Michael‘s Seventh Year

[Kitsafari]

wow on the 750th and 800th. congrats!

[BRACQUENE]

Congratulations @michael-ibk That Toucan Barbet to reach 800 is spectacular !!

[Galana]

Yes. I can quite see why you would hold that Toucan Barbet back for your awesome 800. It would have been a total waste to use Black Phoebe or Pied-billed Grebe. Mighty congratulations and you are not done yet although I sense you must be for Ecuador unless you got nicked for Motorway trespass and had to stay over.

TB apart you got some excellent also rans or also posed. I could get quite fond of Ant Pittas.

 

Shame you missed out of Cock of the Rocks as they are much sought after I am told. On our trip, 'we' were in Mindo and scheduled to rise at silly o'clock to seek them. Came the time it was peeing down so I snuggled back down to Lady G as a bird in the hand is always worth two in the bush (enough of that) leaving my keen friend Mr Gullible to go for us both. He came back after about 4 hours soaking wet having tramped up some rocky hillside with some smudgy pics of some orange looking bedraggled bird. Very nice. 

After breakfast we went out for a walk around the lodge in much improved weather and guess what we found looking down at us from a trackside tree?

No wellies needed. Mr Gullible was really pleased for me. He still comes with us so I must be forgiven.

Edited October 8, 2022 by Galana
corrected text

[michael-ibk]

Thanks @TonyQ, @Kitsafari, @BRACQUENEand @Galana.

 

2 hours ago, Galana said:

although I sense you must be for Ecuador unless you got nicked for Motorway trespass and had to stay over.

 

Well, I do think I would still be arrested in Austria for doing something like that on the motorway. But hate to disappoint you Fred, I have barely started with Ecuador - still more four days to go on the Eastern Slopes.

 

Love your Cock-of-the-Rock story. Not entirely impossible something similar could happen here. Do you really think I would not post a bad Cock-of-the Rock photo only because it is abysmally bad? I´m flattered you think I have standards, but I think I have aptly proven by now I will post each and every smudge that even vaguely resembles a bird.

Edited October 8, 2022 by michael-ibk

[Tdgraves]

Well done on the 800, how long until the next century ?

[michael-ibk]

I´m not quite sure how much my harddrive can still offer me but will try to find out very soon.

Edited October 8, 2022 by michael-ibk

[Galana]

3 hours ago, michael-ibk said:

But hate to disappoint you Fred, I have barely started with Ecuador

AH! I thought that with the airport you were heading home. But I am delighted to be wrong not disappointed at all.

New Avatur?

[PeterHG]

Wow, 800 ! Congratulations on reaching that incredible number and apparently still having a few up your sleeve! Looking forward to those and yes, your Toucan Barbet set is stunning!

[John M.]

Some very nice bird photos!

 

When I was still very active with camera, birds and other wildlife at home were my passion when not in Africa.

 

Off topic a little:   your admirable list of safaris in relatively few years might have made me wish I had started when I was younger, but then all the other good things in my life might not have happened, including the (best) past 22 years. So no regrets.

[xelas]

A beautiful bird to celebrate the awesome 8th century! And there are more to come!!

[Dave Williams]

Incredible score, but I'm not envious of the effort it takes just to post them never mind capture the images!!

[michael-ibk]

On 10/8/2022 at 9:27 PM, Galana said:

AH! I thought that with the airport you were heading home. But I am delighted to be wrong not disappointed at all.

New Avatur?

 

My Tiger was slightly outdated, still the image I used when I first joined here about 10 years ago. Time to reflect my change to "bird guy". And I found I quite like the avatars showing the actual posters, the way @wilddog, @BRACQUENEor of course the @Game Wardenhimself are using them.

 

 

On 10/9/2022 at 9:05 PM, PeterHG said:

Wow, 800 ! Congratulations on reaching that incredible number and apparently still having a few up your sleeve! Looking forward to those and yes, your Toucan Barbet set is stunning!

 

Thanks Peter!

 

 

On 10/10/2022 at 4:28 AM, John M. said:

Some very nice bird photos!

 

When I was still very active with camera, birds and other wildlife at home were my passion when not in Africa.

 

Off topic a little:   your admirable list of safaris in relatively few years might have made me wish I had started when I was younger, but then all the other good things in my life might not have happened, including the (best) past 22 years. So no regrets.

 

Thanks for popping in John! Yes, I do feel lucky having discovered safaris ten years ago and birding a bit later but still feel I wasted a lot of good years.

 

1 hour ago, xelas said:

A beautiful bird to celebrate the awesome 8th century! And there are more to come!!

 

One or two.

 

7 minutes ago, Dave Williams said:

Incredible score, but I'm not envious of the effort it takes just to post them never mind capture the images!!

 

Well, I will confess I do wonder at times why exactly I am doing this!

 

But someone´s gotta do it!

[michael-ibk]

801/EC270) Common Ground Dove (Columbina passerina) / Sperlingstäubchen

 

Hosterià Rincon de Puembo, 16/8/2022. Including the High Andes extension (which all tour members had added on) the Tropical Birding Tour was just 9 nights. Considering the super-long travel to get to South America I decided to add on a few solo days on the Eastern Slopes of the Andes. More on the logistics (and Tropical Birding) later. I was picked up early morning by a guide/driver combo Wild Sumaco, my base for the remainder of this holiday, sent for me. Before that I got some new ticks in the hotel garden, including this one.

 

 

The very nice Hotel:

 

 

Edited October 11, 2022 by michael-ibk

[michael-ibk]

802/EC271) Eared Dove (Zenaida auriculata) / Ohrflecktaube

 

Hosterià Rincon de Puembo, 16/8/2022. South America´s most widespread and abundant Dove.

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

803/EC272) Vermilion Flycatcher (Pyrocephalus obscurus) / Rubintyrann

 

Hosterià Rincon de Puembo, 16/8/2022. Gorgeous little bird, have already seen this one in the Pantanal. Unfortunately still too dark for a satisfying photo.

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

804/EC273) White-Throated Tyrannulet (Mecocerculus leucophry) / Weißkehl-Tachurityrann

 

Papallactas Road, 16/8/2022. Wild Sumaco had suggested not only doing a transfer but a guided day getting there. A very good idea. We returned up the Papallactas Road (where we first had seen Spectacled Bear on day of the tour).

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

805/EC274) Great Thrush (Turdus fuscater) /Riesendrossel

 

Old Papallactas Road, 16/8/2022. A very common bird, a slightly bigger version of our Blackbird. Had seen it almost every day before but not it finally properly posed.

 

 

[michael-ibk]

806/EC275) Black-Billed Shrike-Tyrant (Agriornis montanus) /Schwarzschnabel-Hakentyrann

 

Old Papallactas Road, 16/8/2022. Widespread all along the Andes. Very distant sighting.

 

 

We had left the main road and went up the mountain on an old pass road noone but birders use. It was a gorgeous day, and I was quite sorry I had not brought a landscape camera. My mobile had to do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

807/EC276) Giant Conebill (Oreomanes fraseri) / Riesenspitzschnabel

 

Old Papallactas Road, 16/8/2022. This was one of our main targets here, and we were delighted to find it relatively quickly. Vaguely reminiscent of a Nuthatch (bigger though) but in a totally different family. Near threatened.

 

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

808/EC277) Viridian Metaltail (Metallura williami) / Grünes Glanzschwänzchen.

 

Old Papallactas Road, 16/8/2022. A relative of the Tyrian Metaltail I had seen at the start of the trip, but living a bit higher up.

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

809/278) Rainbow-Bearded Thornbill (Chalcostigma herrani) / Weißspitzen-Glanzschwänzchen

 

Old Papallactas Road, 16/8/2022. Stunning Hummingbird! The patch mostly just looks dark but when the light hits it the right way it´s just beautiful.

 

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

810/EC279) Long-Tailed Tapaculo (Scytalopus micropterus) / Dunkelrückentapaculo.

 

Baeza, 16/8/2022. We saw a lot of other birds on our way across the Mountain Pass but since I had already extensively covered this region on the first days of the trip not many new ones. The gorgeous weather deteriorated, and soon it was raining again. After a nice lunch in a restaurant we explored a nearby forest patch, armed with umbrellas. It was very dark but I was still delighted to get a shot of a Tapaculo, a super-difficult family.

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

811/EC280) Three-Striped Warbler (Basileuterus tristriatus) / Dreistreifen-Waldsänger

 

Baeza, 16/8/2022. A bird I had already seen around Tandayapa. Lovely song.

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

812/EC281) Southern Lapwing (Vanellus chilensis) / Bronzekiebitz

 

Napo Road, 16/8/2022. My guide Byron and driver Carles were just a delight. Great company. I had explained to them that I wanted to get at least recognizable photos of as many species as possible, and they totally got into that. Carles brought the car to a screeching halt all of a sudden on the main road to let me click this Lapwing which is wide-spread and familiar in the Neotropics.

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

813/EC282) Green-and-Black Fruiteater (Pipreola riefferii) / Goldbandkotinga

 

Cordillera Guacamayos, 16/8/2022. We stopped here in hope of one of the Mountain Toucans but unfortunately the weather did not comply - it was raining heavily. This skulking (female) Fruiteater was the consolation prize.