Our first full day at Wild Sumaco and we were up and ready to go at dawn. We spent the first bit of dawn light around the lodge and main entrance, quickly adding a dozen-or-so common (seen before) species, including Wire-crested Thorntail, Speckled Hummingbird, Gorgetted Woodstar, Brown Violetear, Golden-tailed Sapphire, and Black-billed Thrush. From the lodge we headed toward the F.A.C.E trail, where we spent the better part of the day acquiring great birds, and not-so-great chiggers.
My first lifer of the day was Plain-backed Antpitta, an individual that had habituated to a feeding station. This was shortly followed by a White-crowned Manakin (lifer), and an Ochre-breasted Antpitta (lifer) which also was attracted to a feeding station. In relatively quick succession, several other new species were added to the life list, including Olive Finch, Ecuadorian Tyrannulet, Black-billed Treehunter (call playback), Golden-faced Tyrannulet, and Dark-breasted Spinetail (call playback). Further along the trail we added Olive-striped Flycatcher (lifer), Foothill Antwren (lifer), Rufous-naped Greenlet (lifer), and Plain-winged Antwren (lifer).
The morning was off to a great start, and it just kept getting better. Our next new bird, which proved very difficult to see, was Spotted Nightingale-Thrush. This was shortly followed by Gray-mantled Wren, Rufous-rumped Antwren, Fulvous Shrike-Tanager, and Rufous-winged Antwren; all of these were new for the life list. By now it was nearing lunch time, so we proceeded back to the lodge for a break. Along the way we picked up several good birds, including Montane Foliage-Gleaner, Black-crowned Tityra, White-shouldered Antshrike (lifer), and Crimson-crested Woodpecker.
After lunch we returned to the F.A.C.E. trail and targetted another group of birds...and it turned out to be a great afternoon of new species. In the what would normally be the afternoon doldrums, I added seven lifers, including: Buff-throated Tody-Tyrant, White-backed Fire-eye, Scaled Antpitta, Scale-backed Antbird, Lineated Foliage-Gleaner, White-crowned Tapaculo, and Chestnut-crowned Gnateater. A Chestnut-tipped Toucanet rounded out the day as the sunset behind the lodge and we all enjoyed a great dinner.
Total species today: 71
Total cumulative species for the trip: 388
Total lifers today: 23
Total cumulative lifers for the trip: 128
