Well Spotted! ... ECUADOR (5th Oct.)

It may have been a Sunday but there was no time for lying in; we had a Pinnated Bittern to find, and so we were back at La Segua again (no great hardship there). And just to show that birding has its downs as well as ups, we completely failed on finding a Pinnated Bittern. Chastening to my ego, and ensuring I will be back! Still, La Segua is a great birding site and we had a fun morning there all the same, again taking a boat trip out on the lake, which ensured we left with memory cards burgeoning with BirdSnaps. The star performer of the day was Spotted Rail. We got our lifer the day before (Andres, Paola and I), but no good photos (they were so awful they were quickly deleted never to see the light of day on the Internet!) However, shortly after arrival I noticed a bold individual prowling around in the open. I approached closer, and just when I raised my camera, it skitted off into the reeds! But just moments later it paraded around in the open again, making me feel like I was getting my lifer all over again. The day's before bird was quickly forgotten; this was the way to see a Spotted Rail! 

Wattled Jacanas were also confiding both out on the lake, and around the marsh en-route to the dock too. The same bird fodder that had been around the day before was still in evidence on the lake: plentiful Cocoi Herons, Snail Kites perched proudly and photogenically, a Grey-headed Gull and some Gull-billed Terns loafed in the muddy areas. 

In the bushes around the observation tower Pacific Parrotlets were again present, and particularly showy, affording some great snaps. Again, we also found several roosting Lesser Nighthawks, which were photographed in a variety of poses, before we left La Segua behind and headed back to the Big Smoke, Quito, to commence real life once more...

Next up, a series of Urban Birding sessions in Quito, on the track of North American and Austral migrants....