Birding at Playa De Oro Ecuador's Ultimate Destination for Chocó Lowland Birding
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Birding at Playa de Oro Ecuador's ultimate destination for Chocó lowland birding Rufous-crowned Antpitta A bird trip report by Dušan M. Brinkhuizen © 2014 Table of contents (click to page) Introduction 3 The Chocó 3 The Playa de Oro community 4 The Tigrillo lodge 4 The birding 5 Map 5 When to go? 6 Target species 6 1. The lodge garden 8 2. The lodge loop 9 3. The Santiago river 10 4. Sendero Paila 11 5. Sendero Pueblo 13 6. Sendero Santo del Peña to the Mirador 15 7. Sendero Cascada 18 8. Sendero Angostura 18 Other wildlife 19 Bird list 20 Additional list 27 Report published in April 2014 by Dušan M. Brinkhuizen Casilla Postal 17-07-9345 Quito, Ecuador [email protected] Birding at Playa de Oro: Ecuador's ultimate destination for Chocó lowland birding Dušan M. Brinkhuizen © 2014 2 Introduction This is a comprehensive report on the birdlife and birding at Playa de Oro in remote northwest Ecuador. Since we (Mindo Bird Tours) have done over a dozen of trips to this site in recent years, our guide Dušan Brinkhuizen, who has build up a good knowledge of the local avifauna, will share his insights about the birding at Playa de Oro. We continue to promote Playa de Oro to other birdwatchers and hopefully this report will help to do so. The birding is simply superb. The habitat is truly amazing and eco-tourism will directly help to the conservation of this critically threatened area. The Chocó The Chocó is an eco-region and biodiversity hotspot that ranges from the Pacific coast of Colombia south to Ecuador. It supports the largest number of restricted-range birds of any Endemic Bird Area in the Americas, with 62 species being endemic to the area. Habitats are typically characterized by wet cloud-forests and tropical humid lowland forests. With up to 16,000 mm of rain per year in some places, it is probably the wettest place on earth. Unfortunately, the Chocó region is also one of the most threatened areas in South America. Deforestation rates are accelerating and habitat destruction has been most severe in the Chocó lowlands, especially the coastal plains and foothills. Playa de Oro is one of the best accessible sites to bird vast Chocó lowland forest. The area is remote but fairly easy to get to and the accommodation facilities are adequate. Another important Chocó lowland reserve in Ecuador is Rio Canandé. This reserve has similar birding as Playa de Oro and also has accommodation for guests (for more information visit Birding at Playa de Oro: Ecuador's ultimate destination for Chocó lowland birding Dušan M. Brinkhuizen © 2014 3 www.fjocotoco.org). The Awa reserve that borders with Colombia also holds extensive Chocó forest but especially the lower parts are hard to get to and there is no accommodation. Most of the Colombian Chocó is not accessible (at least not without detailed local advice) due to security concerns. The Playa de Oro community Playa de Oro is an Afro-Ecuadorian community located along the Santiago river in the province of Esmeraldas, northwest Ecuador (0°52’43”N, 78°47’37”W). It is the last village found upriver and it can only be reached by canoe (unfortunately, there seem to be plans to open up a road in the future). The community land covers c. 10.000 ha and it borders with the Cotacachi-Cayapas National Park. Most of it is covered with pristine Chocó lowland pluvial forest ranging from c. 50m up to about 500m elevation. Playa de Oro is the only community along the Santiago river that has not yet extensively logged its forest. Luckily, members of the community are aware that preserving their forest is important for many reasons. In contrast, other communities have fully exploited and/or sold their land and nearly all of Esmeraldas has been deforested. Most of the original habitat has entirely disappeared and many of it has been transformed into a monopoly of oil palm plantations. Large scale mining is another major threat to the immediate area. At the moment eco- tourism is still a relatively minor income to the community and most people make their living by farming cacao and other agricultural products. The Tigrillo lodge The Tigrillo lodge (Campamento Tigrillo) is located on the south bank of the rio Santiago c.25 minutes upstream by canoe from the village of Playa de Oro. Historically, the lodge building was a gold mining camp but it was closed for dubious reasons a long time ago. Currently, the building is owned by the community and run as an eco-lodge. The wooden two-story building provides basic but comfortable lodging. It has about ten bed rooms and three shared bathrooms. There is no electricity in the rooms but it is possible to charge batteries and other equipment (they have a solar panel and often use a generator in the evenings). The beds are nice and clean and all have mosquito netting. Sufficient drinking water, towels and candles are provided. They have a large dining room and a nice detail is the big sign for $2 cold beer. The food cooked by Mercedes has been rated as delicious and exclusive by most of our clients (good portions too). Your entire stay has to be coordinated with Julio Arroyo. He is the manager of the lodge and he also navigates the canoe. Domingo and Isahia are local guides that will accompany you on the forest trails. They know the trails well and we recommend that you always bring a local guide with you (included in your stay). During the years they have accompanied many birdwatchers and they are familiar with the practice of birding. However, their knowledge regarding bird identification is minimal. Box lunches and extra canoe rides can be arranged but you will have to let them know in advance. No one at the lodge speaks English so if you travel by yourself you will need to know at least some basic Spanish. Birding at Playa de Oro: Ecuador's ultimate destination for Chocó lowland birding Dušan M. Brinkhuizen © 2014 4 The birding Playa de Oro is a must for the keen and adventurous birder. It is among the best Chocó birding that you can experience. However, bear in mind that primary forest birding can be tough, and Playa de Oro is no exception. Finding target species can be difficult and birds are far more often heard than seen. Most of the birding is actually done by ear, so it is advisable to study bird calls in advance. Of course going in with a knowledgeable birdguide will surely increase your chances of tracking down target birds but even then the birding is not easy. Make sure to bring a microphone and playback equipment as certain species can be difficult to see without the use of tape. A telescope is also a necessity. At the riverbank, the lodge and at the viewpoint a scope is needed for distant birds but it is also handy for canopy flocks inside the forest. The canopy is tall and unfortunately they have no canopy tower. Most of the trails are fairly easy but it is better to be in a good shape (it often gets hot and humid). It is muddy in some places, so don’t forget to bring rubber boots. The difficulty of individual trails is described in more detail in the chapters below. This all might sound a little discouraging but the birding at Playa de Oro is spectacular and the stunning forest itself is well worth a trip. A few target species are easiest seen here and you will always run into some good birds. However, do not expect to get all the good stuff in just a single trip. Birding at Playa de Oro: Ecuador's ultimate destination for Chocó lowland birding Dušan M. Brinkhuizen © 2014 5 When to go? Birding at Playa de Oro can be done all year round since the majority of birds are resident species (boreal migrants are typically seen from September to April). The song and nesting activity of resident species is highly variable and hard to predict. Typical for the tropics is that birds may nest a few times per year and nesting often coincides with rainfall. At Playa de Oro it seems to be wetter between January and June (perhaps peaking in April-May) with drier periods between July and December. A little rain is often good for bird activity (drought kills activity in the forest) but again too much of rain might interfere a day of birding. In conclusion, there is not really an “optimal” time of year to visit Playa de Oro and weather-wise you largely depend on luck. Target species Playa de Oro has a long list of target species. Of course all Chocó lowland endemics are considered as prime targets but some of them are hard to get anywhere. The real key targets at Playa de Oro that should be seen on a trip are Five-colored Barbet, Lita Woodpecker, Stub- tailed Antbird, Ocellated Antbird, Streak-chested Antpitta, Broad-billed Sapayoa, Dagua Thrush, Stripe-throated Wren and Lemon-spectacled Tanager. We consider them as key targets since they are often quite easily seen at Playa de Oro, especially if comparing to other sites. Species like Dusky Pigeon, Rose-faced Parrot and Chocó Trogon are common Chocó endemics at Playa de Oro but they can also be seen regularly at other sites. Uniform Crake and Olive-backed Quail-dove are not Chocó endemics but Playa de Oro seems to be the best site in Ecuador for seeing these birds.