COLIBRI

 2/6/21.  

Before I decided to lodge where I ended up, I began looking over google maps to see the layout of the land, so to say.  I noticed near the town of Ayampe was a lodge named, “Colibri Lodge.”  Colibri is the Spanish word for Hummingbird, so I sensed this area would be a good place.  Shortly afterward I realized there was a Bird Refuge just up the road from Colibri, run by the Jocotoco Foundation - a group that has secured financial backing to buy and run such places, and they now head up 10-12 in Ecuador.  Plus, an acquaintance who I’ve never met was living here til recently, working on some post graduate degree from Oregon State University. We have a few mutual birder friends.  I had been in contact with him, but apparently he was having difficulty getting back into the country to continue his work due to Covid.  Funny how they will let tourists in but not students......

The place is about 1.2 miles walk, the same dirt road I’ve been on now X3, only this time I’ll exit on their driveway.  The jungle is pretty thick right there, and at 07:00 AM the area will be alive with birds, so I hope I don’t get too distracted birding so as to arrive at 08:00.  I better douse my long sleeve shirt, hat and pants with bug spray before leaving as well.  

So I left my room at 07:00 and hiked down toward the said lodge.  I got quite distracted as birds were all over.  I got some decent pics of a pair of Pacific Parrotlets. 

Pacific Parrotlets

These are the smallest in the parrot family that I am aware of.  I had been hoping for such.  I also finally nailed down a Guayaquil Woodpecker.  I heard a heavy tapping noise and was pretty sure it was one of the bigger woodpeckers.  This was actually the 3rd time I’d heard it right in the same area.  As there was a trail into the woods here, I took it and eventually found the bird up high, so only one poor pic.  

I made it to Colibri with 10 minutes to spare.  Fernando greeted me and took me uphill to a cabina with a deck on top.  The view was great.  You had views over much of the canopy and could also see the beach.  Below were 2 hummingbird feeders.  The big draw for the area is finding the Esmeraldes Woodstar, one of the country’s few endemics.  They are only located in the Ayampe River Valley and a few other places along the coastal plain, and many see their first one right where I had parked myself.  Problem was - there was a Rufous-tailed Hummer who was guarding the feeders, so any others that came by he would chase off.  I was allowed to be there for 2 hours, so my hopes were high.  

While I was sitting and waiting, I saw other hummers: Amazilia Hummer, Long-billed Starthroat, Green-crowned Woodnymph and Long-tailed Hermit. Non hummers that were a great distraction were Rufous-headed Chachalaca, Pale-billed Aracari, Banaquit, Gray-backed Hawk, Bronze-winged Parrot, Ecuadorian Trogon, Collared Antshrike, and Yellow-rumped  Cacique.  Theses names are mostly quite foreign for those of you who are non birders, but I’ll include a few pics.  

Long-billed Starthroat.  He would poke his bill way into those red flowers

Collared Aracari

Rufous-headed Chachalaca

The view from on top of the cabin

After about 90 minutes the star of the show finally made an appearance.  The Esmeraldes Woodstar hovered in mid air for about 5 seconds off to my left.  It was a male and he was so tiny compared to the others. It is a good thing I saw his red gorget or I might have concluded it was an insect.  Yes, there were many large insects zooming by creating false alarms for what I thought might be hummers. 

I told Fernando I’d like to come again next Saturday, to which he was fine with.  I don’t like to use insect repellent as I’m sure it is not good to leave on your skin or breathe, but if you don’t, you’ll wish you did.   Fernando said the recent rains bring out the bugs, so guess one has to take the good with the bad.  

About a month after I has been here, I saw a man across the road from the bus stop who waved at me.  He looked soooo familiar but I just could not place him.  I waved back not knowing just who he was.  It was not until a few days later when I was walking down the Colibri Road that I saw the man walking toward me, and then I realized it was Fernando.  I guess in meeting so many people in a short time that I simply could not remember them all.  

Tropical Pewee