I’m sure that many of us have places that we long to see, experiences that we hope to someday immerse ourselves in. For many years, I’d hoped to travel to the Andes, the higher peaks as well as the mid-level slopes. Also high on my bucket list was the Amazon basin, the rivers and rain forests of northern South America that contribute to the mighty river itself. Ecuador seemed like the logical way to combine these dreams into one manageable trip.
Ecuador ranks high on the bucket list of many birders. There are somewhere around 11,000 bird species in the world, and about 1700 of these can be found in Ecuador. There are a handful of countries with higher bird lists, but Ecuador’s relatively small size and reasonably good infrastructure give it an advantage over many other “birdy” locales.
I went ahead and booked five nights at a lodge near the Napo River in the Amazon Basin, but I knew right away that I would want to arrive in the country a few days early, in case I ran into any travel complications. This early arrival soon turned into an additional week in the Andean slopes east and west of Quito.
A view of the Sani Lodge from the 100-foot canopy tower in the Amazon Basin
The flights down, JFK to Atlanta to Quito, had me arriving at about 9 PM. Getting through customs was a breeze- I was literally waved through to the exit doors, where I met up with my driver, Patricio, and off we went to my first night on the equator. My Ecuadorian contact, Mercedes, and I went over the plans for the morning, and soon I was dreaming of mountains and hummingbirds.
Quito is bustling on a Friday night.
Breakfast came early at 5 AM, and a few minutes later my guide for the first week (Patricio #2!) pulled in and we loaded up the car, a Renault Duster SUV that he had borrowed from a friend.
The city of Quito is nestled in a “bowl”, surrounded by high volcanic peaks. This bowl is at an elevation of about 9300 feet, and it’s kind of daunting to see the surrounding mountains tower far above it! I had started taking medication for altitude a few days earlier, and at no point did I feel any effects of altitude, although there were days when I was as high as 14,500 feet.
And before I get into the nuts and bolts of the trip (literally- more on that later!), I have to mention that the people of Ecuador are not only incredibly friendly and outgoing, but it seemed as if most of them have an interest in nature and quite a few are really knowledgeable. I visited several neighborhood parks that had extensive feeder operations, trail systems etc, and there were always family groups, often with very young kids as well as abuelas and abuelos, teenage boys and girls birding or hiking- it was really eye-opening to see a people immersed in the natural world around them.
The Quito high-rises are well above the 9,000-foot mark.
Snow-capped Cotapaxi looms of the city on one side
While snow-capped Antisana dominates the other side.
Antisana Volcano tops out at just under 19,000 feet, while Cotapaxi reaches just over 19,300.
We were headed to a property about two hours west of Quito. Zuro Loma features birding trails and bird feeders. These mainly attract hummingbirds and a variety of tanagers. But there are a couple of very special feathered guests at Zuro Loma, and we wanted to make sure we arrived early enough to have a chance to see those star birds!
The Nono-Tandayapa Road- One of the “EcoRutas”- eco routes in the slopes of the western Andes
Passing through the villages along the Eco-Routa, the connection that the local people have with their environment can be seen in the displays of eye-candy murals.
Toucans adorn the walls
and here an ocelot makes an appearance in the village of Gualea in the mountains of Ecuador
The long road up to Zuro Loma and Yanacocha
After an hour or so, the pavement gave way to a long, bumpy drive taking us higher up into the Andes. Another hour and a half saw us at Zuro Loma, perched at just over 10,000 feet in the western Andes. Just beyond the parking area, a trail descended through some scrubby, brushy vegetation. The slope was pretty steep and the trail zigged and zagged down, switchbacking until we reached a flat, open area with benches and feeders. There we found Silvio attending the feeders. Silvio was a long-time friend of Patricio’s — I should mention here that Patricio had great friends at every stop we made- clearly, he is a pillar of the birding community in central Ecuador!
Sparkling Violetear- one of the dominant hummingbird species at Zuro Loma
Sparkling Violetears were plentiful and bold and tried their best to fend off the others of their clan. As you might expect, each of those other species was more spectacular than the last, with Swordbills, Black-tailed and Green-tailed Trainbearers and many more in attendance. In our three or so hours at Zuro Loma, we recorded 11 species of hummingbirds.
Female Green-tailed Trainbearer
Sword-billed Hummingbird. Finally, a bird name that makes sense!!
Collared Inca- one of the iconic hummingbirds of the region.
Besides the hummingbird feeders, Zuro Loma also maintains fruit feeders and bird baths. These attract a greater variety of species, including some spectacular tanagers. Some of these were making regular passes at the fruit, while others hung back in the denser vegetation, darting in for a quick nibble before disappearing back into the brush.
Blue-capped tanager
In general, it’s a lot easier to get long, lingering looks at the tanagers than the zippy little hummingbirds. It was nice to have a varied, colorful assortment of birds that you can actually learn to identify! Blue-capped Tanagers were common at a few of the mountain locations I visited.
Golden Tanager
Golden Tanagers, meanwhile, seemed to be much more widespread and abundant.
Scarlet-bellied Mountain-Tanager
The various species of mountain-tanagers seem to separate out to specific locations, although here at Zuro Loma both Hooded and Scarlet-bellied were making regular visits.
Hooded Mountain-Tanager
In terms of taxonomy, the group of birds called “tanagers” tends to go through major revisions every year, and now things like flowerpiercers are part of the family. Masked Flowerpiercers were common and widespread at a lot of the feeders throughout the slopes of the Andes.
Masked Flowerpiercer
Black Flowerpiercer, by contrast, is a bit more restricted to mid to high levels of altitude.
Black Flowerpiercer
The backdrop to this array of feeders was also pretty spectacular, with the slopes of Pichincha Volcano rising up. The last major eruption of Pichincha occurred in 1660, although it remains active and spews material out periodically. That 1660 eruption did extensive damage to Quito, more than two hours away by car, but much closer as the lava flies.
The view from the feeder area at Zuro Loma
Rufous-breasted Chat-Tyrant
We made sure to leave time at Zuro Loma for two of the “star” birds, both members of the antpitta family. With some coaxing from Silvio, an Equatorial Antpitta emerged from the dark shadows of the forest and made a couple of quick forays onto a sunlit branch to scarf down a couple of breakfast worms. About a half hour later, a Chestnut-naped Antpitta followed, cautiously detaching itself from the shadows as we remained frozen to our spots.
Equatorial Antpitta at Zuro Loma
Antpittas are plump, long-legged denizens of deep tropical forests. They’re notoriously difficult to see. In other locations, I’ve heard guides tell birding groups things like- “Get your feet into a comfortable position, then DON’T MOVE!” or even “FEET IN CEMENT, FEET IN CEMENT”, before trying to coax an antpitta into view. In recent years, an Ecuadorian farmer named Angel Paz came up with a method of developing a relationship with antpittas on his property, coaxing them, feeding them worms, and eventually reaching the point where he can call them by name out to the feeding stations. Here at Zuro Loma and in other places across South America, the Angel Paz technique has caught on, and these once- mythical birds are now a highlight of many birding tours.
Chestnut-naped Antpitta
After a few hours of eye-popping views of the birdlife at Zuro Loma, we decided to head over to another location. Yanacocha is at a slightly higher elevation, and I’ve kind of built it up in my mind as there are a couple of major rarities that can be found there. The reality, though, is that rarities are rare for a reason!
The first, a hummingbird called Black-breasted Puffleg, is critically endangered. In recent years one or two show up at Yanacocha between May and July. One other nearby property has hosted one. And that’s it- for the world! Nobody knows how many others there are or where they go when they leave Yanacocha. So, unless you are there for a few weeks from late May to early July, and you have the most extraordinary luck, you aren’t going to see this bird. I didn’t!
The road up to Yanacocha passes through some agricultural areas before topping out at the preserve at about 11,500 feet.
The other mega rarity here is Imperial Snipe, a bird that was only known from two specimens taken somewhere near Colombia in the 1800s, then not seen again until 1967. It is now known that they sometimes occur at Yanacocha, but the trek to have even a slight chance of finding one apparently involves a serious hike- and you must arrive at their habitat before dawn! Neither of those things were possible in the time frame I had, so no Imperial Snipe for me!
Hummingbirds of the Mountains- at Yanacocha
We spent about an hour at one set of feeders at Yanacocha, then dipped into the restaurant there for a lunch of soup and roasted chicken.
When I go on a solo birding trip, I pack a jar of peanut butter, some oatmeal and energy bars. I generally avoid lunch, preferring to stay in the field rather than sit down indoors and lose valuable birding time. But, here in Ecuador, there didn’t seem to be any way of avoiding the sit down restaurant meal every day! I usually ended up giving half my food to Patricio, partly because it was just too much food and partly because eating takes too long when you’re trying to catch glimpses of great birds just outside the windows.
Soup at Yanacocha, followed by a big plate of chicken, yucca, and other good stuff, then dessert!
Back outside, the dazzling array of new birds continued. Glossy Flowerpiercer is similar to the Black Flowerpiercer that I had seen at Zuro Loma earlier in the day but with that whitish shoulder patch and glossy rather than flat black plumage.
Glossy Flowerpiercer- tends to occur at higher elevations than the similar Black Flowerpiercer.
Golden-breasted Puffleg
Shining Sunbeam- definitely one of the stars among the high-altitude hummers.
Yellow-breasted Brushfinch
Once again, the backdrop to the feeders and the restaurant is just spectacular.
Buff-winged Starfrontlet with the cloud forest in the background
Fawn-breasted Brilliant
One last point of interest here at Yanacocha. On the distant slopes of the Andes lies the wreckage of a plane crash. It’s been there for about 20 years- apparently not worth the effort it would take to remove it.
After lunch we drove back down out of the high Andes and took some very remote back roads, stopping periodically for some roadside birding. The road paralleled a raging stream, which looked like a great location to try for two target birds, White-capped Dipper and Torrent Duck. Our strategy was for me to walk the road wherever the river was visible, while Patricio leapfrogged ahead with the car. By around 3 PM the river was no longer visible so I hopped back in the car.
A few minutes later, Patricio stopped. “I’m hearing a strange noise”, he said- words that could either be very good or very bad, but probably not anything in between. I got out and walked alongside the car, and quickly found that he was hearing the sound of air escaping from the front left tire. The sharp rocks of the roadway had cut a slice in the sidewall!
Rock-strewn roadway —1, tire — 0
We located a small array of tools and pieces of a jack, and as Patricio cranked the mechanism to lower the spare tire, I laid under the back of the car trying to kick it loose! Eventually the spare fell to the ground and we retrieved it.
At that point, we found that the socket wrench that was tucked away in a compartment, fit four of the five tire lug nuts. Despite our best efforts, the fifth one, being a different size, was not going to come off. We contemplated our choices- we had an air pump and could get about five minutes of air into the tire at a time before having to refill it, or we could just try walking out until we could get a cell phone signal. We couldn’t guess as to how far that might be.
By some miracle, a third option appeared in the form of a fully rigged up off-road jeep, whose driver was nice enough to stop to help. He had a tool kit worthy of an Indy 500 pit crew- and several sets of wrenches, one of which fit the recalcitrant lug nut. This fellow and his significant other were on their way to the town of Mindo for a night of dining and dancing- he in tight shirt and pants and she in a swanky dress- they were definitely not dressed for mechanic duty. But they seemed to see our predicament as a challenge, and after about fifteen minutes we were on our way.
After a little over ten miles we came out onto a paved road, waved goodby to our saviors, thankful that we were spared that walk, which would have taken us long into into darkness. We began looking for a place where we could get the tire fixed or replaced- you really don’t want to go any distance on these roads without a spare! With about 90 minutes of daylight left, Patricio decided he should drop me off at a local nature center and go off to find a repair shop.
The Alambi Nature Reserve- my refuge while Patricio searched for a repair shop!
The Alambi Preserve turned out to be a wonderful last stop on an eventful first day! The requisite line of hummingbird feeders was attended by scores of birds, and tanagers, barbets and more were lined up at the fruit feeders. Several human families — parents, children, grandparents- were enjoying the spectacle. Hummingbirds were feeding from their hands as they held out little bottlecaps filled with sugar water!
Typical scene at many of the nature preserves near towns- multi-generational family groups enjoying nature.
Some new hummingbirds at the Alambi hummingbird feeders- from the left, White-booted Racket-tail, Sapphire- vented Puffleg, White-bellied Woodstar, and at back right is a White-necked Jacobin
Quite a few hummingbirds have these exceptionally long tail streamers- this one is the spectacular White-booted Racket-tail!
Orange-bellied Euphonia
Throughout the neotropics, euphonias often come in species pairs, where one species will have a yellow throat while the other has a dark throat.
Thick-billed Euphonia
After about an hour of working through these confusing beasts on my own, Patricio returned- tire repaired- and mentioned that there was a trail down to the river. We headed down, and there was one of our afternoon targets- a White-capped Dipper!
White-capped Dipper
After a thoroughly satisfying but exhausting first day, we drove down to Patricio’s place, the Mindo Loma Lodge. The lodge was located on a nicely wooded piece of property, with some great birding trails of its own. But for this day, birding was done- shower, dinner with Patricio and his significant other Cami, the daily checklist- 68 species and 50 lifers, and off to bed. Tomorrow will bring another early start and a visit to the famous Angel Paz.
Mindo Loma Lodge
The Dawn Chorus is now open for your birdy reports of the week.
