Cabañas Yankuam: March 30-31, 2010

Aimee and I last visited Cabañas Yankuam in the Cordillera del Condor in remote southeastern Ecuador two years ago, and since then it has lost its status as being at the end of the road. Indeed the road now continues on the other side of the Nangaritza River and will eventually loop around through the southern part of Zamora-Chinchipe province, linking up with Palanda, a small town several hours south of Tapichalaca Reserve. The growth is representative of the dominance of the mining industry in this region, as domestic and international companies increase their foothold in Ecuador and provincial leaders experiment with their newly found power and influence, building roads and infrastructure projects not because they're needed, but simply because they can.

The next few years, then, should lay bare the region to birders as well, and it's expected that knowledge of bird distributions in this region of the Andes will alter significantly as endemic species to the Marañon drainage and Cordilleras del Condor and Cutucú shift their populations as deforestation increases. The spectacular and highly-localized Orange-Throated Tanager will be among the most notably tracked birds as it responds to changing environmental pressures in both Peru and Ecuador. Already at Cabañas Yankuam, which has become the best base in either country for seeing the bird during the last five years, the situation is changing. No longer do visiting birders who want to find the tanager travel upriver to the Shuar community of Shaime, and then trek hours through deep mud and pastureland to a distant, forested hill, which we did ourselves two years ago. All that's required now is a twenty-minute boat ride and a gentle stroll along the new road from Miazi back to Cabañas Yankuam. With good weather, and a bit of luck, seeing the tanager is almost a sure, and easy, thing.

Aimee and I made the trip to Cabañas Yankuam during Semanta Santa last week, breaking up our stay at Cabañas Copalinga to attempt the Orange-Throated Tanager again, having missed it last time. We were the only guests at the time but benefited from the recent experience of visiting birders who left outstanding accounts of their observations at Shaime and along the new road. The local guide and boatman was happy to take us up river to Miazi for $20, walking with us far enough to indicate where the tanager is frequently seen along the road. Within thirty minutes of being in good habitat, we heard the bird's distinctive call as a small group of three tanagers foraged in the canopy far overhead. Although it's of a monotypic genus, the tanager looks and behaves much like the mountain-tanagers of the Andes, being large and chunky like a Hooded Mountain-Tanager and colored strikingly like a Blue-Winged Mountain-Tanager. The bird's orange throat is truly a wondrous feature, seemingly glowing when seen in front of a background of green. We encountered another active group of five tanagers shortly afterward that was foraging even closer to the road, searching through the mossy and bromeliad-laden branches of mature trees.

During the rest of our walk we enjoyed some large mixed flocks, one in particular that contained Red-Billed Scythebill and another that was loaded with tanager species, including the lovely Turquoise Tanager. Although it seems sacrilegious to say, the highlight of our excursion was seeing a group of Military Macaws flying overhead and then land in a fruiting tree well over a kilometer away. Setting up the scope in the middle of the road, we watched these gorgeous parrots feed for over an hour as they maneuvered about in the canopy of the tree, their splendid long tail feathers trailing behind them awkwardly. (The photograph of the macaws was the product of hand-held digiscoping but is worth including here as a record shot, I think.) There is a lot more birding to be done from Cabañas Yankuam, including visiting the top of the tepui nearby, which supposedly offers Bar-Winged Wood-Wren, Roraiman Flycatcher, and Royal Sunangel; however, Aimee and were happy to return to Copalinga that afternoon, where the birding is just as good and the comfort much greater. The trip was supposed to be a vacation, after all.

Notable birds seen: Laughing Falcon, Black Caracara, Spotted Sandpiper, Military Macaw, Blue-Headed Parrot, Gray-Breasted Sabrewing, Glittering-Throated Emerald, Collared Trogon, Violaceous Jay, Gilded Barbet, Black-Mandibled Toucan, Channel-Billed Toucan, Golden-Olive Woodpecker, Yellow-Tufted Woodpecker, Red-Billed Scythebill, Olivaceous Woodcreeper, Streaked Xenops, Ecuadorian Tyrannulet, Golden-Faced Tyrannulet, Olive-Chested Flycatcher, Black Phoebe, Golden-Winged Tody-Flycatcher, Short-Creseted Flycatcher, Black-Crowned Tityra, Thrush-Like Wren, Black-Capped Donacobius, Buff-Rumped Warbler, Purple Honeycreeper, Black-Faced Dacnis, Yellow-Bellied Tanager, Paradise Tanager, Green-and-Gold Tanager, Bay-Headed Tanager, Turquoise Tanager, Masked Tanager, Blue-Necked Tanager, Magpie Tanager, Grayish Saltator, Crested Oropendola, Yellow-Rumped Cacique, Orange-Throated Tanager.

Podocarpus National Park, Bombuscaro Entrance: March 28-April 1, 2010

Simply put, Podocarpus National Park in southern Ecuador is one of the world's great natural reserves, protecting an exceptional amount of plant and animal diversity from the paramos of the high Andes to the humid montane forest of the eastern foothills. While access to the park is somewhat limited with only two principal entrances, the Cajanuma Sector outside Loja and the Bombuscaro Sector outside Zamora, visiting birders can tick upwards of two hundred bird species in just a few days of exploring the trails in these two regions. Although basic and inexpensive accommodation is available within the park in both sectors, it's much more comfortable to stay in a hotel in Loja or Vilcabamba when visiting the Cajanuma Sector or in Zamora when visiting the Bombuscaro Sector. And for those birders willing to spend a few extra dollars for additional comfort and convenience, Cabañas Copalinga is the perfect base for visiting the Bombuscaro Sector, located just two kilometers from the entrance to the park along a quiet dirt road.

Looking for peace and quiet, as well as a few new bird species, Aimee and I spent the recent Semana Santa vacation in the province of Zamora-Chinchipe, staying four nights at Copalinga and one night at Cabañas Yankuam in the Cordillera del Condor. Although I had birded Bombuscaro several years before, I missed a number of the unique bird species often found in the reserve, including the White-Breasted Parakeet, Black-Streaked Puffbird, and recently described Foothill Elaenia. As I was missing relatively few species at Cajanuma, including the Neblina Metaltail and Orange-Banded Flycatcher, I decided to concentrate my efforts on birding the eastern foothills and locating these and other species unique to southeastern Ecuador. (The Yellow-Throated Bush-Tanager is not unique to southeastern Ecuador, by the way, and is almost annoyingly common at Bombuscaro, traveling in large, noisy, monospecific understory flocks.)

Aimee and I spent one afternoon and two full mornings birding the small network of trails at Bombuscaro, which are basically restricted to an elevation of 1000m (the private trails at Copalinga, on the other hand, offer access to an elevation of 15000m while passing through outstanding montane forest). Each morning a pair of Highland Motmots greeted us in the parking lot, perching out in the open as they casually flicked their tails back and forth like a grandfather clock, while I geared up to search for my target birds, including the Northern White-Crowned Tapaculo, Olive Finch, Sharp-Tailed Streamcreeper, Equatorial Graytail, Striped Manakin, and Orange-Crested Flycatcher, as well as the above mentioned species. Despite making our first visit to the park this trip on a sunny afternoon, Aimee and I quickly found a group of calling Foothill Elaenias around the park headquarters. This confusing flycatcher wasn't described until after the publication of the Ecuador Field Guide by ornithologists Niels Krabbe and the late Paul Coopmans; it is best identified by voice but also has a distinctive facial pattern and three yellow wing bars. I've heard the elaenia is regularly found at the park headquarters, which is a small clearing in the middle of good foothill forest, where visitors purchase their entrance ticket. I also saw a small flock of White-Breasted Parakeets fly into the crown of a large tree from this area but was unable to locate them after they had perched within.

On the next morning, our first good find was a pair of Black-Streaked Puffbirds calling along the Green Jay Trail. With patience and a bit of playback, we were able to located these scarce birds in the mossy branches of the trees way overhead. Moving on along the trail, which regularly receives rave reviews from birders as it offers a seemingly birdier understory than the principal Higuerones Trail, we found a Blue-Crowned Manakin, flushing a Short-Tailed Antthrush onto a low perch in the process. Proceeding deeper into the park along the Higuerones Trail, which runs alongside the Rio Bombuscaro, we eventually came to a footbridge off the Campesino Trail. Here in the undergrowth I thought I heard the persistent call of the rare and secretive Olive Finch above the noise of the river. With just a modicum of effort we were both onto this foothill specialty, long enough to capture a few record shots, including the photograph below.

Bombuscaro, though, is famous for its canopy flocks, which reportedly bombard the entrance trail, park headquarter, and Higuerones Trail. Indeed, the trick isn't finding the flocks but locating a good viewing point as they often pass above at ridiculous speeds and horribly back-lit conditions. Fortunately the Higuerones Trail winds through several open quebradas, or ravines, in which birders can usually find open lines of site into the canopy of fruiting trees below. On the way back from the Olive Finch sighting, Aimee and I encountered a megaflock that contained about a dozen species of tanagers, many woodcreepers and furnariids, and a few even more desirable species, including the Yellow-Breasted Antwren, Gray-Mantled Wren, and Equatorial Graytail. The latter is truly a specialty of the reserve, but although I heard a pair of them calling in the canopy far above, I never caught even a glimpse of the bird. Figuring I would catch up with them later, Aimee and I returned to Copalinga for lunch, startling a feeding Amazonian Umbrellabird along the entrance trail and noting a Fasciated Tiger-Heron further down on the river.

Several mornings later, I returned to the reserve by myself hoping to bag a few more new species for my country list. Passing quickly into the forest without so much as a wave at the Highland Motmots, I soon found a canopy flock and ran to the nearest viewpoint in the hopes that they would come my way. Amazingly, the flock entered the quebrada below me, and I watched entranced as one species of tanager after another passed by close enough for photographs. Although this flock didn't contain the Equatorial Graytail, I was lucky to observe a mating pair of Yellow-Breasted Antwrens at close range from above, even noting the subtle spotted crown of the male. Particularly confusing in this flock were the several species of bristle-tyrants, one of which might have been the subtle Spectacled Bristle-Tyrant, although I wasn't familiar enough with the field markings of the bird to make the identification at the time. In general, the avifauna at Bombuscaro is loaded with tyrant flycatchers, and visiting birders would do well to study the sector's bird list well in advance, paying particular attention to the tyrannulets, flycatchers, flatbills, and bristle-tyrants.

Speaking of tyrant flycatchers, later that morning I would finally run into one of my last target birds for the trip, the Orange-Crested Flycatcher. This small, understory flycatcher is highly local in the southeastern and northwestern foothills, and while Bombuscaro is a regular site for the bird, it still took me several visits to locate it. Catherine at Copalinga might be able to give you more up to date information, but I found a small group of them at the first quebrada just after the Green Jay Trail meets back up with the Higuerones Trail (I had been trolling for them briefly in each quebrada during my other visits, having heard that they were somewhere along this several kilometer long trail). Very similar to the Flavescent Flycatcher, this little yellow bird was a subdued but fitting reward to my efforts at Bombuscaro.

Notable birds seen: Fasciated Tiger-Heron, Ruddy Quail-Dove, White-Breasted Parakeet, Green Hermit, Black-Eared Fairy, Brown Violetear, Fork-Tailed Woodnymph, Highland Motmot, Inca Jay, Coppery-Chested Jacamar, Red-Headed Barbet, Black-Streaked Puffbird, Lafresnaye's Picculet, Olivaceous Woodcreeper, Ash-Browed Spinetail, Montane Foliage-Gleaner, Rufous-Rumped Foliage-Gleaner, Yellow-Breasted Antwren, Short-Tailed Antthrush, Variegated Bristle-Tyrant, Ecuadorian Tyrannulet, Foothill Elaenia, Yellow-Olive Flatbill, Olive-Striped Flycatcher, Ruddy-Tailed Flycatcher, Orange-Crested Flycatcher, Olive-Chested Flycatcher, Black Phoebe, Lemon-Browed Flycatcher, Amazonian Umbrellabird, Blue-Crowned Manakin, White-Crowned Manakin, White-Breasted Woodwren, Gray-Mantled Wren, Buff-Rumped Warbler, Black-Faced Dacnis, Yellow-Bellied Tanager, Paradise Tanager, Green-and-Gold Tanager, Spotted Tanager, Bay-Headed Tanager, Masked Tanager, Blue-Necked Tanager, Orange-Eared Tanager, Golden-Eared Tanager, Yellow-Throated Bush-Tanager, Slate-Colored Grosbeak, Olive Finch, Orange-Billed Sparrow, Crested Oropendola.

Cabañas Copalinga: March 28-April 2, 2010

Considering my target of seeing 1000 birds in Ecuador before moving from the country in just a few months, and having limited vacation time left, I had to decide where to spend Semana Santa in order to maximize the potential number of new birds seen as well to provide Aimee and me with some much needed rest and relaxation. Should we tour the western coast, birding from Esmeraldas to the Santa Elena peninsula? Should we return to the eastern lowlands for another expensive but rewarding stay at one of several lodges there? Should we stay close to Quito and visit a number of well-birded sites in search of a few birds at each location? Of all the places we've visited over the last few years, Cabañas Copalinga clearly stood out as the finest balance of birding potential and peace and quiet. To southern Ecuador it was, then, and we set off early on Sunday morning by plane from Quito to Catamayo, which serves as the airport to Loja, Ecuador's southern most city in the highlands.

Birders visiting Ecuador for the first time typically don't make it down to southern Ecuador, choosing instead to explore the Chocó region, the eastern lowlands, and perhaps a few sites in the northern highlands. That would certainly be my plan, if I hadn't have lived here for the last six years. It's usually on the second or third trip that birders are attracted to the Tumbes region in southwestern Ecuador, making a grand tour of it by also visiting famous sites in the highlands and southeastern Ecuador as well, including Tapichalaca Reserve, Podocarpus National Park, and more and more frequently Cabañas Yankuam in the Cordillera del Condor. For those who eventually do visit the region, there's no question that Cabañas Copalinga is their favorite place to stay, rivaling Cabañas San Isidro for the best small-scale, all-inclusive birding experience in Ecuador. Owned and managed by an intelligent, sincere Belgian couple, Copalinga is located within walking distance from the Bombuscaro entrance of Podocarpus National Park, offering exquisite private cabins, delicious food, and outstanding bird habitat whether on the grounds of the lodge itself or the extensive trail network leading back up the ridge.

Despite Bombuscaro's well-deserved fame, I spent two full days of my stay here simply birding the private reserve at a variety of different altitudes, finding an impressive collection of species I had almost no chance of seeing in the park, including Gray Tinamou, Scarlet-Breasted Fruiteater, Band-Bellied Owl, White-Shouldered Antshrike, Blackish Rail, White-Breasted Parakeet, and Crimson-Bellied Woodpecker. In our downtime, Aimee and I spent hours watching the hummingbirds at the verbena bushes in the parking lot and observing mixed flocks passing through the forest from the comfort of the dining area. We even did a bit of birding from the balcony of our cabin, finding a pair of Golden-Winged Tody-Flycatchers in the bush just in front of the railing and a group of Speckled Chachalacas roosting in a nearby tree every evening. Catherine, the owner and star birder of the region, is probably the best reason to bird the private reserve as much as the park since she knows exactly where and when to find each bird on the Copalinga list, tipping me to some of my best observations on the trip, most notably those of the near country-endemic White-Breasted Parakeet.

After enjoying a cup of coffee with Catherine upon our arrival mid-morning on Sunday, Aimee and I spent a while marveling over the hummingbird activity at the flowering verbena hedges surrounding the parking lot. Several Spangled Coquettes were busy dipping into the lavender flowers while avoiding aggressive Glittering-Throated Emeralds and Violet-Headed Hummingbirds, including a juvenile male that already boasted an orange crown feather. Then, a breath-taking adult male Wire-Crested Thorntail zipped in and proceeded from flower to flower unmolested by the other hummingbirds. Over the next few days, we'd check in periodically, noting a low-feeding Ecuadorian Piedtail on one occasion, an adult male Long-Tailed Sylph on another, and a magnificent raptor gliding across the canyon just overhead at dusk, most likely the scarce Solitary Eagle. While enjoying a beer late one afternoon, we were shocked to see what appeared to be a diminutive Spangled Coquette moving rapidly from flower to flower, only later to be informed that it wasn't a baby hummingbird but a Sphinx's Moth whose coloration and flight immitates that of the coquette, a ridiculous mistake.

The trail network at Copalinga is varied and well-maintained, offering birders who are staying in the cabins access to excellent montane forest from 1000 to 1500 meters (day use of the trails or visits to the nectar and fruit feeders are not permitted). I made three separate excursions up the ridge, making two long morning loops up the blue, yellow, and red and then down the green trails, and one afternoon loop up the green, across the yellow, and down the blue trail. My first morning loop was a tremendous experience, as I tracked down a calling Scaled Antpitta, lucked onto a male Scarlet-Breasted Fruiteater, spotted a roosting Band-Bellied Owl, and stumbled onto a Gray Tinamou on the trail. I also found a pair of solitary Foothill Antwrens in the undergrowth as well as a pair of Yellow-Breasted Antwrens in a mixed canopy flock. In search of the Striped Manakin on a hot afternoon, I instead found several Blue-Rumped Manakins, a group of White-Backed Fire-Eyes at an antswarm, and an irritated female White-Shouldered Antshrike in a dense tangle of vines in the undergrowth. And on our final morning, Aimee and I encountered several pairs of Coppery-Chested Jacamars, a calling Olive Finch, and a gorgeous tanager flock, including Yellow-Bellied, Spotted, Guira, Paradise, Golden, Green-and-Gold, Bay-Headed, Masked, and Blue-Necked Tanagers.

Returning from the park one hot afternoon, I asked Catherine for a birding recommendation for the afternoon. In addition to describing a nearby stakeout for the Blackish Rail, she mentioned that there was a small fruiting tree just along the road near the gate whose fruits were the favorite of the White-Breasted Parakeet, which along with the Coppery-Chested Jacamar are the star birds of the region. Having briefly seen a flock of parakeets dive into the crown of a tree earlier that morning around the park headquarters, I was anxious to get better looks at one of my target birds and one of the country's most beautiful. Although the tree was attracting a fair amount of attention from other birds, including the Ecuadorian Tyrannulet and Olive-Striped Flycatcher, the parakeets weren't present, so I set off to find the rail, which I eventually saw after much playback and searching. The following afternoon, though, I briefly heard a group of flying parrots and dashed off to the tree that Catherine had described. Over the next hour, I watched transfixed as four splendid White-Breasted Parakeets gorged themselves on ripe fruit just a few meters away at eye level.

Aimee and I broke up our four-night stay at Copalinga with a single night at Cabañas Yankuam, located three hours away by car in the Cordillera Condor. While the birds there were amazing and the food was quite good, we couldn't wait to return to the Paradise Tanager Cabin at Copalinga, where we would relax on the balcony during the early afternoons and listen to the rushing Bombuscaro each night. With twelve new bird species seen just on the reserve, as well as four rejuvenating nights of deep sleep enjoyed, our stay was exactly what we had hoped for. It couldn't have ended better either when Aimee saw both the Coppery-Chested Jacamar and the White-Breasted Parakeet on our final morning's walk.

Notable birds seen: Grey Tinamou, Solitary Eagle, Speckled Chachalaca, Blackish Rail, White-Throated Quail-Dove, White-Breasted Parakeet, Band-Bellied Owl, Gray-Chinned Hermit, Green Hermit, Spangled Coquette, Violet-Headed Hummingbird, Wire-Crested Thorntail, Ecuadorian Piedtail, Violet-Fronted Brilliant, Glittering-Throated Emerald, Fork-Tailed Woodnymph, Long-Tailed Sylph, Lineated Woodpecker, Crimson-Bellied Woodpecker, Coppery-Chested Jacamar, Red-Headed Barbet, Lafresnaye's Picculet, Golden-Olive Woodpecker, Spotted Barbtail, Streaked Xenops, Montane Foliage-Gleaner, Rufous-Rumped Foliage-Gleaner, Lined Antshrike, White-Shouldered Antshrike, Yellow-Breasted Antwren, Foothill Antwren, White-Backed Fire-Eye, Scaled Antpitta, Northern White-Crowned Tapaculo, Ecuadorian Tyrannulet, Yellow-Crowned Tyrannulet, Olive-Striped Flycatcher, Golden-Winged Tody-Flycatcher, Scale-Crested Pygmy-Tyrant, Olive-Sided Flycatcher, Olive-Chested Flycatcher, Black Phoebe, Scarlet-Breasted Fruiteater, Andean Cock-of-the-Rock, Blue-Rumped Manakin, White-Necked Thrush, Tropical Parula, Canada Warbler, Black-Faced Dacnis, Blue Dacnis, Swallow Tanager, Paradise Tanager, Green-and-Gold Tanager, Spotted Tanager, Yellow-Bellied Tanager, Guira Tanager, Bay-Headed Tanager, Blue-Necked Tanager, Magpie Tanager, Ashy-Throated Bush-Tanager, Yellow-Throated Bush-Tanager, White-Lined Tanager, Grayish Saltator, Olive Finch, Orange-Billed Sparrow.