23 de Junio: May 24, 2010

There are thousands of places to observe birds in Ecuador, and new sites are being popularized all the time, such as Mashpi Reserve on the northwestern slope, which quickly became a big hit this year when the Indigo Flowerpiercer and other difficult Choco endermics were found there in mossy forest. 23 de Junio is a small village on the south side of the Rio Blanco, located about forty-five minutes by car from San Miguel de los Bancos. A group of farmers there are giving conservation a shot, protecting swaths of montane forest for avitourism. Most notably there are two Long-Wattled Umbrellabird leks in the area, and Black Solitaire has been seen occasionally feeding on palm fruit. Aimee and I visited the site with our guide Julia Patino on a rainy Sunday morning and saw very little despite waiting at the observation area for three hours. Given it's distant location almost two hours from Mindo, it's hard to say whether this site will catch on with birding groups, but you're welcome to arrange a visit ($15) through Luis Ajila (081030948) to try for one of South America's best birds.

Notable birds seen: Gray-Headed Kite, Yellow-Tufted Dacnis, Guira Tanager.

Mindo: May 22-24, 2010

With just a handful of difficult birds left to see in the Mindo region, or the subtropical zone of the northwestern slope, I contracted a birding guide for the weekend to help me track down a few elusive species, including the Crested Guan, Sunbittern, Cloud-Forest Pygmy-Owl, and Black Solitaire. Tom Quesenberry, the affable and insightful owner of El Monte Lodge, recommended Julia Patino, one of the few female birding guides in the country and among the most knowledgeable and experienced guides in the area (she freelances as well and can be reached at 086162816). Indeed, she proved to be an excellent guide and an affable birding companion as we spent the morning along the ridge road bordering the Mindo-Nambillo Reserve, picking up some great species like the Green-Fronted Lancebill, Rufous-Breasted Antthrush, and Tiny Hawk, the latter of which she spotted at an immense distance, perched up high and in the open in the bare crown of a tree.

Later in the morning, we tried for the Crested Guan at a finca further down in the valley. The sun was blazing by then and birding activity was low, but we did track down a calling Barred Puffbird and spotted a female White-Winged Tanager in a mixed flock. Despite the abundance of fruiting trees on the property, we only heard Crested Guan way down the ridge in the forest below, although a nice surprise was a Gray Hawk that alighted momentarily in front of us. Julia was definitely dogged in her attempt to located my missing birds, calling Angel Paz throughout the weekend for updates on the Cloud-Forest Pygmy-Owl that is occasionally seen on his property, and taking us to a little-visited site on Sunday to try for Black Solitaire. Surprisingly, I found the Sunbittern on my own, crossing the Rio Mindo one afternoon in the tarabita that provides access to the lodge. There I was swinging over the river in a small cart while trying to photograph this scarce bittern as it flashed its gorgeous wings angrily along the shore.

Notable birds seen: Tiny Hawk, Gray Hawk, Sunbittern, Green-Fronted Lancebill, Barred Puffbird, Rufous-Breasted Antthrush, Club-Winged Manakin, White-Winged Tanager.

Reserva las Gralarias: May 22, 2010

I had originally planned to visit the southwestern lowlands during this holiday weekend in search of birds endemic to the Tumbes bioregion, but I was soon overwhelmed in planning the logistics of the trip, as buying airline tickets and renting a car proved cost prohibitive considering the few new species I would likely encounter. Then, I strongly considered driving south to visit Cajas National Park and Jocotoco's Yunguilla Reserve in search of two Ecuadorian endemics, the Violet-Throated Metaltail and the Pale-Headed Brush-Finch, but this seemed a long and exhausting trip for a three-day weekend. Ultimately, Aimee and I settled on a simple getaway to Mindo, visiting several sites in the area while staying at the excellent El Monte Lodge, and considering the nice handful of new birds seen, I'm happy the weekend worked out the way it did.

Reserva las Gralarias, located a half hour outside of Mindo, is a reliable site for several difficult Choco endemics, including the Beautiful Jay and Hoary Puffleg, both of which I've failed to track down over the last several years. I missed them again this morning, but Aimee and I delighted in two large groups of beautiful Plate-Billed Mountain-Toucans and a pair of excitable Rufous-Headed Pygmy-Tyrants. Another Moustached Antpitta nest was found recently on the reserve; although the nest was empty, it's still remarkable to consider that this species was only discovered just over a decade ago in Ecuador, before its call was recorded, and before the northwestern slope was crawling with birders. A female Scaled Fruiteater was another nice highlight, but I was really hoping to spot the Barred Hawk that was calling periodically throughout the sunny morning.

Notable birds seen: Brown Inca, Velvet-Purple Coronet, Plate-Billed Mountain-Toucan, Toucan Barbet, Tyrannine Woodcreeper, Strong-Billed Woodcreeper, Scaled Fruiteater, Uniform Antshrike, Flavescent Flycatcher, Rufous-Headed Pygmy-Tyrant, Gray-Breasted Wood-Wren, Three-Striped Warbler, Russet-Crowned Warbler, Golden-Naped Tanager, Beryl-Spangled Tanager, Blue-Winged Mountain-Tanager, Dusky Bush-Tanager.

Birds of Ecuador Postage Stamps

I was contacted a few months ago through my blog by Correos del Ecuador, which is the Ecuadorian national postal company, as they were looking for photographs of rare birds of Ecuador that had never been represented in a postage stamp before. Flattered, I replied that I was happy to share any images I had taken during my birding trips around the country, hoping to have a few for which they were looking. I was dismayed to receive the list of desired birds, though, as they were mostly skulkers or pelagics, including the Striated Antthrush and White-Vented Storm Petrel. Still, I had a few decent photographs of the Gray-Breasted Mountain-Toucan and Common Potoo, two other species on the list, so I decided to go ahead with the philatelic project and allow the artists to create stamps from my photographs.

After reviewing my photographs of the desired species, the artists decided they would cull images directly from my blog instead, leaving me immensely curious about what birds and photographs they would ultimately use. Today, I finally received the results of the project, which was to be exhibited this year in Antwerp at Birdpex 6, an international "bird-only" stamp exhibition held every four years. While I admit to being surprised by the actual birds chosen for the stamps to represent Ecuador's "megadiversity," I'm pretty smitten with the slick product, which presents the four colorful stamps in a cleverly designed package in the shape of a tree (the images of the White-Winged Swallow, Toucan Barbet, and Crimson-Rumped Toucanet are mine, while the image of the Blue-Crowned Motmot is of Juan Carlos Valarezo).

There's also an informational flier that uses one of my images of a Turquoise Jay, which is a common enough bird on both slopes in Ecuador, but doesn't range much further outside the country. Perhaps my favorite part of the production, though, is the commemorative stamps, which depict two highly contrasting tanagers, the Scrub and Silver-Beaked Tanagers. The former is a subtle and sometimes hard to find tanager of the inter-Andean valley, while the latter is a striking but common tanager of open areas in the eastern lowlands.

It's worth mentioning that there are some outstanding resources on the Internet of the birds of Ecuador. Roger Ahlman of Andean Birding regularly updates his gallery of Birds of Ecuador, and Nick Athanas of Tropical Birding has outstanding digiscoped images of neotropical birds that are extremely difficult to find, much less photograph. Glenn Bartley recently published a gorgeous book of the birds of Ecuador, and Sam Woods also of Tropical Birding maintains one of my favorite birding blogs with awesome photographs of his guiding excursions in Ecuador. The best non-Internet publication of Ecuadorian birds has to be Murray Cooper's recent book Plumas, which meaningfully presents the country's avian diversity by organizing the bird photographs into distinct ecological zones. Frankly, these other sources would have proven more fruitful for the postage stamp project, but I'm proud to contribute nevertheless.

Yanacocha Reserve: May 2, 2010

The weather has been gruesome in the highlands during the last few weeks, but it's now or never if I'm going to lay my eyes on the endangered Black-Breasted Puffleg, one of Ecuador's very few country endemics. This rare and extremely local hummingbird resides only on the northwestern slope of Volcan Pichincha, surfacing for a few months every year at Yanacocha Reserve, located just an hour's drive from Quito. Supposedly the months of May through July are the best times to find the hummingbird at the many feeders at the reserve, although there have been occasional reports of the bird in other seasons and altitudes, including Verdecocha Reserve, which is significantly down slope, and Reserva Las Gralarias, which is way down by Mindo.

Although it rained much of the previous day and night, I figured correctly that there would be clear weather for a few hours in the morning, arriving at the entrance to the reserve just after dawn. Having encountered a Curve-Billed Tinamou along the road, I was feeling pretty good about the day's prospects, noting a few mixed flocks along the Trocha Inca as I headed straight for the feeders, which are located a few kilometers back from the entrance. A pair of Barred Fruiteaters showed well as they foraged actively in the trees along the trail, making their characteristic high-pitched whistle all the while, but I was focused this morning on finding the mythical puffleg.

There are a few birds in the reserve, though, that would stop even the most goal-oriented birder in his tracks, one of which is the Ocellated Tapaculo. This magnificent skulker is one of South America's finest birds, but it's heard way more often than seen in its temperate forest habitat. Amazingly, a pair was calling right next to the Trocha Inca, and with a little coaxing from my iPod one individual flew up into a tree at eye level and proceeded to call and display for several minutes. Aside from the spectacular coloration of the bird, note the incredibly long and pointed hind claws directed backwards in the photograph above. This observation was a fair consolation for missing the puffleg yet again, despite spending over an hour at the feeders. The park guards report that the hummingbird hasn't been observed yet this year but that last year it was seen regularly during June and July.

Notable birds seen: Curve-Billed Tinamou, Purple-Mantled Thornbill, Golden-Breasted Puffleg, Sword-Billed Hummingbird, Mountain Velvetbreast, Pearled Treerunner, Tawny Antpitta, Blackish Tapaculo, Ocellated Tapaculo, Streak-Throated Bush-Tyrant, Crowned Chat-Tyrant, White-Banded Tyrannulet, White-Throated Tyrannulet, Barred Fruiteater, Red-Crested Cotinga, Blue-Backed Conebill, Superciliaried Hemispingus, Scarlet-Bellied Mountain-Tanager, Black-Chested Mountain-Tanager, Rufous-Naped Brush-Finch, Stripe-Headed Brush-Finch.