A lazy bird photographer’s guide to the mammals of Ecuador- November 2022

[kittykat23uk]

16th November Guango Lodge

 

Our destination for the day was Guango Lodge. Guango Lodge is located on private property surrounded by temperate forest. "Guango" in the Quichua language means "a place of great mountains that crisscross, whose waters concur to form mighty rivers in deep valleys covered by the cloud forest of the Andean slopes, under an ever-changing climate and a typical drizzle". That’s quite a lot to convey in just one word!  This combination of geographic and climatic factors makes Guango a true gateway to the rainforests to the east or west. Guango has always been a necessary stop along the traditional route from Quito to the Napo River and remains one to this day. As part of the Papallacta region, Guango is the central point between the cold forest and Andean highlands and also between the Amazonian ethnic groups and Quito.

 

Based on the information on their website I was hopeful that we would get grey-breasted mountain toucan here because they say it is seen regularly and “Sometimes very visible and vocal”. But the impression that I got from Francisco was that it was very difficult to see and would require quite a long walk on the trails for a chance of it. He actually advised that the two eastern mountain toucans that I was hoping to see don’t generally visit the feeders and are a lot easier to get in Colombia where they are more confiding. 

 

We arrived at Guango Lodge at 0730. It was raining heavily, grey and overcast so with the weather how it was, a long walk didn’t immediately appeal to us. So we took shelter with some other birders in a blind in front of some fruit feeders and moth trap and let the birds come to us. Here we picked up the stunning Inca Jay, Turquoise Jay, Mountain Cacique, Canada Warbler, Mountain Wren, Andean Guan, Gray-browed Brush Finch, Pale-napped Brush Finch, Slaty Brush Finch, Speckled Whitestart, Smoky Bush Tyrant and Summer Tanager.

 

PB160175_01 Inca Jay by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB160266_01 Mountain Cacique by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB160230 Pale-naped Brushfinch by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB160237 Grey-browed Brushfinch by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB160248_01 Grey-browed Brushfinch by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB160308_01 Swainson's Thrush by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB160359 Andean Guan by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB160367 Chestnut-capped Brushfinch by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB160405 Smoky Bush Tyrant by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB160424_01 Summer Tanager by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB160431 Andean Guan by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB160591 Inca Jay by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB160595_01 Turquoise Jay by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB160660 Smoky Bush Tyrant by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB160690 Andean Guan by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB160714  Turquoise Jay by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB160821 Turquoise Jay by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

 

 

 

Once the activity died down we relocated to the hummingbird feeders. Here Long-tailed Sylph replaces Violet-tailed, and we added Tourmaline Sunangel, White bellied Woodstar, Chestnut-breasted Coronet and White-tailed Tyrannulet. A pair of Buff-tailed Coronets were having a major squabble and fell to the ground with talons locked! Eventually they disentangled and flew off to sulk. The Sword-billed Hummingbird was also a welcome sight. We did go for a short walk down to the river but the river was running high and we didn’t see any of the much sought-after torrent ducks. 

 

PB160850 Buff-tailed Coronet by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB160867_01 Chestnut-breasted Coronet by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB160889 White-bellied Woodstar by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB160938 White-bellied Woodstar by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB160952 White-bellied Woodstar by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB160974 White-bellied Woodstar by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB161002_01 Tourmaline Sunangel by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB161030_01 Tourmaline Sunangel by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB161051 Buff-tailed Coronet by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB161062 Buff-tailed Coronet by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB161076 Chestnut-breasted Coronet by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB161088_01 Chestnut-breasted Coronet by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB161102 Buff-tailed Coronet by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB161162_01 Buff-tailed Coronet by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB161171_01 White-bellied Woodstar by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB161244 White-bellied Woodstar by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB161249 Tourmaline Sunangel by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB161337 River by Guango Lodge by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB161357_01 Tourmaline Sunangel by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB161370_01 Tourmaline Sunangel by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB161377_01 Tourmaline Sunangel by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB161390 Long-tailed Sylph by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB161458 Sword-billed Hummingbird by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB161471 Sword-billed Hummingbird by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB161493_01 Sword-billed Hummingbird by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB161561 Long-tailed Sylph by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB161647 Tourmaline Sunangel by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P2720196 Slaty Brushfinch by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

IMG_20221116_155027 Waterfall by Jo Dale, on Flickr

In the afternoon we took a drive up the back of the hot springs resort up to Cayambe Coca reserve. The park encompasses an area of 4,031.03 km2 (996,090 acres). The park includes two very different regions of Ecuador, the high altitude sierra with Cayambe volcano and the hot, humid rainforest of the Amazon basin as well as the intervening temperate cloud forest. There are three entrances, the one close to Papallacta where were were provides access to the forests and lakelets in the Andean foothills and the Páramo, an area of tropical, montane vegetation above the treeline. It would have been nice to see some of that! 

 

PB160005 Andean Tit-Spinetail by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB160081_01 Spectacled Whitestart by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Andean Tit-Spinetail and Spectacled Whitestart were nice sightings, but the higher we climbed the less we saw as we entered the cloud layer. It wasn’t long before we thought that there was no point continuing so we turned around and started to head back to the resort. 

 

But on our way down I spotted a distant shape on the hillside that seemed different to the herds of cattle, a Mountain Tapir! We parked up and walked over to get a closer look. The tapir was overall darker and quite woolier compared to their Brazilian cousins. It even did us the courtesy of coming out into the open for a little while and walking a bit closer to us so we had a lovely view of it. This tapir is collared, I'm not sure who is doing the research though. The tapir stopped and raised his little trunk to sniff the air, then slowly made its way off around the hill. 

 

PB160265 Mountain Tapir (Andean/Woolly Tapir) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB160294 Mountain Tapir (Andean/Woolly Tapir) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB160308 Mountain Tapir (Andean/Woolly Tapir) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB160313 Mountain Tapir (Andean/Woolly Tapir) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

IMG_20221116_165525 River rapids by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

IMG_20221116_165545 River rapids by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

 

 

With that sighting in the bag, we headed back to the resort and I had a nice dip in the hot springs!
 

[TonyQ]

This continues to be an excellent report, brilliant sighting and great photos 

[Zim Girl]

Love the woolly tapir.

[janzin]

Excellent photos, even in the rain! I think it always rains at Guango...it did for us. In fact it rains a lot in Ecuador

 

The Tapir sighting is very cool!

 

Edited January 6, 2023 by janzin

[Atravelynn]

Rain or shine, the birds show up, along with the tapir.  Another feature of this guide for lazy birders is all the shots of different species for easy ID after the fact and to help set goals of what to look for.  The Buff-tailed Coronet squabble was interesting.

[michael-ibk]

Very enjoyable report, you did extremely well with your sightings. Beautiful photos! Love the Mountain Tapir, wish I would have seen that. If it´s any consolation it rained at Guango Lodge when I was there as well.

[kittykat23uk]

Lol sounds like it rains a lot at Guango then! 😂☔ Thanks everyone it's nice to see so many people enjoying this report. Sadly only a few days left to go now.. 

[kittykat23uk]

17th November Papallacta pass

 

We left Termas Papallacta and spent the morning driving the Papallacta pass looking for spectacled bears. This is another well known hot-spot for bears and they can sometimes be seen from the highway as it winds through some fantastic scenery. Francisco's uncle who also guides had told him that he'd seen a bear in this area, close to a cattle carcass which had attracted some vultures, just the previous afternoon so we left hopeful that we might get lucky. 

 

We scoured the area but didn't see anything on the drive down the pass. When we reached the lower reaches of the pass we turned around and headed back up. 

Just out of the corner of my eye up on a track cut into the side of the mountain I spotted a dark shape moving towards a copse of trees. "What's that?! I declared, then immediately afterwards "STOP! BEAR!!" we pulled up by the side of the road, I managed to quickly snap off a shot before it entered the copse and was lost to view. Based on its direction of travel I looked across to the right to the next gap in the trees, hoping that it would reappear there based on its current trajectory. 

 

PB170001_01 Spectacled Bear by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Thought that shot might look cool in black and white:

 

PB170001_01 Spectacled Bear by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

But it was Eric who then spotted that the bear had in fact changed direction and was happily feeding now in front of the trees, not far from where it had entered the copse. We were able to watch it for a while feeding and looking around from time to time before it was lost to view in the long grass. Happy with this closer sighting we headed off to our next location. 

 

PB170042 Spectacled Bear by Jo Dale, on Flickr

La Brisas

La Brisas was the next site, another hummingbird paradise with a garden full of verbena. This attracts Gorgeted woodstar, we saw loads of females but the only male there proved elusive, sticking to the high trees and not showing off his beautiful colours to us. We also added Violet-fronted Brilliant, White-booted Racket-tail - here in the east the boots are not white at all but a sort of ginger, Long-tailed Sylph, Green-backed Hillstar, Sparkling and Lesser Violetears and a single Bronzy Inca that didn’t play ball. 

 

PB170108 Violet-fronted Brilliant by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB170112 Long-tailed Sylph by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB170117_01 Violet-fronted Brilliant by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB170190 Violet-fronted Brilliant by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB170219_01 White-booted Racket-tail East by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB170289_01 Sparkling Violetear by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB170327_01 Green-backed Hillstar by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB170365 Gorgeted Woodstar by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB170525_01 Gorgeted Woodstar (Female) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

 

PB170530 Gorgeted Woodstar (Female) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB170546 Katydid by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB170551 Bananaquit by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB170557 Black Phoebe by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB170566_01 White-booted Racket-tail East by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB170569 White-booted Racket-tail East by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

San isidro lodge 

We arrived at San Isidro, our base for the next two nights. San Isidro’s cabins and reserve are nestled in the picturesque Quijos Valley, one of the westernmost headwaters of the Amazon basin - in Napo province and only 2 about hours from the airport - at an elevation of about 2,050m (6,800 ft.) above sea level in a zone still mostly blanketed by extensive humid forest. The reserve offers kilometres of well marked and maintained forest trails that will lead you through a variety of habitat zones typical of the region, including some of the most beautiful, accessible, and well preserved montane humid forest to be found anywhere on the east slope of the Andes. We did not really explore any of the trails whilst we were there though. 

 

What attracted me to this lodge was the extensive mammal list. In particular, tapir is said to be ”seen with surprising regularity right around the lodge” and there is a salt lick especially for them that is viewable right from the verandah in the restaurant. Tayra- “One of the most frequently seen of the larger mammals”. Long-tailedWeasel - “seen most frequently crossing roads”, Giant Anteater - “many recent sightings from forests below the cabins” and Night Monkey – "A resident family group can be seen on most evenings around  the cabins. Species undetermined, but it has been rumoured that it could be an undescribed species”. 

Realistically I thought we had a reasonable change of night monkey but unfortunately we didn’t connect with them on this trip. We did, however, see the resident Black Agoutis around the lodge. Also around the lodge were Golden-crowned Flycatcher, more Inca Jays,  Chestnut-breasted Coronets and more Long-tailed Sylphs. 

 

PB170611 Black Agouti by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB170613 Golden-crowned Flycatcher by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB170659 Tiger Moth Amastus coccinator by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB170691 Inca Jay by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB170752 Long-tailed Sylph Female by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB170768 Chestnut-breasted Coronet by Jo Dale, on Flickr
 

After dinner we were visited by a pair of the now famous San Isidro “Mystery Owls”.  This owl was discovered a few years ago and is a regular visitor around the lodge. But it has not yet been determined exactly what species it is. There are two species of Ciccaba owls in Ecuador, Black-and-white Owl, and Black-banded Owl. Black-and-white Owl is confined to the western slope of the Andes at elevations usually lower than 1300m, while Black-banded Owl is found on the East slope, although only in the lowlands and foothills, (up to around 900m elevation). The inter-andean valley provides a natural barrier between the west and east slopes which is why we see a different assemblage of species. So it should be a Black-banded Owl but this species has never knowingly been recorded above much lower elevations (and many birds in the Andes are restricted attitudinally as well as geographically. 

 

In addition, the bird appears somewhere between the two in plumage, so does not really fit either one perfectly. As the calls of both Black-banded, Black-and-white and the “mystery owl” are basically the same, this does not enlighten us any further either. So there are a couple of intriguing possibilities, either it might be a new species of owl, or perhaps they are all variations of the same overarching species. Hopefully some genetic studies will eventually shed light on this. Whatever they are, they are a spectacular pair of owls!
 

PB170886_01 San Isidro Mystery Owl by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB170890_01 San Isidro Mystery Owl by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB170920_01 San Isidro Mystery Owl by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB170927_01 San Isidro Mystery Owl by Jo Dale, on Flickr

Edited January 7, 2023 by kittykat23uk

[Galago]

Wow, the Mystery Owl is very striking. And loving your photos. 

[janzin]

One note, your White-booted Racquet-tail with the buffy boots is actually now Peruvian Racquet-tail, at least according to Ebird and the ABA (maybe not your European source!) It was just recently split and I gained an armchair bird! https://ebird.org/species/boorat2/

 

Awesome sighting of the bears!

[Alexander33]

Really enjoying this thorough report of a destination high on my list. Mountain Tapir?  I’m not too proud to admit that I didn’t know such a thing even existed. Baird’s Tapir has long been my top nemesis species in Central/South America, and now there’s another one, too!  And Spectacled Bear — I’ve only seen them in a rehabilitation center, not purely in the wild. Just wonderful. 
 

Spectacular birds, all of them. Thanks for posting this.  Looking forward to more. 

[kittykat23uk]

Thank you! Well there isn't much more of this report left to tell as we only have two more nights left, one of which was back in quito... 

[Atdahl]

So, I have no idea how I possibly missed this report.  But, I just spent the last hour catching up.  Wow! Jo.  Amazing bird photos.  Way too many great ones to pick a favorite.  And on top of all the amazing birds you saw a freaking mountain tapir AND spectacled bear....fantastic!!!  

 

What I a great trip.  

 

Alan

[kittykat23uk]

Thanks, and there was still one more surprise to come... 

[kittykat23uk]

18th November San Isidro 

 

I had hoped that we could make a trip to Wild Sumaco but in the end we all agreed that, despite having an extra night to play with (due to KLM cancelling our saturday evening flight), it would be a bit too rushed still and Eric was keen that we spend our final night back at Quito. Given he was still recovering, we agreed that would be best, to relieve the pressure of having to get back to the airport for 1430 the next day. 

 

So we had a leisurely start around the lodge where the nightly moth trap attracted a range of birds including a pair of masked trogons. The moth trap had attracted a ranged of interesting and beautiful moths and an impressive male Dobsonfly which sadly came to a sticky end in the beak of a Strong-billed Woodcreeper.  Other birds that came in included Canada Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Smoke-coloured Peewee, Marble-faced Bristle-tyrant, Inca Jay, Summer Tanager, Crimson-rumped Cacique, Pale-edged Flycatcher, Saffron-crowned Tanager, Common Chlorospingus, Olive-backed Woodcreeper, Black-billed Peppershrike,  Green and Black Fruiteater, Flavescent Flycatcher, Cinnamon Flycatcher and then we took a brief walk along the trail to see White-bellied Antpitta.

 

PB180033 Common Chlorospingus (Northern Andean form) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB180119 Masked Trogon by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB180120 Canada Warbler by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB180176 Inca Jay by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB180195 Dobsonfly by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB180213 Masked Trogon by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB180231 Strong-billed Woodcreeper by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB180236 Strong-billed Woodcreeper by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB180282 Pale-edged Flycatcher by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB180290 Masked Trogon by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB180336 Rufous-collared Sparrow by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB180381 Masked Trogon by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB180386 Blackburnian Warbler by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB180427 Olive-backed Woodcreeper by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB180449 Smoke-coloured Pewee by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB180464 Pale-edged Flycatcher by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB180467 Inca Jay by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB180471 Marble-faced Bristle-Tyrant by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB180492 Summer Tanager by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB180524 Inca Jay by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB180537 Strong-billed Woodcreeper by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB180539 Black Agouti by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB180584 Scarlet-rumped Cacique by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB180616 Black-billed Peppershrike by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB180618 Pale-edged Flycatcher by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB180631 Green and Black Fruiteater by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB180676 Masked Trogon by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P1860207 Flavescent Flycatcher by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB180777 Cinnamon Flycatcher by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB180848 White-bellied Antpitta by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB180883 Moth by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB180892 Moth by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

After breakfast we took a walk/drive along the entrance road to see what other birds we could find, this included Lemon-browed flycatcher, Azara's Spinetail and the sweet little Rufous-crowned Tody Flycatcher, we also had House Wren back at the lodge.

 

Cosanga

We searched local rivers for torrent duck without success. At Cosanga we picked up Roadside Hawk on the way, then at the river Solitary Sandpipper, Fasciated Tiger Heron, White-capped Dipper, and another sunbittern.  

 

PB180993 Roadside Hawk by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB181056 Butterfly by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB181133 Solitary Sandpiper by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB181169 Fasciated Tiger Heron by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB181245 White-capped Dipper by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB181370 Sunbittern by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB181442 Smooth-billed Ani by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Our final destination in Cosanga was supposed to be good for Cock of the Rock, which had apparently been coming to feed on a specific tree. Unfortunately they didn’t appear, despite us spending the remainder of the afternoon and evening there. We did see more of the same hummers from the previous day (Green-backed Hillstar, Violet-fronted Brilliant, Tawny-bellied Hermit,  though and as it happened, waiting as long as we did was worth it for the drive back.

 

PB181499 Green-backed Hillstar by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB181777 Green-backed Hillstar by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB181821_01 Green-backed Hillstar by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB181828_01 Green-backed Hillstar by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB181868_01 Tawny-bellied Hermit by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB181885_01 Violet-fronted Brilliant by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB181892_01 Violet-fronted Brilliant by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB181997_01 Violet-fronted Brilliant by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

 

 

We passed Southern Lapwings on the way back.

 

PB180104_01 Southern Lapwing by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

 

It was dark by the time we got back to the San Isidro entrance road and as we were driving we spotted a shape sitting in the middle of the track. We drove closer and it became clear to me that it was a very small cat, smaller than an ocelot, about the size of a housecat and I realised that it must be an Oncilla! Unfortunately I was in the back of the car and couldn’t get any decent photos, but it quickly stood up and trotted to the side of the road, moved in and out of cover for a brief time before being lost to view. Eric managed to snap a couple of record shots. I was stoked! A new cat for me and Eric’s first ever wild cat species. We went back to the lodge with big grins on our faces, even Francisco hadn’t seen an Oncilla before.  The rest of the night was quiet, no night monkeys or tapirs put in a appearance but I didn’t really care being that I was on a high with the little kitty!

 

P1880175 Oncilla by Eric Sills, on Flickr

 

P1880177 Oncilla by Eric Sills, on Flickr

[Atdahl]

An Oncilla!  Awesome, congrats Jo.  What a nice way to end a very successful trip.

 

Alan

[Atravelynn]

Oncilla on top of everything else!  In an ironic twist we may not wish to think about too hard, the oncilla probaby preys on some of those colorful birds in your photos.  So it is in nature.  And you saw a whole lotta' nature.

[kittykat23uk]

Yes we were really delighted to see Oncilla. Maybe I should take Eric to Borneo next time and just do some relaxed bird photography there. I bet that we'd chance upon a clouded leopard!  None of this being out until 3 am and up again at 5 am every night... 

[kittykat23uk]

19th November San Isidro to Quito

 

We had another early morning watch of the moth traps, seeing most of the same assemblage of birds as the previous morning.  Russet-backed Oropendolas put on a good show and we also picked up Golden-colared Honeycreeper- sadly not playing ball in respect of a photo. Azaras Spinetail, Mountain Wren were more accommodating and we did manage to get shots this time of Saffron-crowned and  Eastern race of Flame-faced Tanagers. 

 

 

 

PB180131 Large Beetle by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB190169_01 Russet-backed Oropendola by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB190175_01 Common Chlorospingus by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB190205_02 Summer Tanager by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB190218 Azara's Spinetail by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB190234 Mountain Wren by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB190274 Black-billed Peppershrike by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB190331 Strong-billed Woodcreeper by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB190342 Strong-billed Woodcreeper by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB190374 Cinnamon Flycatcher by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB190394_01 Masked Trogon by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB190435 Summer Tanager by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB190441 Masked Trogon by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB190509 Pale-edged Flycatcher by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB190593 Black Agouti by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB190725 Saffron-crowned Tanager by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB190825 Flame-faced Tanager by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

 

 

Quijos Eco Lodge

Our stop for the morning was Quijos Eco Lodge. This seemed a popular place for kayakers and there was a group of young adventurers finishing off their breakfast when we arrived. We enjoyed the same types of hummers as previous days, together with more oropendolas, Blue-grey Tanagers, Inca Jays, Orange-bellied Euphonias. 

Down by the river I managed to obtain the briefest views of a female Torrent Duck but she vanished from view before I could get Eric and Francisco on her. A solitary sandpiper was also seen. A Tropical Kingbird in an unusually upright pose confounded identification for a time and we continued to check any areas of accessible river frontage for ducks, only picking up a Yellow-browed Sparrow,  as we returned to the lodge for lunch.

 

PB190944_01 Green-backed Hillstar by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB190963_01 Blue-grey Tanager by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB190981 Inca Jay by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB191019 Orange-bellied Euphonia by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB191107 Violet-fronted Brilliant by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB191124 Violet-fronted Brilliant by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB191149_01 Tawny-bellied Hermit by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB191154_01 Tawny-bellied Hermit by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB191385 Russet-backed Oropendola by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB191595 Solitary Sandpiper by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB191635 White-booted Racket-tail (eastern race) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB191779_01 Tropical Kingbird by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB191794_01 Yellow-browed Sparrow by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB191822_01 Black Vulture by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

After lunch it was time to depart for Quito. We had hoped that we might be able to see some of the city and do a bit of souvenir shopping but something got lost in translation and Francisco told us that the hotel at Puembo was too far from the main part of Quito to do any of that, despite us having the following morning free. We let it go, given that we were not originally planning to have that extra night in Quito, and Francisco wasn't actually charging us for any additional guiding time (the only extra expenses were the food and accommodation). I think it also might have had something to do with Ecuador playing a world cup match that night. 

 

 

Puembo Bird Gardens

So our last night and morning were spent relaxing around Puembo Birding Gardens. A smaller property than San Jose which thankfully doesn't have a farm with imprisoned bunnies. As a birding garden though we did see a few birds, including a White-cheeked Pintail, but it wasn’t like a full on birding site like the other places we visited, but there were a few hummers flying around (the feeders were not particularly well placed for photography) and some tanagers to keep us occupied. We also played a few rounds of pool. 

 

PB191848_01 Sparkling Violetear by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB200041 White-cheeked Pintail by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

 

 

20th November home time.

 

After taking lunch at the birding gardens we were met by a very elated Francisco (Ecuador had won their match) and whisked off to the airport for our return home. Thankfully the return journey was uneventful and we managed to pick up a few souvenirs in the airport before we departed. 

 

 

 

PB200053_01 Saffron Finch by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB200125_01 Blue and Yellow Tanager by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB200155 Scrub Tanager by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB200287 Eared Dove by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB200307  Western Emerald by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB200485_01 Sparkling Violetear by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB200412_01 Saffron Finch by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB200446_01 Shiny Cowbird (Female) by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB200465 Great Thrush by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB200505 Western Emerald by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB200577 Black-tailed Trainbearer by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB200660 Lesser Violetear by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

PB200661 Lesser Violetear by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Overall it was a very successful trip both bird and mammal wise, the only major misses for me being the two other mountain toucans. Next stop Tasmania!

 

Edited January 14, 2023 by kittykat23uk

[Atdahl]

Great report Jo.  You saw some amazing things and I definitely think you need to take Eric to Deramakot .

 

Have fun in Tasmania, it's a great place and the wildlife is fantastic.

 

Alan

[TonyQ]

A wonderful report @kittykat23uka really enjoyable read with superb photos throughout. The birds were excellent in number, variety and quality of sightings. But the big surprise to me was the number of different mammals you saw - at least three of which I had never heard of

It looks like you chose a very good itinerary with a good company.

The lodges looked very good.

With hindsight would you have made any changes to the itinerary?

 

Thanks again for a very enjoyable report 

[kittykat23uk]

Thanks Tony that's a good question. Well, bearing in mind this was our first trip to Ecuador and also Eric's first trip to the americas, I don't think we would have changed much. 

 

I would not stay at san Jose de puembo again, at least not until they addressed the issue with the rabbits. 

 

There are loads of other lodges in the west slopes. I might be tempted to see whether there are any in a similar price bracket to Bellavista with good mammals but more comfortable. Compared to sashatamia it was a bit basic. 

 

Tambo condor was also a bit cold, Eric suffered there with the cold although we did have a nice open fire going and the location was spectacular. 

 

I think that there were a few sites further west that would have added variety, maybe if we'd got the toucan barbet on our first visit to Tumpiki we could have explored more. 

 

Had I been with my mammal watching buddies I'm sure we'd have insisted on a few night drives. 

 

If I had known we'd just be kicking our heels at a hotel in quito on the last day I would probably have argued more in favour of having that final night at san isidro and then maybe tried to cover wild sumaco. 

 

Obviously adding the amazon would have got more variety, but it's hard to see what we could have dropped to fit that in, you'd have to try and squeeze more sites in, maybe less time at feeders.. 

Edited January 15, 2023 by kittykat23uk

[TonyQ]

thank you @kittykat23uk

[AfricIan]

Belated thanks for a great report @kittykat23uk, you certainly saw lots.  Our recent trip to Costa Rica was our first to Central/South America so I've not a lot to compare with but you're right, there is a lot of crossover between what we saw and your trip. 

[Kitsafari]

finally all caught up. so many stunning birds beautifully captured by you @kittykat23uk. 

awesome sighting of the tapir and bears, and what an unusual bird that umbrellabird is  - I kinda felt sorry for it having to carry that huge wattle.