Tandayapa Lodge nightbirds...ECUADOR (21-25 Nov 2010)

While guiding the Tropical Birding Andes Introtour we were based out of Tandayapa Lodge, where the nightbirds were a real treat. On three separate mornings over coffee we spotlighted a Common Potoo sitting on its latest favoured stump. On one night we ventured a little lower in the valley where the staggering male Lyre-tailed Nightjar performed with aplomb: first picked up by its vivid red eyeshine, we soon homed in on its spectacular tail trailing well below him. Just to be sure we got a look at this we observed him sallying regularly from its perch where the tail initiated gasps from all present! Lastly, and by no means least, there was the lodge's resident Colombian Screech-Owl that was so obliging on the first night, that we returned again with those who opted out of the first night. Once again he called and perched close by, and this time I was not stupid enough to have left my camera back at the lodge (photo)!