Michael‘s Seventh Year

[michael-ibk]

687/EC156) Brown-Capped Vireo (Vireo leucophrys) / Braunkappenvireo

 

Bellavista/Upper Tandayapa Valley, 12/8/2022. The sun had started to reach at least the higher canopy.

 

[michael-ibk]

688/EC157) Grey-Headed Kite (Leptodon cayanensis) / Cayenneweih

 

Bellavista/Upper Tandayapa Valley, 12/8/2022. High, high up. Raptors were quite scarce in general. As you can see by the amount of blue in the sky it was actually a nice day.

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

689/EC158) White-Tailed Tyrannulet (Mecocerculus poecilocercus) / Weißschwanz-Tachurityrann

 

Bellavista/Upper Tandayapa Valley, 12/8/2022. A Tyrannulet we saw quite regularly. Still could not get a really satisfying photo - this one is very restless.

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

690/EC159) Crested Quetzal (Pharomachrus antisianus) / Kammtrogon

 

Bellavista/Upper Tandayapa Valley, 12/8/2022. One of our targets here, and it felt good to finally properly see a bird.

 

 

Edited September 12, 2022 by michael-ibk

[michael-ibk]

691/EC160) Lesser Violetear (Colibri cyanotus) / Berg-Veilchenohr-Kolibri

 

Santa Rosa Bird Lodge, 12/8/2022. I was responsible for a full-blown mutiny then. The weather was quite nice now.

 

 

But bird activity had died down drastically, and we had not found our main target, the Mountain Toucan. Already the day before I had read a Tropical Birding FB post about a feeder place for these birds. When I had asked Alex about it he said "That´s just for photographers." Which I took as a bit of an insult.

 No, not really, I knew what he meant, this was not a photography-focused trip, and that´s how the itinerary had been planned. And since I assumed we´d find our birds anyway I had not pressed the issue. But now I brought it up again, and we all agreed that even the non-(serious)-photographers among us do prefer to actually see birds. And as it turned out the place I had read about was just 15 minutes away! It was 20 Dollars each, but we were very happy to pay that. (And for the recort, I do appreciate and understand why our guide did not suggest it himself. This was an all-inclusive tour, advertised as "everything paid" (even tipps), so asking the participants to suddenly pay for an activity might not go down well with everybody.)

 

Best decision of the day! We all agreed - we love "Disneylands".

 

 

And the Mountain Toucan could not be far!

 

 

But first we had great fun with the Hummers! This one is similar to Sparkling Violetear but lacks the blue belly.

 

Edited September 12, 2022 by michael-ibk

[michael-ibk]

692/EC161) Flame-Faced Tanager (Tangara parzudakii) / Rotstirntangare

 

Santa Rosa Bird Lodge, 12/8/2022. The Yellow-Faced variant. A striking Tanager - great fun to watch them.

 

 

[michael-ibk]

693/EC162) Gorgeted Sunangel (Heliangelus strophianu) / Weißband-Sonnennymphe

 

Santa Rosa Bird Lodge, 12/8/2022. The only one we saw, and refused to pose more nicely.

 

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

694/EC163) Golden-Naped Tanager (Tangara ruficervix) / Rotnackentangare

 

Santa Rosa Bird Lodge, 12/8/2022. Another beautiful species, and a frequent feeder guest.

 

 

Photobombed by a Golden Tanager here (which I´ll include later).

 

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

695/EC164) Speckled Hummingbird (Adelomyia melanogenys) / Schwarzohrkolibri

 

Santa Rosa Bird Lodge, 12/8/2022. Widespread and fairly common in the Andes.

 

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

696/EC165) Dusky Chlorospingus aka Bush-Tanager (Chlorospingus semifuscus) / Graubrust-Grünammer

 

Santa Rosa Bird Lodge, 12/8/2022. Poor Chlorospingi, used to be (Bush) Tanagers but apparently somebody decided they were not pretty enough.

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

697/EC166) Violet-Tailed Sylph (Aglaiocercus coelestis) / Langschwanzsylphe

 

Santa Rosa Bird Lodge, 12/8/2022. Spectacular Hummingbird, wonderful to see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

698/EC167) Brown Inca (Coeligena wilsoni) / Brauner Andenkolibri

 

Santa Rosa Bird Lodge, 12/8/2022. A more subtle beauty.

 

 

[michael-ibk]

699/EC168) Buff-Tailed Coronet (Boissonneaua flavescens) / Fahlschwanzkolibri

 

Santa Rosa Bird Lodge, 12/8/2022. One of the most common species.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

700/EC169) Plate-Billed Mountain Toucan (Andigena laminirostris) / Leistenschnabeltukan

 

Santa Rosa Bird Lodge, 12/8/2022. The main star. Kept us waiting for a good long while and we already started to worry, but - *boom* - suddenly it flew in. An extraordinary bird, a big highlight!

 

 

Quite a restricted range, only occurring in Ecuador and (barely) Southern Colombia.

 

 

The second one was not quite as photogenic:

 

 

Huge ugly tumor growing out of it. But apparently it has been around with this ailment for almost a year now.

 

 

[Galana]

Congratulations on the 700th bird and quite a striking one at that.

Not that the others are without any merit although I will confess to struggling a bit with Sharpe's Wren..

[TonyQ]

Santa Rosa looked like good value for you $20
Some beautiful birds there. The  Violet tailed Sylph is certainly well named, and is stunning. The Toucan was worth the wait.

Earlier on, the Sepia brown Wren was very well camouflaged 

Hurrah for the Quetzal 

 

Well done on reaching 700 and in to the stratosphere 

Edited September 12, 2022 by TonyQ

[pedro maia]

3 hours ago, michael-ibk said:

685/EC154) Sharpe´s aka Sepia-Brown Wren (Cinnycerthia olivascens) / Rostzaunkönig

 

Bellavista/Upper Tandayapa Valley, 12/8/2022. @pedro maia, I hope this one is satisfactory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Perfectly satisfatory, I can do that .

 

And congrats on the seventh ton, the Mountain toucan is just amazing!!

[PeterHG]

Congratulations on the 700 mark! Wat a relief the visit to the Santa Rosa Bird Lodge must have been… Great birds and photos there!

[Dave Williams]

The list goes on and on and on! Incredible score Michael, I just don’t envy you identifying them all. 
The Mountain Toucan is a little bit special 👀!

[Zim Girl]

Well done and beautiful bird for number 700!

[Kitsafari]

oh i love that broad-billed Motmot!! and it even spots a bow-tie in the second photo. guess it was attending a black tie event. 

[Kitsafari]

Congrats on the 700th, well on the way to the mother  of all BYs.  too many amazing photos to mention any in particular.

 

20 bucks was worth it seeing you had a few additions but the mega addition was that stunning mountain toucan. feel rather sorry for the tumour-toucan but he's done well despite that tumour. 

 

[Peter Connan]

Wow, what a great way to reach the hivhest-ever total (I think?)!

[xelas]

Congratulations on passing by #700, I am sure there will be also #800, #900 and ....

Edited September 14, 2022 by xelas

[shazdwn]

Great decision on a visit to Disneyland, that mountain toucan is stunning