Last full day in Ecuador

Today was originally scheduled to be an “off day” but in a stroke of luck we were able to arrange to visit a national park high on the eastern side of Quito instead.  Even better,  our guide from the prior three days,  Luis, took us there.  It was also a bright and sunny day, the only one of the trip where the rain jackets never came out of the backpack.

The National Park is on land from a large hacienda the base of Mount Antisana, the tallest park on the eastern ridge of the Andes and the fourth tallest in Ecuador at 18,700 ft.  The scenery is spectacular— Deep gorges with rock faces and waterfalls, sweeping views of wavIng grasses, the Antisana volcano itself with snow and multi-colored rocks below, and on the horizon in other directions, other volcanos, some also snow-capped.

The government bought the land in order to create and protect reservoirs for the city of Quito water supply. They are encouraging the land to return to scrubby grasslands, and are planting and transplanting native grasses, for example, to speed the process. The government bought all the animals on the hacienda also, and are allowing the animals to run free. When an animal dies, it is left to be food for the Andean Condors. Antisana is the only place in Ecuador to see these huge birds.

Since the park was created on cultivated (and largely deforested) land, we could drive right up to the gap below the peak, at about 3900 meters (12,675 ft). The elevation was barely noticeable as we walked around birding, evidence that a week at high elevations has improved our condition a bit.  The park area also represents a new eco-region for the trip: the Paramo, or high grasslands. Although the other areas we visited each had its own character, all were in the Andean Choco, or moist forest, biome.  The Paramo is a new biome altogether.

While we would like to have seen more condor (we only saw one soaring overhead) and the black-faced ibis that inhabit these meadows, we saw a number of endemic and high-altitude species, many of them flycatchers of one kind or another.  At one of the Quito reservoirs, we saw a variety of water fowl. We also saw at least 50 white-tailed deer. The ones here are smaller, thinner and grayer than the ones at home.  There is a growing concern that the deer population is getting too large (sound familiar?). 

Remember the story about trying to lure Antpittas to come out of the dense underbrush to be seen? Today a Tawny Antpitta came right out into the open without our even calling him.  All in all it has been a great trip. Tomorrow we will do a bit of birding on our own in the morning and then spend the rest of the day traveling back home to NY.

Pictured: Andean lapwing, Ecuadorian Hillstarn(endemic and very local), Many- striped Canastero, Tawny Antpitta

Tandayapa

 October 17, 2021

We spent today at Tandayapa, in the cloud forest on the western slopes of the Andes. It was a beautiful morning. We started the morning birding at the restaurant which is outdoors and overlooks the canopy on two sides.  There are several cecropia trees, the fruit of which is a favorite of many bird species. After a brief but intense viewing, we headed to a moth feeder area -  this is not a place where they feed moths, but where lights and a white screen are set up at night to attract moths, with the consequence that many species of birds drop by early in the morning for some fast food. By breakfast time we had already seen 40 species.

Today was particularly good for tanagers (we saw 12 different kinds!) and hummingbirds (11 kinds) although in both cases some were species we had seen before.  We also got better views of some spectacular birds ( the Red-headed Barbet and Pale-mandibled Aracari are examples pictured below). As often happens, we spent time trying to get a good look at a particular bird, only to then “see it everywhere we went”.   A rain storm delayed our after lunch outing but it did not deter the birds. Some of the hummingbirds took the opportunity to take a shower.  We did get in a short afternoon walk and then headed back to Quito.  Quito sits in a dry valley between the two ridges of the Andes, so a hard rain can cause the city to fill up like a bowl. We got to see that in action tonight. It had clearly rained even harder in Quito than in Tandayapa... much, much more than the storm drains could handle.  We saw some pretty amazing flooding on the main roads, so that it felt a bit like swimming upstream to get back to the lodge!

And for the mammal lovers: today we saw tracks of deer and armadillos (the armadillos had been digging along the trails for worms).  Later we heard and almost saw a nine-banded armadillo in the forest, and right before we had to leave, we actually saw an agouti.

Pictured: Pale-mandibled Aracari, Red-headed Barbet (female and male), White-lined Tanager with moth breakfast

Quito and beyond

October 16, 2021

We spent this morning exploring the grounds of our Quito lodge. The property was originally a hacienda, with most of the land cleared to support dairy cattle. Dr. George ( hence San Jorge Eco-lodges) bought the property in the 1980’s, planting gardens to attract birds and allowing the pastures to revert to nature. It is a secondary growth oasis in the hills over Quito with the urban sprawl right outside its gates. We saw 27 species there today, on trails around the lodge and that climb yet higher up the hill. Last night’s thunderstorm dusted the nearby mountain peaks with snow; the views over the city of Quito and out to the volcanoes were spectacular.

Our guide, Luis, has an affection for all birds, but is particularly fond of the elusive Antpittas, ground birds with distinctive calls who come closer and closer to you but never actually emerge from the underbrush.  We spent quite a while at Yanacocha luring the Ecuadorian Antpitta to come and see us. Its call would get louder and louder as it approached, and then go silent. Once we gave up and walked on, it resumed calling.  Today we had exactly the same experience with the Tawny Antpitta, leading us to conclude that they just like to tease Luis.

 After lunch we headed north again, taking backroads down the valley of the Tandayapa River and birding along the way.  Both halves of the day featured new species, but the hummingbirds stole the show yet again. The Black-Tailed Trainbearer (pictured below) has the longest tail of any hummingbird in the world, and the longest tail (in proportion to its body size) of any bird in the Americas. Our room at the new lodge is at the end of the building with windows on three sides at canopy level. The lodge is partway up the steep sides of the forested river valley, and feels very immersive.

Pictured: Black-tailed Trainbearer, Cinnamon Flycatcher, Golden-bellied Grosbeak (female)

Yanacocha

 October 15, 2021

Another pre-dawn breakfast and then a drive to the Yanacocha Reserve, on the slopes (2500-3500m) of Pichicacha, a set of 5 volcanic peaks of which one is active (last erupted in 1999). Much of the slope is deforested to support the local dairy farming industry. Native trees become shorter and scrubbier as the elevation increases; the only tall trees are introduced species such as eucalyptus, cedar and pine. While much of the farmland feels quite dry, the upper level on the mountain is part “montane” and part cloud forest. Yanacocha is a reserve run by an international group that is buying land all over the world to protect specific bird species (but a lot of other species benefit too). In this case the focus species is a hummingbird, the black-breasted puffleg. 

We walked about three miles into the reserve, which was unusually quiet. We saw many fewer species of birds than on previous days, but those we saw were spectacular and specific to the local eco region. Examples include several mountain tanagers, and some amazing hummingbirds. Many of the hummingbirds are very aptly named, as shown by the photo of the Sword-billed Hummingbird below.  We also added an Ecuadorian Rabbit (actual name is white-tailed rabbit) to our mammal list. 

The weather today was very unsettled, periods of sun in between many stretches of mist and fog. The mist was so dense that there was no sense staying up on the mountain. Instead we drove back roads and saw more local and endemic birds on our way back to the lodge. We got in just before a big thunderstorm hit- thunder at 9,000 ft is really loud!

Pictured: Scarlet-bellied Mountain-Tanager, female Sword-billed Hummingbird, Yellow-breasted Brush Finch 

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Rio Silanche

October 14, 2021

The rain that began Wednesday afternoon continued all night and into this morning. Fortunately the plan for today was to drive to a lowland rain forest area and largely “bird from the car” (meaning we drive and stop frequently to look at birds). By the time we got back to the main road the rain had turned to fog and mist, and we actually had clear weather ( if cloudy) for most of our birding, but you might notice some rain in one of the attached photos.

During our morning at Rio Silanche, we saw many new birds as well as some old favorites. Among the new ones: chestnut-fronted macaws, white-tailed trogon, yellow-tufted dacnis, and several endemic species.  One of the birds was a “life lister” for our guide, a young (22 years old!) biologist from Quito.

 When we returned to the lodge for lunch (a bit late because of the excellent morning birding) the mist and rain welcomed us again. A little local birding and then we drove back to Quito for the night.  We have really enjoyed the lodges in Milpe.  We were the only ones there. Now back in Quito we have internet connectivity, so we can to catch up with family and blogging. To be fair, the small lodges in Milpe used to have internet but with tourist volume so low they need to economize where they can. Perhaps we should be grateful for being truly off the grid for several days.

Pictured: masked Tityra, white-tailed trogon, yellow-tufted Dacnis.

Full Day at Milpe

October 13, 2021

Today was not quite as long as yesterday, but it still began before dawn. We spent time at a “moth feeder” where lights and a white screen are set up at night to attract moths, with the consequence that many species of birds drop by early in the morning for some fast food. We saw many species that are normally hard to see because they live deep in the forest and low to the ground.  After breakfast we went for a longer bird walk; the trails here are very well kept and swept clear of debris to discourage snakes from the trails. While birding is seldom done at aerobic speeds, today’s walk involved several trips down to the river and back up again. The uphills felt like exercise no matter what our Fitbits thought. That walk led us to the lodge for this evening, and in time for lunch. The morning was bright and sunny, but by mid morning the mist had returned, and rain arrived after lunch. Fortunately this lodge (quite a bit larger and more finished than last night’s) has an open air dining hall with two stories above it, so we stood out of the rain and even with the nearby treetops to watch birds.  There was an amazing amount of activity while it was raining, and we were able to see some spectacular new species. The reserve is entirely primary rain forest, and many of the species we are seeing are endemic to Ecuador, although it has been fun to see some species from our Costa Rica, Belize and Brazil trips too.  We are up to 18 species of hummingbirds so far!

Update:  for those of you who think we only see birds, today we saw a Tayra (a large arboreal member of the weasel family), a fruit bat and a red-tailed squirrel.  

Photos:  Zeledon's Antbird, female Swallow Tanager, Orange-billed Sparrow, Black-and-white Becard

A long first day!

 October 12, 2021

Our first full day in Ecuador was a long one.  The Quito lodge ( more on this when we stay there again later in the trip, as we haven’t really seen it in daylight yet) is at the top of a steep hill south of the main part of Quito, so approximately 10,000 feet and it was nippy in our cabin!  This part of Ecuador is like the old joke about West Virginia “ if you flattened it out it would be enormous”.  We began with breakfast at 5:30 and then drove for several hours to our first birding location... down the hill, through Quito and then downhill some more as we went further north. As we neared the outskirts of Quito, we saw and passed the equator monument. The rest of our morning would be spent in the Northern Hemisphere. The area around Quito is very dry; just north of Quito the landscape changes to green deciduous forest and corn fields; and a bit later we were in the cloud forest. We drove uphill from the main highway for a couple of miles on a single track dirt road — at the top, in the middle of nowhere was a bird sanctuary operated as a family business. We spent several hours there.  While there we got to see a very rare endemic species, whatever,  we also saw 15 species of hummingbirds, one with an enormous tail.  A wide variety of Tanagers were present.

 We retraced our path to the highway (stopping several times for bird sightings) and continued north to Milpe, often cited as one of the best birding locations in Ecuador.  Tonight’s lodge (3,000 feet) is at the edge of a deep valley with a rushing river at the bottom.  We are in the rain forest but at a high enough altitude that it is not hot, just humid. The mist comes and goes as it will, with the result that the valley in front of the lodge appears and disappears. Our room as well as the dining area (we eat outdoors) overlook the valley.  We are the only guests here, and it is very quiet. We took several birding walks near the lodge, and a night walk after dinner. Amongst all the birding walks we did today and tonight, we’ve seen 84 species so far, most of them new to us. The night walk also yielded frogs, spiders, large snails and interesting insects.  The food has been very good and plentiful,  the portions are of a reasonable size, but there are a lot of courses.  The amount of physical activity we did today certainly did not sufficiently justify the four course lunch.

Pictured below:  Toucan Barbet, Booted Racquet-tail, Gladiator Frog

Heading to Ecuador

 October 11, 2021 

And we are off for a week-long birding trip in Ecuador!   Today we fly to Quito, which is the capital city closest to the equator (hence “Ecuador”!).  It is also the 2^nd highest capital city, at 9450 ft, and sits on the eastern slope of Pichincha, an active volcano.  Because of its location, the temperatures (both high and low) vary only by about 5 degrees across the entire year, there are 12 hours of sunlight every day (although it also rains a lot), and when the sun is out, it has one of the highest UV indexes in the world. People have lived in the Quito area since at least 8000 BC.  Quito has one of the least disturbed historic districts in South America, and was the site of Ecuador’s independence, led by Simon Bolivar, in 1810.

Our trip will involve going to many different climate zones / biomes over the course of the week, including cloud forests (some up to 11,000 ft), moderate forest, grasslands and tropical rain forests (some down to 1150 ft). We’ll be peeling and adding layers every day, and rain gear will be our constant companions – but so will the birds!  The avifauna of Ecuador has 1653 confirmed species, of which nine are endemic to the mainland and 31 are endemic to the Galápagos, 73 are rare or vagrants and of course not all are found on the west of the Andes where we will be... but still, there's a lot to potentially see!  Our itinerary suggests we’ll be on our feet at least 8 hours a day, although birding is often at a rather slow pace.  More when we actually start doing!  

Iguazu Falls

 Friday August 27

As yesterday was mostly a travel day, we'll cover two days in one posting.  Remember the adventure travel comment a few days ago?  On Wednesday, our 4.5 hour drive to Campo Grande became a 6 hour drive because a local indigenous tribe closed the only east-west highway in the state to bring attention to their concerns about land use legislation being discussed in the Brazilian Congress.  The only alternate route would have added another 2 hours, so we sat and waited and watched a bit of their dancing.  An unplanned cultural experience. 

We drove south, but mostly east, from Caiman to Campo Grande, crossing through the red sandstone rim that holds the rain inside the Pantanal. But the rim is very irregular, resembling the buttes of the American Southwest in some places.  After an overnight in Campo Grande, on Thursday we flew to Foz du Iguacu, Brazil, to see the Iguazu Falls. "Foz" means "confluence", in this case of the the Iguassu and Panala Rivers (yes, Iguazu really is spelled differently in different contexts, in part because the confluence is also the intersection of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina)>

The falls themselves are upstream on the Iguassu, and form a very long horseshoe of individual falls, up to 350 feet high. The number of falls depends on the water level, but 275 is a good working number.  The sheer magnitude of this natural feature is overwhelming, and even hundreds of pictures can't do it justice, but we'll try!  Our hotel faces onto the northern edges of the falls, most of which are on the Argentine side of the river.  We also had the opportunity to see the falls from the air on a helicopter ride today.  And we were treated to an amazing sunset over the falls for our last evening in Brazil,

The weather here is very different than in the Pantanal -- lows in the 50's, highs in the 70's and enough rain that everything is green. After 10 days of 100 degrees and dust everywhere, it is quite a relief. We have taken advantage of the weather to be out walking as much as possible. We have seen a few new species, including a type of swift that actually nests on the cliffs beside and behind the falls, flying right through the sheets of water.  We also re-met some creatures that were elusive in the Pantanal but have adapted to humans here, particularly the coati,  who run right past people and aggressively beg for food. 

Pictured: Iguazu Falls from helicopter, sunset over the falls, Burrowing Owl, Violet-capped Woodnymph, Great Dusky Swifts. 

Our final day in the South Pantanal

 Our last day and a bit at the Caiman Ecological Reserve focused on experiencing the different biomes (replanted forest, dry forest, savanna forest, cordillero forest, wetlands and savanna) present in the reserve.  The landscape changes frequently, as do the species present.  The reserve is 130,000 acres, some of which is used for tourism and cattle ranching (with pantaneiros on horseback to herd them; never call them gauchos!) but much of the reserve is entirely pristine.

We continue to be very lucky, particularly with regards to seeing tapirs.  It is deemed rare to see a tapir in the Pantanal, but at least some of our group have now seen 9, three of them in broad daylight! On Tuesday's drive we saw a large group of collared peccaries (javelinos) as well as the final species of deer. 

Last night we went to a barbecue hosted at the horse stable, with local music provided by a guitarist and an accordion player.  Afterwards on a short night drive we saw a large male jaguar as he darted across the road.  This morning we saw his footprints in the dust along the side of the road. Our trip leader estimates that the jaguar weighed at least 135 pounds from the prints. Altogether we have had 8 jaguar sightings of 7 individuals. 

Wednesday afternoon will be spent driving back to civilization and a Thursday morning flight to Sao Paolo.  This will mark the end of our Pantanal trip, but we will go on an extension to see the Iguazu Falls before returning home. 

Pictured:  Collared Peccary, Pantaneiros, Red Brocket Deer, Jaguar at night 

A full day in the South Pantanal

After three days of boat rides and drives, it felt good to go for a walk this morning. We walked from the lodge along the road for about a mile, through re-planted forest. We saw 10 new bird species and about 30 species we'd seen before, as well as a new type of capuchin monkey. In this type of forest most of the trees are slow-growing or fruiting.  Then we drove to a "cordillera" forest, made up of fast-growing tree species that emerge in the dry ridges between runoff channels during the rainy season. These forest strips stay dry all year, but include the palms whose nuts are the primary food for Hyacinth Macaws.  We learned more about the Macaw project, which will be the subject of of a future entry. 

This afternoon and evening we drove to new areas of the reserve.  While we didn't see a lot of new species, we did get wonderful views of ones we'd seen before; it really felt like many of the animals and birds were posing for us, including a pair of macaws beautifully positioned in front of the setting sun.  We also watched a troop of capuchins cautiously approach a small watering hole. In the end, only three of them actually drank from the pond, perhaps because a small caiman was watching their every move from about three feet away. We also saw our first Red-legged Seriema, a grassland bird about half the height of a rhea, with elegant face markings and a delicate mincing step. Seriemas were used as the initial model for the creation of the velociraptors in "Jurassic Park". 

On the night portion of the drive we saw three separate tapirs (a large male and two females) and a family of pacas (nocturnal agoutis, quite unusual to see), so our luck continues to be good!  We also saw a crab-eating fox, which patiently waited for his picture to be taken (unlike the five previous encounters where they each scampered away in the dark).

Pictured: Greater Rhea, Crab-eating Fox, Hyacinth Macaws at sunset, Red-legged Seriema

A day of two halves, both marvelous

We went for our last morning boat ride in Porto Jofre this morning, hoping for a glimpse of a jaguar or the otters.  We explored some new sections of the river and saw a new bird, but the mammals weren't cooperating.  Then we turned into another stream to look at a heron with a fish in its beak, and the amazing Gonsalo (our boat pilot) spotted a jaguar peeking up over the lake weed.  It was the mother of the older cubs we had seen two days before.  We watched her walk to the river, swim across to the other side, and then for more than half a mile we moved in parallel with her as she walked along the river bank.  For several days we had benefitted from other boats calling in jaguar sightings, so we called ours in too.  This meant that we had about 15 minutes of private jaguar viewing and then about 10 minutes with increasing numbers of other boats.  The jaguar disappeared into the brush at that point.  What an amazing experience!  We also saw a family of seven howler monkeys just to top off the morning. 

We flew (about 1 hour 10 minutes, instead of all day driving) to our third camp in the Caiman Reserve, where the program to recover Hyacinth Macaw populations began in 1990.  At that point there were thought to be only 1500 birds in the wild; the most recent survey suggests over 6000, and they are now listed as vulnerable but not endangered.  Our having seen them at every stop on this trip supports the idea of their recovery. 

Out new location is dry savanna, in a largely cattle ranching area.  We started out on an afternoon safari ride, about an hour before sunset.  By the time sunset arrived, we had already seen a tapir, a 9-banded armadillo, new birds and a giant anteater!  The anteater allowed us to watch him bathe in a marshy spot to get ants out of his fur.  After the sun set and the moon rose, we continued on a night drive. We saw (at different times) four crab-eating foxes, three more giant anteaters and another tapir.  We can't wait to see what a full day will bring tomorrow!

Pictured: jaguar, blue-fronted parrot, Paraguayan howlers, giant anteater, young Brazilian tapir. 

Unexpected adventures

One of the great things about adventure travel is that you can never predict what will happen day-to-day or even hour-to-hour.  Our morning began with breakfast at 5am as usual, but as we left the dining hall we heard the unmistakable racket created by Hyacinth Macaws, four of which had roosted in a palm tree on the central green. Photographing dark birds in a dark tree before sunrise is a bit of a challenge. Of course it gets better with each passing minute, until they decide that it's gotten too light out, and fly off!

Similarly after lunch we strolled to the marsh next to the lodge to see if there were any dragonflies.  There weren't, but there WAS a yellow anaconda resting in the water with a few coils visible above the surface.  As we watched, a jacana (a small noisy water bird that walks on the surface of the lake weed with its large fan-shaped feet) came closer and closer... and the snake slowly uncoiled itself and slipped under the surface of the water to get closer to the bird.  We were ready for the "jump scare" part of this horror film, but at the last minute the jacana developed some common sense and flew out of harm's way. We returned to our room to look at the pictures from the encounter, and another Macaw landed in the tree next to us!

As for the more regularly scheduled parts of the day, we were able to explore some very long sections of the nearby rivers.  The jaguars eluded everyone today, but we saw beautiful landscapes and birds.  We have seen some of the birds so frequently that we have given them nicknames; for example, the Roadside Hawk we now call a "riverside" instead. We saw Hyacinth Macaws for a third time today, on a sandy beach sipping water from the edge of the river, a very unusual behavior. 

We also saw a medium-sized snake curled up under the vines on a riverbank.  We have mentioned our two excellent guides already, but we haven't talked about our boat pilot, Gonsalo.  He knows the rivers very well (which is essential with the water level so low) and does a wonderful job handling the boat. Today we got to see how good a wildlife spotter he is, not only with the snake but with a small green iguana sitting on the upturned roots of a downed tree-- he spotted it while driving the boat at a fair clip! 

Pictured: Yellow Anaconda with his almost-snack, Hyacinth Macaws (in tree at dawn and on beach), sunset on the Cuiaba River. 

A quiet afternoon

 After lunch, a swim in the pool and a short nap (we did get up at 4:45 after all!), we got back into our skiff.  We intentionally explored some of the quieter backwaters rather than the heavily traveled streams of the Cuiaba River this afternoon.  No jaguar sightings (by any boat all afternoon), but we saw howlers, agouti, capybara, giant otters, fishing bats, caiman and some new birds.   We also saw some fun behaviors: it seemed as though the capybara decided to "take a family trip to the beach" on this hot afternoon; there they were lined up just off a sandbar in the river, up to their knees in the water and allowing the ripples from passing boats to wash up higher on them. Near sunset we watched giant river otters dive back into the water from the shore.

As the sun begins to set, it is almost inconceivable how many insects appear in huge swarms near the surface of the water. This creates a feeding frenzy for all kinds of flycatchers -- and then as it gets darker, out come the fishing bats and the nighthawks.  Several of our photographers played around with photographing the fishing bats (the bats are red!!), which then meant we had to hurry home, with the skiff at high speed in the moonlight. 

The food has been very good throughout the trip, mostly quite traditional and farm-to-table.  At lunch today, Kevin had cashew fruit (not the nuts, the fruit itself, preserved in sugar from last season).  It was delicious, very like a caramel pear.  We have also eaten a lot of manioc in various forms with local vegetables, fruits and meats.  Here at Porto Jofre, there is also fresh fish from the river at every meal, while when we were in the northern Pantanal, we ate beef from the herds of the farm of the lodge. 

Pictured: Agouti, Blue-throated Piping-guan, Yellow-rumped Cacique, Vermillion Flycatcher