A Handsome Redhead….ECUADOR (3rd Oct.)

After recently finishing with some Scottish-based birders in Eastern Ecuador, I had a quick turnaround, and was soon at Tandayapa Bird Lodge, over on the opposite, western, slope of the Andes; this time to guide a South African family for three days. Our first day opened with a dawntime meeting, and a visit to a local forest blind/hide. There were plenty of birds calling in the area, like Toucan Barbet, Cloud-forest Pygmy-Owl, Golden-headed Quetzal, and Andean Cock-of-the-rock, although those striking species remained unseen. The forest blind overlooks a compost pile, and also possesses a powerful light that attracts insects through the night, and therefore birds the following dawn. The first to appear was a Chestnut-capped Brush-Finch hopping through the gloom, and was followed by a clearer view of a Spotted Barbtail creeping up a mossy trunk; and it was not long before the reliable pair of Zeledon’s Antbirds also appeared, hopping around on the floor and low branches, with their characteristic tail wagging behavior being observed at length. The same trunk that hosted the barbtail, hosted another from the same family of Ovenbirds and Woodcreepers, when a Strong-billed Woodcreeper appeared suddenly there too. These birds were followed by regular visits by both Three-striped and Russet-crowned Warblers, a pair of Slaty Antwrens, and a lone female Uniform Antshrike. We returned to the lodge for breakfast at around 7am, noting Blue-winged Mountain-Tanager, Golden-crowned Flycatcher and Streak-capped Treehunter right around the lodge itself.

The remainder of the morning was spent in the Upper Tandayapa Valley, which quickly brought success, with a pair of Plate-billed Mountain-Toucans, a species from a group that is confined to the Andes of South America, and a species only shared with Colombia. The morning was fairly slow going outside of this, but we did get another cracker, in the form of a Grass-green Tanager moving through with one of those dizzying feeding flocks that the Andes is famed for.

After lunch back at the lodge, we took a trip out to San Tadeo in the afternoon, where we were hooked on a series of feeders; the fruit feeders were busy with birds, like Red-headed Barbets (both male and female), 1 confiding Toucan Barbet, several Black-capped Tanagers, a pair of Black-chinned Mountain-Tanagers, and both Flame-faced and Golden-naped Tanagers too.

We had been hoping for the Metallic-green Tanager too; a rare species to find at feeders, and so hard to photograph, although strangely the species did not visit, in spite of the landowner’s insistence it is usually both regular and reliable! Down at the hummingbird feeders, we were graced with visits from regional specialties like Brown Inca, Velvet-purple Coronet, and Empress Brilliant among others. At dusk our try for Lyre-tailed Nightjar in the lower Tandayapa Valley failed completely with nothing heard, but we were still excited by the prospect of our upcoming visit to the foothills of the Andes, and the Milpe Bird Sanctuary, the next day…

Into the Valley...ECUADOR (2 Nov.)

Having spent some time doing "patchwork" in Quito, I returned to my "other patch", one I can call that, as is almost a second home to me: the Tandayapa Valley. With a big conference on biodiversity occurring the following week in Ecuador's capital, a couple of attendees had decided on taking a day out of their pre-conference schedule to go and see what the Tandayapa Valley has to offer. On person, based in Norway, came in the night before, so after picking him up, we headed straight for the airport to meet a passenger coming in all the way from South Africa. Once we were all in the car we pointed westwards, towards the Tandayapa Valley. We packed a lot in to a small space on this day. Rather than racing to the hummingbird feeders at the lodge, an almost unavoidable urge, we instead, headed right up to the upper reaches of the valley, where the bromeliad-laden cloudforest offered us offered us one particularly special bird: Plate-billed Mountain-Toucan. One of the participants had staked her claim for this bird, and so I did not want them to leave without it. Thankfully, we had great activity, which included at least 2 different Plate-billed Mountain-Toucans with it, not to mention a certain Grass-green Tanager too. While up there too, we also picked up a confiding Yellow-breasted Brush-Finch, Green-and-black Fruiteater and Red-crested Cotinga, before we retreated to the lodge for lunch. 

After lunch it was only natural to take in the swarm of hummingbirds at the famous feeders there, which led us to such avian gems as Western Emerald, Violet-tailed Sylph, and Booted Racket-tail, among many others. The hummingbird feeders were not the only feeders that were active though, and a Rufous Motmot and Crimson-rumped Toucanet also put in an appearance or two at the "papaya feeder". The former bird was particularly interesting, as it was a patch "tick" for me, having only recently been recorded on the lodge property.

The big gaping scarlet hole on our list though was a certain Andean Cock-of-the-rock, a bird that many wish not to leave the country without, and one look at this thrilling bird, it is easy ti understand why. It is the quintessential Andean bird in some ways. This did mean we would not touch down in Quito until a little later than planned, and with jetlag kicking in for some, I outlined this option, which was duly snapped up. Apparently cock-of-the-rock outweighed jetlag in its importance! So we slowly drifted down the Old Nono-Mindo Road, a site of a cock-of-the-rock lek (display area); but were stopped in our tracks by a clipped, crisp call from the roadside. We quickly jumped out of the vehicle, and soon after clapped eyes on the culprit, a beautiful, Beautiful Jay, a very unexpected bonus for the day. This scarce navy blue jay is an endemic to the region, and one you can iss during a dedicated search over several days, let alone on a day trip with so much other birds to look for on the agenda, a search had not even been planned! The final "stanza" of the day was played out by Andean Cock-of-the-rocks, several gaudy vermilion males of which danced in the telescope to the delight of the group. That was supposed to be the final show of the day, but a fruiting tree in the area led to yet more quality birds; holding another Plate-billed Mountain-Toucan, and also at least 3 Crested Quetzals to boot; a Technicolor end to the day if ever there was one!

One day; 2 Grass-green Tanagers, 2 Beautiful Jays, 3 Crested Quetzals, 3 Plate-billed Mountain-Toucans, at least 4 Andean Cock-of-the-rocks, and 2 Rufous Motmots; enough for any day!

Next stop was Ecuador again, although this time down south, where a couple of Asian photographers had arrived to take pictures of the most impressive birds of the region...