When she told me that she was being considered as one of the writers to update the Brazil guidebook, my head started spinning with possibilities. Would her region include part of Amazonia or the Pantanal? Maybe it would contain some Atlantic rainforest instead? Given Brazil's incredible size and bird species diversity, it ultimately didn't matter. Regardless of where she was assigned to research, I could tag along and observe some amazing birds.

As with our travels last summer in endemic-rich northern Peru, Aimee and I were required to compromise on this trip between her profession and my passion. There's no way I can visit every site on a typical birding tour of the region because she has a job to do, albeit a job that takes her to many beautiful and interesting tourist sites. Although she was assigned the far southeastern states to cover, she generously me allowed a few day's of birding at one of the famous reserves a few hours outside Rio de Janiero; in turn, I agreed not to drag us to every state park and private reserve in the states of Parana, Santa Catarina, and Porto do Alegre while she was trying to research her territory.

Just seven percent of Brazil's original Atlantic rainforest remains, but there are still a wide variety of birding options in the region. I ultimately decided on the private Reserva Ecologica de Guapiacu, or REGUA, in part because it was one of the few bird lodges open during this time of year, strangely. A three-night stay yielded two full days of birding with an afternoon and early morning excursion after arrival and before departure, respectively. Like other lodges in the region, such as Serra dos Tucanos, a full and meaningful visit to REGUA necessitates at least a week, as many important day trips can be made to higher elevations and different habitats to pick up additional species such as the Three-Toed Jacamar, Gray-Winged and Swallow-Tailed Cotingas, Restinga Antwren, Hooded Berryeater, and White-Bearded Antshrike. Sadly, we didn't have the time to make any of these excursions, as again these trips of ours are about compromise, but the birding around the lodge was simply outstanding and a surprising number of endemics were seen.

Opened in 2004, the lodge itself is set on top of a small hill looking west out over an impressively restored wetlands system towards the spectacular Serra dos Orgaos, a lushly forested mountain range boasting spectacular granite peaks that humble those of Yosemite Valley. Having visited a wide variety of bird lodges on our travels in South America, and spent a hefty sum doing so, Aimee and I were shocked by the quality of the lodge itself and its posh rooms given the cost of our stay. It's a good thing our room was so comfortable too as Aimee fell ill on our first day, spending the rest of our visit in bed or watching the nectar and fruit feeders.

With private excursions outside the reserve being too expensive and time-consuming for a party of one, I decided to structure my visit around three bird habitats: Atlantic rainforest and woodland via the Waterfall Trail and the 4x4 Trail; wetlands via the various Wetland Trails; and scrub and open country via the grounds of the lodge and the access road to the Waterfall and 4x4 Trails. There was one other guest present during our stay, an affable English birder from Manchester, who was nearing the end of a ten-day stay, having birded all over the region in the company of one of the lodge's best local, Portuguese-speaking guides, Adilei Carvalho da Cunha. I accompanied the two of them on the start of the Waterfall Trail for an hour and for a half day on the 4x4 Trail, picking up a few additional species that I certainly wouldn't have seen on my own, including the spectacular Spot-Backed Antshrike. As always, getting a guide is a good idea even for experienced birders in the neotropics, especially considering the reasonable rates, $30 a day in this case.

After traveling from Rio to REGUA by bus and taxi, the first bird of significance that Aimee and I encountered was a female Red-Billed Currasow, a species that was originally extirpated and then reintroduced at the reserve. This individual bird spends most of its time hanging around the grounds of the lodge and also constitutes the reserve's logo, its delicately feathered crest prominent in profile. After dropping off our belongings, we checked out the fruit and hummingbird feeders, which were dead in terms of activity except for a sole Burnished-Buff Tanager picking at a massive bunch of bananas. Deciding that we had plenty of daylight left to make a full circuit around the wetlands we geared up and strode out into the blazing late afternoon sunshine.

For me the two principle target birds of the wetlands were the Giant Snipe and Masked Duck, but the list of birds commonly seen on the trail is quite extensive, including some forest border endemics such as the Crescent-Chested Puffbird, Sooretama Slaty-Antshrike, and Yellow-Lored Tody-Flycatcher. Slowly making our way along the trail with the marsh to our left and the woodland border to our right, we observed a number of fine birds, including Brazilian Tanager, White-Faced Whistling-Duck, Capped Heron, Chestnut-Capped Blackbird, Savanna Hawk, Purple Gallinule, Yellow-Chinned Spinetail, and Campo Flicker. Meanwhile, the sun was setting in spectacular fashion behind the Serra dos Orgaos, the granite peaks shaded a deep purple in comparison with the blazing orange sky.

On the following morning we tagged along with our fellow guest and his guide as they started up the Waterfall Trail in search of the glorious Shrike-Like Cotinga, or Elegant Mourner. One of the rarest and most enigmatic birds of South America, this small but delicately patterned cotinga has also been observed in the foothills of the eastern Andes of Ecuador, where it is known as the Andean Laniisoma. Most recently it was seen and heard at Wildsumaco Lodge last year, where Jonas Nilson documented it over a period of several weeks. REGUA is supposedly the most reliable site in the world to find this legendary cotinga, although it's not as vocal during this time of year and is typically found at higher elevations than the lower section of the Waterfall Trail. With all this in mind, I decided that Aimee and I would be better off birding on our own, sweeping up the more common birds of the trail and hopefully a few endemics as well, instead of setting off on a wild-goose chase for one particular bird.

We soon parted ways after the guide taped in a Southern Antpipit and White-Throated Spadebill, leaving Aimee and I at a nice stand of bamboo where there was a Blue Manakin lek. Odd but charismatic, these manakins provided us with a good hour of enjoyment as we marveled at the male's striking coloration and boisterous display. Right in this area, we also found a pair of sallying Rufous-Tailed Jacamars and a calling Saw-Billed Hermit, the latter species an Atlantic rainforest endemic. Although it was still relatively early in the morning, Aimee's energy was starting to wane, and it was clear that she wasn't just tired but growing sicker, seemingly by the minute.

Pushing on ahead up the trail, albeit very slowly, we came across an understory mixed flock with Buff-Fronted and White-Eyed Foliage-Gleaners, the latter bearing such a striking white throat that I figured at first glance it was the White-Bearded Antshrike (it's worth noting that I didn't have a field guide with me on the trip and was basically birding with just a list). Aimee took a seat on the trail while I tried to parse the antwrens moving with the flock, noting Unicolored and White-Flanked Antwrens as well as a gorgeous male Scaled Antbird, which I only saw briefly as I had neglected to download its call on my iPod and couldn't reel it back in. Moving a few hundred meters further up the trail, we encountered a spectacular Blond-Crested Woodpecker, with Aimee getting decidedly better looks than me, as I was teasing out a Black-Cheeked Gnateater from the undergrowth along the trail, another fine Atlantic rainforest endemic.

With midday fast approaching and Aimee growing increasingly weary, I decided that we should stop for lunch early, before heading up the steeper part of the trail that began to switchback up a hill. Eye-Ringed Tody-Tyrant and Ochre-Bellied Flycatcher called noisily in front of us as we ate our sandwiches and discussed our options for the afternoon. Unsure whether we were even on the right trail at this point, I judged that we should turn around and slowly make our way back to the car, where our fellow guest and Adilei had planned to meet us later in the afternoon. Ultimately Aimee headed all the way back to the car to rest, as I was intent on following up every call and combing every mixed flock for new birds.

During the following few hours while birding on my own, I had some considerable success, first tracking down the vocal but sedentary Gray-Hooded Attila. Amazingly, I approached it close enough to take some decent photographs, as the bird gazed slowly about with its beak spread wide open. Later on in a mixed flock, I found White-Barred Picculet, Greyish Mourner, Yellow-Throated Woodpecker, and Spot-Breasted Antvireo, struggling with the identification of the antvireo but taking thorough notes and cross checking them with the field guide at the lodge later that evening. The bird of the day, though, was the fantastic Crescent-Chested Puffbird, a pair of which I encountered at the same patch of bamboo where Aimee and I had observed the Blue Manakins that morning. This endemic puffbird is similar to the White-Whiskered Puffbird, which is commonly encountered in the western lowlands here in Ecuador, but it's more boldly streaked and graced with a bold white and black crescent shape on its chest.

Although Aimee had had a rough day and I hadn't made it very fall along the trail, I had seen some terrific birds and a host of endemic species, from hummingbirds to manakins to antbirds. The rest of our party had had no luck with the cotinga on their taxing hike to higher elevations, so I felt particularly proud as I reeled off to Adilei in my shaky Portuguese the list of birds I had seen and identified on my own. He generously corrected me on the confusingly-named White-Eyed Foliage-Gleaner, though, explaining that he had only seen the White-Bearded Antshrike once at this low of an elevation. On the drive back to the lodge, we stopped in several places for Whistling Heron, Burrowing Owl, Guira Cuckoo, and Yellow-Headed Caracara. The cuckoo in particular is real clown of a bird, perching on fence posts and generally looking ridiculous.

Aimee slept in the following morning while I accompanied our fellow guest and Adilei up the 4x4 Trail in search of the Eastern Striped Manakin. Having missed the Striped Manakin several times in Ecuador, my expectations for seeing this species were low; I simply wanted another chance to see more Atlantic rainforest endemics. Happily our guide helped us track down a number of excellent birds, including the outstanding Spot-Backed Antshrike, which might have been the bird of the trip. White-Necked Hawk, Rufous-Capped Motmot, Surucua Trogon, Yellow-Eared Woodpecker, Sooretama Slaty-Antshrike, Scaled Antbird, Plain-Winged and Lesser Woodcreepers, Black-Capped Foliage-Gleaner, Gray-Hooded Flycatcher, Eye-Ringed Tody-Tyrant, and Blue Manakin were the other Brazilian endemics seen. While we eventually missed the Eastern Striped Manakin, we did come across a magnificent Hook-Billed Kite perched next to the track, no doubt feeding on the many lizards scurrying about forest floor.

Later that afternoon back on the Wetlands Trail, I picked up some more good birds including Red-Cowled Cardinal, Rufescent Tiger-Heron, and White-Bearded Manakin. I also startled a group of Capybaras near the shore that plunged violently back into the marsh, scattering water birds in all directions. With a huge storm fast approaching, I hustled back to the lodge along the trail, flushing three female Masked Ducks as I quickly rounded a corner. Instead of swimming deep into cover, they sat in the open water long enough for me to fire away on my camera, capturing an acceptable record shot from a considerable distance. These striking but secretive ducks are widely distributed in the Americas but never easy to find, and I practically skipped with joy back up to the lodge as rain increased from a drizzle to a deluge.

Passing on a night walk with the guide, and therefore missing the opportunity to see the Giant Snipe, I decided to relax with Aimee and catch up with her about the day, which she spent reading a novel and watching Black Jacobins and Swallow-Tailed Hummingbirds from the veranda. Although we had to leave by 8:00 am on the following morning in order to catch our plane in Rio to Iguacu, I managed to spend a final few hours on the Wetlands Trail, picking up the Dark-Billed Cuckoo, Chestnut-Backed Antshrike, and Yellow-Lored Tody-Flycatcher, the last endemic seen of my brief stay. Clearly, it had been a productive and rewarding visit to REGUA, although I was a bit disappointed with the activity at the feeders, especially in comparison with those at Serra dos Tucanos, where the spectacular Spot-Billed and Saffron Toucanets are regularly seen. Still, with more time, and a bigger budget, this lodge would be the ideal base for birding the entire region, especially in the opposite season.

San Martin de el Para Reserve: January 23, 2010

2010-01-24T07:06:00.000-08:00

San Martin de el Para is a privately owned 600 hectare reserve in the foothills of the eastern slope of the Andes. Located about 15 km east of the town of Archidona, the reserve is usually birded from a base at Hosteria Paraiso de Orquideas, which is situated along the road to Tena just 2km on the right before Archidona. Although this obscure reserve rarely graces birding trip itineraries, with an exception being those of Andean Birding, it is especially noteworthy for containing forested bamboo habitat, which is difficult to find in eastern Ecuador. Here you'll encounter scarce and local bird specialists such as the Large-Headed Flatbill, Striated Antbird, and Bamboo Foliage-Gleaner, among a general but impressive mixture of eastern lowlands and foothills birds.

Now that the highway is almost entirely paved from Quito to Tena, getting to the eastern foothills is relatively painless, and I made the approximately 200km drive on Friday afternoon after work. After arranging for a guide to accompany me to the reserve the following morning, I bedded down comfortably at the hosteria, which is something of an adventure in itself with a host of animals, both caged and free, inhabiting the premises, including a pair of Spix's Guans just oustide my cabin. While independent visits to the reserve aren't allowed, I was relaxed the following morning in my guide Umberto's company, who didn't know much about birds but was happy to carry my scope around and answer general questions I had about the area. My half-day visit cost $30, which seemed expensive just for access and a trail guide but well worth it considering the excellent birds I observed.

Umberto and I made the drive to the reserve before dawn, passing along a packed dirt and rock road through several Quichua communities and finally over a seriously dilapidated bridge spanning the Rio Hollin, a beautiful tributary of the Rio Napo. As the sun rose, I spent a few hours birding the cleared area at the entrance to the reserve which contained several large fruiting trees and plenty of dense ground cover. Canopy flocks bombarded the area, including Paradise, Green-and-Gold, and Yellow-Bellied Tanagers, the latter being a difficult distinction from the Spotted Tanager unless you see it feeding upside down. After coaxing a pair of White-Browed Antbirds from some dense shrubbery next to the car, I walked backed towards the road, finding a pair of excitable and stunning Golden-Winged Tody-Flycatchers in an overgrown drainage ditch. After combing through another flock for the Lemon-Throated Barbet, which I would miss today, and finding the unique Orange-Fronted Plushcrown instead, I decided it was time to enter the forest too see what I had come for, the bamboo specialists.

Although I had read some negative reports about the quality of the trail, I had no trouble taking the lead from Umberto and setting my own pace as we wound through good secondary and primary forest for the next few hours. Initially, the antbirds dominated the morning, as I first encountered Black-Faced, then Warbling, and finally Spot-Backed Antbirds, all singing from surreptitious positions and difficult to find. Later, I nearly walked right onto a Thrush-Like Antpitta, which was calling from just a few meters away but still nearly impossible to see. A few understory mixed flocks passed us by containing the usual antwrens, woodcreepers, and foliage-gleaners, and I didn't note anything out of the ordinary. After just glimpsing a magnificent pair of calling Scale-Breasted Woodpeckers, we finally reached a large patch of bamboo-dominated forest. Here, I successfully called in a pair of Large-Headed Flatbills with my iPod, and then scored great looks at a female White-Shouldered Antshrike in the undergrowth, all richly colored rufous with its tail pumping cautiously as it emitted a single-note call at uniquely long intervals. Aside from the flocks, I'm not sure whether Umberto saw a single bird that I did while we were on the trail, given that most of them were difficult skulkers. Usually, the guides are the ones seeing all the birds.

Emerging from the forest all of a sudden, having looped back around to the parking area, I realized that I hadn't tried for the Striated Antbird, which I figured I would hear calling at some point, like the similar-looking Long-Tailed Antbird usually does in subtropical forest. Walking back a few hundred meters along the trail, I tried calling it in several places. Within a few minutes I had a response and a delicately-patterned but angry-looking antbird in the bamboo several meters overhead. Rarely can you simply call birds in despite being in the right habitat, but there it was, answering right on call. Elated by my success, I spent the final hour of my visit on a cleared slope high above the parking area, watching mixed flocks pass through the area and periodically checking on a pair of Yellow-Billed Nunbirds that were hanging out in some cecropia trees nearby. A pair of Opal-Crowned Tanagers capped off a terrific and productive day of birding that almost ended badly on the return drive over the bridge, which had fallen into even further disrepair since that morning.

Notable birds seen: Speckled Chachalaca, White-Bearded Hermit, Amazonian White-Tailed Trogon, White-Fronted Nunbird, Yellow-Billed Nunbird, Gilded Barbet, Scale-Breasted Woodpecker, Little Woodpecker, Orange-Fronted Plushcrown, Rufous-Rumped Foliage-Gleaner, Buff-Throated Woodcreeper, White-Shouldered Antshrike, Plain-Winged Antshrike, Short-Billed Antwren, Striated Antbird, White-Browed Antbird, Black-Faced Antbird, Spot-Backed Antbird, Gray Elaenia, Olive-Sided Flycatcher, Golden-Winged Tody-Flycatcher, Large-Headed Flatbill, Chestnut-Crowned Becard, Gray-Capped Flycatcher, Olivaceous Greenlet, Red-Eyed Vireo, Black-Faced Dacnis, Paradise Tanager, Green-and-Gold Tanager, Opal-Crowned Tanager, Scarlet Tanager, Bay-Headed Tanager, Slate-Colored Grosbeak, Crested Oropendola.

La Bonita Road: January 17, 2010

2010-01-17T18:51:00.000-08:00

The road running down the eastern slope of the Andes along the northern border with Colombia starts from the Panamerican Highway in the town of Julio Andrade, which is just south of Tulcan. This paved road first winds through an extensive agriculture zone, gradually descending to the town of El Carmelo, where it ends. Just before the town a packed dirt road branches off to the right, first towards the town of Santa Barbara and then La Bonita; eventually, this road reaches the eastern lowlands and access to the city of Lago Agrio is possible. Most of the temperate and subtropical forest along the road at higher altitudes has been cleared, but there are several deep forested ravines that harbor remarkably diverse mixed flocks, including some outstanding eastern slope specialties, such as the Red-Hooded and White-Capped Tangaers and Gray-Breasted Mountain-Toucan. Supposedly, the road is more forested the farther you descend, with the Colombian side to the north still being in a pristine state.

If you're looking for good eastern slope temperate and subtropical forest, then there are definitely better, and easier, birding sites closer to Quito, including the Papallacta region, Las Caucheras Road, and the Guacamayos. Birders visit the La Bonita Road in extreme northern Ecuador to experience something new and perhaps exotic as there is a decent possibility for rare eastern slope birds or Colombian endemics in this area, including the Chestnut-Crested Cotinga and Bicolored Antpitta. The avifauna at the site is also interesting for the birder based in Ecuador as some of the more common birds, such as the Spectacled Whitestart and Capped Conebill, bear unique variations not seen elsewhere in the country. As I was already in the region to visit Cerro Mongus, I decided to drive further north for a couple of hours to check out this little-birded road, following in the footsteps of the incomparable Roger Ahlman in his outstanding country report from 2003.

Despite its intimidating location along the border, the road feels quite safe as there is a sizable military presence in the towns and almost no car or bus traffic. Like other eastern slope sites, the weather is unpredictable and frequently poor, and this morning it was very wet with extremely low visibility, offering almost no chance for me to scan the forested ravines from above for mixed flocks. As I pulled up at 8:00am to the Bicolored Antpitta site, which is detailed in Roger's country report, I heard the bird calling in a dense stream bed just off the road, it's simple one-note whistle clearly identifiable. While it didn't respond to playback or call again that morning, a fine Slaty-Backed Chat-Tyrant appeared nearby. Due to poor weather I turned back a few hours, or five kilometers, later, having only picked up a few birds in roadside flocks with nothing unusual seen. Returning to the antpitta site, I walked the road for a while, coming around the bend and finding myself at eye level with a glorious Red-Hooded Tanager. A small group of them were moving rather lethargically with a huge mixed flock, which provided a solid hour's worth of birding. At one point the weather even cleared and the sun came out for a few minutes, offering the chance to take a few photographs. After the flock finally passed, a solitary Gray-Breasted Mountain-Toucan crossed the road just overhead, pausing to check me out before moving on.

Having seen my target bird, the Red-Hooded Tanager, near midday, I was anxious to start the long journey back to Quito in order to return to work on Monday. As I rounded a corner towards the last forested ravine, I spotted a massive raptor perched on a distant treetop. Hitting the breaks on my car and quickly lining the bird up in my binoculars, I recognized immediately that it was a Black-and-Chestnut Eagle, its pointed crest obvious even at a distance of over a kilometer. In spectacular fashion, the eagle took flight three times as it approached me from perch to perch passing just above the ravine. Finally, it soared high above a ridge and into the mist, leaving me floored by its incredible size and obvious dominion over the forest. Indeed, this rare temperate forest eagle had eluded me for years, making me speculate whether I hadn't actually seen it before confusing it for some other raptor as it soared high overhead. Trust me, then, when I say there's no mistaking the Black-and-Chestnut Eagle.

Update: This morning I received this warden message from the U.S. embassy in Quito:

The U.S. Embassy in Quito advises American citizens visiting or resident in Ecuador to exercise caution when traveling to the northern border region of Ecuador, to include areas in the provinces of Sucumbios, Orellana and Carchi, northern Esmeraldas, and southern Esmeraldas, south of Atacames. U.S. Government personnel are under strict limitations with respect to travel in these areas due to the spread of organized crime, drug trafficking, small arms trafficking, and incursions by various Colombian narco-terrorist organizations.

Local media reports indicate that on January 18, members of the Ecuadorian Armed Forces engaged in an exchange of gunfire with three individuals on the Opuno River in the Sucumbios Province of Ecuador, on the border with Colombia. The exchange of gunfire reportedly resulted in the deaths of the individuals. Local press also indicated that on the same day, an Ecuadorian Military detachment was fired upon by unknown individuals. It is suspected that the second incident was a reprisal for the earlier engagement.

Notable birds seen: Black-and-Chestnut Eagle, Andean Guan, Tourmaline Sunangel, Masked Trogon, Golden-Headed Quetzal, Grey-Breasted Mountain-Toucan, Pearled Treerunner, Streak-Necked Flycatcher, Black-Capped Tyrannulet, Slaty-Backed Chat-Tyrant, Barred Becard, Rufous-Breasted Chat-Tyrant, White-Crested Elaenia, Black Phoebe, Red-Crested Cotinga, Spectacled Whitestart, Citrine Warbler, Masked Flowerpiercer, White-Sided Flowerpiercer, Blue-and-Black Tanager, Grass-Green Tanager, Red-Hooded Tanager, Hooded Mountain-Tanager, Lacrimose Mountain-Tanager, Slaty Brush-Finch, Rufous-Naped Brush-Finch, Northern Mountain-Cacique.

Cerro Mongus: January 16, 2010

2010-01-17T18:41:00.000-08:00

Cerro Mongus is a punishing birding site located in far northern Ecuador: it's cold, wet, muddy, and very remote. Until recently, it was one of two places in the country where the exquisite Crescent-Faced Antpitta could be seen reliably, although the bird was recently discovered in the Papallacta region, which is just an hour's drive from Quito. The remaining attraction at Cerro Mongus, then, is the rare and local Chestnut-Bellied Cotinga, which has only been found at a few scattered sites at treeline along the eastern slope of the Andes. Beyond the allure of seeing a few scarce eastern slope specialties, such as the Masked Mountain-Tanager, there is little reason for birders to make their way out here, unless of course they're making their fourth birding trip to Ecuador or are looking to expand their country list.

More than a little temerity is required to access the site and a 4x4 is absolutely necessary if you want to minimize the amount of time you're hiking uphill and not birding. First, you make the four-hour drive north along the Panamerican Highway from Quito to Ambuqui in the Chota Valley, staying in one of the many water park hotels in town (I stayed at the Oasis Hotel, which was recommended by other birders and offered decent rooms and food). Leaving at 4am the following morning, you drive up to the distant village of Impueran on a cobblestone road, climbing way up to 3000m out of the arid interandean valley. There are various forks in the road and many other villages where you can potentially lose your way, so it's best to get directions in Ambuqui and scout out the drive on the previous afternoon before trying it for the first time in the dark. From Impueran, depending on the conditions of the dirt road, you can drive up to the forest edge, and from there it is another thirty minutes' strenuous climb to treeline. Again, Roger Ahlman covers the logistics to the site well in his country report from 2003, which I used without much trouble.

The paramo in this region of the highlands is dominated by the unique frailejone plant, which is a genus of hardy, and hairy, subshrubs that produce a massive daisy-like perennial flower. These frailejones can grow several meters tall and rise out of the paramo grass in an eery zombie-like way. The dense temperate and elfin forest at the site clings to the steep hillsides, and access to the interior is limited except for a level trail along a canal. In addition to the trail leading up to treeline, I birded along this canal for most of the day, scanning the forest below whenever the fog parted in search of the Chestnut-Bellied Cotinga. Much like the Red-Crested Cotinga, which seems quite common here, the Chestnut-Bellied Cotinga perches stolidly on the thick treetops sometimes sallying out but mostly remaining motionless. Given the low visibility throughout the day and the general rarity of the bird, it wasn't surprising that I missed it, nor have many other visitors seen it recently either. A few local farmers told me about some researchers coming up here to Mondragon, as they call it, with mist nets without capturing any of the cotingas.

As I had seen the Crescent-Faced Antpitta a few months ago at Papallacta, I didn't waste any time looking for it here, which might have been a mistake given that it's a pretty great consolation bird. I did enjoy several mixed flocks in which the impressive but shy Masked Mountain-Tanager was numerous with sometimes groups of three or four birds foraging with Scarlet-Bellied Mountain-Tanagers and Black-Backed Bush-Tanagers. The Black-Chested Mountain-Tanager also appeared in one flock during the early morning, perching out in the rain for several minutes much like the Red-Crested Cotinga. Along the canal trail there are three open clearings that Roger describes as landslides; these are good places for scanning for the cotinga, and they also attract the excellent Rainbow-Bearded Thornbill, which is a powerfully built-hummingbird that seems to prefer open shrubby areas in temperate and elfin forest. The male is quite aptly named!

The other sections of the canal trail pass through dense elfin forest and are good places to try for various antpittas, including the Crescent-Faced, Rufous, and Undulated Antpittas, the latter two which could be heard calling throughout the day. Lower down on the trail, which passes through some patches of temperate forest, there was some decent bird activity as well, including Barred Fruiteater, and the hummingbirds were especially active throughout the day. Most notably the Purple-Backed Thornbill and Black-Thighed Puffleg were seen well at the start of the trail, the latter being one of the northern specialties possible at the site. I've heard that this first forested patch is good for Flamulated Treehunter as well. Interestingly enough, given the inclement weather at the site, one of the best birds of the day was probably the Short-Eared Owl I drove past on the way up to Impueran.

Notable birds seen: Carunculated Caracara, Andean Guan, Short-Eared Owl, Band-Winged Nightjar, Sapphire-Vented Puffleg, Golden-Breasted Puffleg, Tyrian Metaltail, Purple-Backed Thornbill, Black-Thighed Puffleg, Great Sapphirewing, Barred Fruiteater, Red-Crested Cotinga, Rufous-Breasted Chat-Tyrant, White-Throated Tyrannulet, Grass Wren, Masked Flowerpiercer, Glossy Flowerpiercer, Blue-and-Black Tanager, Masked Mountain-Tanager, Black-Chested Mountain-Tanager, Scarlet-Bellied Mountain-Tanager, Black-Backed Bush-Tanager, Plain-Colored Seedeater.

Yaguarcocha: January 17, 2010

2010-01-16T19:00:00.000-08:00

Yaguarcocha is a relatively large highlands lake located just north along the Panamerican Highway past the regional capital of Ibarra. Bordered in places by marsh habitat, it's a good site for ducks and grebes as well as shorebirds and rails. Supposedly, it was also once the site of a brutal massacre in which the Inca invaders slaughtered thousands of the indigenous Cara people, hence its name, which means "lake of blood" in Quichua. Now, it's simply a pleasant place for the people of Ibarra to get away from the city and enjoy nature, as well as the delicious platos tipicos which are served by the hundreds in the town on the far side of the lake (the yaguarlocro is particularly good).

I stopped by Yaguarcocha Sunday afternoon to stretch my legs while returning from my recent trip to northern Ecuador, which included a visit to Cerro Mongus and La Bonita Road along the Colombian border. Stopping at a few places along the shore as I drove around the lake, I noted a large number of Andean Coot and Pied-Billed Grebe as well as a few unusual records, including Laughing Gull and Black-Necked Stilt. The latter seems suprising enough that I'm posting a record shot below in which the distinctive orange achote flowers of the interandean valley can be seen in foreground. The lake is also a popular spot for Neotropic Cormorants, which were perched by the dozen in the pine trees that were being buffeted by the wind on the border of the lake, presumably to dry out.

The hills to the north of the lake are blanketed in very arid scrub habitat and might be good for interandean species such as the Scrub Tanager, Giant Hummingbird, and Southern Yellow Grosbeak. An early morning search through the marsh habitat should also yield Ecuadorian Rail and perhaps even Subtropical Doradito. I spotted the Tropical Mockingbird here and at other places in the Chota Valley further to the north, which seems to be spreading south through the highlands according to the information in the field guide. Recently it was even spotted in Quito at the Cumbaya Reservoir.

Notable birds seen: Pied-Billed Grebe, Andean Coot, Black-Necked Stilt, Andean Gull, Laughing Gull, Vermilion Flycatcher, Tropical Mockingbird.

Rio Palenque: January 9-10, 2010

2010-01-10T14:36:00.000-08:00

Rio Palenque is perhaps the worst-case scenario for the future of conservation in northwestern Ecuador. Created in 1970 as a biological station in the western lowlands along the Santo Domingo-Quevedo corridor, the one-hundred acre reserve has gradually become an irrelevant island of forest in a thriving agricultural sea of African palm, banana, and pineapple. The once mammoth bird list, which included a substantial number of both Choco and Tumbesian endemics, is now diminished by dozens of species, and further decrease is inevitable as the reserve becomes even more isolated from the Andes and other patches of forest in the western lowlands. This is certainly the fate of Rio Silanche Bird Sanctuary, and perhaps to a lesser extent the significantly larger Rio Canande Reserve, both located further north squarely in the Choco lowlands.

Given the limited options in the region, the reserve is still an amazing place to spend a weekend birding, offering a wide variety of habitat, including humid forest and woodland, as well as scrub, open ares, and riparian habitat. It's definitely possible to see one hundred and fifty species in a few days, if you're motivated and already familiar with the avifauna. I hadn't been to Rio Palenque for a few years, and on this visit it was remarkable how much better I had become at birding, or at least at identifying what was worth following up on as I walked the trails. I recall originally being baffled by the heat and mosquitos and impossible diversity of bird song, but this morning it felt like I was perusing the shelves of my library while strolling along Trail 3: "Let's see, Bright-Rumped Atilla, Western Slaty-Antshrike, White-Bearded Manakin, Ochre-Bellied Flycatcher, Collared Trogon, Spotted Woodcreeper, ... Wait, what's that? That sounds interesting."

Indeed, I had returned to the reserve this weekend with hopes of finding a few unseen birds on my country list, including Red-Billed Scythebill, Dusky Antbird, and Crimson-Breasted Finch, among others. With respect to logistics, there is decent and very reasonable accommodation available on site. The drive from Quito takes around four hours, depending on the traffic coming down the Andes from Aloag to Santo Domingo (the route is a tortuously winding, precipitous, mostly two-lane road that is in a state of perpetual construction and heavily used by the trucking industry). Birding tours hit this site frequently, although I've never encountered one there; usually they have their clients stay elsewhere in the area, such as Tinalandia or at a nicer hotel in the Santo Domingo area.

I left Quito on Saturday morning before most people went to bed, but it was worth it as I arrive before 8am with plenty of time to investigate the morning bird activity. Instead of plunging into the forest like I usually do, I spent a few hours birding the entrance road and the grounds of the hotel, which yielded trogon madness as many individuals of three species were calling in the trees all around, including Collared, Ecuadorian, and Western White-Tailed Trogons. Aimee can't stand trogons anymore due to their phlegmatic nature and dopey look, but I appreciate any bird that lets me get this close to admire them. Also conspicuous in the area was a pair of noisy Band-Backed Wrens, Gray-and-Warbler, Golden-Olive Woodpecker, Orange-Fronted Barbet, Purple-Crowned Fairy, and Boat-Billed Flycatcher.

I spent most of the day walking the trails near the hotel, which descend into a densely vegetated ravine and pass by some impressively large trees bejeweled in lianas and bromeliads. At the bottom of the ravine, I found a rather tolerant Rufous Motmot, a pair of Great Antshrikes, and a Little Tinamous just off the trail. Black-Headed Antthrush was calling from everywhere, but I didn't make much of an effort to see this common but difficult terrestrial bird. Circling around towards the hotel on a wide open track, I encountered a terrific tanager flock that included Bay-Headed, Blue-Necked, Guira, and Golden-Hooded Tanagers, as well as the target Crimson-Breasted Finch. I was shocked by the contrast between it's crimson breast and buff underparts, thinking for an instant that it was the similarly colored but larger Scarlet-Breasted Dacnis. Next, passing a large stand of heliconia flowers, I spotted Stripe-Throated, Tawny-Bellied, and Band-Tailed Hermits (I wouldn't find Baron's Hermit until the following day). Before climbing back up the ridge to the hotel, I stopped by the river and found a Little Cuckoo, as well as Pacific Antwren, Chesnut-Backed Antbird, and Ecuadorian Thrush.

The following morning, I drove to the other end of the reserve to bird Trails 6-9, which pass through forest on relatively flat ground, thinking the avifauna might be different there. Although the trogons continued to plague me from overhead, I focused on the understory birds, shortly finding a pair of amazing and very vocal Red-Billed Scythebills. Watching another one later with a mixed flock, I was shocked when it probed deep into a tree with its incredibly curved bill, finding a beetle deep in a hollow. Imagine the beetle's dismay when it saw the highly-adapted creature that extracted it from its hiding place! The morning's excursion yielded some other fine birds, including Olivaceous Piculet, Speckle-Breasted Wren, Ruddy Quail-Dove, Rufous-Tailed Jacamar, and, after much hard work, Bright-Rumped Attila. The latter bird, like all attillas, is very loud and vocal but extremely difficult to locate as it screams away thirty meters above in the canopy.

Before breaking for lunch and returning to Quito, I decided to venture down to the river again, this time at La Playa, which is located at the far end of the reserve. The property is certainly multi-use, as much of the land I drove by was dedicated to cultivation, although of a more forested nature, including stands of balsa, macadamia, and bamboo. These areas are probably alright for birding too, although I was interested in just checking the river for raptors and shorebirds. As soon as I pulled up at the beach I found a mixed flock, including Crimson-Breasted Finch and Sooty-Headed Tyrannulet, an unexciting, tiny flycatcher but a lifer for me nevertheless. Although there was nothing else around of note, I felt elated to finally pick up this tyrannulet, having targeted it before my trip, noting its habitat and behavior and studying its call. This is what getting to 1000 species seen in Ecuador is going to take.

Notable birds seen: Little Tinamous, Laughing Falcon, Ecuadorian Ground-Dove, White-Tipped Dove, Ruddy Quail-Dove, Pacific Parrotlet, Bronze-Winged Parrot, Little Cuckoo, Band-Tailed Barbthroat, Stripe-Throated Hermit, Tawny-Bellied Hermit, Baron's Hermit, Purple-Crowned Fairy, Ecuadorian Trogon, Rufous Motmot, White-Whiskered Puffbird, Orange-Fronted Barbet, Pale-Mandibled Aracari, Olivaceous Piculet, Guayaquil Woodpecker, Buff-Throated Foliage-Gleaner, Red-Billed Scythebill, Great Antshrike, Western Slaty Antshrike, Pacific Antwren, Chestnut-Backed Antbird, Sooty-Headed Tyrannulet, Black-Headed Tody-Flycatcher, Sulphur-Rumped Flycatcher, Bran-Colored Flycatcher, Bright-Rumped Atilla, Black-Crowned Tityra, Ecuadorian Thrush, Band-Backed Wren, Speckle-Breasted Wren, Bay Wren, Gray-and-Gold Warbler, Buff-Rumped Warbler, Yellow-Tufted Dacnis, Guira Tanager, Orange-Crowned Euphonia, Golden-Hooded Tanager, Crimson-Breasted Finch.

Mindo Pipeline: January 3, 2010

2010-01-04T13:44:00.000-08:00

Having just returned to Ecuador from a two-week trip to Brasil, I was pleased to see that the prolonged stretch of good weather has continued through the new year. Instead of getting some much-needed rest before work resumed on Monday, I decided to hit the northwestern slope for a full day of subtropical and temperate forest birding in the Tandayapa Valley. Upon reaching the Tandayapa Pass just after sunrise, I noticed that the trail along the oil pipeline that runs through the glorious Mindo-Nambillo Reserve is now open to the public. Although I had heard that part of this area is actually the new Mindo Cloudforest Foundation reserve, I wasn't sure as there are no signs posted nor entrance fee collected. Given the huge quantity of Plate-Billed Mountain-Toucans present along the trail, though, this simply has to be it; indeed, all throughout the day noisy groups of mountain-toucans came by to check me out as I walked the ridgeline, rattling their bills and calling raucously when I passed by underneath.

Although the early morning was a little too sunny for my tastes, even blindingly bright at times, the birding for most of the day was outstanding. Highlights included seeing an Ocellated Tapaculo out in the open for a few seconds as it fell out of the undergrowth as I passed by; I tracked the bird for a minute as it recovered from the surprise in deep cover off the trail. A massive raptor also caught my attention as it soared over the primary forest several kilometers away; it passed just overhead several hours later, but as I couldn't see more than a silhouette, it's difficult to say whether it was actually a raptor, such as the Black-and-Chestnut Eagle, or just a Turkey Vulture. Another mystery was this bird I photographed as it accompanied a mixed understory flock. In my humble estimation, it looked, and acted, like a bush-tanager, but it has little in common with the Dusky Bush-Tanager and it's way too high in elevation to be the ultra-rare Yellow-Green Bush-Tanager. Isn't it amazing how you can be pretty familiar with the avifauna at a particular site (I've birded this area many times over the years), and then be stumped multiple times in just a few hours, even with a decent photograph of the bird?

Update: Mindo Bird Tours guide Dusan who runs the wesbite Aves Ecuador has informed me that this mystery bird is actually a juvenile Dusky Bush-Tanager; the bird's head and belly should turn gray shortly, and its iris is likely more reddish when seen in a different light, he says. Now, there's a guy who really knows the birds of the region.

Notable birds seen: Sickle-Winged Guan, White-Throated Quail-Dove, Scaly-Naped Amazon, Tawny-Bellied Hermit, Gorgeted Sunangel, Masked Trogon, Plate-Billed Mountain-Toucan, Streaked Tuftedcheek, Strong-Billed Woodcreeper, Chestnut-Crowned Antpitta, Spillmann's Tapaculo, Ocellated Tapaculo, Smoky Bush-Tyrant, Red-Crested Cotinga, Green-and-Black Fruiteater, Sepia-Brown Wren, Capped Conebill, Rufous-Chested Tanager, Blue-and-Black Tanager, Hooded Mountain-Tanager, Dusky Bush-Tanager, Scarlet-Bellied Mountain-Tanager, Grass-Green Tanager.

Pululahua: December 12-13, 2009

2009-12-15T14:02:00.000-08:00

Just a short drive north of Quito, Pululahua Geobotanical Reserve lies within one of the largest volcanic craters in the Americas. At 6km in diameter, the massive crater surrounds an impressive resurgent cone in its center, and the steep inner walls are richly draped in temperate woodland and scrub, including huge swaths of chusquea bamboo. As the most recent eruption was well over two millennia ago, the fertile bottom of the crater is now farmed extensively and inhabited by a small community of approximately fifty people, including our amiable hosts last weekend, Renato and Paola, the owners of Pululahua Hostal. Designed with an ecological conscience, this comfortable hostal boasts both wind and solar power as well as offering excellent birding, hiking, and horseback riding excursions.

Hardcore listers will no doubt be familiar with the site for harboring one of only two populations of the Rusty-Breasted Antpitta, a diminutive skulker that was found in Ecuador so recently that it's not even included in the field guide. The site deserves attention from more casual birders, though, for the number of difficult temperate forest birds that lurk in the dense vegetation below the crater rim, including the Undulated, Chestnut-Crowned, Chestnut-Naped, and Rufous Antpittas; Ocellated, Ash-Colored and Unicolored Tapaculos, Stripe-Headed Brush-Finch; White-Browed Spinetail; and Plain-Tailed Wren. Although you won't find mature montane forest here like at the nearby Yanacocha Reserve, you'll have a greater chance of locating these hallowed skulkers, especially with the help of local knowledge. While I had birded the crater by myself on several occasions previously, I was delighted by the facility with which Renato and I located the Rusty-Breasted Antpitta, Ocellated Tapaculo, and Undulated Antpitta, all lifers for me.

Our first target was the Rusty-Breasted Antpitta, and late Saturday afternoon Renato and Paola took Aimee and me to one of their stakeouts not far from the hostal. With a touch of playback and a lot of luck, I soon had the beautiful antpitta in sight, its white lores and deep rusty breast stunning against the browns and greens of the bamboo. An early start the following morning found us along a trail near the crater rim, where our second target, the Undulated Antpitta, was spotted several times out in front of us, hopping daringly out in the open in search of worms. This very large antpitta looks quite similar to the Giant Antpitta, which is now a commonly seen and photographed bird thanks to the extraordinary efforts of Angel Paz; the Undulated Antpitta, however, is more deeply scalloped on its underparts and has a white throat and dark malar stripe, features which are barely visible in the photograph above. Aside from the elevation at which we saw this scarcely-seen bird, there was no doubt in its identification when we first encountered it on the trail as it stood facing us several meters ahead, its unique underparts clearly visible.

Despite all the antpitta action, the bird of the trip was undoubtedly the magnificent Ocellated Tapaculo, one of the finest skulkers of the upper slopes of the Andes. When Renato had asked me earlier if there were any birds in the crater that I hadn't seen before, he was surprised when I told him that the tapaculo was missing from my list. The bird is quite common in certain locations within the crater, he explained, and promised we would have a good chance at seeing it the following morning. Although we had three birds loudly calling in close proximity at his stakeout, we didn't lay our eyes on one until later on the trail where we had our close encounter with the Undulated Antpitta. While the Ocellated Tapaculo typically remains in incredibly deep cover as it forages and piercingly claims its territory, this individual bird was relatively visible as it moved in the undergrowth at eye level just off the trail. In fact, at one point the bird was only a meter in front of me, oddly unaware of my camera shutter clattering away several times per second.

Notable birds seen: Andean Guan, Squirrel Cuckoo, Collared Inca, Black-Tailed Trainbearer, Sapphire-Vented Puffleg, Turquoise Jay, White-Browed Spinetail, Rusty-Breasted Antpitta, Undulated Antpitta, Ocellated Tapaculo, Unicolored Tapaculo, White-Tailed Tyrannulet, Smoke-Colored Pewee, Tufted Tit-Tyrant, Yellow-Bellied Chat-Tyrant, Red-Crested Cotinga, Russet-Crowned Warbler, Rusty Flowerpiercer, Fawn-Breasted Tanager, Buff-Breasted Mountain-Tanager, Rufous-Chested Tanager, Band-Tailed Seedeater, Stripe-Headed Brush-Finch, White-Winged Brush-Finch.

Quito Botanical Garden: December 11, 2009

2009-12-11T12:09:00.001-08:00

The Quito Botanical Garden in Parque Carolina continues to yield unusual boreal migrants, offering temporary refuge to birds on their way to the eastern slope and lowlands. Last year, a Great Crested Flycatcher spent the entire winter in the garden; more recently this week a Northern Waterthrush was recorded by Roger Ahlman, who's been visiting the garden regularly and making some surprising observations. I stopped by for a few hours one morning to try for the Northern Waterthrush, and while I missed it, I still noted a handful of migrants myself, including the Yellow Warbler, Swainson's Thrush, Summer Tanager, and perhaps Alder or Willow Flycatcher. Activity was particularly high in the wooded area just behind the pond at the entrance to the park.

Notable birds seen: Black-Tailed Trainbearer, Southern Beardless Tyrannulet, Yellow Warbler, Swainson's Thrush, Black Flowerpiercer, Masked Flowerpiercer, Rusty Flowerpiercer, Cinerous Conebill, Scrub Tanager, Summer Tanager, Southern Yellow Grosbeak.

Bosque Protector Jerusalem: December 4, 2009

2009-12-05T07:15:00.000-08:00

It's the Fiestas de Quito this weekend, and life in the capital city has been noisy and wild. There are outdoor public concerts on seemingly every block, and open air buses with brass bands playing on the roof drive around the city aimlessly. Despite being sick for the last week, I simply had to escape the din for a few hours, heading off to Bosque Protector Jerusalem for some late afternoon birding and early evening owling. Although it doesn't boast a big bird list compared to most other sites in Ecuador, the reserve is only an hour away and supposedly contains a few gems I have yet to see, such as the Buff-Fronted Owl.

The Casa de Aves Trail yielded some typical interandean species, such as the Scrub Tanager, Streaked Saltator, and Common Ground-Dove, and down by the reservoir I spotted two male Blue-and-Yellow Tanagers and a pair of Golden-Rumped Euphonias. The Giant Hummingbird is also quite common here, and they could be heard calling throughout the afternoon. The real mystery of the visit had to be the elaenia I observed feeding in the shrubs along the water. The species of this genus of tyrant flycatchers are almost impossible to identify on sight alone, and birders typically distinguish them based on their distributions in the field guide, as some species even have remarkably similar vocalizations. I'm going way out on a limb, then, when I claim it was a Sierran Elaenia even though this bird seemed very large and impressively yellow; it just as easily might have been a fresh-plumaged White-Crested Elaenia or even a Lesser Elaenia, for all I know.

As dusk fell I walked through the camping area under a row of massive eucalyptus trees. Meanwhile, high above an adult Harris's Hawk wasn't comfortable with my presence and moved ahead of me from tree to tree as I passed underneath. Despite putting in over an hour after nightfall, I only heard one owl call once, which didn't give me much to follow up on. I also tried trolling briefly for the Buff-Fronted Owl in a few shallow ravines but no luck. Quito was still a mess when I got back, but at least I had successfully distanced myself from the mayhem, if only for an afternoon.

Notable birds seen: Harris's Hawk, American Kestrel, Common Ground-Dove, Black-Tailed Trainbearer, Giant Hummingbird, Azara's Spinetail, Sierran Elaenia, Southern Beardless Tyrannulet, Vermilion Flycatcher, Golden-Rumped Euphonia, Blue-and-Yellow Tanager, Scrub Tanager, Streaked Saltator, Hooded Siskin.

My Top Ten Birds Missed

2009-11-29T08:59:00.000-08:00

When I leave Ecuador in a few months, I'll have not seen hundreds of bird species, although that's to be expected as many birds on the country list are rare, unusual migrants, or highly local to remote regions (my goal is to see at least 1000 species, which leaves over 600 unseen). Missing a bird, then, is not seeing one when I had a good opportunity, and these types of misses hurt the worst.

The Harpy Eagle is the most magnificent bird of prey in the neotropics and perhaps the world. Every time I'm in the eastern or western lowlands I always ask guides and other birders whether they know of a recent sighting, and I have heard the most outrageous stories in return. The easiest way to see a Harpy Eagle is to visit a known nest, of course, but it's also spotted on occasion from canopy towers in the eastern lowlands; in fact, a group of biology students from my school was visiting Tiputini Research Station in Yasuni National Park a few years ago and they saw one for a few minutes from the tower there. I missed a great opportunity to see the Harpy Eagle myself, when I failed to visit Gareno Lodge outside Tena where a nest was active a few years ago; the tree it was located in recently fell to the ground.

The Orange-Throated Tanager is a large, spectacular arboreal tanager that lives in the remote Cordillera del Condor in extreme southeastern Ecuador and northeastern Peru. While touring the Zamora region a few summers ago, we decided to drive way out to Cabanas Yankuam for a few nights to visit the Shuar territory up the Nangaritza River and have a try for the bird. Sadly, the forest around Shaime is heavily degraded and we trekked for many hours along a deep, muddy trail in pouring rain before arriving at the site where the birds are normally seen. Our Shuar guide wasn't very attuned to our search and spent most of the time talking about which birds in the field guide were good to eat, but he did locate a group of Orange-Throated Tanagers briefly way overhead. I never lined them up properly in my binoculars, though, and the birds dispersed in the dense, towering canopy not to be located again.

Update: Returning to Cabanas Yankuam over Semana Santa, Aimee and I observed two different groups of Orange-Throated Tanagers with relative ease.

The Agami Heron is rare and inconspicuous along varzea streams and oxbow lakes in the eastern lowlands. It is extremely elegant with a long, narrow bill, and it hunts solitary and motionless in dense vegetation. Every time we visit a lodge in the eastern lowlands, we travel through what I imagine is perfect Agami Heron habitat by dugout canoe while I peer expectantly into the darkness hoping to pick out this richly-colored heron perched on an exposed branch. I've never seen it, though. To make matters worse, our guide at Sani Lodge this summer, Domingo, told me about an acquaintance of his who found a colony of thousands of nesting Agami Herons on a little-visited tributary of the Tiputini River; the guy explained that there were birds everywhere out in the open as far as you could see.

Update: I finally observed this species during my last trip to Amazonia, once before dawn with Oscar Tepuy at a regular site at Sacha Lodge, and another time with Domingo at Sani Lodge. The latter occasion was at such close range, I didn't need binoculars.

The Golden-Chested Tanager is found in the far northwestern lower foothills. It's a plain navy blue bird with a gold patch on its chest, but it's been driving me crazy as I've visited a well-known site twice now and barely missed it both times. To have a chance for the tanager, you must drive six hours from Quito to Jocotoco Foundation's Rio Canande Reserve, where expensive reservations are required, and then walk four hours up a steep ridge, where it's sometimes found rather high in the dense, bromelia-laden canopy with mixed flocks. I spent hours looking for it on my last visit right after my iPod stopped working due to the humidity (supposedly the bird responds well to recordings of its buzzy call). While pouring over a monospecific flock of Tawny-Crested Tanagers, I heard our guide Galo come up behind me and spot it before it moved down the ridge. There simply must be an easier site for this bird.

The Rufous-Crowned Antpitta is so rare and difficult that I actually didn't mind just missing it on our last visit to the Jocotoco Foundation's Rio Canande Reserve in the northwestern lowlands. Aimee, Galo, and I were just getting started on a long day's journey up to the Black-Tipped Cotinga Viewpoint when we heard the mythical antpitta calling in the undergrowth near the Red-Capped Manakin Trail turnoff. Despite calling quite close by, the two birds could have been anywhere around us due to the acoustical affect of being on a ridge. I knew as soon as we heard them that we didn't have a chance of seeing one, but we gave it an honest effort for fifteen minutes until the pair stopped calling and went their separate ways on either side of the ridge. Considering no one ever sees this bird, I felt pretty good about our near miss until Dusan Brinkhuizen from Aves Ecuador let me know what a shame it was that we let it get away.

Update: Amazingly, I saw the Rufous-Crowned Antpitta in January at Mangaloma Reserve, obtaining decent photographs as well.

The Gray-Headed Antbird is an attractive, rather long-tailed antbird like the Blackish Antbird but much more elegantly patterned. It's highly localized, though, and if you're interested in seeing it in Ecuador, then you'll need to travel all the way down south to the Jocotoco Foundation's Utuana Reserve. Actually the bird is found most regularly in some bamboo stands along the road from Sozoronga as you approach the reserve, but you get the idea. If you're traveling down here, it's most likely you're a birder, and as you want to see as many species as possible on your trip, then this bird is important to you, much more important than if it were widespread. Birds like the Gray-Headed Antbird take us to remote, forgotten places that wouldn't interest anyone else; they are what make us unique as travelers, so missing them erodes our identity and sense of purpose.

The Black-Spotted Bare-Eye is a gorgeously patterned antbird found in varzea forest in the eastern lowlands. While it generally attends antswarms, the bird is occasionally found on its own, always extremely shy. Amazingly a colleague of mine saw one at an antswarm at Sani Lodge a few years ago and even photographed it despite not being a birder himself. This isn't a bird I ever expected to see myself, but on my last visit to Sani we heard one calling not far from Domingo's reliable White-Lored Antpitta site. At the same time, though, we heard the rare and local Rufous-Headed Woodpecker calling from above. At this point, Domingo had to make a decision as a guide: do we chase an obscure and skiddish antbird that's difficult to see with playback, or do we try to locate one of the most prized woodpeckers in the neotropics? Although I had seen the woodpecker before, I agreed with his decision to abandon the Black-Spotted Bare-Eye.

Update: Another long-desired bird that I finally tracked down on my last trip to Amazonia. We heard small groups of them every day, but had to be very patient and persistent to line them up properly in our binoculars.

The Spectacled Owl is a large, almost comical-looking owl that is widely distributed in Central and Southern America. Missing this owl in Ecuador isn't going to kill me, but the manner in which I've missed it will. Nothing is worse than taking a lot of time to visit a bird's roosting site and have it not be where it's supposed to be. On my most recent visit to Sani Lodge, our guide Domingo took us an hour by boat up the Napo and half an hour on foot onto his father's property to see a pair of roosting Spectacled Owls. Just like the Crested Owls we had missed the same morning, they were nowhere to be found. Who knows what other birds we were missing somewhere nearby while we were purposefully pursuing this one? (As it turns out we missed a Yellow-Fronted Nunbird calling near the riverbank.)

Update: Domingo and I finally found the pair of owls at their roosting site, just as we had planned last year.

The Yellow-Throated Spadebill is the type of bird that I miss because I don't spend a lot of time birding with guides, in part because the services of a very good one are expensive. The spadebill is rare and local in subtropical forest on the eastern slope, but there's a particular trail at Wild Sumaco Lodge where the bird is found somewhat regularly. After much research and study of its call I tried for it early one morning while staying at the lodge, which is a big investment of money in itself. While checking out a territorial male Chestnut-Crowned Gnateater, I recognized the call of the spadebill coming from down the trail. Scrambling to set up my iPod and keep up with the birds, which were speeding down the trail for some reason, I couldn't seem to located them as they moved from perch to perch presumably right in front of me. Another set of eyes surely would have helped, but how many other difficult birds have I missed because I didn't know their call?

The Black-Breasted Puffleg is a very rare and endangered hummingbird that I should have seen by now. Seriously, I've been to its habitat on the northwestern slope of Pichincha at least ten times during the months of April to August when it annually appears, missing it each time while plenty of other birders have seen it visiting the feeders at Yanacocha Reserve, for example. Although this site is less than an hour's drive from Quito, I admit that it's difficult to find a rare and obscure hummingbird, considering that you're basically forced to wait at the hummingbird feeders until one shows up. Still, the bird has appeared briefly but regularly at other sites downslope, including Verdecocha Reserve, and it's my own fault that I didn't go after it when I heard the news. I have one more season left to see this Ecuadorian endemic, though, and I'm really going to go for it.

Honorable mention: Collared Puffbird, Black-Necked Red Cotinga, Elegant Crescentchest, Beautiful Jay, Golden-Eyed Flowerpiercer, Sharp-Tailed Streamcreeper.

My Top Ten Birds Seen

2009-11-28T14:49:00.000-08:00

With already 963 bird species seen and only half a year remaining in Ecuador, I've been thinking more about the highlights of my time birding here. While the following ten birds aren't necessarily the rarest or most charismatic that I've seen in this country, they were certainly the most memorable for one reason or another.

The Zigzag Heron is a legendary nocturnal heron of Amazonia that is difficult but not impossible to see; indeed, a number of jungle lodges in the Ecuadorian Amazon have found territories along various oxbow lakes, including Sacha and La Selva Lodges, where playback and patience sometimes yield views of the bird. On the final evening of our memorable stay at Sacha this year, our birding guide Oscar Tepuy took us deep into the varzea forest, where we played recordings of the heron for half an hour as it responded with its powerful croaking call. Just before we gave up, the heron flew out of deep cover and landed in the open with its short tail flicking nervously back and forth right in front of us. I remember Oscar was almost bitter when he told us it was his best sighting in over twenty years of birding in the region.

The Pacific Royal-Flycatcher is endangered and not destined to exist much longer on our planet due to habitat destruction. While flycatchers aren't renowned for their beauty, this rufous-colored one has a great red fanned crest, which it normally wears tucked along its head like a collapsed hand-held fan. Although I have made several visits to its habitat on the western coast and in the southwest, I definitely didn't deserve to find this bird so easily. As it was, Aimee and I were hiking up a steep trail in Manglares-Churute National Park, fiercely hounded by mosquitoes all the way. I was so distraught, in fact, that I wanted to turn around and get the hell out of there despite wearing my rain coat and tons of repellent on my face and hands. Aimee encouraged me to relax and keep going, though, as we were getting some much needed exercise on what was to be a long day of driving. I had already passed by a number of calling birds without looking for them as the insects were insupportable, when we stumbled on a single Pacific Royal-Flycatcher just off the trail. The experience radically altered my state of mind as if the mosquitoes suddenly all just buzzed off.

The Andean Condor is the iconic bird of Ecuador as it's displayed prominently on the national emblem, but the population of condors is dwindling fast: sadly, the 2009 condor census yielded approximately 40 individuals, and predictions are that the species will be extirpated within the decade. Amazingly, I've seen Andean Condors on over fifteen occasions while birding or hiking in the eastern cordillera reserves of Cayambe-Coca, Antisana, and Cotopaxi. By far my best sighting was just recently on a mountaineering adventure in Antisana Reserve, when two adults and a juvenile passed repeatedly by the cliff I was resting on while one member of our party was splayed out on the ground exhausted far below.

The White-Faced Nunbird was the bird that began this blogging adventure for me. I had been birding the Tandayapa Valley for a few months every weekend, learning how to bird through trial and error and making my way painstakingly through the sites and sounds of subtropical and temperate forest on the northwestern slope. My low-budget weekend routine had been to camp well above the cabins at Bellavista Lodge and bird the trails and the road all day. Late one morning I was returning to the camp site via the Ridge Trail, and I flushed a bird that had been perched nearby. As it landed, it startled a pair of Toucan Barbets that had been feeding quietly, and when the birds quarreled the intruder flew up and landed just above my head. I admired the beautiful nunbird for ten minutes before it flew off and I've never seen it again on either slope. Instead of telling the guides at the lodge about seeing such a rare bird, which felt like an extremely bold claim coming from such a novice birder, I started this blog.

The Jocotoco Antpitta is the most famous and beautiful of the antpittas in Ecuador, and though it's also one of the largest it was only discovered ten years ago, just as the field guide to the country was being completed. Another extremely rare and local bird species, it's only found in the Jocotoco Foundation's Tapichalaca Reserve in southern Ecuador, where one of the park guards is now feeding several birds worms every morning. Aimee and I visited a few summers ago when she was researching the region for Lonely Planet, and it was a strange and unsettling experience for me, as it was pouring rain and I hadn't slept the night before in expectation. I had worked hard to see a half dozen antpitta species on my own at that point, and I was shocked when one came hopping up the path withing two meters of me in response to the guard's call.

The sexually dimorphic Torrent Duck must be the most charismatic duck in the world, as it lives in rushing Andean streams that thrill-seeking kayakers would hesitate to brave. The beautiful male is streaked black and white with a bright orange bill while the female is a subtler ochre and teal, but both birds possess a powerful spiked tail with which they can navigate class-four white water rapids. Until we finally tracked a pair down on the Rio Cosanga, Aimee and I used to drive around the eastern and western slopes on duck duty: at every bridge we would break into song and slowly roll across as we scanned each boulder and shore for the Torrent Duck. Since then, I have found them pretty regularly on the Rio Papallacta at Guango Lodge.

The Swallow-Tailed Nightjar is one of the more spectacular nightjars in the world as the male has incredibly long tail streamers that extend two to three times the length of the bird's body. Rare and local in Ecuador, it's difficult to find without the help of a guide who knows a roosting site. On our eight-day excursion up Sumaco, an active 3800m volcano that rises up out of the eastern lowlands and is draped with primary foothill, subtropical, and temperate forest, we had the good fortune of finding one feeding at night. We had already gone to bed in the refuge next to a beautiful parasitic crater lake located about halfway up the volcano. Our bird guide, Borris Herrera, was already in the habit of waking us up in the middle of the night to track down calling Collared Forest-Falcons, Wattled Guans, and various owls, so we weren't surprised when he shouted for us a few hours later. From the back porch of the refuge with clear views out over the eastern lowlands we spotlighted a male Swallow-Tailed Nightjar swooping back and forth in the clearing, tail streamers rattling like a kite.

The Gray-Breasted Mountain-Toucan, like all of the mountain-toucans, has a powerful hold over me. Gorgeously patterned, it moves stealthily and is always surprising to find even at its well-known sites on the eastern slope. I've only encountered the bird three times, at Tapichalaca Reserve, the Cajanuma Entrance to Podocarpus National Park, and at Guango Lodge, but each encounter was rich and prolonged as I was able to follow the birds through the forest, watch them in the scope, or photograph them. I'll always treasure first finding a pair far below the access road to Cajanuma and then chasing after a bus that was leaving the park carrying Paul Greenfield, artist of the Birds of Ecuador, and his birding tour group; every member of his group shook my hand in gratitude!

The Ocellated Antbird is fairly widespread in Central and Southern America, but it's the most impressive of the obligate antswarm followers that I've seen, or at least had a good look at (I've only caught the White-Plumed Antbird out of the corner of my eye without binoculars). There's nothing more subtle but spectacular in the rainforest than the sight of a half-dozen species of antbirds gathered around a swarm of army ants with their dark eyes gleaming and tails pumping in expectation of an arthopod dashing out from the leaf litter. It's an incredibly fragile scene, though, as the slightest sound or movement scatters the birds deep into the understory, where they'll remain much longer than you'll care to wait. Amazingly at Jocotoco's Rio Canandé Reserve I found a family of Ocellated Antbirds foraging away from a swarm, their huge blue ocular patches and ornate orange and black mantles captivating in the low light. I watched them for over an hour as they cautiously moved about and still wasn't satisfied.

The Waved Albatross is basically pelagic but famously breeds on the Galápagos Islands, where it engages in elaborate courtship rituals with its heavy long yellow bill. Like all albatrosses, the bird is magnificent in flight as it soars for hours on stiff outstretched wings that span over two meters. A few mating pairs also breed on Isla de la Plata, a small island a few hours' boat ride off the western coast, where Aimee and I saw one incubating an egg that had been laid directly on the ground. The ride out to the island was spectacular as we passed several migrating humpback whales on the way, the males in full display as they breached and slapped the surface of the ocean with their tail and fins. Once on the island, to reach the nesting albatross we had to hike for several hours passing nesting Blue-Footed and Nazca Boobies and spotting other good birds along the way, including Short-Tailed Woodstar, Gray-and-White Tyrannulet, and Red-Billed Tropicbird.

Honorable mention: Black-and-Chestnut Eagle, Ocellated Tapaculo, Club-Winged Manakin, Rufous-Bellied Seedsnipe, Rufous-Headed Woodpecker, Peruvian Antpitta, Orange-Breasted Fruiteater, Masked Mountain-Tanager, Long-Wattled Umbrellabird, Ecuadorian Hillstar, Blue-Whiskered Tanager, Gray-Winged Trumpeter, Pinnated Bittern, Gray Tinamou, Ornate Hawk-Eagle, Noble Snipe, White-Tipped Sicklebill, Striated Antthrush, Barred Antthrush, Andean Cock-of-the-Rock, Scarlet-Breasted Dacnis, White-Capped Tanager, Bicolored Antvireo, Tanager Finch, Golden-Plumed Parakeet, Giant Conebill, Chestnut-Breasted Wren, Purple-Throated Cotinga, White-Capped Dippe, Moss-Backed Tanager, Black-Crested Tit-Tyrant, Scarlet-and-White Tanager.

Mashpi Reserve: November 27, 2009

2009-11-28T04:58:00.000-08:00

The endemic birds species of the northwestern foothills are fast becoming my favorite in Ecuador, but it's not easy to find good habitat that supports them. The huge Mindo-Nambillo and Maquipacuna Reserves are mostly subtropical forest; Milpe Bird Sanctuary, while at the appropriate altitude, doesn't have much flat forest habitat; and the sites along the Ibarra-San Lorenzo road are fast becoming either obsolete due to illegal logging or unsafe due to the influx of refugees from Colombia. Rio Canande Reserve and the Botrosa Road are excellent sites for lower foothill species, but classic northwestern foothills birding is growing harder to come by each year. The Pacto Road, which leads out to the new Mashpi Reserve, is now almost entirely deforested, and only one modest hilltop remains, uniquely swathed in rich mossy forest.

Although colonists are moving into the area and rapidly cutting timber and clearing land, the birding continues to be outstanding. Aimee and I visited this site a few months ago as I had received word that the rare and local Indigo Flowerpiercer was being seen regularly at a certain road cut that was covered with dense flowering shrubs. On that morning we found the flowerpiercer without any trouble but were more impressed with the prevalence of the Moss-Backed Tanager, Black-Chinned Mountain-Tanager, and Glistening-Green Tanager, all Choco endemics. Still short a few northwestern foothill species on my life list, I returned the day after Thanksgiving arriving in the late morning and birding in heavy fog until the early evening.

True to the site's reputation, the endemics were omnipresent in the roadside forest despite the late hour and the recent low precipitation levels. At several different stops I totaled an impressive number of endemics including, Orange-Breasted Fruiteater, Brown Inca, Toucan Barbet, Moss-Backed Tanager, Glistening-Green Tanager, Pacific Tuftedcheek, Yellow-Collared Chlorophonia, Club-Winged Manakin, Choco Warbler, and Violet-Tailed Sylph; another pair of birders reported they had Indigo Flowerpiercer as well, although I didn't look for it again. To find all these species at single unprotected site is simply remarkable; should it eventually be cleared, then hopefully Mashpi Reserve will carry the fire of northwestern foothill birding.

Notable birds seen: White-Whiskered Hermit, Brown Inca, Violet-Tailed Sylph, Golden-Headed Quetzal, Toucan Barbet, Smoky Brown Woodpecker, Pacific Tuftedcheek, Spotted Barbtail, Scaly-Throated Foliage-Gleaner, Spotted Woodcreeper, Slaty Antwren, Slaty-Capped Flycatcher, Fulvous-Breasted Flatbill, One-Colored Becard, Orange-Breasted Fruiteater, White-Bearded Manakin, Club-Winged Manakin, Black-Billed Peppershrike, Sepia-Brown Wren, Gray-Breasted Wood-Wren, Choco Warbler, Three-Striped Warbler, Yellow-Collared Chlorophonia, Glistening-Green Tanager, Flame-Faced Tanager, Moss-Backed Tanager, Summer Tanager, Tricolored Brush-Finch.

Cumbayá Reservoir: November 22, 2009

2009-11-28T04:57:00.000-08:00

Cumbayá Reservoir is another migrant trap, located in a suburban community in the interandean valley east of Quito. I used to live very near here actually, but never bothered to check around the reservoir for birds as there is little native vegetation except for a few bushes and trees. Checking the observation database at Aves Ecuador, though, I noticed some recent good finds, including Yellow-Green Vireo, White-Cheeked Pintail, and Sand Martin. Last Sunday afternoon, I found Blue-Winged Teal on the water, Spotted Sandpiper patrolling the shore, Barn Swallow feeding over the water, and Sand Martin perched on some wires overhead. Other interesting sightings here during the last few months include Tropical Mockingbird and Saffron Finch; the latter is normally restricted to Loja Province, but Aimee and I found a pair in September on the nearby Ciclovia just behind Colegio Menor.

Notable birds seen: Blue-Winged Teal, Spotted Sandpiper, Vermilion Flycatcher, Sand Martin, Barn Swallow, Hooded Siskin.

Antisana Reserve: November 14-15, 2009

2009-11-17T16:18:00.000-08:00

The months of September through December are usually cold and wet in the highlands, but this year the weather has been shockingly clear and sunny. Day after day the storm clouds fail to appear in the afternoon, and the sun blazes on as the air pollution in Quito builds to insupportable levels. The paucity of precipitation has created an energy crisis in Ecuador, which runs primarily on hydroelectric power and purchases electricity from neighboring Peru and Colombia. Economically and politically, then, these are challenging times for this modest Andean country. For the intrepid adventurer, though, the extended summer has allowed for extensive exploration in the highlands, where the paramo is unseasonably dry and navigable.

My friend Mark Thurber, author of Climbing and Hiking in Ecuador, recently proposed a weekend trip into Antisana Reserve, where we were to trek in to the base of a little-climbed peak called Plaza de Armas, camp, summit the following morning, and then hike back to El Tambo, a hamlet off the road near Papallacta Pass. Normally, this would be a disastrous time for such a trip, but this year it made perfect sense as Antisana has been visible from Quito throughout the day these last few weeks. The reserve is, of course, the last refuge of the Andean Condor in Ecuador, and our party had the most awesome condor sighting imaginable an hour short of our campsite. Spread wide along a steep ridge, we watched dumbstruck as a juvenile and two adult Andean Condors made pass after pass in the air just over our heads. Indeed, Ron Mustain, the senior member of our group, claimed he was close enough to jump on the back of one as it soared by right underneath where he was standing.

Camping out in the paramo is always a risky endeavor as temperatures regularly drop below freezing at night and thunderstorms are not uncommon. Fortunately, the skies continued to be clear as we settled around our campfire and listened to the Andean Snipes calling around us in the growing darkness. The ground was covered in frost the following morning when Mark, Louis, and I set out to ascend the rocky 4500m peak rising from our campsite. Hustling up a long and scenic ridge, we took in great views of Variable Hawks and Carunculated Caracaras as they rode the early morning thermals. Nearing the top, we startled a pair of Rufous-Bellied Seedsnipes that arched magnificently in flight ahead of us, landing just at the base of the summit pyramid. Approaching cautiously, I managed to get close enough to capture their gorgeous plumage in a photograph before they took to the air again, this time diving far below us and calling boisterously all the way.

The hike back to civilization was just as fine as on the way in, if a little less inspiring. Who would want to leave such a spectacular scene with all of Ecuador's famous peaks forming a dramatic background for such hallowed and iconic wildlife? The birds were only part of the spectacle, too, as White-Tailed Deer were sighted on multiple occasions; our guide and horse driver even claimed to have startled a Spectacled Bear as we were admiring the condors on the previous afternoon. Passing by the same ridge on the way back, we spotted a pair of condors again, probably the same birds as before, swooping in for a tight landing on a huge, exposed cliff far across the gorge from us. With the sun high in the sky and the mighty peak of Antisana in the background, we could have watched for hours.

Notable birds seen: Andean Condor, Aplomado Falcon, Black-Chested Buzzard-Eagle, Carunculated Caracara, Variable Caracara, Andean Snipe, Rufous-Bellied Seedsnipe, Ecuadorian Hillstar, Blue-Mantled Thornbill, Glowing Puffleg, Many-Striped Canastero, Stout-Billed Cinclodes, Tawny Antpitta, Paramo Ground-Tyrant, Brown-Backed Chat-Tyrant, Red-Crested Cotinga, Grass Wren, Black-Backed Bush-Tanager.

Cayambe-Coca Reserve: November 8, 2009

2009-11-17T15:43:00.000-08:00

On this fine Sunday morning I was back behind the Termas de Papallacta yet again in search of the Crescent-Faced Antpitta. With good sound recordings and detailed directions on the exact site where this highly-localized bird was recently found, there was little left but luck needed to finally see this beautiful, diminutive antpitta. Fortunately, Ecuador came through with a few extra obstacles, as I wasn't allowed to drive on the entrance road to the reserve and forced to walk 5km to the site. When I arrived exhausted and expectant, a large birding group was working the road while a mixed flock hung around the area for what seemed like an hour. Finally, it was my turn to work the site, and I first climbed deep within the elfin forest to have a better chance of seeing the bird if it responded to playback. Fifteen minutes later I had two gorgeous Crescent-Faced Antpittas in the tree overhead, their bold streaking and facial patterns simply breathtaking in the low light.

Notable birds seen: Black-Chested Buzzard-Eagle, Crescent-Faced Antpitta, Black-Chested Mountain Tanager.

Chone Region: November 3, 2009

2009-11-07T09:07:00.000-08:00

The modern story of Manabi Province is a sad one. Driving from the city of Santo Domingo out west to the coast, you pass through hundreds of thousands of hectares of deforested land. Only a few decades ago, this region was swathed in humid lowland forest; Harpy Eagles were even found on occasion. But with the introduction of industrial agriculture, most notably the successful production of bananas along the base of the Andes, colonizers rapidly cleared most of the province in hopes of profiting from another fruit or vegetable boom. Unfortunately, the total loss of natural vegetation disrupted the precipitation cycle, much like it's doing in the Brazilian Amazon, and most of the province was rendered parched and unable to support even the most modest forms of agriculture. Now, only thirsty cows roam where over 600 bird species once did, and the people of Manabi have fled to wetter provinces like Esmeraldas.

The southwestern part of Manabi province also forms the conjunction of two important bioregions, the Choco and Tumbes bioregions, and this area has a much different natural climate from the central part of the province and is still home to patches of dry tropical forest. Descending to the town of Chone and continuing to Bahia de Caraquez or further south to Portoviejo, you see brown hills enclosed in leafless, thorny brush with an occasional Ceiba tree standing solitary and bare. These trees look like they are straight out of a Dr. Seuss book with their huge, hollow trunks and sickly green bark that allows for photosynthesis during the dry season when the tree has no leaves. This unique habitat continues southwards, albeit in a much degraded manner, through the southwestern provinces of Ecuador and into northwestern Peru, forming one of the most endemic-rich bird regions in the world.

To really have a chance of seeing the Tumbes endemic bird species you need to visit the region in the rainy season when the deciduous forest springs alive with green leaves, insects, and bird song. It's also best to visit a reserve, such as Machalilla National Park, Cerro Blanco, Manglares-Churute National Park, or Jorupe Reserve, where the forest understory is still relatively intact. The area around Chone isn't on par with these other sites; it's simply a great place for spotting resident and migratory shorebirds and waterfowl, as the Chone River forms a massive wetlands area and estuary.

Segua Marsh is a well-known, if not oft-visited, site for birders in Ecuador, but any roadside pool in the region is potentially good for birding, sometimes providing much closer looks than you would have from the observation area at the marsh proper. Driving back and forth to the coast last holiday weekend, I would pull over every few kilometers at another shallow pool, sometimes finding hundreds of birds compromising over a dozen species. Black-Bellied and Fulvous Whistling-Duck, Great and Snowy Egrets, Black-Necked Stilt, Blue-Winged Teal, and Wattled Jacanas occurred in great quantities. Little Blue Heron, Glossy Ibis, and Least Grebe were also present, although in small numbers. Granted, it's not always the best idea to set up your scope on the side of the road in Manabi Province, but besides a few turned heads I provoked very little reaction from the local Choneros.

Just getting out of the car, though, gives you the chance to pick up a new bird, even if it is a Tumbesian trash bird. Consider this male Black-Lored Yellowthroat that I spotted as it was signing and foraging in some shrubbery alongside a pool. Aimee was also excited about a group of Pacific Parrotlets that landed on the electricity wires above our heads as we scanned another roadside pool. Granted this probably isn't the type of birding you hope to do should you come to Ecuador, but it can be a welcome change to see thousands of birds out in the open instead of only catching glimpses of a few while birding from inside dense cloudforest.

Notable birds seen: Wattled Jacana, Black-Necked Stilt, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Blue-Winged Teal, Black-Bellied Whistling-Duck, Fulvous Whistling-Duck, Glossy Ibis, Osprey, Savanna Hawk, Long-Tailed Mockingbird, Green Kingfisher, Magnificent Frigatebird, Neotropic Cormorant, Pacific Parrotlet, Vermilion Flycatcher, Masked Water-Tyrant, Black-Lored Yellowthroat.

Isla Corazon: November 2, 2009

2009-11-07T09:00:00.000-08:00

Isla Corazon is a heart-shaped island located near the mouth of the Chone River estuary. As it is blanketed in mostly mature mangroves, the island is loaded with birds, most notably thousands of nesting Magnificent Frigatebirds. The fishermen of nearby Puerto Portovelo have reforested part of the island and are actively involved in its conservation, maintaining a boardwalk and observation tower on the island itself and conducting boat tours of the mangroves and the frigatebird colony. Two-hour tours are $9 per person and easy to set up, if you're visiting coastal Manabi Province. From the town of San Vincente, which is just across the bay from the city of Bahia de Caraquez, just drive a few kilometers inland towards Chone, where you'll see a sign promoting Isla Corazon. Tours at high tide allow you to pass through channels in the island by boat while tours at low tide circle the island instead. The latter are much better for birding, as herons and shorebirds can be seen out in the open, feeding in the mudflats.

Unfortunately, I didn't figure this out in time for our visit during a recent holiday weekend, mistakenly choosing to come in the afternoon after the tide had been out all morning. While we did see hundreds of nesting Magnificent Frigatebirds, we saw relatively few other birds as they were either hidden deep within the mangroves or feeding along the exposed banks of the estuary. While the local guides were certainly knowledgeable about the ecosystem and its history, they didn't seem mcuh attuned to the interests and needs of birders, although I understand that at least one of the guides is proficient in bird identification. It didn't matter much to me anyway, as I have seen most of the common birds found in the coastal mangroves here in Ecuador, excepting some of the difficult crakes and rails, of course.

The sun was low in the sky as we concluded our tour of the island, during which we had good looks at the Mangrove Warbler, Striated Heron, and Green Kingfisher. Overhead small groups of Tricolored Herons were flying in to roost on the island for the evening, while a large group of adult White Ibis made its way out towards the coast. A few Royal Terns were also fishing the estuary, their deep and graceful wing beats in perfect cadence with the wind chop on the water below. The site is a far cry from the Caroni Bird Sanctuary in Trinidad, for example, but our visit definitely had its moments.

Notable birds seen: Neotropic Cormorant, Tricolored Heron, White Ibis, Magnificent Frigatebird, Royal Tern, Green Kingfisher, Mangrove Warbler.

Lalo Loor Reserve: November 1, 2009

2009-11-07T08:48:00.000-08:00

Managed by the Ceiba Foundation, Lalo Loor Dry Forest Reserve is located in Manabí Province near the coastal town of Jama, just off the Ruta del Sol. While there is a lot of degraded habitat in the area, including many strange and beautiful Ceiba trees, few sites along this stretch of the coast offer the understory vegetation required to support a full range of bird species from the ground to the canopy, as on most private land domestic animals graze freely. In addition, as the reserve is located right between the Chocó and Tumbes bioregions, these modest 200 hectares contain a remarkable amount of plant and bird diversity, with both semi-humid and extremely dry micro-climates found all within the narrow confines of the property. Given that the Pacific Royal Flycatcher is on the reserve's bird list and that I was staying nearby at Canoa, a small but fun fishing village, for the holiday weekend, a half-day visit was definitely in order.

Having arrived in the morning before any of the guards, I made my way onto the trails cautiously, not wanting to overstep my bounds. Within minutes I had forgot that I was essentially trespassing, as a male Great Antshrike was moving through the dense understory. A huge raptor caught my attention next as it flew up from the ground into a mature Ceiba tree, whose green bark allows for photosynthesis even in the dry season when the tree has no leaves. Upon further inspection, the raptor was a male Hook-Billed Kite, its odd but impressive bill distinctly visible at a distance. Before plunging into denser forest, I took a few moments to appreciate a male Peruvian Meadowlark that was displaying and calling vigorously out in the open; these common but attractive birds are as characteristic of the region as the delightful Pacific Hornero and gregarious Pacific Parrotlet.

It wasn't long before I came across a nice understory mixed flock with Buff-Throated Foliage-Gleaner, Plain Antvireo, Western Slaty-Antshrike, and Olivaceous Piculet, the latter a diminutive woodpecker that I had never seen before. Slaty Antwren, Scale-Crested Pygmy-Tyrant, and Black-Tailed Flycatcher seemed to be everywhere I looked, too. A pair of Summer Tanagers moved overhead as I finally directed my gaze upwards, upon which I saw a large primate looking back at me. As it turns out, the reserve is literally crawling with monkeys, and I would be accompanied by a troop of Spider Monkeys for most of my visit. Usually animated to begin with, they appeared to be enjoying the fruits of the Cecropia tree in particular, and I took some good photographs of them really chowing down.

Ultimately, I didn't find many of the Tumbes bird specialists that I was hoping to see, as the more common birds were typical of more humid than dry lowland forest. Indeed, there was neither sight nor sound of the Pale-Browed Tinamou, Gray-Cheeked Parakeet, Baird's Flycatcher, or Pacific Royal Flycatcher. I did, on the other hand, get very close to a noisy group of Rufous-Fronted Wood-Quail, which was surprising given the bird's distribution in the field guide. At any rate, the reserve makes for a productive half-day visit should you happen to be in the area, and it's an interesting place for non-birders as well as many informative signs are posted along the main trails. Hopefully, I'll make a follow-up visit sometime during the rainy season between December and May.

Notable birds seen: Hook-Billed Kite, Ecuadorian Ground-Dove, Croaking Ground-Dove, White-Tipped Dove, Pacific Parrotlet, Ecuadorian Trogon, Blue-Crowned Motmot, Golden-Olive Woodpecker, Olivaceous Piculet, Buff-Throated Foliage-Gleaner, Plain-Brown Woodcreeper, Streak-Headed Woodcreeper, Olivaeous Woodcreeper, Plain Xenops, Plain Antvireo, Dot-Winged Antwren, Great Antshrike, Western Slaty-Antshrike, Black-Tailed Flycatcher, Streaked Flycatcher, Masked Tityra, White-Bearded Manakin, Rufous-Browed Peppershrike, Lesser Greenlet, Ecuadorian Thrush, Tropical Gnatcatcher, Gray-and-Gold Warbler, Thick-Billed Euphonia, Summer Tanager, White-Shouldered Tanager, Yellow-Rumped Cacique, Peruvian Meadowlark.

Segua Marsh: October 31, 2009

2009-11-07T08:29:00.000-08:00

Segua Marsh is an important wetland system in Manabí Province, located just a few minutes southwest of the city of Chone. While the area is intensively farmed for rice and fished for shrimp, there is a remarkable variety of ducks, grebes, shorebirds, and herons to be found here, making it a worthwhile visit for any birder looking to boost his country list. The best viewing point, especially in the dry season, is located on the road from Chone to San Vincente, just a few kilometers past the town of San Antonio, where a large sign indicates the location of an observation tower a few hundred meters off the road towards the marsh (the tower isn't of much use in the dry season, when birders can approach the shoreline much closer on foot). In the rainy season, the birds are considerably less concentrated, and good viewing conditions can be found along various roadside pools, whether on the road to San Vincente or Tosagua.

During a recent holiday weekend, I made my first visit to the marsh while on the way to Canoa, a small coastal village that's becoming increasingly popular with tourists and Ecuadorians. Leaving Quito well before dawn to avoid the traffic, I arrived at the marsh just before 9am with high expectations, having read extensively about the birding potential here, particularly in Roger Ahlman's well-known country report. As usual, the site was devoid of any other birders, and only a few fisherman were working this side of the marsh in their dugout canoes. A little unsure about where to start birding, I parked my car near the tower and set out on foot past a series of shallow pools, where Striated Heron, Wattled Jacana, and Green Kingfisher were common. Looking out towards the marsh, I could see thousands of Great and Snowy Egrets, Blue-Winged Teal, Neotropic Cormorants, and Black-Necked Stilts; undoubtedly, a pass with my scope would reveal many more species, too. Baffled by the presence of so many birds, I finally focused on a huge group of Wood Storks that were flying overhead while emitting a series of deep grunts. Surely, there were hundreds in flight and roosting in some nearby trees, where Black-Crowned Night-Heron was also common.

My attention then turned to the numerous Snail Kites that were perched on posts around the marsh, their slender hooked bills distinct in profile. Throughout the morning they could be heard vocalizing harshly above the shrill calls of the Wattled Jacanas and Black-Necked Stilts. After noting a pair of shy Limpkins stalking around a nearly dry pool, I spotted an odd-looking heron poking its head up out of some verdant cover. Almost immediately I recognized this as the rare and local Pinnated Bittern, as it was behaving exactly like the Least Bittern I had seen at Sani Lodge a few months ago. I watched transfixed for the next half an hour as it slowly stalked through the heavily vegetated pool, pausing on occasion to stretch its neck skyward in alert. Amazingly I would see five individual Pinnated Bitterns this morning, as they were all concentrated in several shallow pools near the observation tower. I imagine they're much more difficult to located in the rainy season.

Walking west along the shore, I finally set up my scope and scanned the marsh, noting multitudes of Black-Bellied and Fulvous Whistling-Ducks, several Cocoi Heron, and a single Osprey. Thoroughly enjoying myself, I looked around in awe at my surroundings, where barren, dry hills encircled this thriving, green center of life. Then, breaking my reverie, I realized that the fisherman I saw earlier were trying to break into my car. Chone is, of course, famous for being a rough and tumble city, mythically populated by beautiful women and threatening men. In fact, one of my Canadian colleagues married a Chonera and had warned me not to take my personal security for granted while traveling through the region. Anyway, after some long-distance shouting and staring down, the fisherman and I settled our differences, and I returned to birding, albeit a little rattled at this point.

Fortunately, the marsh had one more surprise in store for me, as I scanned another large group of Black-Necked Stilts through my scope: a handful of Glossy Ibis were busy feeding with their heads down. While found in many places throughout the world, these subtle but beautiful birds are only casual vagrants to southwestern Ecuador, although they have been recorded before at Segua Marsh. After a while several other small groups of ibises flew in, offering a good opportunity to photograph their distinct silhouettes in flight.

Notable birds seen: Wood Stork, Limpkin, Pinnated Bittern, Wattled Jacana, Black-Necked Stilt, Cocoi Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Blue-Winged Teal, Black-Bellied Whistling-Duck, Fulvous Whistling-Duck, Glossy Ibis, Black-Crowned Night-Heron, Osprey, Snail Kite, Savanna Hawk, Long-Tailed Mockingbird, Green Kingfisher, Magnificent Frigatebird, Neotropic Cormorant, Pacific Parrotlet, Sooty-Crowned Flycatcher, Vermilion Flycatcher, Masked Water-Tyrant, Tropical Gnatcatcher, Black-Lored Yellowthroat.

End of Days

2009-10-28T04:59:00.000-07:00

After living in the central interandean valley for four years, Aimee and I finally moved back up to Quito a few weeks ago, leaving behind my burgeoning backyard bird list in Cumbaya. Interestingly enough, there still is a fair amount of bird activity in the small garden of my apartment building, and I've seen four different species of hummingbirds, including the Giant Hummingbird, which sometimes perches on a television antenna on a neighboring building. Great Thrushes can also be heard calling before dawn each morning, and the Sparkling Violetears chirp loudly all day long marking their territory. Unfortunately, even the resident birds struggle with the mostly concrete and glass environment in our new neighborhood, and birds crash into our windows occasionally, although mostly Eared Doves. Just the other day I noticed this Black-Tailed Trainbearer dead on our balcony, its neck only a few hours broken. Who knows what boreal migrant species suffer a similar fate throughout the city?

Bosque Protector Jerusalem: October 25, 2009

2009-10-26T19:47:00.000-07:00

This unique interandean reserve is bound to become a regular site on the birding circuit in Ecuador, as it's located less than an hour from Quito and offers the best chance for birders to sweep up a nice variety of birds of the highlands, including Scrub Tanager, Blue-and-Yellow Tanager, Giant Hummingbird, Streaked Saltator, Golden-Rumped Euphonia, Harris's Hawk, Purple-Collared Woodstar, Black-Tailed Trainbearer, Streak-Throated Bush-Tyrant, Vermilion Flycatcher, Southern Yellow Grosbeak, Common Ground-Dove, Band-Tailed Seedeater, and a few others. Granted, you won't see many other birds besides those listed above, but that's a substantial addition to any birder's list who is principally visiting the northwestern slope or the eastern lowlands. The acacia forest and dry scrub also harbor a few rare birds like the Buff-Fronted Owl, which should be reason alone to check it out.

I visited the reserve most recently on a Sunday morning, when swarms of vicious gnats permitted me only a few hour's stay. Fortunately, in a short period of time I managed to round up almost all of the northern highlands specialties, including a pair of adult Harris's Hawks and multiple displaying Purple-Collared Woodstars. There's a small reservoir near the parking area where a pair of Giant Hummingbirds were busy sallying over the water to catch insects, their white rumps obvious in the morning light; Blue-and-White Swallows and a male Vermillion Flycatcher were also feasting on the recently hatched insects, which seem to be pervasive right now in the interandean valley communities of Cumbaya and Tumbaco.

With its considerable infrastructure, the reserve also functions as a recreational center, and Ecuadorians flood the park with music and loud conversation sometimes on the weekends. A fair amount of people also make use of the camping sites, rising early to play games with their children and noisily explore the trails. In addition, there are frequently model planes soaring overhead emitting an irritating buzz and whine all morning. I'm not saying that all these distractions will necessarily spoil your visit, though, as there is plenty of space to explore the reserve in relative quiet. If you arrange to come on a weekday, however, you can be sure to bird in peace.

Notable birds seen: Harris's Hawk, American Kestrel, Common Ground-Dove, White-Bellied Woodstar, Purple-Collared Woodstar, Black-Tailed Trainbearer, Giant Hummingbird, Crimson-Mantled Woodpecker, Azara's Spinetail, White-Crested Elaenia, Southern Beardless Tyrannulet, Vermilion Flycatcher, House Wren, Rusty Flowerpiercer, Golden-Rumped Euphonia, Blue-and-Yellow Tanager, Scrub Tanager, Streaked Saltator, Hooded Siskin, Band-Tailed Seedeater, Ash-Breasted Sierra-Finch.

Las Caucheras Road: October 17, 2009

2009-10-18T07:34:00.000-07:00

With only a few hours of daylight left, I could return to Quito in relative safety or brave the roads at night. With the weather sunny and warm, it wasn't a difficult to choice to bird Las Caucheras Road as the day grew to a close. This is the dirt road that begins near the town of Cosanga and passes by four private reserves as it approaches Antisana Reserve: Cabañas San Isidro, San Jorge de Cosanga, Yanayacu, and Sierra Azul. Almost needless to say, the road passes through outstanding subtropical forest, where Golden-Headed Quetzals and White-Capped Tanagers roam freely, and noisily.

There was some great mixed flock action in the canopy, and I locked onto a male Golden-Collared Honeycreeper many meters above as it foraged next to a Flame-Faced Tanager. A group of Emerald Toucanets also passed quietly overhead. In the bamboo, Black-Eared Hemispingus moved with Long-Tailed Antbirds, Russet-Crowned Warblers, and a pair of Lineated Foliage Gleaners, all birds being tough to get good looks at as they remain in deep and dark cover. Amazingly an adult Long-Tailed Antbird posed long enough while feeding a juvenile for a few photographs. Given all the reserves and tourists that pass through here, the road is definitely safe; well-maintained trails also run off in all directions, it seems, but make sure to pay a day-use fee first at Cabañas San Isidro.

Notable birds seen: Crimson-Mantled Woodpecker, Emerald Toucanet, Inca Jay, Long-Tailed Antbird, Lineated Foliage-Gleaner, White-Tailed Tyrannulet, Rufous-Breasted Flycatcher, Canada Warbler, Bluish Flowerpiercer, Golden-Collared Honeycreeper, Black-Eared Hemispingus, Saffron-Crowned Tanager, Black-Capped Tanager, Blue-Winged Mountain-Tanager, Beryl-Spangled Tanager, Flame-Faced Tanager, Scarlet-Rumped Cacique.

Guacamayos Ridge Trail: October 17, 2009

2009-10-18T07:31:00.001-07:00

The infamous road down the Cordillera de los Guacamoyos has now been completed surfaced in steel-reinforced cement, meaning that while there still we be landslides during the rainy season, the ride will at least be smooth. The road, of course, passes through pristine subtropical forest, offering incredible views of the canopy up and down the mountain range. After driving this road for a while in search of soaring Black-and-Chestnut Eagles, I decided to bird the Guacamayos Ridge Trail to see if there was any midday activity. A few mixed flocks and rain showers later, I had several interesting photographs of the Grass-Green Tanager and a pair of muddy boots.

Notable birds seen: Collared Inca, Speckled Hummingbird, Green-and-Black Fruiteater, Barred Becard, Sulphur-Bellied Tyrannulet, Rufous Wren, Beryl-Spangled Tanager, Blue-and-Black Tanager, Hooded Mountain-Tanager, Grass-Green Tanager, Superciliaried Hemispingus, Common Bush Tanager, Saffron-Crowned Tanager, Blue-Winged Mountain-Tanager, Black-Capped Hemispingus, Northern Mountain-Cacique.

Cayambe-Coca Reserve: October 17, 2009

2009-10-18T07:15:00.000-07:00

With more specific details about the location of the recently discovered Crescent-Faced Antpitta along the road behind Termas de Papallacta, I set out early Saturday morning yet again to this entrance to the Coca-Cayambe Reserve. The antpitta is known only to occur at a few remote sites at treeline on the eastern slope, but its presence at such a well-explored site as Papallacta means that it has almost certainly been overlooked elsewhere. Excited by the possibility of seeing it this morning, but still a bit skeptical that I could reel it in, I arrived at a particular patch of roadside elfin forest. A short burst of playback later, two Crescent-Faced Antpittas responded clearly from upslope, gradually descending down to where I was standing through the dense understory and bamboo. While I didn't really see one, perhaps only cathing one bird from behind in my binoculars, they're definitely there. Hopefully, the local birding community here doesn't where them out from using too much playback.

Impressed but not very satisfied, I headed back up the road towards the park entrance, where the Masked-Mountain Tanager has been reported to occur. This scarce and local mountain-tanager is another eastern slope treeline specialty, and I have only had the chance to look for it at the Cajanuma entrance to Podocarpus National Park in southern Ecuador. Not more than a hundred meters from the antpitta site, I stumbled across a mixed flock along the forest edge created by the road. The first bird I spotted looked like some strange perversion of the Pale-Naped Brush-Finch, but it turned out to be a juvenile Masked Mountain-Tanager, which I realized when I saw an adult foraging nearby. Truly this bird is a bruiser, as guide Sam Woods described it recently in his blog. Heavy set with a bold yellow brow and blacked-out face, the mountain-tanager is intimidating as it crashes through the undergrowth, at least that's what I imagine the Golden-Crowned Tanagers were thinking as they scrambled out of its way.

With some great birds already seen and a large birding group now making its way down the road, I figured that I would try for the antpitta once more and then work my way down the eastern slope for the day, hitting Guango Lodge for a shot at the Mountain Avocetbill and the Guacamayos for a chance at the Black-and-Chestnut Eagle. Positioning myself deeper into the forest patch, I played the tape but had no response, at least not from the Crescent-Faced Antpitta. Two Rufous Antpittas were clearly annoyed by the new two-meter tall antpitta calling from their territory. They drove me out of the site with some wing flutters and calls of their own but not before I sneaked a few close-range photographs.

Notable birds seen: Variable Hawk, Viridian Metailtail, Sword-Billed Hummingbird, Great Sapphirewing, Rufous Antpitta, White-Browed Spinetail, Pearled Treerunner, Cinerous Conebill, Glossy Flowerpiercer, Masked Mountain-Tanager, Black-Backed Bush-Tanager, Golden-Crowned Tanager, Pale-Naped Brush-Finch.

Botrosa Road: October 11, 2009

2009-10-13T16:57:00.000-07:00

The area around the Jocotoco Foundation’s Rio Canande Reserve is growing more degraded by the day as colonizers from Manabí Province clear the land for agriculture after the Botrossa logging company has removed the largest trees from it. In fact, during our visit we passed by multiple fifty-hectare tracts that had recently been cleared and burned for growing rice during the upcoming rainy season. Good road birding, then, is only found well past the reserve itself and beyond the fast-growing community of Hoja Blanca. Approximately 10 km beyond the entrance to the reserve, the logging road takes you up onto a still-forested plateau that sits 500m above sea level, allowing birders access to species only found in the lower foothills of the Chocó, including Scarlet-and-White Tanager, Black-Tipped Cotinga, and Long-Wattled Umbrellabird. Having seen some good understory birds on the previous day while walking the trails of the reserve, Aimee and I decided to spend the following morning on the Botrossa Road in search of mixed flocks and raptors.

The morning got off to a slow start as we made our way up ridge in first gear, climbing slowly as I listened with my head out the window for a tanager flock. Stopping in the same place where I had seen a massive flock during my last visit, we walked up and down the road for a bit, finding monospecific flocks of the Dusky-Faced and Tawny-Crested Tanagers as well as several pairs of Emerald and Bay-Headed Tanagers. Moving on, I then found at an unassuming bend in the road a small tanager flock that contained a pair of male Scarlet-and-White Tanagers. Shouting for Aimee who was slow to exit the car, I soon had her on this diminutive but shocking tanager, showing almost hot pink in the verdant roadside woodland. Rather amped by our early success, I pushed on further, scanning each exposed branch in the canopy for perched birds, while Aimee worried whether I would drive off the side at a ludicrously slow speed of 5km/h.

Spotting a toucan perched in a dead tree near the road, I pulled over and set up the scope as we mulled over the true color of the bird’s bill. Deciding that it was truly black and thus the Chocó Toucan, we were then treated to a group of Scarlet-Browed Tanagers visiting the same tree. As Aimee walked back to the car to brew some coffee, I was startled to find a male Scarlet-Breasted Dacnis lined up perfectly in the scope when I looked through it again. Perched momentarily in the same tree, this gorgeous bird was looking directly at me, it’s yellow irises distinct even at a considerable distance. Shouting for Aimee to return, who was getting a little annoyed at this point, I scrambled to follow the bird in the scope, finally losing it just as she returned. We had seen this bird together several years ago during our first visit to Rio Silanche, and I was really hoping that we could share the experience again, but the mixed flock had moved on.

Compared to the last time I birded the road, it was remarkably quiet and there were no local busses or logging trucks driving around to scare off the birds or intimidate the birders. I stood in the middle of the road for a while as a pair of Rose-Faced Parrots flew by, low and brilliant in the sunlight. Suddenly, a massive black bird flew out of a mature tree on the right side of the road, crossing several hundred of meters to the dense crown of another tree, undulating in flight like a large woodpecker. I shouted aggressively to Aimee who was down the hill a bit as another bird then made the same journey, yelling that a Long-Wattled Umbrellabird was flying overhead. Unfortunately, we were unable to locate the pair again, but we would both agree later that the size, shape, and flight were unmistakable. Just a month ago I had witnessed the Amazonian Umbrellabird in a similar situation, flying out it the open across the Rio Napo, so I’m confident that I didn’t misidentify a Purple-Throated Fruitcrow, for example.

Tantalized by the brief sighting, we continued down the road, promising that we would seek out the Long-Wattled Umbrellabird at a lek somewhere in the future for more prolonged views (the Buenaventura Reserve in southern Ecuador has just such a site that is active during the rainy season on the western slope). Passing the encampment, which is a large cleared area, we stopped again for a mixed flock, this time locking on to a pair of Scarlet-Breasted Dacnis at eye level along the roadside. Although I was firing away furiously on my camera, I never photographed the bird out in the open, only capturing pieces of it, namely the scarlet-colored breast and white belly of the male. Also moving with the flock was the Slate-Throated Gnatcatcher, Lita Woodpecker, and Barred Puffbird, all of which were also seen well by Aimee. Before moving on I noticed a solitary monkey feeding not far away in the crown of a low tree. It was revealed to be a Spider Monkey as it moved gracefully under the canopy, showing much brown in its flanks. We then made one last push to what seemed to be the far end of the plateau, where there was a viewpoint looking to the north. Way off in the distance was a King Vulture circling high over a group of Black Vultures.

Heading back towards the reserve, I desperately sought the Black-Tipped Cotinga, stopping to check out every perched bird in the crown of distant trees. While it never materialized, I did find another terrific mixed flock, this one at eye level just off the side of the road. Pouring over the birds, which included Western White-Tailed Trogon, Orange-Fronted Barbet, One-Colored Becard, and Streaked Flycatcher, I discovered a pair of Blue-Whiskered Tanagers in the understory. My pulse shot up as I followed these two birds moving up and down the mossy branches, their distinct blue wing and facial streaking clearly visible. Concluding this impressive sweep of tanagers, we made good time returning to the lodge, where we would quickly pack up and start the journey back to Quito. Before arriving at the ferry, I paused once to photograph a Laughing Falcon perched above the road at a stream crossing; the Green Kingfisher was also working the area from a log nearby. At the Rio Canande, there was a fair amount of midday bird activity, including a juvenile Pied-Billed Grebe and a Spotted Sandpiper, the former being a new addition to the bird list for the reserve.

Notable birds seen: Snowy Egret, King Vulture, Swallow-Tailed Kite, Roadside Hawk, Laughing Falcon, Spotted Sandpiper, Rose-Faced Parrot, White-Collared Swift, Bronzy Hermit, Purple-Crowned Fairy, Western White-Tailed Trogon, Green Kingfisher, Barred Puffbird, Orange-Fronted Barbet, Pale-Mandible Aracari, Choco Toucan, Lita Woodpecker, Black-Striped Woodcreeper, Slaty Antwren, Yellow-Margined Flatbill, Long-Tailed Tyrant, Olive-Sided Flycatcher, Masked Water-Tyrant, Boat-Billed Flycatcher, Streaked Flycatcher, One-Colored Becard, Purpel-Throated Fruitcrow, Long-Wattled Umbrellabird, White-Bearded Manakin, Red-Eyed Vireo, Lesser Greenlet, Tropical Gnatcatcher, Slate-Throated Gnatcatcher, Scarlet-Breasted Dacnis, Scarlet-and-White Dacnis, Emerald Tanager, Golden-Hooded Tanager, Blue-Whiskered Tanager, Rufous-Winged Tanager, Summer Tanager, Scarlet-Browed Tanager.

Rio Canandé Reserve: October 9-11, 2009

2009-10-13T16:34:00.001-07:00

During my last visit in June to the Jocotoco Foundation’s Rio Canande Reserve, Galo, one of the park rangers, explained that October was by far the birdiest month of the year in the area. With the dry season in the northwestern lowlands coming to a close, the birds vocalize throughout the day, he explained, establishing their mating partners and nesting territories just before the wet weather begins. Although neither of us are ornithologists, it certainly sounded reasonable, and I vowed at the time that I would return the following October in search of some of the birds that I had missed the first time. These are, of course, the Chocó lowlands, home to the endemic Broad-Billed Sapoya, Rufous-Crowned Antpitta, Scarlet-Breasted Dacnis, and Long-Wattled Umbrellabird, and no visiting birder should really wait for October, or any other month, to visit.

The reserve is a tricky place to visit independently, though, even with your own transportation as the route is tortuous and the road unforgiving. Aimee and I decided to drive from Quito to San Miguel de los Bancos after work on Thursday, bird Rio Silanche Bird Sanctuary early Friday morning, and complete the drive to Rio Canande during the middle of the day on Friday. From Pedro Vincente Maldonado, the road winds through many kilometers of degraded foothill and lowland forest, much of which has been cleared for African Palm plantations. Aside from Lemon-Rumped Tanagers, Yellow-Bellied Seedeaters, and Masked Water-Tyrants, there’s not a lot to see along this stretch. Just before arriving at the Rio Canande, the area is still almost entirely cleared, although there are sometimes a few birding surprises. We spotted the Blue-Headed Parrot perched on a dead palm stump, and the House Sparrow on some barbed wire fencing along the road; last time I also found a Barred Puffbird on a telephone wire. It’s also possible to travel to this point from the town of Quininde, which is located along the road to Esmeraldas, and busses to Hoja Blanca, a community beyond the reserve itself, pass along this route regularly.

Once we crossed the fairy, which is operated by the Botrossa logging company and requires written permission to board, I put the car in first gear and drove the final few kilometers to the reserve with my head out the window, listening for mixed flocks. Stopping the car to follow up on every bird call, I was soon standing in the road watching a flock of antwrens that contained a pair of smart Slate-Throated Gnatcatchers, my first lifer of the trip. A much larger flock down the road yielded the Pacific Flatbill, One-Colored Becard, and a variety of uncommon and spectacular tanagers found in the region, including the Emerald and Rufous-Winged Tanagers. Amazingly, from the same spot in the road I was watching the flock, I also glimpsed the Ocellated Antbird through the undergrowth, its massive blue eye patch lit brightly by a shaft of sunlight, and the White-Tipped Sicklebill feeding at a stand of heliconia flowers. As Aimee was sleeping in the car while all this activity was going on, I almost didn’t have the heart to share these magnificent observations with her.

After we arrived at the reserve and got settled in our cabin, where we were the only guests, I headed out on the Banded Ground-Cuckoo Trail to see if there were any antswarms. Passing through the overgrown cacao orchard near the dining hall, I spotted the Common Potoo roosting out in the open on an exposed branch. I also spent some time photographing a preening Purple-Collared Woodstar just overhead. As it turned out, both of these birds had yet to be registered on the reserve’s bird list. Later on along the trail, I noted several Chestnut-Backed Antbirds and a solitary Green Manakin, or at least that’s what I think it was. Never having seen the Green Manakin before, I was shocked by how closely it resembles the Broad-Billed Sapoya in appearance and behavior, according to the field guide. Without a guide, or at least someone more familiar with these two birds, I struggled to confidently identify it as it moved silently in the undergrowth. As it turns out, I would see this same bird several times along the trail, photographing it successfully, and Galo would confirm my suspicion that it was indeed the manakin.

The following day we made the circuit to the Black-Tipped Cotinga Viewpoint and back, advancing considerably beyond the viewpoint along the Golden-Chested Tanager Trail in search of, yes, the Golden-Chested Tanager. Ascending to the ridge via the Tawny-Faced Quail Trail we first heard a pair of Rufous-Crowned Antpittas calling just beyond the turn-off to the Red-Capped Manakin Trail. Now, this mythical antpitta is rarely seen anywhere in Ecuador, and Galo himself has only seen it once on accident as it crossed the trail in front of him. I was beginning to believe that it no longer inhabited the reserve, but we immediately recognized the bird as soon as we heard its distinctive call. Ten minutes later of periodic playback, we had worn them out and they fell silent, one impossibly deep in a ravine and the other probably scared far away from the trail. We never really got close to seeing them, and I’m not sure where they were calling from anyway in the relatively open understory. At any rate, the bird certainly lives in the reserve and should be looked for in this area, only a ten minute’s walk from the cabins.

As we slowly climbed the ridge, we came across a large mixed flock, including the Bronze-Winged Parrot, Purple-Throated Fruitcrow, Western White-Throated and Northern Violaceous Trogons, Broad-Billed Motmot, Black-Striped Woodcreeper, and Rufous Piha. Even after we had good looks at these birds, I made everyone wait until the flock had finally moved on, hoping to find the Long-Wattled Umbrellabird tagging along. Hearing the Choco Tapaculo while proceeding up the steep switchbacks in the trail, I then practically stepped on an Hoja Podrida, an incredibly venomous nocturnal viper that curls up in dead leaf litter during the day. In fact, we would come across several other snakes along the trail, forcing me to admit that birding is such a dangerous activity. Snakes are literally everywhere in Ecuador, but we rarely see them as we step carelessly along the trails, our eyes in the canopy and our elbows askew. The last thing I think about when I’m trying to find a bird or race after a flock is whether a snake is nearby, but if it wasn’t for my rubber boots I’d probably have been bitten by now. Anyway, we finally reached the viewpoint without any other noteworthy incidents, but it was devoid of any meaningful bird activity and certainly of any Black-Tipped Cotingas.

I had decided before the trip that the Golden-Chested Tanager was my primary target bird, but the next few hours along the trail past the viewpoint would be my only chance to see it. The bird inhabits the canopy in primary ridgetop forest and though it has a loud distinctive call, it’s quite difficult to locate as it forages high above in mature bromeliad-laden trees. With my iPod paralyzed by the humidity, we were left with nothing but our senses to find the tanager. Indeed, several times during the next hour we would hear the bird calling, and Galo even spotted it once moving with a flock of Tawny-Crested Tanagers that I was diligently working over. While I ultimately missed the tanager, I did have great looks at a group of Bicolored Antbirds which were behaving as if they were following an antswarm, although we were unaware of any ants present. Galo explained that the Banded Ground-Cuckoo was sometimes found with this group of birds, but it also went unseen this morning. After messing around with an armadillo we found rooting around near the trail, we were confronted by an intimidating group of over twenty Collared Peccaries coming towards us on the trail. They approached so close, in fact, that I thought we would have to climb a tree for safety. Come to think of it, that might have been a good idea as it would have provided a good look-out for the tanager.

We had lunch at the viewpoint as the weather cleared, spotting Blue-Fronted Parrotlet in flight and a Collared Trogon in the trees nearby. Aimee pointed out a ghostly white bird flying over the dark green canopy far below, probably a Cattle Egret she said until we informed her that she had just seen her first male Black-Tipped Cotinga! Without a scope, the best we could do was follow the bird as it moved erratically from perch to perch, until it passed out of sight in the distance. Descending back to the cabins via the Banded Ground-Cuckoo Trail, we sent Galo on ahead as he was anxious to catch the soccer game in which Ecuador would lose its last chance to qualify for the 2010 World Cup. Aside from seeing the Green Manakin again and a small flock with the Spot-Crowned Antvireo and Western Woodhaunter, activity was low at this point, and I spent the final hours of the day along the Tawny-Faced Quail Trail as Aimee rested in the cabin. Aside from a pair of Western Slaty-Antshrikes, a Streaked Flycatcher, and the ubiquitous Red-Capped Manakin, there were few birds seen. The next morning along the Botross Road would be another story, though.

Notable birds seen: Bat Falcon, Blue-Fronted Parrotlet, Common Potoo, Bronzy Hermit, Band-Tailed Barbthroat, White-tipped Sicklebill, Purple-Chested Hummingbird, Purple-Crowned Fairy, Western White-Tailed Trogon, Northern Violaceous Trogon, Broad-Billed Motmot, Orange-Fronted Barbet, Red-Headed Barbet, Slaty Spinetail, Western Woodhaunter, Black-Striped Woodcreeper, Spot-Crowned Antvireo, Bicolored Antbird, Ocellated Antbird, Black-Capped Pygmy-Tyrant, Scale-Crested Pygmy-Tyrant, Yellow-Margined Flatbill, Sulphur-Rumped Flycatcher, Boat-Billed Flycatcher, Streaked Flycatcher, Rufous Piha, Black-Tipped Cotinga, Red-Capped Manakin, Green Manakin, Red-Eyed Vireo, Gray-Breasted Martin, Southern Nightengale-Wren, Tawny-Faced Gnatwren, Slate-Throated Gnatcatcher, Choco Warbler, Yellow-Tufted Dacnis, Emerald Tanager, Golden-Hooded Tanager, Rufous-Winged Tanager, Ochre-Breasted Tanager, Black-Winged Saltator, Shiny Cowbird, House Sparrow.

Rio Silanche Bird Sanctuary: October 9, 2009

2009-10-13T16:25:00.002-07:00

Ecuador celebrates a number of holidays throughout the year commemorating its independence from Spain, recognizing the date in which each major city liberated itself from colonial rule. Thanks to the bravery of early 19th century Guayaquilenos, then, Aimee and I had a three-day weekend in which to bird the northwestern lowlands. Our primary destination was the Jocotoco Foundation’s Rio Canande Reserve, one of the premier sites for observing Chocó endemic bird species, but also one of the most difficult to get to. To break up the arduous drive over two days, we spent the night in San Miguel de los Bancos, stopping at the Rio Silanche Bird Sanctuary outside of Pedro Vincente Maldonado for a warm-up session on Friday morning.

This modest 80 hectare reserve is owned and managed by the Mindo Cloudforest Foundation, which also has two other reserves in the Mindo area. With a well-constructed canopy tower, wide trails, and relative proximity to Quito, it’s a popular destination for independent birders and included on every birding tour of northwestern Ecuador. It doesn’t hurt that this small patch of forest is dramatically packed with birds, either. That being said, I rarely encounter other birders out here, especially during this time of year, which is traditionally considered the end of the dry season in this region. For six dollars, then, you can usually have the site to yourself, leaving your scope up in the tower as you circle the trails for skulking birds and understory flocks.

Aimee and I didn’t see much of note this morning, missing in particular the mega flock of over fifty bird species that sometimes passes by the tower. Some common Chocó endemics that did make an appearance included the Orange-Fronted Barbet, Pale-Mandibled Aracari, and Purple-Chested Hummingbird, and I stumbled across an antwren flock that contained the White-Flanked, Dot-Winged, and Checker-Throated Antwrens as well as the Western Slaty-Antshrike. Our finest observation from the tower was a male Scarlet-Browed Tanager and a pair of beautiful Cinnamon Woodpeckers all clinging to a cecropia tree in the distance, although I failed to capture a decent image of either of them with my new digiscoping apparatus. I also trolled for the Stub-Tailed Antbird along the road leading up from the river to the reserve entrance, but the roadside vegetation has recently been cleared back and there was no response.

Notable birds seen: Maroon-Tailed Parakeet, White-Whiskered Hermit, Purple-Chested Hummingbird, Green Kingfisher, Orange-Fronted Barbet, Chestnut-Mandibled Toucan, Cinnamon Woodpecker, Guayaquil Woodpecker, Plain Xenops, Western Slaty-Antshrike, Black-Capped Pygmy-Tyrant, Scale-Crested Pygmy-Tyrant, One-Colored Becard, Dusky-Faced Tanager, Scarlet-Browed Tanager, Orange-Billed Sparrow.