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Andes Introtour Extension´S Trip Report

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Andes Introtour Extension´S Trip Report Andes Introtour Extension´s Trip Report 18th – 30th January 2015 Pictures by Andres Vasquez, guide of this tour Above: Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe, we saw 3 around the antennas right at the Papallacta Pass INTRODUCTION: The Andes Introtour is one of our most popular tours, in fact it is the absolute bestseller for Tropical Birding. In only 6 days we visit many ecosystems of various altitudinal belts averaging about 350 species of birds recorded; all that by staying in only one lodge strategically located for this purpose, the great Tandayapa Bird Lodge. There is only one ecosystem in the region that we cannot really reach from Tandayapa and that is the páramos of the high Andes above the tree line. In order to visit this amazing habitat we offer this short High Andes extension. I have guided the Andes Introtour and its High Andes extension many times and I have to say that at the end of the entire tour when we summarize the experiences and sightings by nominating the top 5 birds, most times 3 out of the 5 come from the extension; typically those would be the birds mentioned in the paragraph below. The beauty of this region is striking; despite the cold temperatures, it is usually voted the favorite in terms of scenery. With this foreword I want to say that if you are thinking on joining the Andes Introtour, please do not hesitate on joining the High Andes Extension as well; you would only add 2 days but those would be memorable, extremely worth it. Within the very first hours of birding in this extension we have the best chances to get the majestic Andean Condor (distant photo on the right) which has been very reliable lately in Antisana Reserve; we saw it as well near Papallacta Pass. This extension is the only chance on the whole tour to find the rare and ornate Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe which belongs to a family of birds restricted to South America; in fact this is the species that reaches the farthest north in the family. Another important bird we get in this extension is the rare Black-faced (Andean) Ibis which is really striking, similar to any in North America. We also observe a near country endemic hummingbird, the beautiful Ecuadorian Hillstar with its bright blue head and pristine white underparts. The lodge that we stay in for one night (Guango Lodge) is in fact the best place to find one of the most sought after species of the Andes, the great Torrent Duck. As if more was needed, the pass is one of the best places to find the only South American bear, the adorable but sadly rare Spectacled Bear which we missed on this trip by just 3 minutes!!! During these 2 extra days we recorded a total of 109 species of which 64 were NEW species for the whole trip (4 being heard only). This sums up to the main tour list reaching a total of 406 species recorded from 55 bird families of which 362 were seen and 44 only heard. Please also read the photographic summary I did for the main tour at: http://goo.gl/RtQLAv DAY 1 – January 18th: The day started off on the wrong foot since a light but annoyingly constant rain that started during the night did not seem to stop soon; happily it is easy to work around the rain and we ended up having one of the best two days in the area I had ever had. We drove from the hotel in Puembo (a small town close to the airport) towards the Antisana Reserve. The ride takes only about 50mins but it starts at 2380 m (7800 ft) and reaches the first birding stop at 3540 m (11600 ft). Given the rain the first birding we did was in fact indoors! Yes, we stopped at a local restaurant called Tambo Condor where the hummingbird feeders visible from the inside are typically active and produced the one species I really wanted, the hulking Giant Hummingbird. We also found in the surroundings Great Sapphirewing and Sword-billed Hummingbirds. As soon as the heavy fog gave us a chance I brought up my scope to scan the rock cliffs visible from the same restaurant. The owner of the place had already spotted, before we arrived, a perched Andean Condor juvenile so it was not hard to set the scope for a view, not the best view to start with, but we had better weather later on and got it nicely. The road continues to ascend into the páramos where the Furnariidae family is very well represented and many individuals are subtly beautiful, typically in rufous tones and with loud songs. That is the case with the Many- striped Canastero shown here. We saw this striking little bird in an area where Páramo Pipits were surprisingly abundant, at least by voice; we saw many pipits today in many different spots. Antisana is a great place for raptors. Here Carunculated Caracaras are particularly common, in fact plentiful; probably over a hundred are scattered along the route we drive. The next most common raptor is the Variable (Puna) Hawk of which we saw at least 5 or 6 of different coloration morphs hence the name Variable. I was particularly happy when David, one of the participants, spotted an Aplomado Falcon perched up on a fence pole far out. This raptor is not common at all, and with it we got 8 diurnal raptor species in the extension alone, not counting the condor or vultures. Further up the road we reached an extensive highland grass fields where birds thrive given the large quantity of food. This area is where we found a couple groups of the rare and local Black- faced (Andean) Ibis foraging along the grasslands looking for shrubs and other invertebrates. We saw about 6 of this outstanding ibis that is so different from any other ibis species back where most of our group was from, so they enjoyed it very much. Alongside, plenty of Andean Gulls, Black-winged Ground-Doves and Andean Lapwings also foraged around giving every visitor a great spectacle, since everywhere you looked you had a bird to enjoy. Other smaller birds are also easy to see in these open areas. We got up close and personal with this curious Chestnut-winged (Bar-winged) Cinclodes (photo above) which came to within a few feet from my boots. The very similar Stout-billed Cinclodes is quite common as well here; they typically share feeding grounds with Plumbeous Sierra-Finches and even with Plain-capped (Páramo) Ground-Tyrants and pipits. Near the headquarters and visitor center of the park, there is a territory of another Furnariid, this time one with a subtle but obvious voice, the charming Andean Tit-Spinetail (photo). The territory is very conveniently just behind the restrooms, so the chase for this bird gave both a lifer and a relief for most participants. We happily saw another good bird in the same spot, the dark Blue- mantled Thornbill, a hummer that typically flies close to ground feeding on short bushes. Many times we have to leave our vehicle parked in this area since regulations allow cars past this control point only when senior citizens are visiting. This time we had no problem and we could take the car all the way to the border of the Mica Lake instead of having to walk. I was particularly happy with us being permitted to reach the lakeshore since this pair of Silvery Grebes (photo) was very close to the border; I don’t think I have had better opportunities to photograph these beauties before. Look at those awesome red eyes and ear tuffs!!! The lake was quite full of waterfowl. We saw plenty of Slate-colored (Andean) Coots, several (Andean) Ruddy Ducks, a couple Andean Teals, and a number of Yellow-billed Pintails. After cleaning up on water birds (happily as that frees up time to focus on other birds later on the tour), it was time for lunch at a local restaurant. The side road that leads to it is one of the best places to find a near country endemic hummingbird that feeds on Chuquiragua plants which proliferate on the hillsides of this road. I am referring to the Ecuadorian Hillstar; males are so splendid that they are cover photos of various books and magazines. Right after lunch we started the longish ride towards Guango Lodge. We got there at about mid-afternoon and due to the rain in the area we concentrated for a while on the hummingbird feeders and areas around the lodge. Guango is famous for the richness on hummers where one of the most attractive is of course the Sword-billed Hummingbird (photo on previous page). Quite late in the day, as soon as the rain gave us a break, we walked the trails behind the lodge where we saw a few eastern mountain forest specialties like Gray-hooded Bush-Tanager, (Northern) Mountain Cacique, Pale- naped Brush-Finch, Black-capped and Black-eared Hemispingus, Slaty Brush-Finch, and a few other upper cloud forest birds. DAY 2 – January 19th: We started the day early and moved up the hill towards the hot springs the area of Papallacta is famous for; we were not intending on swimming, we just needed to get to the road behind the resort to go after a few special birds present there. Soon after we started birding, we found our first target, the humble Agile Tit-Tyrant (photo) that came close for a nice picture.
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