The WINGS Ecuador La Selva tour began this year with a day trip out of Quito to the Jocotoco Foundation reserve at Yanacocha, high up on the Pinchincha Volcano outside Quito. Beautifully scenic and excellent for high-elevation birds, Yanacocha was quite productive for both tanagers and hummingbirds, with fine looks at some amazing species such as Sword-billed Hummingbird, Great Sapphirewing, Buff-winged Starfrontlet, and Golden-breasted Puffleg, as well as four species of mountain-tanagers, including the scarce Black-chested Mountain-Tanager. Working our way down in elevation from Yanacocha to Tandayapa, we ran into a few nice flocks that included a good variety of tanagers and flycatchers the highlight being close looks through the scope at a male Andean Cock-of-the-Rock, the bright blood-red subspecies found on the western slope. At Tandayapa, we visited the home of a friend, Tony Nunnery, and were treated to an amazing display of hummingbird variety. Although numbers of individuals were not as high as usual, the species diversity was still impressive, with great views of Violet-tailed Sylph, Empress Brilliant, Purple-bibbed Whitetip, and Booted Racket-tails, just to name a few. In all, we ended the day with nearly 25 species of hummingbirds!
Our stay at La Selva was very pleasant, especially as the
region had been experiencing a drought.
Still, we did quite well given the hot and dry conditions, seeing and
hearing nearly 300 species in the week there.
One of the highlights of our stay was the repeated visits we made to the
canopy tower, which this year was very productive. The best bird we had from the tower was a Yellow-shouldered
Grosbeak, a rare canopy grosbeak, but I suspect the group enjoyed more the
excellent variety of tanagers, toucans, flycatchers, and cotingas we were able
to watch from over 100 feet above the ground.
It is always fun getting eye-level views of both Spangled and
Plum-throated Cotingas, as well as four species of aracaris and both large
toucans. Looking down on a Short-tailed
Pygmy-Tyrant, the world's smallest passerine was incredible, as was looking
down on a wonderful Lanceolated Monklet!
One of the more pleasant activities I have previously
enjoyed was being peacefully paddled around Garzacocha in a canoe by our local
guide, Jose. This year was no
exception. The lake was very productive
as usual, yielding excellent views of many Hoatzins, Rufescent Tiger-Herons, a
rather shy Sunbittern, a very cooperative Dot-backed Antbird, White-chinned Jacamar,
Cream-coloured Woodpecker, Long-billed Woodcreeper, Plumbeous Antbird, Cinnamon
Attila, and the ever-present Side-necked Turtles! Although singing was very reduced on the forest trails, we still
did very well seeing a wide variety of manakins and antbirds. T he group
particularly liked the Striped Manakin, but we also got good looks at
Wire-tailed, Blue-crowned, Golden-headed, Blue-backed, White-crowned and
Dwarf-Tyrant Manakins, all gems of the forest.
We were lucky to find a small ant swarm that was well-attended by a
group of White-plumed Antbirds, always a fantastic bird to see. The parrot clay lick had hundreds of Mealy
and Blue-headed Parrots coming down to eat the clay, which acts as an antacid
compensating for their mostly fruit diet.
A visit to an Amazonian river island allowed us to see a number of very
specialized species that are only found in early successional habitats, such as
Lesser Wagtail-Tyrant, Castelnau's Antshrike, White-bellied Spinetail, and
Black-and-white Antbird.
In all we had a very enjoyable week at La Selva. The food was up to its usual high standard,
and the service at the lodge was quite excellent as always. Oh yes, and we saw an Anaconda measuring at
least five meters long! My first
ever! Fortunately we were safely in a
boat at the time! Gary Rosenberg.
BIRD LIST:
Column 1 = number of days
recorded
Column 2 = greatest daily total
H = heard only
|
Great Tinamou |
1 |
1 |
H |
Tinamus major |
|
Cinereous Tinamou |
2 |
1 |
H |
Crypturellus cinereus |
|
Little Tinamou |
1 |
1 |
H |
Crypturellus soui |
|
Undulated Tinamou |
2 |
1 |
H |
Crypturellus undulatus |
|
Variegated Tinamou |
1 |
1 |
H |
Crypturellus variegatus |
|
Bartlett's Tinamou |
1 |
1 |
H |
Crypturellus bartletti |
|
Andean Tinamou |
1 |
1 |
|
Nothoprocta pentlandii |
|
Neotropic Cormorant |
3 |
1 |
|
Phalacrocorax brasilianus |
|
Anhinga |
6 |
4 |
|
Anhinga anhinga |
|
Rufescent Tiger-Heron |
4 |
2 |
|
Tigrisoma lineatum |
|
Cocoi Heron |
6 |
2 |
|
Ardea cocoi |
|
Great Egret |
3 |
10 |
|
Ardea alba |
|
Snowy Egret |
3 |
2 |
|
Egretta thula |
|
Little Blue Heron |
1 |
1 |
|
Egretta caerulea |
|
Cattle Egret |
1 |
4 |
|
Bubulcus ibis |
|
Striated Heron |
7 |
4 |
|
Butorides striatus |
|
Black-crowned Night-Heron |
1 |
1 |
|
Nycticorax nycticorax |
|
King Vulture |
2 |
1 |
|
Sarcoramphus papa |
|
Black Vulture |
7 |
100 |
|
Coragyps atratus |
|
Turkey Vulture |
1 |
1 |
|
Cathartes aura |
|
Greater Yellow-headed Vulture |
4 |
4 |
|
Cathartes melambrotus |
|
Osprey |
2 |
1 |
|
Pandion haliaetus |
|
Swallow-tailed Kite |
3 |
1 |
|
Elanoides forficatus |
|
Double-toothed Kite |
2 |
2 |
|
Harpagus bidentatus |
|
Crane Hawk |
1 |
1 |
|
Geranospiza caerulescens |
|
Roadside Hawk |
2 |
1 |
|
Buteo magnirostris |
|
Black Caracara |
7 |
6 |
|
Daptrius ater |
|
Red-throated Caracara |
1 |
2 |
|
Daptrius americanus |
|
Laughing Falcon |
2 |
1 |
|
Herpetotheres cachinnans |
|
Bat Falcon |
2 |
1 |
|
Falco rufigularis |
|
Speckled Chachalaca |
1 |
1 |
|
Ortalis guttata |
|
Blue-throated Piping-Guan |
1 |
1 |
|
Aburria pipile |
|
Sickle-winged Guan |
1 |
1 |
|
Chamaepetes goudotii |
|
Gray-necked Wood-Rail |
1 |
1 |
H |
Aramides cajanea |
|
Azure Gallinule |
1 |
3 |
|
Porphyrula flavirostris |
|
Sunbittern |
1 |
1 |
|
Eurypyga helias |
|
Spotted Sandpiper |
3 |
2 |
|
Actitis macularia |
|
Pied Lapwing |
3 |
10 |
|
Hoploxypterus cayanus |
|
Pale-vented Pigeon |
1 |
1 |
|
Columba cayennensis |
|
Ruddy Pigeon |
1 |
1 |
H |
Columba subvinacea |
|
Plumbeous Pigeon |
3 |
3 |
|
Columba plumbea |
|
Eared Dove |
1 |
20 |
|
Zenaida auriculata |
|
Ruddy Ground-Dove |
1 |
1 |
|
Columbina talpacoti |
|
White-tipped Dove |
1 |
1 |
|
Leptotila verreauxi |
|
Gray-fronted Dove |
3 |
1 |
|
Leptotila rufaxilla |
|
Blue-and-yellow Macaw |
2 |
2 |
|
Ara ararauna |
|
Scarlet Macaw |
1 |
2 |
|
Ara macao |
|
Chestnut-fronted Macaw |
3 |
4 |
|
Ara severa |
|
Red-bellied Macaw |
3 |
20 |
|
Ara manilata |
|
Dusky-headed Parakeet |
3 |
50 |
|
Aratinga weddellii |
|
Maroon-tailed Parakeet |
1 |
4 |
|
Pyrrhura melanura |
|
Cobalt-winged Parakeet |
7 |
200 |
|
Brotogeris cyanoptera |
|
Black-headed Parrot |
2 |
4 |
|
Pionites melanocephala |
|
Orange-cheeked Parrot |
1 |
2 |
|
Pionopsitta barrabandi |
|
White-capped Parrot |
1 |
4 |
|
Pionus seniloides |
|
Blue-headed Parrot |
2 |
50 |
|
Pionus menstruus |
|
Red-billed Parrot |
1 |
20 |
|
Pionus sordidus |
|
Yellow-crowned Parrot |
1 |
25 |
|
Amazona ochrocephala |
|
Orange-winged Parrot |
2 |
8 |
|
Amazona amzonica |
|
Mealy Parrot |
6 |
100 |
|
Amazona farinosa |
|
Squirrel Cuckoo |
4 |
2 |
|
Piaya cayana |
|
Greater Ani |
6 |
40 |
|
Crotophaga major |
|
Smooth-billed Ani |
1 |
5 |
|
Crotophaga ani |
|
Hoatzin |
6 |
25 |
|
Opisthocomus hoazin |
|
Tropical Screech-Owl |
7 |
2 |
|
Otus choliba |
|
Tawny-bellied Screech-Owl |
1 |
1 |
|
Otus watsonii |
|
Andean Pygmy-Owl |
1 |
1 |
H |
G |