South Ecuador January/February 2020 SOUTH ECUADOR A report on birds seen on a trip to South Ecuador From 22 January to 16 February 2020 Jocotoco Antpitta Grallaria ridgelyi By Henk Hendriks Hemme Batjes Wiel Poelmans Peter de Rouw 1 South Ecuador January/February 2020 INTRODUCTION This was my fourth trip to Ecuador and this time I mainly focussed on the southern part of this country. The main objective was to try to see most of the endemics, near-endemics and specialties of the southern part of Ecuador. In 2010 my brother and I had a local bird guide for one day to escort us around San Isidro and we had a very enjoyable day with him. His name was Marcelo Quipo. When browsing through some trip reports on Cloudbirders I came upon his name again when he did a bird tour in the south with some birders, which were very pleased with his services. So I contacted Marcelo and together we developed a rough itinerary for a 22-day trip. The deal was that we would pay for transport and his guiding fees and during the trip we would take care of all the expenses for food and accommodation. Marcelo did not make any reservations regarding accommodations and this was never really a problem and gave us a lot of flexibility in our itinerary. We made several alterations during the trip. Most birders start and end their trip in Guayaquil but we decided to start in Cuenca and end in Guayaquil. The advantage of this was that we had a direct flight with KLM from Amsterdam to Quito and a direct flight from Guayaquil back to Amsterdam. We did have a short domestic flight from Quito to Cuenca on our second morning. The trip turned out to be highly successful with most targets found and a total list of 705 species. Only the painful dip of Grey Tinamou, thanks to the manager of Copalinga Lodge, was unexpected. Highlights were many but some of the best were Violet-throated Metaltail, Tit-like Dacnis and Giant Conebill at El Cajas, Pale-headed Brush-Finch at Yunguilla, Blue-throated Hillstar at Cerro de Arcos, Chestnut-bellied Cotinga and Crescent-faced Antpitta at Cerro de Acanama, Red-faced Parrot at Huashapamba, Coppery-chested Jacamar at the Old Zamora Road, White-breasted Parakeet, Orange-crested Flycatcher and Olive Finch at Podocarpus N.P., Crimson-bellied Woodpecker, Spectacled Prickletail, Equatorial Greytail, Roraiman Flycatcher, Bar-winged Wood-Wren and Subtropical Pygmy Owl at El Zarza Wildlife Refuge, Andean Laniisoma (HO) near Paquisha, Black-chested Fruiteater at Chinapinza, Chestnut- headed Crake, Speckled Spinetail, Dusky Spinetail, Black Antbird, Grey-tailed Piha and Orange-throated Tanager at Maycu Reserve/Yankuam, Neblina Metaltail at Cerro Toledo, Chestnut-naped Antpitta, Jocotoco Antpitta at Tapichalaca, Grey-headed Antbird at Utuana/Tundo Forest, Ochre-bellied Ground Dove (HO), Black-headed Spinetail, Henna- hooded Foliage-gleaner, Slaty Becard, Black & White Tanager, Watkin’s Antpitta and Grey-breasted Flycatcher at Jorupe, El Oro Parakeet, Long-wattled Umbrellabird, Brownish Twistwing and Ochreceous Attila at Buenaventura, El Oro Tapaculo, Crimson- breasted Finch along the Corona de Oro Road, Sulphur-throated Finch, Short-tailed Woodstar and Grey & White Tyrannulet at Cemeterio San Vicente, Grey-capped Cuckoo at Cerro Blanco and Esmeraldas Woodstar at Ayampe. VISA A visa is not required when visiting Ecuador. GETTING THERE – FLIGHT We flew with KLM directly from Amsterdam to Quito and returned from Guayaquil to Amsterdam. For this return flight we paid 730 Euro. GETTING AROUND We booked a domestic flight with Latam: Quito – Cuenca for which we paid 72 Euro. During our 22-day trip we were driven around in a spacious Hyundai Minibus. MONEY The currency used in Ecuador is the USD. During our stay the exchange rate was 1 Euro = 1,11 USD Some of us brought cash dollars but it is generally easy to get cash money at ATM machines. ACCOMMODATION The accommodation was generally fine but once or twice rather basic. The accommodation at Sozoranga for instance was very basic, but close to a birding site. We had to pay only four USD pp for a room!! Generally we paid between 15 to 25 USD PP for accommodation. Yankuam lodge was 30 USD PP. But keep in mind that we did not stay at the (more) expensive lodges inside the reserves but in cheaper hostals/hotels outside the reserves and paid a daily entrance fee for these parks. We also paid for the accommodation for Marcelo and our driver. 2 South Ecuador January/February 2020 FOOD & DRINKS Food was generally ok and not expensive but not very variable. We ate a lot of chicken. We also paid for the food and drinks of Marcelo and our driver. LANGUAGE Marcelo speaks English so no problems in that respect. HEALTH & SAFETY We had a really nasty experience when birding the Chinapinza area on 30-01. Chinapinza is a small gold diggers village, right on the border of Peru. When we walked around the village to try to find a trail up the hill to promising habitat we already felt rather uncomfortable. We had to shelter in a small café because of heavy rain and we were surrounded by noisy and half-drunk people. Later that day when we birded down the main road we heard gun shots fired at close range and anxious shouting of people. It turned out that just around the corner some bandits raided a car and Marcelo thought that it was possible that they were waiting for us around that corner to rob us. He advised us to hide our credit cards and passports in the car which was not really reassuring. We decided to drive back up a little and wait. After a while a truck driver came up and told us that there had been a robbery down the road but that the robbers probably had disappeared. We took our chances and drove straight out of the area and decided to change our itinerary. Originally we had planned to bird the area, close to Paquisha where we heard the Laniiosoma the day before in the afternoon but as we felt unsafe as people now knew that there were foreigners with expensive equipment in the area, we decided to leave Paquisha and to drive straight to Maycu Reserve/Yankuam. It was possible that people had seen us walking around Chinapinza and decided to hold us up on our way down. In the night of 11/12-02 I became rather sick with heavy diarrhoea, probably food related. As a result I decided not to go out birding the next morning at Buenaventura but to stay in my room. Fortunately I recovered rather quickly and was able to travel to our next destination in the afternoon. I did not feel very fit for the next two days, I did not eat much but it did not really hamper my birding. WEATHER We encountered a lot more rain during this trip then we anticipated. Marcelo confirmed that it was a lot wetter than usual during this time of the year. We had beautiful sunny weather at El Cajas but rain and fog at Cerro de Arcos and Cerro Toledo. It was overcast but dry at Yunguilla and Cerro de Acanama. Rain and overcast weather conditions at El Zarza Wildlife Refuge, Chinapinza area, Podocarpus, Maycu Reserve/Yankuam, Utuana/Tundo Forest, Buenaventura and Cerro Blanco. Hot and sunny at Vilcabamba and in the Tumbes areas. In Jorupe we had all kind of weather conditions but one afternoon we were rained out and we were completely soaked. The coastal areas were hot and sunny. So you need to be prepared for all kind of weather conditions when doing this trip. You need warm clothes for the high altitude areas and good rain gear to protect you from heavy rainfall. BIRDING We had a great birding trip and I think our itinerary worked out fine. In retrospect I would have liked to bird the area again near Paquisha and I advise future visiting birders to gather information about the current situation in the Chinapinza area before entering that site. El Zarza Wildlife Refuge was a pleasant surprise and added many fine species to our list. Most of our observations can be found at www.observado.org: by Peter de Rouw and so you are able to find the exact locations of the more interesting species observed by us: https://observation.org/users/56245/species/?period=life&species_group_id=1&province_id=120&s tart_date=&end_date=&filter_month=&filter_year=2020 3 South Ecuador January/February 2020 REFERENCES Books The Birds of Ecuador – R.Ridgely/P.Greenfield Birds of Ecuador – J.Freile/R.Restall Birds of Northern South America – R.Restall A Guide to Bird-watching in Ecuador & the Galapagos Islands – B.Best/T.Heijen/R.Williams Where to watch birds in South America – Nigel Wheatley Reports South Ecuador 22 March – 09 April 2018 – Hans Matheve & Maarten schuurmans Very nice report with useful site info and GPS coordinates. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank in the first place our guide Marcelo, who guided us excellently during this trip. Besides being a fine bird guide, he was good company, very flexible in dealing with difficulties we encountered during our trip and together we made a good birding team. Also our driver Jose who had no problems in starting very early in the morning and to drive untill late in the evening. Thanks to Dusan Brinkhuizen, who I contacted already years ago when preparing this trip and who provided me with info about the itinerary which we should follow to ensure us the best chances to find our target species.