Fay J Wildlife: May 2007

14/05/2007
Up at 0600 for an early walk along the road. A quick look out of my room door before leaving revealed a Chestnut-crowned Antpitta, a better view than the previous day at the Cock-of-the-Rock lek.
One of the birds I really hoped to see during my visit was Ocellated Tapaculo and during the walk we heard two calling but, even better, managed to see three individuals. Considering this species is normally hard to see, this was a great result, and I even managed to photograph a couple of them.

Most of the day was spent photographing and watching the hummingbirds and other species that frequent the feeders and surrounding forests.
You can hear the hummingbird activity at the feeders, even before they come into view, with the humming, squeaks and chirps audible across the car park. The hummingbird activity is a frenzy of bodies zooming to and fro, arguments, quarrels and fights, with face-offs and outright violence common. It was interesting to see some of the species such as Booted Racket-tails, Speckled Hummingbirds and Buff-tailed Coronets were there all the time while others, such as the Collared Inca, were frequent visitors, yet some, such as the tiny Purple-throated Woodstar and Violet-tailed Sylph, only appeared at certain times. When the Sylph appeared, the other hummingbirds would temporarily put aside their differences and gang up on it.

Birds seen
Chestnut-crowned Antpitta; Grass-green Tanager; Russet-crowned warbler; White-tailed Tyrranulet; Sickle-winged Guan; Blue-capped Tanager; Masked Trogon; Grey-breasted Wood-wren; Blue-and-black Tanager; Thick-billed Euphonia; Beryl-spangled Tanager; White-collared Swift; Chestnut-collared swift; Ocellated Tapaculo; Strong-billed Woodcreeper; Capped Conebill; Booted racket-tail; Speckled Hummingbird; Buff-tailed Coronet; Collared Inca; Purple-throated Woodstar; Violet-tailed Sylph

15/05/2007
Today was spent walking on the trails and trying to actually see Spillmann's Tapaculo, with no success. I heard it, but despite the sounds coming from an area close to the path, the bird remained hidden in the dense undergrowth.
The afternoon was spent watching and photographing the hummingbirds.

Birds seen and/or heard (h)
Spillmann's Tapaculo (h); Sepia-brown Wren; Grey-breasted Wood-wren; Chestnut-crowned Antpitta; Plate-billed Mountain-toucan; Glossy-black Thrush; Red-billed Parrot; White-capped Parrot; Streaked Tufted-cheek; Western Hemispingus; Flame-faced Tanager; Blue-capped tanager; Sickle-winged Guan; Masked trogon (h); Andean Emerald; Montane Woodcreeper; Turquoise Jay; Rufous-naped Brush-finch; Streak-capped Treehunter

16/05/2007
Another early start, this time at 0400 for a visit to Angel Paz's Refugio Paz de las Antpittas for Andean Cock-of-the-Rock and antpittas. On the way down the road, we saw a White-winged Nightjar. The walk to the Cock-of-the-Rock lek was down hill and, while steep, nowhere near as steep or treacherous as the first location was.
We saw one Giant Antpitta and three Yellow-breasted Antpittas, plus the gorgeous Golden-headed Quetzal, Toucan Barbet and Black-chinned Mountain-tanager, all stunning birds. We also found a roosting Rufous-bellied Nighthawk on the branch of a tree. Like other nighthawk and nightjar species, it's cryptically pattered and if you didn't know it was there you'd have dismissed it as just another dead bit of wood.
A return to the butterfly farm at Mindo produced a few more hummingbird species but, as I'd been here a couple of days before, I waited with Jhonny the driver and he tried to teach me some Spanish. I am not a natural linguist by any stretch (I had only just scraped through French at school) but had managed to pick up a few words here and there and was actually able to string together a coherent sentence.
We returned to Bellavista Cloud Forest via the 'Los Colibries' restaurant where we got some more species added to the list, including the Brown Violetear, Social Flycatcher and Smooth-billed Ani.
It was interesting to see road repairs Ecuador-style - a gang of blokes and a truck would deposit black tarmac and some rocks into a pothole and then just leave it. Any traffic that followed would flatten the tarmac and smooth it out over time.

I needed to visit a chemist in Mindo to get something for the insect bites I'd picked up. I'd also stupidly managed to get sunburned as well, so some Caladryl sorted out both ailments.
Back at the lodge, steady rain was falling and some fabulous moths were active, including a huge Sphinx moth the size of my hand outside the toilets. Plenty of frog noises coming out of the foresty gloom.

Birds seen
White-winged Nightjar; Toucan Barbet; Golden-headed Quetzal; Andean Cock-of-the-Rock; Rufous-bellied Nighthawk; Crimson-rumped Toucanet; Black-chinned Mountain-tanager; Streak-capped Flycatcher; Golden-naped Tanager; Giant Antpitta; Brown Inca; Velvet-purple Coronet; Yellow-breasted Antpitta; Fawn-breasted Brilliant; Andean Emerald; Empress Brilliant; Rufous-tailed Hummingbird; Violet-tailed Sylph; Green Violetear; American Kestrel; Turkey Vulture; Swallow-tailed Kite; Southern Rough-winged Swallow; Yellow-bellied Seed-eater; Slate-throated Whitestart; Black Vulture; Azara's Spinetail; Plain-breasted Hawk; Spot-fronted Swift; Squirrel Cuckoo; Pale-mandibled Araçari; Pacific Hornero; Lemon-rumped Tanager; Black Phoebe; Green-crowned Woodnymph; White-bellied Woodstar; Cattle Egret; Smooth-billed Ani; Blue-necked Tanager; Bananaquit; Brown Violetear; Social Flycatcher; House Wren; Palm Tanager

Azara's Spinetail

Andean Emerald

Brown Violetear

Common Potoo

Crimson-rumped Toucanet

Fawn-breasted Brilliant

Giant Antpitta

10/05/2007

Left home late evening and travelled to Heathrow for an early flight to Madrid, arriving at LHR just after midnight. Luckily a few cafés were still open until around 03.00. Slept on the floor of the check in area. Flight to Madrid was at 0600.

11/05/2007

Arrived in Quito via Madrid on an Iberia Airlines A340-600. Met by representatives of Bellavista Cloud Forest at Quito's Mariscal Sucre International Airport.

Early night.

12/05/2007

I was woken up at first light by a lovely song outside, provided by the first bird of my trip, a Great Thrush which was perched on the electrical wires outside. Slightly later, ignoring the inevitable feral pigeons of course, my second bird of the trip was a Rufous-collared Sparrow in the bushes outside the block of flats.

Met the driver Jhonny and other people visiting the Mindo area and drove to the Bellavista Cloud Forest Lodge and Reserve, where I was staying. I also had a few nights further down the valley at Tandayapa later in the trip. The drive wasn’t long, as Mindo is just west of Quito, and a lot of it is on decent roads in good repair, certainly miles better than the potholed goat tracks we call ‘roads’ at home.

We stopped briefly at the Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the World), a monument which marks the Equator - Ecuador, as its name suggests, lies right on the Equator, and where I’d be staying also sits just a few seconds south of the Equator itself at 00.948S/78.40.824W and at 2220 metres above sea level.

The road up to the cloud forest is unmade and not too rough, but is prone to landslides during the wet season. Frequent earthquakes also occur, due to Ecuador’s position on the Pacific Ring of Fire, and it has plenty of volcanoes, both dormant and active.

On the way up we had good views of Andean Cock-of-the-Rock, a male in the overhanging tree branches by the road, which was a piece of good luck as we were expecting them to be harder to see.

After arriving at Bellavista around lunchtime and dumping my stuff in my room, it was time to look round and do some birding and photography. We went on a guided walk along the road with Gabriel, one of the lodge’s guides, in the rain and mist. The trails were slippery and, with the now steady rain, we headed back.

The rest of the afternoon was spent watching the activity at the hummingbird feeders, which were extremely busy. As it got dark odd popping sounds started coming out of the forest which, I was told, were made by frogs while, outside the front of the building, a Common Potoo sat on top of a post. Was assured there were no tarantulas around the building, as I am a complete arachnophobic.

Another early night and I wasn’t looking forward to the very early start in the morning, when we were going to see an Andean Cock-of-the-Rock display area (lek) on one of the nearby mountains. I wasn’t really looking forward to the steep climb either.

Birds seen and/or heard (h)

Great Thrush; Rufous-collared Sparrow; Andean Cock-of-the-Rock; Blue-winged Mountain-tanager; Golden-crowned Flycatcher; Violet-tailed Sylph; Buff-tailed Coronet; Dusky Bush-tanager; Brown-capped Vireo; Turquoise Jay; Streaked Tufted-cheek; Western Hemisphingus; Black-crested Warbler; Montane Woodcreeper; Plate-billed Mountain Toucan; Spillmann’s Tapaculo (h); Grey-breasted Wood-wren (h); Chestnut-crowned Antpitta (h); White-sided Flowerpiercer; Masked Flowerpiercer; Chestnut-capped Brush-finch; Common Potoo (outside the windows at night).

13/05/2007
Very early start (03.30) for the drive to the Cock-of-the-Rock location, arriving at 05.30 in almost complete darkness, followed by a steep climb up to the vantage point. You have to be there early because that is when the birds display, so arriving too late would mean having to go back the following day. Some of the path up is so steep it's almost vertical and there are rope hand rails to help pull yourself up, but it was well worth the climb because we got great views - if not great photos - of the males showing off to their ladies (who didn't seem impressed!). The first evidence of the birds was a tremendous racket coming out of the trees in the half light, as they are a noisy lot, followed by shapes moving around in the gloom. Eventually, as it got lighter, we could see them in all their glory, with the male birds bright red and the female ones much browner. It was definitely worth the early start and the vertical climb.
The descent back down the mountain was treacherous and slippery but it was now daylight so we could see where we were putting our feet.
Next up was an orchid garden so the plant-loving members of the party could see the lovely native plants there; Ecuador's forests are rich in orchids, bromeliads and other plant species that, in the UK, you only see in garden centres and exhibits. The café area had hummingbird feeders and a table with fruit on, so it was alive with birds. The group therefore naturally split between birders and botanists and everyone was happy. Among other creatures seen were Blue Morpho butterflies, a spectacular - and large - butterfly which is electric-blue and black and flies with a peculiar flight that reminded me of the toys we had as kids, which were birds on springs that, when bounced up and down, had the same wing motion as these butterflies do.
After the orchid garden there was a butterfly place where native species are bred (and we got to see - and stroke - some massive, velvety caterpillars which looked like animated Havana cigars).
We ended up at the Mirador Rio Blanco restaurant at Los Bancos where there are a lot of feeders set up and there are enormous picture windows in the restaurant, so you can see the birds having their dinner while you have yours. The birds were spectacular and, for a European who'd never been to the Neotropics before, it was like being in a well-stocked sweet shop!
Back to Bellavista, where we found the numbers had been swelled by a party of Americans, joining the Aussies, Canadians, Germans and the one English person (me). It was a very convivial atmosphere and it's great being surrounded by so many different nationalities.

Birds seen and/or heard (h)

Andean Cock-of-the-Rock; Black-winged Saltator; Yellow-bellied Euphonia; Crimson-rumped Toucanet; Black Phoebe; Tropical Kingbird; Lemon-rumped Tanager; Silver-throated Tanager; Flame-faced Tanager; Golden Tanager; Red-headed Barbet; Montane Woodcreeper; Pale-mandibled Araçari; Rufous Motmot; Black Vulture; Blue-grey Tanager; Turkey Vulture; Plumbeous Pigeon; Pacific Hornero; White-whiskered Hermit; White-necked Jacobin; Blue-and-white Swallow; Rufous-tailed Hummingbird; Golden Tanager; White-shouldered Tanager; Orange-bellied Euphonia; Masked Water-tyrant; Yellow-bellied Seedeater; Swallow-tailed Kite; Green Honeycreeper; Ecuadorian Thrush; Blue-necked Tanager; Rufous-throated Tanager; Purple-bibbed White-tip; Emerald Tanager; Black-cheeked Woodpecker; Western Emerald; Green Thorntail; Green-crowned Brilliant; White-tipped Dove; White-winged Brush-finch; Bananaquit; Chestnut-crowned Antpitta; Squirrel Cuckoo (h)