19 March 2012

Into the "Wild West"...ECUADOR (28 Feb.)

After an extended run on the east slope of the Ecuadorian Andes, Laura, Betty and I packed up our things, stopped off for a night in Quito, before heading into the western Andes, my most hallowed stomping ground.


Our first stop, as we moved out from the dry inter-Andean valley that Ecuador's capital is located within, climbing onto the wet western slope, was the Jocotoco Foundation's Yanacocha reserve, a favored stop on birding routes heading west. Betty was especially excited by the prospect of a healthy batch of new hummers awaiting in the west, and we didn't take long to start tucking to the them. Sapphire-vented Pufflegs and Buff-winged Starfrontlets dominated the feeder action at Yanacocha, although tanagers also featured too, with this Black-chested Mountain-Tanager posing for an age, and making me long for the days of digiscoping, as it was a sitter for the digiscopers of this world, although I felt distinctly challenged by the distance!

More hummers and tanagers to come from Yanacocha soon...

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Lovely to see these photos of birds from Ecuador:)