Cock-of-the-Lodge ECUADOR...(11-12 June)

After another week of inactivity and lots of typing I headed out to Tandayapa Bird Lodge for the weekend to escape the "Big Smoke" and get some clean mountain air and frankly some birds into my system. I needed a fix! On arrival at the lodge the news came through that the locally nesting Andean Cock-of-the-rock had just got chicks. I hurried down to the part of the lodge where the bird is nesting. First off I should mention it is actually nesting ON the lodge itself on a convenient windowsill that it obviously found to its liking. I was greeted with the sight of the deep maroon colored female that merely reacted to my presence by nonchalantly turning her crested head in my direction, but barely flinching otherwise. Unfortunately the chicks were well hidden underneath her significant carriage in the dried mud nest below. I returned there a little later and found mother was gone and so I changed my angle so I could look down into its shady nest. I could just make out two silvery gray balls that looked more like lichen than birds but a couple of movements later revealed them to be a couple of very inactive chicks hunkered down in the nest. A great opportunity (and my first) to see this large cotinga nesting. I will check in with the lodge regularly for a progress report!

More nesting birds from Tandayapa coming up...