Cartoon Hummers and Highland Tanagers...(Yanacocha, NW Ecuador): November 2009

The first day of our Tropical Birding whirlwind tour around NW Ecuador hunting especially the regional endemics of the Choco, included a visit to Yanacocha a temperate reserve on the outskirts of Quito, Ecuador's long, thin capital city. The reserve is famous for its hummingbirds, and particularly for the very rare Black-breasted Puffleg that all too rarely puts in an appearance there. We did not see that one (it has now been four barren years since my last sighting!), but we did pick up many, many other highland hummers, including the frankly ridiculous Sword-billed Hummingbird (see top photo), and Buff-winged Starfrontlet (see middle photo), in addition to many Sapphire-vented Pufflegs (see bottom photo), a few Golden-breasted Pufflegs, and a lone Mountain Velvetbreast. On the way to the reserve we also picked up the well-endowed Black-tailed Trainbearer, with its own impossinbly long appendage (this one being its tail). Away from the hummers Yanacocha brought us a bevy of colorful tanagers, with the Scarlet-bellied Mountain-Tanager being the most numerous in the highland flocks that also produced both Hooded & Black-chested Mountain-Tanagers too.

For our usual late afternoon finale en-route to Tandayapa Lodge we made some stops along the scenic Alambi Valley, where the rushing Andean river was home to several White-capped Dippers, and the riverside bamboo also held a fine Slaty-backed Chat-Tyrant. They were all good of course, but it was not until the late afternoon, when we found two of the most stunning birds in the region, with firstly up to four bright scarlet male Andean Cock-of-the-rocks in the throws of their cllumsy displays across the other side of the valley. The finishing flurry was provided though by our first Choco endemic of the trip, when we made an emergency stop for a party of noisy, navy-blue Beautiful Jays. A beautiful end to a beautiful day, when we had seen some spectacular Andean vistas, superb hummers and much, much more besides. I hope for more of the same on my next tour to the area starting tomorrow...

Andean "Angel"...(Mindo, NW Ecuador): October 2009

Over the same short tour in Pichincha we spent a bit of time watching hummers coming and going at various feeders (with cameras unsheathed at the ready), including this Gorgeted Sunangel, a hummer that is restricted in range to the wet Choco region of NW Ecuador and SW Colombia.

Gems of the Andes...(Mindo/Tandayapa, NW Ecuador): October/November 2009

Just a few shots from one of Ecuador's marquee groups, the hummingbirds or "colibris". These three are all specialties of the region, only found in NW Ecuador and western Colombia. They are Velvet-purple Coronet (the purple one), Western Emerald (the shimmering green one), and Violet-tailed Sylph (the one with the long, long tail). These birds were photographed in the bromeliad-laden, Andean cloudforests of Tandayapa and Mindo, frankly one of the best areas for hummers on Earth (no lie).

Operation Blackcap…(Xumeni Forest, South Africa): October 15, 2009

For our last hurrah in South Africa on our final morning of the tour before out afternoon departures we had planned a visit to Xumeni Forest in particular for Orange-headed Ground-Thrush and Cape Parrot. Although, having seen them a few days earlier we could avoid the incredibly early start usually required for seeing the thrush and enjoy a more leisurely visit. However, there was still one conspicuous gap on our list from Xumeni, and so after checking again on the Wattled Cranes, which were now in better light for us (along with a number of dancing Grey-crowned Cranes too-see photo) we returned there. The gaping hole was from Bush Blackcap, a fascinating bird with a mysterious taxonomic background currently assigned to the babblers (although much more handsome than some others in that often dowdy family). We had already pursued this species three times on the tour, in the highlands of Wakkerstroom, and at the base of Sani Pass where the blackcaps come to breed each year, although are only migrants to these areas and perhaps had not yet arrived for the season. Xumeni though is a place where they are said to be present all year round, and so our hopes should have been a little higher, were it not for the fact we had not got a sniff out of one there just a few days before! Ken and I were both keen to give it a try though all the same. Our first attempts fell on deaf ears, then suddenly a soft warbling was heard-could it really be? A quick burst from the I-pod, and then there it was, just a metre or so away from us, now belting out its rich song at full volume, after which we simply could not get rid of it, (not that we wanted to!) See photos.

We then made our way back to Durban, where a flash of crimson wings along the way proved to be a gorgeous Purple-crested Turaco gliding over the main highway, a nice parting shot to end an extremely enjoyable time spent in South Africa. It is a beautiful country filled with spectacular landscapes, pretty flowers, bold game, and wonderful birds. I long to return there soon…

Back to South Africa …(Sani Pass, South Africa): October 14, 2009 PART III

The South Africa flag greeted us as we came back into the country once more (see photo) and bumped our way down the deep valley cutting through the Drakensbergs. That was not all that greeted us as a rather obliging Barratt’s Warbler, a dull brown endemic bush-warbler famous for its skulking nature, threw in the towel and gave us great looks from the seats of our vehicle! We had little more to look for but one particular earlier miss in the morning we were smarting at: Gurney’s Sugarbird. A bird that is normally straightforward, IF you can find their beloved proteas in flower. Something we had not managed to do that morning. We returned with renewed vigor and watching, hawk-like for signs of any flowers in bloom. Having had a local tip off of some possible proteas in the right condition we made a stop at a particular spot and scanned around but found no immediate signs of flowers anywhere. However, as we scoured the horizon I noticed a bird sitting atop a very distant protea, sporting a long tail and down-curved beak, it just had to be our latest quarry: Gurney’s Sugarbird (see photos). We raced down there and found it remaining standing sentry in the glorious afternoon sun, and the camera shutters burst into action! Having found one (after the considerable initial panic of finding none at all during our ascent of the pass), of course we then could not stop bumping into them on the way down!

Also during our descent we found a Broad-tailed Warbler, a truly odd and distinctive warbler by virtue of its strange oversized tail that seems completely at odds with the rest of the bird and with the whole warbler “image” in general! A flock of Southern Bald Ibis was also found feeding in fields below the pass. Having realized we were dangerously close to getting an incredible 60 species of mammal for the trip (the ice rat being number 59) we than went on a mad pre-dinner chase for Oribi hoping to make that the magic 6-0. Amazingly (after a spot on local tip off) we checked the banks of a tranquil river in the later afternoon and found an Oribi standing there just as planned, our sixtieth mammal for the trip! That was not all though because this tip off led to an even great discovery: a group of three Wattled Cranes, a globally threatened species, was found feeding in a field that rounded out a spectacular day perfectly. The group included a duller younger bird among them and presumably was a family party that had recently bred in the area? A superb game pie in Underberg tasted all the sweeter after this very special day birding in two different countries.

Lesotho Pub Gallery...(Sani Pass, Lesotho): October 14, 2009

Just a few shots of the pub just over the border from South Africa in Lesotho, where Sentinel Rock-Thrushes can be seen perched on the roofs, Drakensberg Siskins on the rocks and Drakensberg Rock-jumpers feeding in the meadows. A very special place to sup a local beer (and of course toast the rock-jumper), taste the local trout, and watch the wildlife right from the pub veranda...

Into Lesotho…(Sani Pass, Lesotho): October 14, 2009 PART II

After taking in our first of many cracking pairs of rock-jumpers we crossed over into Lesotho, that felt immediately a lot poorer. Round stone buildings dotted the hillsides, and just on building stood out as different and modern. Not the immigration building (see photo) funnily enough but the pub, the Sani Top Chalet and allegedly the highest in all of Africa (if their sign is correct!) There was nothing more to do but go into the building for a pub lunch on their veranda with a dramatic vista looking back down the Sani Pass into South Africa. As we sat there enjoying a superb trout lunch, washed down with a local Lesotho beer, Maluti, we watched probably the same pair of Drakensberg Rock-jumpers foraging in the alpine meadow below. We were also entertained by a strange mammal: the Slogget’s Ice Rat (see photo), that was hanging out behind the pub, along with the odd Sentinel Rock-Thrush, and a Drakensberg Siskin dropped onto some near rocks by the café to afford us markedly better views than on our way up the pass (see photo). All of that was great, but our main target was something much duller, difficult and challenging to identify: Mountain Pipit, a poorly known species that only comes to Lesotho to breed, and then promptly vanishes for the winter to whereabouts no one knows. A bird of mystery, and our first mystery to solve was whether indeed they had yet returned to breed, as we were right at the time when they may have arrived, although recent local reports suggested otherwise. All the same not long up the road we glanced up to find a pipit displaying in the air and after much scrutiny nailed it both on the ground and singing in the air, and could confirm we had found our quarry, the rare Mountain Pipit. As time wore on we headed deeper into Lesotho picking up more rock-jumpers, siskins and rock-thrushes before we had to reluctantly return to South Africa, although not before we picked up a pair of Southern Grey Tits

not far off the border post. After a thoroughly enjoyable few hours in Lesotho we drew out our passports again, and prepared to descend back into the Sani Pass, and South Africa once more…