Galana's Seventh. Lucky numbers.

[TonyQ]

Some real beauties. The Inca Jay is stunning 

And congrats on 500!

Edited October 31, 2023 by TonyQ

[Zim Girl]

Congratulations on reaching the 500.  You are finding some lovely birds in Ecuador.

[Peter Connan]

Congratulations on the 500! Some truly beautiful names.

 

No.493 is almost suitable for inclusion in a Rorschach test. I think you once again have the EBC trophy wrapped up.

 

😬

[xelas]

500 reached ... and passed by. Congratulations!

[Galana]

Thanks everyone for the comments.

I found a bird name that may amuse @Peter Connan

"Semi Plumbeous   xx"

Given my previous explanation to Peter on the link to the Plumbing 'trade' would we be right in thinking that 'Semi plumbeous' is that a Plumber called but could not fix the job so left and never came back?

 

As you can see I am back in Hacienda las Cuevas (Quito) and found the Wiffy was working. Might even find the inclination to go out and add to the score.

Smile.

[BRACQUENE]

Congratulations with reaching 500 Fred!

[Peter Connan]

Or perhaps a plumber that is happy to work on the supply side but refuses to work on the drains?

 

[Galana]

I thought that semi meant 'half' so perhaps he only did half a job and left it unfinished.

 

Teaser. We left our lodge at 13.30 (19.30 Eu time) yesterday 1st and started by having to push the taxi up a muddy rain soaked track.

Then I had to show 'her' the road to the Airport. Then we caught our flight from Quito to AMS as planned.

The plan B failed. We made AMS on time BUT we did not find our plane for MAN.

We are now somewhere in the heart of Europe with hope in our heart for a bed to night. It is 19.23 local, clue there, but where is here and will we make our booked bed tonight? More importantly will our luggage find us there?

Travel broadens the mind and mine is now five feet WIDE.

Need to doctor two submissions due errors. Merged two species of Cacique and White-starts. All correct but need to be 'split' properly.

Til then or tomorrow.

 

G

[michael-ibk]

Hope you made it home safely Fred. Congrats on the #500 milestone! Thank you for showing me so many "friends" from last year, Ecuador is such a spectacular birding country. I´m jealous about the Toucan at Guango, looked for it for hours but no show - very lucky you got it almost from your bed.

[xelas]

Eventually you will reach IOM. And you will start to prepare for your next travel!

[Galana]

12 hours ago, xelas said:

Eventually you will reach IOM. And you will start to prepare for your next travel!

Correct.

I am at home despite KLM's efforts to keep me away.

They wanted me to sleep in Frankfurt last night but I managed to use a powerful suggestion that this was not in their best interest.

So we compromised and we went to FRA instead of MAN BUT then got on a Lufthansa plane to MAN the same night and to our pre-reserved Bed on MAN same night. 6 hours later than booked but where we needed to be for today's flight to IOM. (We had planned on a good nights sleep followed by a leisurely breakfast before a 12.30 flight home BUT we slept solid for TEN hours, missed the breakfast  and damn near missed the plane as well.)

From Bed to Shuttle bus in 19 minutes is worth a point.

Anyway we are here and safe.

The BY can continue shortly.

First some house keeping.

I got carried away in my attempts to avoid too many EBCs and wrongly 'merged' some Cacique and Whitestarts.

498 Spectacled Whitestarts, you can see the 'specs' in the first EBC but I wrongly added a Slate-throated as an improvement for you.) So ignore the guy with the chestnut cap.

492. Caciques. Again in an improvement I wrongly included merged 'Northern Mountain' Yellow rump, Grey bill, with 'Sub tropical' with red rump and yellow bill to give a better photo for you. So ignore.

Don't worry you will be treated to the correct ones later so are missing nothing.

 

Thanks all for following along with my travails and pleased to have re-united @michael-ibkwith some friends.

My 2nd visit and still managed to add 60 lifers. Finding the Toucan was a darn sight easier than chasing along at 4,200mtrs for the Seed-snipe (especially when on re-gaining the vehicle, two of the bleeders saw fit to join us on the track down and we photoed then from the open car window..

That will do for now. Whisky o'clock long gone and to @xelasthere are plans afoot for the next trip. Even Lady G is given it serious consideration I think.

[Galana]

A good nights sleep has been helpful so let me proceed with caution.

Into the 500s.

Our base is still Guango Lodge area.

501. Pearled Treerunner. Guango. Managed a quick ID shot despite its laudable efforts to dodge the lens.

 

502. Spangled Beryl Tanager., (Sounds like a girl I used to know) Guango Lodge.

 

503. Torrent Ducks. Saw these once or twice and the male even played in the torrent to prove it althought the lady was not impressed. Papallacta river. Guango.

 

504. Black Phoebe. Papallata river.

 

505. Torrent Tyrannulet. Rio Papallacta. Same bit really.

 

506. Blue and White Swallow. Cosanga village. At last a bird with a simple name.

 

507. Capped Palm Tanager.  Beaza village.

 

508. Yellow-browed Sparrow. some mountain track or other.

 

509. Tropical Kingbird (or 'TK' as we got to call them) Cosanga.

 

and finally....a splash of colour with low stop number trying to filter out the wire fence.

 

510. Vermillion Flycatcher. Beazte township. And a well name little bird.

 

More to come.

[TonyQ]

LOvely additions. I really liked the Torrent Duck photos

[Galana]

8 hours ago, TonyQ said:

I really liked the Torrent Duck photos

Thanks. They really are quite photogenic to watch.

[PeterHG]

Glad to hear you got home safely. I agree on the Torrent Ducks: beautiful photos and the same goes for the spectacular Vermillion Flycatcher!

[xelas]

Welcome back home! Looking forward to read your trip report as our next autumn travel destination is not set yet.

[Galana]

Thanks everyone. The next few should be posted shortly.

 

5 hours ago, xelas said:

Looking forward to read your trip report

This from the guy who takes weeks to post birds??

Introductory page in course.

[xelas]

2 hours ago, Galana said:

This from the guy who takes weeks to post birds??

To my defence, I am still a greenhorn birder, so getting a proper ID took longer with me .

[Galana]

Here is another batch. More Hummers than Nabucco!

 

Most of these were at a small 'private' site about 30 mins from San Isidro at a lower altitude..

 

511. Booted Raquettail. 

 

512. Tawny-bellied Hermit.

 

513. Bronzy Inca.

 

One you have been waiting for...

514. Sub-tropical Cacique. Note the small red rump.

 

515. Bananaquit, This was the only site where we found this bird.

 

516 Amethyst Woodstar. Sadly the males failed to appear.

 

517. White-tailed Hillstar.

 

518 Blue-grey Tanager. Note the white wing bars on those on the Eastern slopes.

 

519. Neo-tropic Cormorant.

 

520. Black Vulture. Lots around but oddly hard to get a decent portrait of.

 

Stay tuned.

An embryonic Trip Report has started at https://www.safaritalk.net/topic/22645-a-short-trip-down-the-andes-eastern-slopes-from-quito-to-yasuni- october-14th-to-november-3rd-2023/#comment-365513

 

if you need more.

It will lag behind the BY to avoid repetition.

Edited November 5, 2023 by Galana
amended link

[Galana]

Another day another batch...

All around San Isidro.

 

521. Red-breasted Blackbird.

 

522. Red-crested Cotinga. Up near Papallacta.

 

523. Slate-throated Whitestart. San Isidro.

 

524. Sickle-winged Guan. San Isidro Lodge.

 

525. Canada Warbler. San Isidro.

 

526. San Isidro 'Mystery Owl'. Black-banded Owl with differences. A pair turned up at dinner most evenings.

 

527.  Cinnamon Flycatcher. San Isidro.

 

528. Black-crested Warbler. San Isidro. A trifle shyer than his cousins.

 

529. Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher. San Isidro.

 

530. Montane Woodcreeper. San Isidro.

 

Enjoy.

[TonyQ]

27 minutes ago, Galana said:

 

 

Enjoy.

I did!

Good to see so many following the Galana naming convention 

Edited November 6, 2023 by TonyQ

[Peter Connan]

That mystery owl is a very pretty bird, as are a bunch of the others!

[pedro maia]

Belated congrats on #500 and on all those beatifull species, I particularly liked the Andean Jay and the Seed-snipe (well, and many others)

 

Now I have to catch up on both your TRs, and not only yours.

[Galana]

8 hours ago, Peter Connan said:

That mystery owl is a very pretty bird

Quite obliging too. They would appear just as dinner reached the last course almost as though they wanted to share the pudding.

Still not accurately defined. Not quite the true Black and white from western slopes or the Black-banded of the eastern lowlands with San Isidro being at 2000mts.

 

Here follows another ten with a huge indulgence.

 

531. Pale-edged Flycatcher. San Isidro Lodge

 

532. Olive-backed Wodcreeper.

 

533. White-bellied Ant Pitta. San Isidro. Comes to the Whistle for a morning worm.

 

A short walk along the 'road' to San Isidro we found the following beauty relying solely on camouflage as a stump.

Close scrutiny revealed she was brooding a chick. She was also very wet from recent rain.

 

A yawn from junior. Looks like Alien bursting out.

 

We returned next day as the sun was drying them out..

534. Andean Pottoo. Much darker than its common cousin.

 

535. Sulphur-bellied Tyrannulet. San Isidro. One huge benefit of having Gabriel as my guide was that as well as spotting skulkers he could name them too.

 

536. Smoke-coloured PeeWee. (I always thought that was a medical symptom! Who knew?)

 

537. Black-billed Peppershrike. Well I get the black bill part!

 

538. Mountain Wren. San Isidro.

 

539. Yellow-headed Caracara. Named for it having a Yellow head. San Isidro roadside.

 

540. Western Wood PeeWee. Don't ask. San Isidro.

 

 

 

[Galana]

Today's batch are from  a lodge called "Rio Quijos" where we stopped for a look round and lunch.

Excellent place. Worth a visit.

 

541. Lemon -browed Flycatcher.

 

542. Green-backed Hillstar.

 

543. Palm Tanager.

 

544. Golden Tanager.

 

545. Bronze-green Euphonia.

 

546. Summer Tanager (female)

 

547. Black-billed Thrush. Very shy.

 

548. Orange-bellied Euphonia.

 

549. Russet-backed Oropendola. Seen several times but not in such a flock. there must have been 50 of them.

 

550. Fasciated Tiger Heron. Down by the river Quijos. Also saw more Torrent Ducks.

 

My computer is playing up and I may go off air for a while. Mr Fixit coming at the weekend.