Travel to and from
On June 5, 2011 we bought four tickets from Copa for a total of $2861 to fly to Ecuador on 8/11 (Thu) and return on 8/21 (Sun). This airline is either owned by Continental or has a very tight arrangment with them.
On the way there:
Flew from Houston to Panama City on CO1034: 3:05pm to 7:15pm
Flew from Panama City to Quito on CM211: 9:28pm to 11:21pm
On the way back (in theory):
The trip back turned into a small nightmare:
On the way to Newark there
was 'weather' and we loitered until low and gas and landed at
Baltimore airport.
Waited a couple/few hours in the freight
area.
Then went to a gate, went through
customs, checked our bags back on the plane and waited.
Finally got out to Newark around 11pm.
At
Where we birded:
Where we stayed:
We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in
Cabanas
We stayed here, past Baeza and near Cusango, from 8/12 to
8/15, three nights. It's at 2050m on the
east slope of the
Bellavista
We had planned in the very beginning to stay at Bellavista for a few days but in the end stayed just for one night. We were looking for smaller operations and Bellavista, though not a big operation, is busier than Cabanas San Isidro and Las Gralarias, though it does depend on when you are there. Bellavista sits at about 2200m and has a lot of trails you can spend time on. We stayed one night and had three meals. The meals were good, the staff was very helpful and friendly.
Las Gralarias
Jane Lyons has put a lot of time and effort into preserving
and reforesting some great land 3.5 Kms off the same highway from which you
turn off to get to Bellavista.
More a
private than public reserve, the operation is small in size.
There were a few visiting researchers during
our stay, one of which, Tim from the UK, served as a guide on some of the
trails our first full day and joined us for a visit to Milpe, about 30-40 minutes
away, our second full day.
The hummingbird
feeders yielded 14 species, and the banana feeder brought some beautiful
tanagers very close.
Jane was very
helpful up front, providing useful travel information as well as acquiring
passes for us to enter
Hacienda La Cienega
We had only heard of this hacienda from a couple of reports and in some reviews had an inkling that it may not be the best run place but was, nevertheless, quite nice. We set up the reservation through Mercy, who also helped us get a guide. See below about failing to get us a guide. The place has been around for a long time, and Alexander Humboldt visited it. They have quite a good restaurant.
It was $139.15 for the room for one night, which included taxes and a very good breakfast.
Our Transportation:
Reports/Checklists used:
- Derek
Kverno:
- Derek Kverno: Reserva Las Gralarias, March 2010
- Derek Kverno: Rio Silanche, June 2009
- from birdingsiteguide.com a report for Antisana Ecological Reserve from Sep 14, 2006
- from
birdingsiteguide.com a report and description for
- from
birdingsiteguide.com a list for
- from
birdtours.co.uk, a trip report for
- from
birdtours.co.uk, a trip report for
- from
Surfbirds trip reports, a trip for
- report
regarding central
- from
an Alaskan, a trip report from
- Tandayapa valley and area report by Jeff Skevington, who was collecting insects of some type, which covers a number of places we visited, and the
- Milpe Bird Sanctuary Bird Checklist
DAY BY DAY:
August 12, 2011
Around 8am picked up the Suzuki Grand Vitara from
Avis. Headed out to
Saw 18 species: rock pigeon
on the way up, silvery grebe, yellow-billed pintail, andean ruddy duck, black
vulture, variable hawk, aplomado falcon, carunculated caracara, andean
coot,
andean lapwing, andean gull, stout-billed
cinclodes, bar-winged cinclodes, paramo ground-tyrant, brown-bellied swallow, great
thrush, plumbeous sierra-finch, rufous-collared sparrow.
Made our way to Cabanas San Isidro and had a delicious dinner and met Alejandro, who was a superb host during our stay.
August 13, 2011
Met our guide at Cabanas San Isidro, Marcelo. Had a great breakfast and headed out to bird the grounds, from about 7am to noon. Saw a lot of great birds. Keep in mind that this was not on the trails into the forest but on the paths around the cabins and nearby on the entrance road. Saw 42 species: blue & white swallow, glossy-black thrush, inca jay, saffron-crowned tanager, rufous-collared sparrow, montane woodcreeper, pale-edged flycatcher, crimson-mantled woodpecker (a real beauty), brown-capped vireo, streak-necked flycatcher, rufous-breasted flycatcher, russet-backed oropendola, subtropical cacique, blue-gray tanager, white-bellied ant-pitta (Guido fed worms to the bird at 7:30am), mountain wren, slate-throated whitestart, cinnamon flycatcher, pearled treerunner, black-eared hemispingus, common bush-tanager, gray-breasted wood-wren, black-capped tanager, ashy-headed tyrannulet, masked trogon (whistled in by Marecelo), red-billed parrot, rufous-crowned tody-tyrant, russet-crowned warbler, azara's spinetail, orange-bellied euphonia, white-crowned eleania, black & white seedeater, squirrel cuckoo, white-collared swift, chestnut-collared swift, roadside hawk, bronzy inca, collared inca, speckled hummingbird, long-tailed sylph, sparkling violetear, fawn-breasted brilliant.
We also heard blackish tapaculo and, the night before,
After lunch we relaxed, noticing some masked flowerpiercers and white-sided flowerpiercers, but not paying much attention otherwise as it gets quite quiet in the early afternoon: masked flowerpiercer, white-sided flowerpiercer.
We took an afternoon drive down to the end of the entrance road with Marcelo, heading away from the highway. We saw: tropical kingbird, torrent tyrannulet, black phoebe, flame-faced tanager, saffron-crowned tanager, yellow-vented woodpecker, southern lapwing, brown-bellied swallow, masked flowerpiercer, highland motmot.
The motmots were on a branch overhanging the road that Marcelo knew about. This was a great sight.
At night we had another great meal and went to the parking area to look for the "san isidro" owl. We got great looks at the owl and saw him/her catch a giant flying beetle!
We heard rufous-bellied nighthawk very clearly this night and, in fact, had heard it the night before. This is one of two only heard birds on our list for this trip, all the others were seen.
August 14, 2011
Met our guide at Cabanas San Isidro, Marcelo. Had another great breakfast and headed out to bird Guacamayos Ridge, about 30 minutes away by car. We stopped in Cusango just past the bridge over the river and picked up a male torrent duck! Then off to the ridge. Marcelo indicated he had seen birdier days, and there were some lulls, but we saw some fantastic birds. 20 species: torrent duck (in Cusango), blue & white swallow, beryl-spangled tanager, grass green tanager, common bush-tanager, collared inca, blue and black tanager, masked flowerpiercer, hooded mountain tanager, spectacled whitestart, green & black fruiteater, rufous-headed pygmy-tyrant, turquoise jay, cinnamon flycatcher, pearled treerunner, yellow-whiskered bush-tanager, spotted barbtail, three-striped warbler, handsome flycatcher, long-tailed sylph.
We heard: rufous-bellied nighthawk (very clearly at the cabanas), andean guan, scaly-naped amazon, plain-tailed wren, spillman's tapaculo
Had a great lunch and relaxed until about 3pm at which point we headed out with Marcelo to bird some trails, in particular those around the cock of the rock lek. It was quiet but we again enjoyed the beautiful birds we saw. The fantastic cock of the rocks we saw at the lek where they come by in the late afternoon even when they are not leking. We saw inca jay, russet-backed oropendola, montane woodcreeper, saffron-crowned tanager, sulphur-bellied tyrannulet, red-billed parrot (very cooperative), cock of the rock!
We heard: plain-tailed wren, rufous-vented tapaculo (very close but hidden)
It started to rain on the walk back and near the cabins a big branch snapped and there was movement away from the tree. I saw a shadow, my wife saw a large animal, and Marcelo, the closest, saw it was a young spectacled bear!
August 15, 2011
Had breakfast and, with our box lunches, headed out to pass
through
We saw couple of hummers we couldn't id as they came just once and we didn't see them again. They looked like fawn-breasted brilliant and great saphirewing.
After a couple hours we left and arrived at
August 16, 2011
Took an early walk, had breakfast and took another walk. After that we relaxed a little and had lunch. It was Olivia's 6th birthday and David had the cook make a cake and some staff members and us sang happy birthday to Olivia. He then had our girls help him prepare a couple hummingbird feeders. On our first walk we did the Heliconia trail again, while on the second we took trail F up to the road and walked along the road to trail W and came back down. The second walk, as it was longer, was more productive. After lunch we headed out back to the highway but in the opposite direction from which we entered. We stopped at the Bellavista research center and waited for the plate-billed toucan to come and feed it's baby at a nest just outside the center. It came but was very frightened and did not come to the nest when we were there. This is when we got great looks at the sickle-winged guan. We saw, including the hummers at the feeders, 24 species: pearled treerunner, montane woodcreeper, hooded mountain tanager (David was present with a group when we saw this species which was out of place), blue-winged mountain tanager, olive finch, beryl-spangled tanager, powerful woodpecker (male, Olivia spotted this guy), slate-throated whitestart, masked flowerpiercer, golden tanager,
crimson-rumped toucanet, plate-billed mountain-toucan, sepia-brown wren, dusky bush-tanager, sickle-winged guan, collared inca, purple-throated woodstar, booted racket tail,
sparkling violetear, speckled hummingbird, buff-tailed coronet, violet-tailed sylph, purple-bibbed white-tip, fawn-breasted brilliant.
We got down to the highway, and headed down a little ways
and turned up the road to Las Gralarias,
where we'd be spending three nights.
Each time we drove up and down this 3 1/2 km road we crossed the
equator.
We were greeted by Jan Lyons,
the owner, and also met Tim and Vickie, researchers from the
August 17, 2011
After a hearty and early breakfast, with Tim as guide, we walked for over four hours, a little longer than we're used to, on the upper trails of Las Gralarias, starting out from the dinning area. Our first bird was the quetzal. We saw 23 species: golden headed quetzal, powerful woodpecker, red-billed parrot, plate-billed mountain toucan, masked trogon, turkey vulture, yellow-bellied seedeater, blue-winged mountain tanager, dusky bush-tanager, golden tanager, capped conebill, blue-capped tanager, cattle egret (actually down below Las Gralarias), pearled treerunner, brown-capped vireo, white-tailed tyrannulet, masked flowerpiercer, band-tailed pigeon, white-sided flowerpiercer, rusty-winged barbtail, beryl-spangled tanager, orange-bellied euphonia, tyrannine creeper.
We got poor looks at: three-striped warbler, flavescent flycatcher. We also heard: naruno tapaculo, azara's spinetail, spillman's tapaculo, club-winged manakin (very near and clearly heard, but no visual), beautiful jay. Tim also pointed out and explained the life cycle of the tarantula hawk.
We relaxed, had lunch, and spent some time at the hummingbird feeders and the banana feeders. At the latter we had close up views of masked flowerpiercer, orange-bellied euphonia, blue-winged mountain tanager, golden tanager and blue-capped tanager. The hummingbird feeders had the most numerous variety of hummers we saw on our trip with 14 species: tawny-bellied hermit, green violetear, sparkling violetear, rufous-tailed hummingbird, andean emerald, speckled hummingbird, fawn-breasted brilliant, brown inca, collared inca, buff-tailed coronet, velvet-purple coronet (beauty), booted racket-tail, violet-tailed sylph, white-bellied woodstar.
In the afternoon we drove down to some trails in the lower
part of the property.
We got some
birding in but it was raining lightly and eventually started pouring.
My wife was bitten by around a dozen ants
that crawled up her pants at one point.
The ants were black, the bites stung and the welts stayed around for
almost a week.
It seemed that additional
welts appeared afterwards as a result of the initial bites, even though the
ants were no longer around.
We saw 9
species:
glossy-black thrush, golden-headed
quetzal, kestrel, tropical kingbird, montane creeper, slate-throated
whitestart, ornate flycatcher,
blue-winged mountain tanager, pacific hornero (on the
entrance road on the return to Las Gralarias).
We heard: andean solitaire. We got poor looks at: scaly-throated foliage gleaner
At dinner time, Tim from
August 18, 2011
We had an early breakfast and headed out to Milpe. After getting down to the highway, Milpe is about 25-40 minutes down the highway. It's at altitude of 1020-1150 meters and the birds include a number not seen at Las Gralarias, and vice versa. The drive to Milpe was very foggy. A motorcycle was in front of us driving carefully and we stayed behind him with him in our sights so that we could see when he was braking. It cleared up considerably by the time we hit Milpe, though there was some rain. We birded an easier trail, had our boxed lunch in the picnic area and then birded the entrance road, beyond Milpe as well as around Milpe. While we saw some great birds within Milpe, we saw a higher number of birds on the road. All in all, our visit was wonderful. In addition to the birds we saw a couple of blue-morpho butterlies on the road and on the trails a giant snail with a foot approximately 4" x 8" in size! Tim got on the club-winged manakin and we watched it from a fairly close distance as it rubbed it's wings: spectacular. The red-headed barbet didn't give good views, but it was easy to i.d. The immaculate antbird, a male-female pair, was also tough to observe, refusing to stop moving. We saw 37 species: buff-throated saltator, tropical kingbird, club-winged manakin, buff-throated foliage gleaner, red-headed barbet, dusky-capped flycatcher, ornate flycatcher, tropical parula, immaculate antbird, blue-necked tanager, bronzy-winged parrot, swallow tanager, lemon tanager, blue-gray tanager, thick-billed euphonia, slate-throated whitestart, masked water-tyrant (in front of a house on the road), blue & white swallow, yellow-throated bush-tanager, broad-billed motmot, orange-bellied euphonia, black & white becard, spotted woodcreeper, fawn-breasted tanager, red-eyed vireo, golden tanager, one-colored becard, choco toucan (first spotted by Tim from the road), pale-billed aracari (spotted from the road), white-whiskered hermit, green thorntail, green-crowned woodnymph, rufous-tailed hummingbird, andean emerald, purple-bibbed white-tip, green-crowned brilliant, white-necked jacobin (a little out of range but cooperative).
We heard, and I'm including it on our list as it was very near and very clear: wattled guan (neat sound). Couldn't id: Two raptors.
After lunch we headed a little down the highway to the
After our dessert it was getting near four and we decided against going to Rio Salinche and birded a little bit along the old Mindo-Nono road, picking up a few birds we had seen around Las Gralarias, and adding white-tipped dove as a new bird. We ate, packed and bedded down early as we had to hit the road very early to get to Angel Paz's home the next morning. We asked for a box breakfast.
August 19, 2011
Got up in the dark and headed out in the dark, to Angel Paz's refuge and home. While there is a sign to the entrance road a short distance up the highway, Angel's home is not signed and we passed it and luckily got back in time. This was a wonderful experience. Angel is truly devoted, and his brother is fully committed also. We saw all the tough birds that Angel has and were treated to a very tasty late breakfast of traditional Ecuadorian food. We also bought some delicious blackberries from Angel. We saw 21 species: cock-of-the-rock, ochre-breasted antpitta, moustached antpitta, ochre-breasted antpitta, yellow-breasted antpitta, dark-backed wood quail, toucan barbet, crimson-rumped toucanet, orange-breasted fruiteater, common potoo, red-eyed vireo, blue-winged mountain tanager, turkey vulture, tropical kingbird, american kestrel, booted racket tail, brown inca, violet-tailed sylph, andean emerald, purple-breasted woodstar, purple-bibbed white-tip.
After leaving Angel's home we headed towards Hacienda La Cienga, in Lasso, near
We tried to catch some of the hummers in the very nice
gardens, but the hummers would descend from high up in the trees, go to some
flowers far away, and zip back up in the trees.
We visited a very nice artesenian shop in the back of the Hacienda and
bought some nice products, and wound down in the room, looking forward to our
last complete day in
August 20, 2011
Got up and walked around the grounds a bit.
Eared doves are quite common.
Also spotted a black-backed grosbeak in the
horse area.
Had breakfast and 'learned'
that it was high season and a guide was not available so one of the staff's son
will serve as guide.
This was the man who
tried to give me the chocolate ice cream and I believe his name is Gustavo
Tapia.
It wasn't until we got to the
We headed up to the lake were we saw andean gull, andean coot, and andean teal on the water.? In the air we saw cinereous harrier and wonderful looks at a peregrine falcon who climbed and swooped a few times, reaching high speeds. He spooked a number of birds, including a flock of small shorebirds which we didn't i.d. as they were quite far off. I raised my voice and said there is a peregrine falcon. The 'guide' was looking through my scope, which he liked to do, and said he saw them. I looked and he was looking at two people walking, apparently thinking I meant 'peregrinos'. On a few occasions he mentioned that there were no birds in the area in which we were and with much confidence. Nevertheless, in spite of his putting doubt in our minds we continued to look around, getting closer to the volcano. Here we saw the lapwing, kestrel, caracara, ground-tyrant, cinclodes and finch. All together we saw 14 species here: andean lapwing, eared dove, cinereous harrier, peregrine falcon, american kestrel, carunculated caracara, shining sunbeam, black-tailed trainbearer, bar-winged cinclodes, paramo ground-tyrant, great thrush, glossy-black thrush, black-backed grosbeak, plumbeous sierra-finch.
We headed back to
We dropped off the car, took the shuttle to Holiday Inn Express, had a nice dinner and dessert at Crepes & Waffles and hit the sack. Our flight was at 6:10am and we planned on getting up at about 3:30am!
August 21, 2011
Got up at 3:30am and in the hotel van at 4:30am.
In the plane with sandwiches from the hotel
and off at 6:10am as planned.
Connected
in Panama Got up and looking forward to landing at
Birds Seen
178 species, with 145 new for us. I've included the rufous-bellied nighthawk and the wattled guan which were only heard, but very close and very clear.
silvery grebe
andean teal
yellow-billed pintail
andean ruddy duck
torrent duck
cattle egret
turkey vulture
black vulture
cinereous harrier
variable hawk
roadside hawk
carunculated caracara
peregrine falcon
aplomado falcon
kestrel
wattled guan
sickle-winged guan
dark-backed wood quail
andean coot
southern lapwing
andean lapwing
andean gull
rock pigeon
band-tailed pigeon
plumbeous dove
white-tailed quail-dove
eared dove
white-tipped dove
red-billed parrot
bronzy-winged parrot
squirrel cuckoo
black & white owl
common potoo
rufous-bellied nighthawk
white-collared swift
chestnut-collared swift
tawny-bellied hermit
white-whiskered hermit
purple-bibbed white-tip
speckled hummingbird
green thorntail
booted racket-tail
purple-throated woodstar
white-bellied woodstar
white-necked jacobin
green violetear
sparkling violetear
fawn-breasted brilliant
green-crowned brilliant
rufous-tailed hummingbird
andean emerald
green-crowned woodnymph
shining sunbeam
sword-billed hummingbird
bronzy inca
brown inca
collared inca
buff-winged starfrontlet
black-tailed trainbearer
long-tailed sylph
violet-tailed sylph
buff-tailed coronet
chestnut-breasted coronet
velvet-purple coronet
tourmaline sunangel
masked trogon
golden headed quetzal
highland motmot
broad-billed motmot
red-headed barbet
toucan barbet
crimson-rumped toucanet
pale-mandibled aracari
plate-billed mountain-toucan
choco toucan
crimson-mantled woodpecker
yellow-vented woodpecker
powerful woodpecker
azara's spinetail
pearled treerunner
rusty-winged barbtail
spotted barbtail
buff-throated foliage gleaner
stout-billed cinclodes
bar-winged cinclodes
pacific hornero
streaked tufted cheeck
tyrannine creeper
spotted woodcreeper
montane woodcreeper
immaculate antbird
ochre-breasted antpitta
giant antpitta
moustached antpitta
white-bellied ant-pitta
yellow-breasted antpitta
ash-colored tapaculo
sulphur-bellied tyrannulet
ashy-headed tyrannulet
streak-necked flycatcher
rufous-breasted flycatcher
white-crested eleania
rufous-crowned tody-flycatcher
rufous-headed pygmy-tyrant
torrent tyrannulet
ornate flycatcher
cinnamon flycatcher
white-tailed tyrannulet
white-banded tyrannulet
handsome flycatcher
paramo ground-tyrant
brown-backed chat-tyrant
black phoebe
masked water-tyrant
pale-edged flycatcher
dusky-capped flycatcher
tropical kingbird
black & white becard
one-colored becard
green & black fruiteater
orange-breasted fruiteater
andean cock of the rock
club-winged manakin
brown-bellied swallow
blue & white swallow
inca jay
turquoise jay
mountain wren
gray-breasted wood-wren
sepia-brown wren
great thrush
glossy-black thrush
brown-capped vireo
red-eyed vireo
tropical parula
slate-throated whitestart
spectacled whitestart
three-striped warbler
russet-crowned warbler
bananaquit
capped conebill
masked flowerpiercer
white-sided flowerpiercer
orange-bellied euphonia
thick-billed euphonia
swallow tanager
blue-necked tanager
fawn-breasted tanager
golden tanager
saffron-crowned tanager
flame-faced tanager
beryl-spangled tanager
blue and black tanager
black-capped tanager
blue-winged mountain tanager
hooded mountain tanager
white-winged tanager
grass green tanager
blue-gray tanager
blue-capped tanager
lemon-rumped tanager
common bush-tanager
yellow-throated bush-tanager
yellow-whiskered bush-tanager
dusky bush-tanager
black-capped hemispingus
black-eared hemispingus
buff-throated saltator
black-backed grosbeak
black & white seedeater
yellow-bellied seedeater
plumbeous sierra-finch
pale-naped brush-finch
olive finch
rufous-collared sparrow
subtropical cacique
russet-backed oropendola