Ecuador Birding Trip

Thursday, January 29

Barbara’s Notes

Bill and I joined Judith and Tony for breakfast at 5:30am at our hotel in Quito. However, our proposed 6am departure was postponed until 10am, with hopes that everyone could rally by then. We had watered down juice and tea, except for Bill who was able to manage toast and coffee.

Our initial guide, Vinicio Ortiz and driver, Alfredo waited patiently. Today was Vinicio’s birthday - he is 32. I was very happy to see him again as, like me, he is “Ecuadorian size” and always has his scope at a good height. As well, he is very cheerful and is an excellent birder.

Good news – everyone from our group appeared, pale but upright. We had our various “sick” experience to share. Bill and I were at the back of the bus which has a raised seat. I was able to create a comfortable little spot to rest.

Today we would be climbing to 4100m. Ann recommended aspirin (as well as Ibuprofen) for altitude sickness, so I took an aspirin and was fine all day.

We headed up to the south east slope of the Andes to Papallacta. Our destination was a thermal hot springs where we would stay at Hotel Termas de Papallacta at 3800 m. A good place to relax and recoup.

We made several stops for birding. Short stops were perfect today. The highlight was a raptor stop where George had spotted two Aplomado Falcons perched on fence posts. This same spot yielded a Crested Eagle and an Andean Condor. I spotted the condor soaring above and Tony ID’d it. Much excitement!

	Aplomado Falcon

Also interesting were the “vertical” farms on hillsides. We saw a large family hoeing their potato patch, adults wearing their dark brimmed hats. Everyone wearing bright colours.

Stout-billed Cinclodes	Plumbeous Sierra-finch female

The Hotel Termas is an upscale lodge. We had a cosy cabin with a deck overlooking a steamy hot spring, lined with grey polished rocks. We hopped right in after a quick change to our bathing suits. Perfect! After a relaxing dip we were ready to explore the property. George had already scoped out our little garden area and had discovered a Shining Sunbeam hummingbird and a baby and adult Black Flowerpiercer. We toured around finding several more pools and joining Joan and Sandra who were also hiking about.

Shining Sunbeam	Shining Sunbeam

Great Thrush

Brazilian Rabbit	Black Flowerpiercer

Later we (except for Janet who wasn’t well) got together for dinner and celebrated Vinicio’s birthday with a group card and bird book, and a special birthday cake.

A lovely spot and a special evening.