GREAT GREEN MACAWS

 3/6/21. 

Today I hired a birding guide named Renee to take me birding.  He was using a SUV of
sorts, I think a Mitsubishi which was probably nearing the end of its existence. About 2 miles down the Colibri Road we saw someone off to the side of the road with a scope.  Turns out he was looking at a male Esmeraldes Woodstar, so we got out to have a look.  The bird kept returning to a perch on a spindly snag not far away and not very high up as well.  So I got half way decent pics.  Hard to get good pics of such a tiny bird unless you are quite close. Turns out the guy with a scope was a birding guide from Mindo, so I got his contact info just in case I end up there in a little over a week.  And even he had never seen the Esmeraldes Woodstar - it was a lifer for him.  Amazing!

Male Esmeraldes Woodstar

We drove to the end of the Colibri Road, and then walked across the river and started hiking upstream.   Not long into the trek we found a pair of Guayaquil Woodpeckers which were not super offended by our presence, so I maneuvered a few feet down the trail and obtained some good shots.  

Guayaquil Woodpecker

In another hundred yards or so Renee located a Henna-hooded Foliage Gleaner.  This species is a real skulker, so I did not hold out any hope for a photo,  only getting brief glimpses of him in the deep thickets or flying across the river a few times.  

It was great to be with someone who knew all the bird songs and was great at finding them.  He used a laser light occasionally to help me get on a bird.  Being mid age he still has good hearing and vision, senses which are getting dull for me. 

Birds were vocal and often visible, so it was turning out to be a good morning.  One bird I’d been hoping to see was the Violet-bellied Hummingbird, and we chanced upon a beautiful male.  But the best part was just ahead.  After about a half mile we veered off the river onto a trail into the jungle, and in a couple hundred yards were at a cabin.  We took off our day packs, and Renee began boiling some water.  Then we continued on the trail another hundred yards to a large enclosure made of cyclone fencing, maybe 20 X 50 feet and 15 feet high.  This was the cage for 9 Great Green Macaws set to be introduced into the wild on May 9, in about 2 months.  I had many questions regarding this program, most of which will have to go unanswered due to the language barrier.  As I did not have cell service, I could not use Google Translate that far into the jungle.

Renee works for the Jocotoco Foundation and I suspect today was his turn to feed the macaws and clean their cage.  It was amazing just how loud they were at times.  If you were too close when they went off, you needed to cover your ears. There were 2 birds inside a smaller cage within the enclosure because these were mean to the others.  

I am sure this species used to be more common.  But human progress dictates that the mature forests are needed for lumber, and since the macaws need large trees with a large cavity to nest in, little by little they were reduced in number so that there are very few now in the wild, farther north in the jungles Esmeraldes.  There used to be some in the Cerro Blanco reserve, close to Guayaquil where I plan to go just before departing back to the states, but these have disappeared some years back. 

Some questions I have are: Were these birds raised from eggs or were they young from other nests? What is the expected survival percentage?  Will the window be left open for them to return for food?  Are there nest boxes placed in various places for them to use? Has this been tried before?  If so, are any of those birds still alive? Are they safe in the Ayampe Reserve from logging and nest robbers for the pet bird trade?  How often are they fed?

I was unsure if there were procedures/policies in place for taking visitors here, but Renee did not mention anything, and we simply walked into the enclosure and he proceeded to sweep it out with a makeshift broom.  I would have helped but there was only one.  He then gathered up the feeding and water bowls, brought them back to the cabin where he washed them in the boiling water with some kind of disinfectant.  Then he filled them up with fruit and vitamin water, and placed them on the stands for the birds.  I think they knew the routine and quickly came for the meal. 

A Great Green Macaw.  What a beauty!

While this was going on I noticed a bird outside the enclosure who was building a nest.  Eventually we figured out there were a pair of Pacific Eleanias, and it appeared they had just begun within the last day or two. 

A lifer for me!  

Pacific Eleania with nest building material. 

After taking care of the Macaws while we were walking back toward the cabin, I saw a female Plain Antvireo who I was able to get a reasonable shot of:

Female Plain Antvireo

After Renee’s work was done there, we retreated to the river and continued upstream.  Birds were still active and we were always stopping to view them.  At one point 2 raptors were above us, one of which I got pics of appeared to be a Great Black Hawk.  But my pics show some features that lead me to doubt such, so I sent one to Rich Hoyer to figure out.  Rich got back quickly relaying the bird in question is a Grey-backed Hawk.  Viewed against a bright overhead sky we thought the bird was quite dark, but my photos show it was actually a dull, light color.  I’ll have to show Renee that when we get together on Thursday. 

Grey-backed Hawk

Renee heard something on the south side of the river, and after a little searching found a Yellow Tyrannulet, a new one for my Ecuador list.  At the same place we watched an Amazilia Hummer dip into the river for a drink, or maybe a quick bath.  Since he acted like he would do the same thing again, I readied my camera and took a few pics.  They are not real clear, but I did get one of the bird partly submerged.  Renee thought I was some photographic genius.  All I did was start the burst when it looked like the bird was headed to the water, and luckily it came together at the right time.  

Amazilia Hummingbird

Amazilia Hummingbird

Amazilia Hummingbird

By now the sun was beating down on us, and I knew if I continued much farther I’d be overheating.  So we turned back.  A couple times I cupped some water in my hands and cooled off my face.  When almost back I asked Renee about birding in the coming week, specifically a little north where it is dryer for different species, so we set it up to do that on Thursday.  

As soon as I could I hopped in the pool to cool off.  As there were 2 ripe papayas on the tree next to the pool, I picked them and brought them to the kitchen shortly after.   My pedometer says I walked 4 miles today, so am getting in my exercise. 

After today I am within 4 of reaching 600 for the country, so it seems very likely I’ll get there, maybe before I leave the area.  There are still a few “gettable” ones locally, so we shall see how things pan out. 

CERRO BLANCO

 

3/27/21  CERRO BLANCO

As I would need a negative Covid test to fly back to the states, I knew I’d need to be in Guayaquil the last 3 days of my time in Ecuador.  So I asked Roger Alman to refer me to a local birding guide, who turned out to be Juan Carlos Figueroa.  He is still in his 20s and an expert birder and guide, was making his living guiding before the pandemic hit and, like all the other guides, has hardly worked at all for the past year.  So he was happy for the business.

There is a well known place to bird west of Guayaquil called, “Cerro Blanco,” which means White Hill, and refers to the limestone formation there.  Much of the land here is owned by a concrete company who have been gracious enough to let a conservation group keep a lot of it in its natural state.  It is just over 23 square miles.  I have heard about it for a long time, and hoped to visit there this trip.  It used to be a hold out for the Great-green Macaws, but Juan was doubtful there were any left here now. 

Juan picked me up at 5:45 AM for the 45 minute drive over there.  It would be a solid morning of birding while walking the trails.  It has many square miles of pristine dry forest untouched by the chain saw, which is rare to find anymore.  Juan had made a reservation and so the guard was waiting to open the gate when we arrived.  It was still pre dawn when we struck out on a trail.  Not far along thereon Juan actually stepped over a small snake that turned out to be one or the two poisonous vipers in the area.  As I saw this happen right before me, I stopped and alerted Juan.  The snake was only about 18 inches long and not interested or curious in going off course, so after Juan IDd him via his iPhone flashlight, we went on.  In a few more steps a big black tarantula scurried off the path.  A few more and another one scurried off the trail.  By now I was beginning to wonder what I had gotten myself into.  

Juan wanted to have us in a certain location early with hopes of hearing and seeing a Henna-hooded Foliage-Gleaner, but today he would be a no show.  We were on a loop trail which went up one side of a creek and down the other side.  We were certainly hearing a lot of birds, and the first lifer I’d encounter was a Black-and-white Becard.  Others we saw or heard were Red-lored Parrot, Collared Antshrike, Red-billed Scythebill, Streaked Flycatcher, Black-capped Sparrow and Gray-and-gold Warbler. 

We then drove slowly over to the headquarters and walked trail after trail, seeing and hearing more birds.  We heard a few Pale-browed Tinamous, but never saw one.  Photo ops were few today, but one-stand out were 2 Peruvian Pygmy Owls, one an adult and the other a juvenile. 

Juvenile Peruvian Pygmy Owl

Adult Peruvian Pygmy Owl

There was a nice cloud cover so the temperature was fine, but that did not stop the mosquitoes from finding us.  Yep, I was in the humid lowlands again so renewed my acquaintance with them. Juan had told me to bring some insect repellent so once I knew they were going be a problem, paused on the trail and sprayed myself and clothes where needed.  

One of the birds foreigners hope to see here is the White-tailed Jay, a real beauty.  But at this time of the year the flocks were disbanded and they were now in breeding pairs, so hard to find.  But we finally succeeded in locating a pair, but they did not allow any good pics, so here is the best one.

Other birds of interest to me that we saw were: Gray-capped Cuckoo, Hook-billed Kite, Harris’ Hawk, Gartered Trogon, Crested Caracara, Laughing Falcon, Gray-cheeked Parakeet (Lifer), One-colored Becard (Lifer), Rufous-browed Peppershrike, and Fasciated Wren, of which we saw a family and here is a pic of an adult with one young.

I added 5 lifers and 10 for the country, which is now at 688.  

It would be a short day of birding, stopping at 11:00 so I could return to the city and get the results of my Covid test.  Juan has gotten 5 of them so far, and at $80 a pop, it puts a dent in the wallet of the locals here.  So he knew right where to go.  It was not nearly as crowded as yesterday, and he was able to park near the clinic entrance.  The security guard was handling the exchange of test results, so thankfully Juan was there to do the talking.  I handed him my receipt and in a few minutes he came out with a few test results and called, “Wee'-yam Tee’-say,” which is how a Spanish speaking person would pronounce my name.  While I was anticipating this, it still surprised me, but I was exuberant that this was now out of the way, clearing me to go through airport security tomorrow.  I did not sleep much the night before worrying about how it would work out.  

I was walking on air after that, so suggested Juan and I go somewhere for lunch, and he took us to a place where the main dishes are Cerviche.  Cerviche is raw fish marinated in lime juice and flavored in various ways.  While eating we talked a lot about birding in Ecuador, and I gleaned a lot of info which will be useful if I come again.  Here is a pic of me and Juan.  

There was also a salad I ate, which may have been the cause of my GI problems after getting back.  Montezuma TKOd me, I had  fever, weakness, and in general felt poorly for a week  After 10 trips to the tropics without any such problems, I more or less felt immune and did not worry about it, so was not as careful as I should have been.  I had a touch of that early on at Ayampe, and immediately went to the Pharmacia for Cipro, and only had to deal with it for 3 days.  At least I was back home by the time this one laid me out.  I even had to delay going after Oregon's first Winter Wren - for one day.  Next time I'll be more cautious.   

WHERE EAGLES DARE

 3/25/21

If you watched that movie (Where Eagles Dare) some 50 years ago, you’d know I’d be writing about going up in the clouds, and you’d be correct.  I had asked Javiar if he knew of any birders in the Quito area who could take me up to Antisana, up on the paramo east of the city where the Condors were.  He put my name out to 3 such people, and I arranged with one of them to go there.  His name was Alejandro Valenzuela.  He picked me up at 5:45 AM and we were off to the high country.  

I had been up here once before in 2009 after a church building venture, hiring Charlie Vogt, who works for Andean Birding.  While the landscape had not changed, the ownership had gone from being privately owned to city owned, as this is where Quito gets much of it water supply.  The final stretch of road getting there was horrendous, but once you reached where the city owned, the roads improved drastically. 

We stopped at the well known restaurant called El Tambo, but there was no one there, and Alejandro thought it was strange as he had always found it open, even as early as we were there.  We were going to tell them we’d be back at mid morning for brunch.  It was then less than a mile to the overview where one can see condors taking off for the morning.  

The cliff face where Condors roost.

The Overlook to Watch for Condors.

Black Flowerpiercer

Cinerous Conebill

Across the valley was a steep, rocky cliff face where they roosted and nested.  We scanned the cliff face and spotted two birds.  As I really wanted photos of one flying, it was just a matter of time.  While waiting, the Black Flowerpiercers were active just below the observation deck, so I got a decent pic of one.

After about 10 minutes one took off and I snapped a series of shots.  As the distance was massive, the bird is quite small in the photo, but I figured it was better than nothing and at least I would have the keepsake. 

After a few more minutes the other one took flight, and next thing we knew there were 5 of them soaring high over the far hillside.  They were being bombarded by Carunculated Caracaras, which were dwarfed by the size of the Condors.  After all, an adult Condor stands at 4 feet tall and has a wing span of 12 feet.  

So we continued “up” the road and of course up in elevation. One of the common standout birds here are the Carunculated Caracaras, supposedly in the falcon family but they don’t have any such agility.  They are easily seen on the ground hunting for prey and we saw at least 50 of them today. 

But they will also gather at the carcasses of dead animals with the Condors.  

Another common bird of these heights is the Andean Lapwing, a large plover. 

We did not see near as many as when I came up in ‘09, but fun to see none the less.  

Some of the smaller birds flitting across the road were Sierra Slaty Finches, Thick-billed and Chestnut-winged Cinclodes.

Male Sierra Slaty Finch

Female Sierra Slaty Finch

Thick-billed Cinclodes

There is a song about "Wide Open Spaces" but it really does not refer to landscapes.  I thought about the tune, "Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam," but that would not do it either.  The scenery alone was worth the trip there.  Breathtaking!  If only the clouds would life so the mountains could seen.

We stopped at a really small building which used to be the house of someone way back when.  Only one hummer resides up this high, the Ecuadorian Hillstar.  I was really hoping to get a pic of one, and Alejandro said they used to use that building to build their nests in.  But he said it appeared that someone camped there and built a fire and he thought the smoke had deterred them as there were none there now.  We later found a couple old nests which were pretty massive compared to the small hummers, and are hence easy to see.

As we were nearing a wet meadow where the Andean Ibis can usually be found, I spied what I thought was a very large bird on the hilltop to the north of us.  Sure enough, it was a Condor. He stood out like a sore thumb, or so I thought.  So I took a few pics and we drove another 100 meters to scan the wet meadow. 

Andean Condor

The Caracaras were thick here and we also saw our first Andean Gull.

Andean Gull

While standing on the roadside, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that the Condor had taken off.  As I turned the dial on my camera for action shots, I said to Alejandro, “Here comes the Condor!”  He would be flying past us, and the first series of shots I got were of him below the horizon.  But as I knew this was a once in a lifetime opportunity I resumed the burst and the camera sounded like a machine gun for 5-6 seconds, and my total number of frames was almost 100.  Here are a couple of the better ones.

Andean Condor

Andean Condor

Carunculated Caracara

Carunculated Caracaras

Carunculated Caracara

Carunculated Caracara

This area is named after the mountain Antisana, which is often shrouded in the clouds, but there was a short interval when we could see some of it, so we stopped and I took this pic.  We could barely see the mountain:

We were now as high as we were going to get.  I recorded the altitude with an app which said 13,245 feet, and the air was thin.  The scenery was simply breathtaking. 

We saw more Andean Gulls and a Paramo Pipit new graced my trip list.  

We finally made it to the checkpoint where we parked.  There was a calling Tawny Antpitta just above the parking lot who allowed a few pics.

Tawny Antpitta

We then checked in at the guard station where I had to show my passport for them to write down my ID information.  We walked around the buildings looking for Hillstar nests, but found only old ones.  Alejandro concluded that they may have bred and dispersed, as we never did see one.  We then walked about a half mile to an observation area overlooking the lake which is the main reservoir for Quito.  We were forced to walk slowly, taking deep breaths.  With not as much oxygen in the air I was certainly feeling light headed, so knew I had better take it easy.  

Below the dam were some wild horses, remnants of the Conquistadors.  

See that small fox with the horses?  He is just to the left of the small white building.

Alejandro said you could distinguish the wild ones from the domestic ones as the wild ones did not look as healthy and the hooves were always needing a trimming.

Through binoculars I saw a small animal among the horses that turned out to be an Andean Fox, a nice bonus for having come this far.  He was slowly making his way closer so here is a decent shot at about 250 meters.

Andean Fox

Just before reaching the end of the trail I was able to get this pic of a Plain-capped Ground Tyrant.

                              Plain-capped Ground Tyrant

The way the wind blows up here, it forces the waterfowl to the end of the lake where we were.  But the birds were still at least 200 meters from us. Below us, on the water were Andean Teal, Andean Coots, Andean Ruddy Ducks,  Silvery Grebes and another Andean Gull. 

By the time we made it back to the parking lot, I was really feeling the effects of the thin air, and walking was interrupted with short stops.  We waited on a bridge over a small creek for a hummingbird to show up, but today they were a no show.  A Variable Hawk did zoom over, so here he is:

Variable Hawk

We finally got back in the car and retraced out route.  It was nice to not be in a hurry and enjoy the scenery.  It was more of the same for birds except for 3 Black-winged Ground Doves.   As I’d been up here before I did not see any lifers, but did add at least 15 to the trip list. 

We stopped at the El Tambo restaurant which was still closed, but we went around to the back side where some hummer feeders were placed and saw the Giant Hummingbird, the largest hummer coming in a 6 1/2 inches!    It was a quick visit to a feeder or I would have loved to get his pic.  Otherwise, the expected Shining Sunbeams, Sparkling Violet-ears and one male Great Sapphire wing were hogging the feeders.

Shining Sunbeam

Sparkling Violetear

One the way to a large mall where we’d eat, Alejandro took me to a reservoir where a large number of Yellow-billed Pintails could be found.

Yellow-billed Pintail

One lone Which-cheeked Pintail was there, off by himself.

White-cheeked Pintail

There were also a few Laughing Gulls there, and one Hooded Siskin.

It was then to the mall where we ate.   By then I was not feeling the effects of the altitude of an hour ago, so that was a relief. It was then off to the airport.  The flight to Guayaquil takes only a half hour, so you spend 90 minutes waiting to board the plane, another 30 in the plane, 30 in the air, and once you arrive you wait about 20 minutes to be unloaded from the plane. But it is still faster than taking the bus!

The first time Rosie and I flew into Quito, as soon as we got off the plane, we were struck immediately with altitude sickness, and she spent much of the next day in bed.  I was worried about being affected when I flew into Quito this time, but I forgot all about it til we were half way to Mindo, and I realized it had not bothered me.  The day before, Javiar said going to Yanacocha at 11,500 feet was good practice for going to Antisana.  If a person hopes to go to these higher elevations he needs to figure out if he can deal with such, otherwise it is not fun.