THE JAUNT WEST: PART 2

The Urraca Lodge is a nice place with cabins and dining area, much like the UmbrellaBird Lodge where we just were.  I suspect all the places owned and run by the Jocotoco Foundation are similar in this regard, the large dining area screened in to keep out insects.  We had been here in January so knew what to expect.  Much lower in elevation and temperatures a little higher.  

I had arranged for the lodge bird guide Leo to guide me in the morning.  Most of the easier lifers I had seen back in January, but the Slaty Becard had eluded me.  But Leo knows the birds of the area quite well, and their habits.  So we went to the entrance where, after using playback, a female Slaty Becard came in.  She was shy and did not allow for a picture.  

I suggested we next head to the rice fields near Macara for the next stop.  There were plenty of Cattle, Snowy and Great Egrets, and Black-necked Stilts around.  Some 10 Crested Caracaras were here and there.  A lone, rare bird for this area was a Southern Lapwing, new for my Loja Province list. This Savanna Hawk flew in for a picture as well:

SAVANNA HAWK

A few Comb Ducks were flying around.  From eBird RBAs I knew the place had lots of potential for rare birds, but the ones I had hoped for were not here today.  This Vermillion Flycatcher was though:

VERMILLION FLYCATCHER

CRESTED CARACARAS

After breakfast Rosie joined Leo and I walking farther along the road into the reserve.  Some of the more interesting birds we encountered were Rufous-necked Foliage Gleaner, Henna-hooded Foliage Gleaner, One-colored Becards, Speckle-breasted Wrens, Gray-breasted Flycatcher, Tropical Parulas, Baird’s and Streaked Flycatchers, Gray-cheeked and Red-masked Parakeets, Ecuadorian Trogons, and a Gray-backed and Zone-tailed Hawk.  Yellow-rumped Caciques were aplenty it seemed.

RUFOUS HEADED CHACHALACA

ECUADORIAN TROGON

PACIFIC ELAENIA

BAIRD’S FLYCATCHER

FASCIATED WREN TAKING A DUST BATH

YELLOW-RUMPED CACIQUE

TUMBES PEWEE

STREAKED XENOPS

GRAY BREASTED FLYCATHER

STREAK-HEADED WOODCREEPER

WHITE-TAILED JAY

Rosie turned back again because of the lack of shade, but right after that the trees provided protection from the sun.  One more bird of interest was the Scale-crested Pygmy Tyrant, another first for my Loja list.

SCALE-CRESTED PYGMY TYANT

By the time we got back to the lodge it was quite warm, so Leo said we could resume birding at 3:30.  So after lunch and a short siesta we struck out with him again, but this time back along the road toward the entrance.  It took a half hour to go 100 meters because of the abundance of birds.  All were more or less common as I remember.  Farther down the road there was a large bird nest laying in the road, which Leo said was of a One-colored Becard.  The Becards make huge nests like this.   A little later we found this nest of a Yellow-green Flatbill, a flycatcher.   And not long after that Leo pointed out the hole in a bank which was the nest of a pair of Henna-hooded Foliage Gleaners.  We used playback and two of them appeared nearby, but due to their skulking habits in the underbrush, my pics are not worthy of much. 

LEO WITH ONE-COLORED BECARD NEST

THE NEST OF A YELLOW-GREEN FLATBILL

Early the next morning I was out walking back toward the highway, hoping for a better shot of the Henna Hoodeds.  But soon the traffic began to come by along what is usually a seldom used road, and most of them stopping to ask me something, which of course I could not understand.  But later I’d find out that the lodge was hosting a young women’s group of medical workers (students?) Who were having breakfast there.  So birding was cut short.

NOTICE THE HUGE SPIDER WEBS?

OUR CABIN

THE VIEW FROM THE BACK PORCH OR OUR CABIN

WALKING STICK

After our breakfast alongside the noisy bunch of young ladies, we took off for the final leg of our jaunt, back home.  We picked up Leo at the entrance as he had offered to help us find a few birds higher up.  The first areas we’d look were on the roadside near the Utuana Reserve.  On the 2nd stop we found a pair of Jelski’s Chat Tyrants.  In the reserve itself we found a lone Black-cowled Saltator.  While waiting at the hummingbird feeders I photographed this Purple-throated Sunangel.  By 11:30 is was hot, sunny and windy, so we left the reserve and Leo departed back to Macara.

PURPLE-THROATED SUNANGEL

BLACK-COWLED SALTATOR

Just east of the reserve I stopped at a place where Black-tufted Tit-Tyrants have been reported, and it took about 10 minutes for a pair to respond to playback.  Mission accomplished, we set about for the 2.5 hour drive back home, which thankfully was uneventful. 

Announcement: I have been looking into a trip to the Shiripuno Lodge in the Amazon Basin.  Two other birders have a high interest in going there with me.  We need one more to round out the group so that there will be 4 of us.  Beside going to the lodge, the rest of our time will be spent mostly on the east slope of the Andes, east of Quito.  The approximate dates are Jan 9-24. I will be picking everyone up in Quito, making a circuit going east and returning to Quito at the end.  If interested drop me a note for more info.