Ecuador Birding Trip

Sunday, February 1

Barbara’s Notes

Our last day of birding in Ecuador. When we got up at 6:30am, it was raining hard in the cloud forest at San Isidro Lodge. By 7am, it was brightening. We had about an hour of interesting finds before breakfast at 8am when it started to rain again. Most interesting was a pair of vivid red and green Masked Trogons which were close to the path. I spotted one move into some orange flowers and return with a moth which it dispatched very quickly. We also saw an agouti (a large rodent) emerge furtively from the underbrush, looking for food. And we found a huge beetle with razor-like pincers. Mornings are busy!

Joan is much better, so our group is intact.

Masked Trogon male	Chestnut-breasted Coronet

South American Agouti	Subtropical Cacique

Cinnamon Flycatcher	Cinnamon Flycatcher

Masked Trogon male	Masked Trogon male

The rain continued as we travelled along the highway, with the usual interruptions of cows using the same means of getting from one place to another. We made a few wet, cold, and windy stops to do our usual checking for birds. A few keeners are still working on their numbers.

We spent some time at Reserva Ecologica Cayambe-Coca, a massive mountain, 4150m, with a gigantic communications tower on top. We were able to spot some wet birds, a Tawny Antpitta, a Blue-mantled Thornbill hummingbird, and several Red-backed Hawks. At the top we had a bag lunch in the bus. Vinicio, Tony, George and Pat hiked down the road, in the pouring rain, on the lookout for the elusive Roufous-bellied Seedsnipe. No luck! As we descended in the bus, the sun lit up the glistening landscape. Our adventurous group gathered for a photo at the reserve sign at the entrance.

	Broad-winged Hawk

Plumbeous Sierra-finch

Tawny Antpitta	Tawny Antpitta

Red-backed Hawk	Red-backed Hawk

Then we headed for civilization. Quito’s population is similar to Metro Toronto’s, about 3 million. It is 40+km. long and 5km. wide, completely filling a large mountain valley. It is generally cool, but we found it very warm after the days in the Andes. It is almost exactly on the equator. The water runs pretty well straight down a drain, not swirly like at home.

A sad time for us to say farewell to Vinicio and Alfredo. We invited them to join us for dinner. Our group selected a funky Ecuadorian resturant near our hotel – a fun way to conclude our time together.