Ecuador 2025 Part 2
Photos from Bella Vista Lodge continued
Plate-Billed Mountain Trogon
Strong-Billed Woodcreeper
Cinnamon Flycatcher
Powerful Woodpecker
White-Faced Nunbird
Feb 9
Instead of working the moth trap a second morning, Luis took us to another spot he knew, the Mashpi Amagusa Reserve. This reserve is located in an area of incredible diversity. This location provides corn, fruit, and sugar feeders plus a moth trap. It made for excellent photography. This was the only venue on the trip where the birds came faster than my ability to photograph them. New species included, golden-winged manakin, dark-backed wood-quail, white-throated quail-dove, fawn-breasted tanager, swallow tanager, black-striped sparrow, streak-capped treehunter, scaly-throated foliage-gleaner, bay wren, southern house wren, wedge-billed woodcreeper, dusky-capped flycatcher, slaty-capped flycatcher, cinnamon becard, moss-backed tanager, glistening-green tanager, golden-collared honeycreeper, black-chinned mountain tanager, rufous-throated tanager, black solitaire, variable seedeater, Andean solitaire, orange-breasted fruiteater, scaled fruiteater, rose-faced parrot, russet-crowned warbler, Zeldon's antbird, white-winged tanager, and ochre-breasted tanager. I probably failed to record some of the species observed and certainly was unable to photograph every species Luis tried to point out. We also saw two south american coati. An amazing morning.
Glistening-Green Tanager
Golden-Collared Honeycreeper
Golden-Naped Tananger
Moss-Backed Tanager
Dark-Backed Wood-Quail
Orange-Breasted Fruiteater
White-Throated Quail-Dove
Rose-Faced Parrot
Rufous-Throated Tanager
Zeldon's Antbird
Ornate Flycatcher
We headed back to Mirador Guay Cap for another excellent lunch and yet more bird photography. After lunch we birded a few dry shrub habitats on the road back to Quito and the San Jose de Puembo Resort. We picked up an American kestrel, golden grosbeak, hooded siskin, Harris hawk, tropical kingbird and plumbeous sierra finch.
Golden Grosbeak
Feb 10
After a breakfast at the resort we headed toward the Antisana Ecological Reserve. The Reserve is an area quite unlike any other we had visited it Ecuador. The lower elevations of the reserve have a few low shrubs and trees, but as the elevation increased we entered open grassland with scattered low shrubs called paramo. At elevation over 12,000 feet the reserve forms the foothills of the Antisana Volcano (18,870 feet) and is only 60 miles from Quito. The reserve is considered one of the better places to observe Andean condor in Ecuador.
We spotted and then photographed an aplomado falcon close to the road. I was pretty excited as we had unsuccessfully searched for this small falcon in south Texas on numerous occasions.
Aplomado Falcon
In the open grasslands we started picking up new species including, caniculated caracara, Andean lapwing, Andean (black-faced) ibis, chestnut-winged cincloides, stout-billed cincloides, tawny antpitta, paramo pipit, brown-backed chat-tyrant, white-collared swift, Andean gull, black-winged ground dove, and variable hawk. We briefly hiked to Laguna Micacocha, a fair-sized lake where we had distant views of slaty coot, and Andean duck.
Carunculated Caracara
Andean Gull
Andean Ibis
Tawny Antpitta
Stout-Billed Cinclodes
The clouds briefly parted and we had distant views of the snow covered, 18,870 foot Antisana Volcano. Becky spotted some movement in the tall grasses. After a lengthy search we saw a pair of ear tips in the grass. We waited for the creature to further expose itself. Just as we were about to give up and move on I remembered that I had my varmint call (never leave home without it) in my backpack. I gave it a few squeals and not one, but two Andean fox stood up and gave us some solid eye contact.
Andean Fox
Antisana Reserve was at one time a large cattle ranch. We saw numerous wild horses, cattle, white-tailed deer, and llama which remain on the reserve and provide a food source for the Andean condor.
We headed back down the mountain and located the striking Ecuadorian hillstar, many-striped canastero, and hooded siskin.
Ecuadorian Hillstar
Many-Striped Canastero
Our next stop was the Isco Lookout where we had very distant views of the Andean condors on the cliff face across the canyon. This condor has a wingspan of over 10 feet and can weigh up to 33 pounds. I took a few images, but the distances were just too great for anything other than a documentation shot.
Andean Condor
We stopped for lunch at Tambor Condor and photographed the giant hummingbird, the largest hummingbird in the world! Also present were shining sunbeam, Tyrian metaltail, and cinereous conebill.
Giant Hummingbird
Shining Sunbeam
Tyrian Metaltail
At lunch we joined a lecture on spectacled bear ecology with a large group of young American students.
After lunch we traveled over the Papallacta Pass to the Gurango Lodge on the eastern slope of the Andes. We spent a few hours searching the roads within the Cayambe-Coca National Park but were unable to locate the spectacled bears occasionally found here.
Feb 11
At Gurango Lodge we had great views of the river from our unit's back deck. The lodge has a moth trap and associated blind a few feet from the main lodge. I used a flash and was able to get a few decent images of green jay, mountain wren, mountain cacique, and rufous collared sparrow as they came in to pick insects off the trap netting.
Green Jay
Mountain Cacique
I was keen to photograph the rufous-bellied seedsnipe which occurs at high elevations, so after breakfast we drove to the end of the road above Papallacta Pass at an elevation of 14,000 feet. The vegetation is low, tundra type with a diversity of mosses. Luis headed uphill and I went downhill in search of these grouse-sized seedsnipe. After about 30 minutes Luis called and indicated that he had located a pair close to the road. I huffed and puffed back up the hill and eventually arrived breathlessly as the birds slowly feed along the road with the high elevation Andes as a background. After a few hundred photos we worked back down the the road, picking up an Andean tit-spinetail, and white-throated tyrannulet.
Rufous-Bellied Seedsnipe
Andean Tit-Spinetail
After lunch at the lodge we hiked the river trails in search of the torrent duck. We eventually found a male torrent duck perched on a large rock mid-river. These ducks are powerful swimmers and easily negotiate the river rapids. Further search failed to find the female torrent duck or the white-capped dipper which also is found in this habitat.
Torrent Duck
I spent the overcast, rainy afternoon attempting to photograph hummingbirds in the rain. I had some luck and picked up a few interesting hummingbird species including tourmaline sunangel, white-bellied woodstar, collared inca, viridian metaltail, and long-tailed sylph.
White-Bellied Woodstar
Viridian Metaltail
Feb 12
We spent the morning in the moth trap blind capturing more images of the same species we observed on Feb 11. After breakfast Luis found a road above the town of Papallacta with many fruiting trees. Along this road, I photographed plain-colored seedeater, chestnut-bellied chat-tyrant, pearled treerunner, rufous wren, golden-crowned tanager, northern slaty brushfinch, pale-naped brushfinch, spectacled redstart, rufous-breasted chat-tyrant, supercilliaried hemispingus, buff-breasted mountain tanager, blue-backed conebill, red-creasted cotinga, and Lacrimose mountain tanager. A very good road! It was also a reminder that shooting over feeders is much easier than trying to get good images of small birds feeding in dense brush.
Blue-Backed Conebill
Buff-Breasted Mountain Tanager
Golden-Crowned Tanager
Lacrimose Mountain Tanager
We had a late lunch and headed to Rio Quitos Lodge, our next East Andean lodge. We stopped along the way at Concierta de las Aves, which was a newer photo/birding venue where the landowner was in the process of reforestation. New species here included smooth-billed ani, chestnut-breasted coronet, barred becard, orange-bellied euphonia, tawny-bellied hermit, violet-fronted brilliant, green-backed hillstar, and torrent tyrrannulet. On the Rio Quito access road we saw a pair of Andean motmot.
Barred Becard
Chestnut-Breasted Coronet
Orange-Bellied Euphonia
Tawny-Bellied Hermit
Feb 13
Rio Quitos Lodge is at a much lower elevation (4,900 feet) than our previous locations. We had a drizzly morning at the Rio Quitos feeders. Pretty slow with hordes of russet-backed oropendola cleaning out the fruit and driving other species away. A few scarlet-rumped cacique, and Swainson's thrush braved the oropendolas for scraps. As Rio Quito was unproductive, Luis took as about an hour away to another ecolodge where we photographed gorgeted woodstar, collared inca, long-tailed sylph, bronze-green euphonia, olive-backed woodcreeper, chestnut-breasted coronet, and bronzy inca. A Peruvian rackettail was seen briefly by Luis, but it eluded me.
Gorgeted Woodstar (Note the beads of water on his crown)
Swainson's Thrush
Collared Inca
Summer Tanager
We drove back to Rio Quitos for lunch and worked the lodge trails most of the afternoon. We managed to find a pair of torrent ducks, green kingfisher, smoky-brown woodpecker, blackburnian warbler, cerulean warbler, solitary eagle, and black phoebe.
Smoky-Brown Woodpecker
Feb 14
We left Rio Quito Lodge early the next morning and drove about 4 hours to Cocoa in the low elevation Amazon. Along the way we observed a few new species including cliff flycatcher, yellow-headed caracara, crested oropendola, white-throated toucan, greater ani, and white-winged swallow.
Cliff Flycatcher
Yellow-Headed Caracara
Cocoa is somewhat of a boomtown as this portion of the Amazon contains many oilfields. We caught our boat at the city dock and said goodbye to Luis. We were transported in a long, narrow motor boat about three hours down the Napo River to Sani Lodge. The Napo River is a major tributary to the Amazon River. The width of the river varied from as little as 600 yards to over a 1,000 yards with many in-channel islands and sand bars. Although we were frequently close to the bank, no birds, or other wildlife were seen on the ride to the the Lodge landing.
Motorized Canoe Used for Napo River Travel
Sani Lodge is 100% owned by the Sani community which are part of the Kichuwa indigenous culture. Our guide Carlos belongs to the Sani community and seemed to be somehow related to nearly everyone we met. We also met Maxie, our guide in training. From the Sani Lodge landing we had a 15 minute walk along an elevated walkway to the backchannel where our small non-motorized canoes awaited. It was very quickly apparent that we were no longer in the Andes. The Amazon was hot and humid.
The Lodge is located on an off-channel oxbow lake. On our way to the Lodge, Carlos spotted a two-toed sloth, crimson-crested woodpecker, white-winged swallow, long-legged bats, and the unique creme-colored woodpecker. While Becky unpacked, I checked out the lodge. I saw a green-backed trogon and photographed the greater kiskadee, lesser kiskadee, red-capped cardinal, and pale vented pigeon.
Long-Legged Bat
Red-Capped Cardinal
Carlos and Maxie met us for an evening bird adventure. They first took us to a trail near the perimeter of the camp where they had spotted a pair of roosting crested owls. This was a species I had hoped to photograph. However, the vegetation was dense and the birds were strongly backlit. No problem , Maxie whipped out his machete and cut a path through the jungle to a location that allowed much better photography. Off to a great start. We picked up a troop of squirrel monkeys near some of the lodge cabins.
Creasted Owl
Squirrel Monkey
We loaded into one of the canoes and explored one of the small streams. I was able to photograph spot-breasted woodpecker, blue-and-yellow macaw, cocoa heron, and a hoatzin. The hoatzin is a primitive bird that retains its wing claws like its reptilian ancestors. They appear clumsy and are very noisy. We made it back to the lodge by sunset and enjoyed dinner and drinks in the open air restaurant. The lodge was busy but, we were the only birders. A Danish family of five and British and Australian couples made it an international meal.
Blue-and-Yellow Macaw
Continued in Ecuador 2025 Part 3