Michael‘s Seventh Year

[Galana]

16 minutes ago, TonyQ said:

We were still at school

We never got School trips like that and even the Church Choirboys only got a day at the seaside.

[michael-ibk]

628/EC97) White-Crested Elaenia (Elaenia albiceps) / Weißkronen-Olivtyrann

 

Upper Tandayapa Valley, 10/8/2022. Just to prove that not all birds in Ecuador are flashy and colourful. (And I´m afraid I will make that point very effectively in the next few posts.)

 

 

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

629/EC98) Purple-Backed Thornbill (Ramphomicron microrhynchum) / Purpur-Kurzschnabelkolibri

 

Upper Tandayapa Valley, 10/8/2022. But once more of the nice ones before we descend into LBJ and EBJ hell for the rest of the afternoon. An excellent sighting of this tiny, non-feeder Hummer.

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

630/EC99) Band-Tailed Pigeon (Patagioenas fasciata) / Nördliche Bandtaube

 

Upper Tandayapa Valley, 10/8/2022. I´ve seen this one before in Costa Rica.

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

631/EC100) Sierran Elaenia (Elaenia pallatangae) / Sierraolivtyrann

 

Upper Tandayapa Valley, 10/8/2022. ebird says this is a "confusing" Flycatcher. Apparently opposed to all the other olive-brownish Flycatchers in the Neotropics which all look exactly the same. And I have not even properly started Tyrannulets yet!

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

632/EC101) Smoke-Coloured Pewee (Contopus fumigatus) / Schieferschnäppertyrann

 

Upper Tandayapa Valley, 10/8/2022. We had three sightings of this one, none very photographable.

 

 

[michael-ibk]

633/EC102) Grey-Breasted Wood Wren (Henicorhina leucophrys) / Einsiedlerzaunkönig

 

Upper Tandayapa Valley, 10/8/2022. Actually not a bad effort for a forest Wren. We heard quite a lot of different Wren species but hardly ever saw one, and even less often did I manage to get a photo. An old friend from the Cloud forests in Costa Rica.

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

634/EC103) Rufous-Chested Tanager (Thlypopsis ornata) / Zimtbrusttangare

 

Upper Tandayapa Valley, 10/8/2022. One of my favourite ebcs from this trip.

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

635/EC104) Slaty-Backed Chat-Tyrant (Ochthoeca cinnamomeiventris) / Schiefermantel-Schmätzertyrann

 

Lower Tandayapa Valley, 10/8/2022. Quite an attractive Tyrant.

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

636/EC105) White-Capped Dipper (Cinclus leucocephalus) / Weißkopf-Wasseramsel) 

 

Lower Tandayapa Valley, 10/8/2022. A copy of our European Dipper in shape, size and behaviour, only the colour scheme is different. First "hunted" it a bit higher up in the Valley without success (only glimpsed it there). And then it was right next to the car! Damn non-opening windows again. But the angle was doable, and by removing the lens hood and holding the lens straight to the glass I got something acceptable.

 

 

We saw more birds on our way but the light had become so bad I have no more photos to show for it. It was already dark when we reached Tandayapa Bird Lodge, our base for the rest of the group trip.

 

And where quite delighted when a Kinkajou joined us for dinner! (A regualr guest. We were never quite sure though if it was Kinkajou or Olinguito, a mammal disdovered by science less than 10 years ago!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Peter Connan]

Wow Michael! You are making progress rapidly! And some really stunning shots too!

[xelas]

Your Ecuador birds are accumulating quickly! It looks like the weather was similar to what we had in Costa Rica in 2018? But your photos looks much cleaner.

Edited September 11, 2022 by xelas

[michael-ibk]

Thanks @Peter Connanand @xelas.

 

12 minutes ago, xelas said:

It looks like the weather was similar to what we had in Costa Rica in 2018?

 

Less rain, but yes, the light conditions were very challenging. Especially in the morning. Topaz helps a lot.

Edited September 11, 2022 by michael-ibk

[michael-ibk]

637/EC106) Dot-Winged Antwren (Ameisenfänger) / Tropfenflügel-Ameisenfänger

 

Rio Silanche, 11/8/2022. Rio Silanche is a lowland reserve, about 300 metres above sealevel. In a country where birdlife totally changes every hundred metres altitude difference that means this was a totally different avifauna. Our other locations were all above 1000 m I think. So well worth the early rise and the long (almost two hours) drive. The entrance road was full of song and activity. Problem was it was depressingly grey and misty. All birds were just black things hopping around, and unfortunately mostly in the canopy. So beware again, lots of ebcs coming up.

 

 

Quite a typical Antwren picture. Probably the bird family I most failed in getting photos of. Extreme skulkers, and very fast too, rarely sitting still. This is a widespread species I have already seen in Costa Rica.

[michael-ibk]

638/EC107) Golden-Olive Woodpecker (Colaptes rubiginosus) / Olivmantelspecht

 

 

Rio Silanche, 11/8/2022. PP your heart out but if you take pictures of distant birds high up in the trees in this "light" - this is what you´ll get!

 

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

639/EC108) Yellow Tyrannulet (Capsiempis flaveola) / Zitronentyrann

 

Rio Silanche, 11/8/2022. Tyrannulets are an ID nightmare since the differences between the dozens of species are marginal at best. But trying to work out which species was which was not such an issue this time. Both the tour leader and our youngest, very knowledgable member did ebird lists and shared those, so quite easy to work with that. Of course there were some only I saw but not too many. More work was to delete the ones I had not seen, and I also did not count "heard-only" lifers - which were quite a lot. So I "cleaned" my lists every evening. Another (quite enjoyable) thing is that in these tour groups you run through the entire (theoretically possible) bird list and tick off everything you´ve seen each evening.

 

 

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

640/EC109) Slaty-Capped Shrike-Vireo (Vireolanius leucotis) / Schieferkopfvireo

 

Rio Silanche, 11/8/2022. A very cool-looking bird - not that you could tell from this photo!

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

641/EC110) Cinnamon Woodpecker (Celeus loricatus) / Rotkehlspecht

 

Rio Silanche, 11/8/2022. Could have sworn I had seen this one before in Costa Rica, but not, that had been Chestnut-Coloured Woodpecker. Cinnamon, Chestnut - all those English colour hues are a bit over my head I´m afraid.

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

642/EC111) Olivaceous Piculet (Picumnus olivaceus) / Olivrücken-Zwergspecht

 

Rio Silanche, 11/8/2022. Finally a bird that came a bit closer. This morning we saw a lot of species I could - or would - not get a photo of. My most painful miss was a Red-Billed Scythebill (very cool bird) I saw too late. Everybody else had great views but I just could not find it (looked at the wrong tree), then finally saw it - but after one or two seconds it flew off!

 

 

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

643/EC112) Grey-Breasted Martin (Progne chalybea) / Graubrustschwalbe

 

Rio Silanche, 11/8/2022. A widespread Swallow found from Argentina all the way up to Mexico.

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

644/EC113) House Wren (Troglodytes aedon) / Hauszaunkönig

 

Rio Silanche, 11/8/2022. An old friend from Costa Rica. Uncannily similar to our European Wren. Incredible range - from Southernmost South America well into Canada.

 

 

 

Edited September 11, 2022 by michael-ibk

[michael-ibk]

645/EC114) Yellow-Tailed Oriole (Icterus mesomelas) / Gelbschwanztrupial

 

Rio Silanche, 11/8/2022. While New World Orioles may look similar to ours they are actually not related at all - convergent evolution. Doesn´t matter, any Orioles are always nice to see.

 

Edited September 11, 2022 by michael-ibk

[michael-ibk]

646/EC115) Golden-Hooded Tanager (Tangara larvata) / Goldscheiteltangare

 

Rio Silanche, 11/8/2022.  The only sighting of this beautiful Tanager. Another one already seen in Costa Rica.

 

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

647/EC116) Buff-Throated Saltator (Saltator maximus) / Buntkehlsaltator

 

Rio Silanche, 11/8/2022. A widespread species, and another non-lifer.

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

648/EC117) Scrub Blackbird (Dives warczewiczi) / Buschstärling

 

Rio Silanche, 11/8/2022. A good example of one of the (very few) shortcomings of this group trip. This bird was perching nicely on a tree. On my own I would certainly have tried to approach it. But that would have meant overtaxing the patience of my fellow group members, and as mentioned before they really were very tolerant of our photography. So a hasty shot from the distance had to do. Well, it was only some black bird.