Fay J Wildlife: Ecuador, 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