July 20, 2015

There is no better way to describe today than frustratingly-laborious. Today was mostly a "travel" day, but how that played out for us is nearly indescribable. In summary, we spent 9 hours driving, of which at least 6 hours were on extremely rough, narrow, and often unmapped roads. We wasted at least an hour back-tracking on roads we were not supposed to be on, and another hour wasted on replacing a flat tire and finding a replacement. We also spent the last hour and half of the day driving in the dark, at which point we hit a dog that leapt out from behind a parked truck. By the time we got to our lodge, I had enough tension built up in by back that it was difficult getting to sleep. And the payoff for the trouble? The lowest species count for the trip, at just 44, and only five lifers...I suppose it could have been worse, so an optimist would say.

We began our 'adventure' at 6:00am, and by 6:40am we had our flat tire. I helped the driver change the tire while Simon and Howard supervised my performance. After that the driver checked-in at a nearby construction site in hopes of acquiring a spare tire. While that happened, we did a bit of birding along the road and chalked up Streak-headed Woodcreeper, Boat-billed Flycatcher, Yellow-tailed Oriole, Scrub Blackbird, and Long-billed Starthroat. The driver later returned with no tire, so as a group we had a strategic decision to make...press on in the direction we needed to go and hopefully obtain a spare tire in the afternoon, or back-track to another town and cancel our planned route. Ignoring safety as a top priority, we opted to press-on and hope not to get another flat tire...I think however, as we spent the next few hours traversing some of the worst roads we'd ever been on, we were second-guessing this decision.

Our destination today was Tapichalaca Lodge, and there was only one location along the way that we were aiming to do some birding at: Utuana Reserve. We arrived at Utuana at 10:33am, nearly an hour-and-a-half after we had hoped to get here, thanks to the flat tire and taking two wrong roads. The cost of arriving late was two-fold: we had less time to spend birding here, and the morning bird activity window had been largely missed. Despite this, we did manage to find a good variety of birds including Silvery Tanager (lifer), Blue-and-Black Tanager, White-crested Elaenia, Rainbow Starfrontlet (lifer), Speckled Hummingbird, Purple-throated Sunangel (lifer), Red-crested Cotinga, Streak-throated Bush-Tyrant, Chapman's Antshrike (lifer), and Rufous-crested Warbler. We dipped on a couple of targets here, including Black-crested Tit-Tyrant. While at the reserve we had a packed lunch, and at 1:40pm it was time to move along.

From 1:40pm to the time we arrived at Tapichalaca Lodge, I wrote just one bird down, an American Kestrel. The end of this travel day could not come soon enough, as we rolled into the lodge just before 8:00pm.

July 19, 2015

I can't think of a better way to start the day birding than to add a a lifer before breakfast, especially when that lifer is an owl...a Peruvian Screech-Owl.

Breakfast was served at 6:00am, but by 6:30am we were all intently focused on the feeders waiting for some lodge highlights. I didn't have to wait long for the my next lifer to appear, as small flock of White-tailed Jays came to the feeders in the dimmest of light. Also near the feeders were Fasciated Wren, Ecuadorian Thrush, and Plumbeous-backed Thrush, and at the lone hummingbird feeder was an Amazilia Humminbird (lifer). Patiently, as we had waited nearly half-an-hour, our prize bird appeared under the feeders...Pale-browed Tinamou.

Pale-browed Tinamou at Jorupe Lodge

Following breakfast we began walking the local trails, starting with those located near the cabins. Shortly after commencing I got my second-ever Red-billed Scythebill, a gorgeous-looking bird, but frustratingly difficult to see. This was quickly followed by next lifer, Pacific Elaenia, and then by another lifer, Speckle-breasted Wren. Birding around the cabins was rather muted, so we then walked down to the main road in search of other specialities. Here we found several 'regular' birds, such as Tropical Parula, Red-eyed Vireo, Mouse-colored Tyrannulet, Yellow-olive Flatbill, and Plain Antvireo, but also a three lifers: Ecuadorian Piculet, Gray-breasted Flycatcher, and the super-skulking, difficult to see, Henna-hooded Foliage-Gleaner. We wrapped up our birding on the main road with Collared Antshrike, Southern Beardless Tyrannulet, and Harris's Hawk, and then headed to another birding location a little after 10:00am.

At our next location, located only one valley away, we spent 30 minutes looking for our target bird, Sooty-crowned Flycatcher, but we dipped. To add insult to injury, Simon, upon getting out of the car when we arrived, spotted a Crimson-breasted Finch that disappeared before either myself or Howard could get a glimpse. A double-dip...it still hurts even today.

We spent the remainder of the morning looking for birds along the road back to the lodge, but added very little. Back at the lodge, from noon to 1:15pm, our Tropical Birding guide was switched, as Andreas needed to head back to Quito. In the meantime, I spent some time photographing birds near the feeders. Below are a couple of photos.

Plumbeous-backed Thrush 

White-tailed Jay

The afternoon was spent birding the trails around the main lodge. It was very slow going for lifers, but the overall birding was pretty good. All of the typical birds were seen, but some highlights in particular included Olivaceous Woodcreeper, Hepatic Tanager, Whooping Motmot, Short-tailed Hawk, Peruvian Pygmy-Owl, Rufous-browed Peppershrike, Black-and-White Becard, One-colored Becard, Scarlet-backed Woodpecker, and Bran-colored Flycatcher. Just two lifers were added this afternoon...one was Sooty-crowned Flycatcher that we had dipped on earlier, and the other was Rufous-headed Chachalaca. We arrived back at the loge shortly after 5:30pm, and had dinner at 7:00pm. It had been a long day, and one of the slowest with only 55 species.