My first "big" trip of 2012 was with two birders from California, Laura and Betty, the latter of which has a distinct fetish for hummingbirds (and who can blame her?!) So we spent many hours enjoying the kaleidoscope of color provided by the constant feed of hummingbirds at a number of lodges in Ecuador. I am well-used to the regular "feed' coming in to the feeders at Tandayapa Bird Lodge on the western slope of the Andes, although this trip provided a rare treat for me, to wander over to eastern slope of the Andes and visit the Wild Sumaco Lodge, which is the eastern equivalent of Tandayapa: feeders are literally packed with action each and every second of daylight, with hundreds of individuals of over twenty species; indeed in our time there we managed to see TWENTY THREE different species coming to their feeders alone.
Some of my favourites are shown here: the outstanding Gould's Jewelfront which comes complete with a band of fiery orange splashed across it's chest, the punky Wire-crested Thorntail, which would seem to be more at home in a cartoon than in real life; and I simply had to include (by comparison) the relatively dowdy, and less flashy Blue-fronted Lancebill, which was my very first encounter with this species....Among the other delectable species visiting were Ecuadorian Piedtail, Napo Sabrewing, Sparkling Violet-ear, and Booted Racket-tail.
More FLASHBACKS to come from 2012 very, very soon....
1 comment:
I have been following your Blog for a while Sam. Stunning images and lively reports makes for entertaining reading. Thanks for sharing.
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