Tropical Birding Trip Report ECUADOR: The Andes Introtour Nov 2018 A Tropical Birding set departure tour ECUADOR: The Andes Introtour 18th – 27th November 2018 Orange-breasted Fruiteater is a stunning regional endemic, regularly seen on this tour at Amagusa Tour Leader: Jose Illanes The species photographed in this report are highlighted in red. 1 www.tropicalbirding.com +1-409-515-9110 [email protected] Tropical Birding Trip Report ECUADOR: The Andes Introtour Nov 2018 TOUR SUMMARY: This classic Ecuador tour worked on many levels; it worked as an extensive introduction to the variety of tropical birds and bird families that can be found in this super diverse part of the world. However, as the birding for the main tour at least, is almost entirely centered within an important Endemic Bird Area, it comes with plenty of endemics and specialty species on offer too. This tour illustrated this well, while enjoying a dizzy variety of birds from classic tropical families like hummingbirds, toucans, motmots, trogons, parrots, antbirds, antpittas, tapaculos, cotingas, manakins and tanagers were seen, among them were a horde of local specialties, many of them outstanding looking species in their own right, like Booted Racket-tail, Sword-billed Hummingbird (below), Glistening-green Tanager, Toucan Barbet, Choco Toucan, Plate-billed Mountain-Toucan, Rose-faced Parrot, and Golden-headed Quetzal. Among the other highlights included an extraordinary tally of 8 species of antpitta, displaying Andean Cock-of-the-rocks, the rare Crimson-bellied Woodpecker, and an unusual daytime sighting of Black-and-white Owl and White-throated Screech-Owl. The trip total exceeded 380 birds recorded in 8 days of birding, of which just under 350 species were seen by one of the group or more. The most popular birds of the tour were: Andean Cock-of-the-rock, Powerful and Crimson-bellied Woodpeckers, Plate- billed Mountain-Toucan, White-throated Screech-Owl, Lyre-tailed Nightjar, Moustached and Giant Antpittas, Scarlet- breasted Dacnis, Masked Flowerpiercer, and Grass-green Tanager. This Sword-billed Hummingbird was a good opener at Yanacocha right at the tour start 2 www.tropicalbirding.com +1-409-515-9110 [email protected] Tropical Birding Trip Report ECUADOR: The Andes Introtour Nov 2018 DETAILED MAIN TOUR SUMMARY: Yanacocha to Tandayapa Bird Lodge 19th November We left Ecuador’s capital before dawn, making our higher still to the reserve of Yanacocha. Before we had even arrived the reserve itself, we had notched up Streak- throated Bush-Tyrant and Red-crested Cotinga. Some excellent feeders near the entrance held Andean Guan, (left) Black-chested and Scarlet-bellied Mountain- Tanagers, Yellow-breasted and Gray-browed Brushfinches, and even an out of place, high elevation individual of White-lined Tanager. Our morning in this area was excellent, with two owls seen, the tiny Andean Pygmy-Owl, while a daytime roosting White-throated Screech-Owl was a real bonus find. Other finds within this area of temperate forest, included the evergreen Sword- billed Hummingbird, Great Sapphirewing, Shining Sunbeam, Sapphire-vented and Golden-breasted Pufflegs all at the feeders deep within the forest, while the walk to them brought us Rufous Wren, Superciliaried Hemispingus, Spectacled Whitestart, and Crowned Chat-Tyrant, as well as two species of antpittas, Rufous and Tawny. As this was to be the only temperate site of the main tour, most of what we saw that morning never featured on the tour again. In the afternoon we drive through the scenic Alambi Valley, draped in gorgeous moist cloudforest, making our way into the Tandayapa Valley, and the Tandayapa Bird Lodge, a long time haunt of birders visiting the region. While we started out high in the temperate zone, by the day’s end we had driven down lower (1750m/5740ft) into the subtropical forest, where a different suite of birds awaited us. The journey down brought us through good birding habitat almost the entire way, and led us to see Andean Lapwing in the farm fields as we descended, a Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle on the ground too. As we moved into a new zone for birds, new birds came, like Blue-winged Mountain-Tanager, Plain-tailed Wren, and a magnificent Powerful Woodpecker that turned out to be one of the most popular birds of the tour. Andean Solitaire and two river specialists were also found, White- capped Dipper foraging alongside the Rio Alambi, and a handsome Slaty-backed Chat-Tyrant in the forest alongside. After seeing all of these tropical residents, we picked up a boreal migrant just before arriving at Tandayapa Bird Lodge, in the form of a Broad-winged Hawk. 3 www.tropicalbirding.com +1-409-515-9110 [email protected] Tropical Birding Trip Report ECUADOR: The Andes Introtour Nov 2018 Tandayapa Bird Lodge and the Tandayapa Valley 20th November A full day was spent in subtropical forest of the Andes, both immediately around Tandayapa Bird Lodge, and also at the top end (2300m/7710ft) of the namesake valley, which brought us some species not possible at the lower elevations of the lodge. We started out visiting the lodge’s forest blind at dawn, where Streak-capped Treehunter, Russet-crowned and Three- striped Warblers, Chestnut-capped Brushfinch, Zeledon’s Antbird, all showed up, in addition to the Scaled Antpitta, which was being fed by lodge staff. On the way back to the lodge for breakfast we were also able to add Slaty Anwtwren and Uniform Antshrike. Over breakfast the activity around the lodge was distracting, with Crimson-rumped Toucanet, Rufous Motmot, and Toucan Barbet came in to feed right alongside the building. Masked Trogon was also notched up during this heady early morning session. After breakfast, we set off for higher elevation species in the Upper Tandayapa Valley, a short drive above the lodge; this led to species like Dusky Chlorospingus, Turquoise Jay, Pearled Treerunner, Strong-billed Woodcreeper, Grass-green and Blue-capped Tanagers. The walking up there was easy as we birded along a quiet dirt road, and we also managed to find Gorgeted Sunangel, Speckled Hummingbird, and right at the end of the morning, we finally locked on to two of the best birds from the upper valley, Green-and-black Fruiteater and Plate-billed Mountain-Toucan (below). Lunch was taken back at Tandayapa Bird Lodge, then concentrated on viewing the famous lodge feeders, where sixteen different species were in attendance: 16 hummingbird species buzzing around the main lodge building and feeders, which included some standout species of the tour, not least the absurdly cute Booted Racket-tail, tiny Western Emerald, Purple- throated Woodstar, and some regional specialties like Violet-tailed Sylph, Brown Inca and Purple-bibbed Whitetip. 4 www.tropicalbirding.com +1-409-515-9110 [email protected] Tropical Birding Trip Report ECUADOR: The Andes Introtour Nov 2018 We did some trail walking locally after our hummingbird observations, with fewer species, but we did manage to track down Golden-headed Quetzal (below), Tropical Parula and Slate-throated Redstart during this short period. Birding along the road in the lower part of the Tandayapa Valley that afternoon brought us yet more tanagers: Beryl-spangled, Metallic-green, and Golden Tanagers, and then we waited around for some nightbirding, when we found a couple of female and a male Lyre-tailed Nightjar to end the day. Rio Silanche 21st November The benefit of staying at a central location like Tandayapa Bird Lodge was to be able to move up and down in altitude, and visit different biogeographical zones of the Andes, within short drives from there. On this day we ventured way downhill, where the Andes begins to give way into flatter terrain towards the coast. Our day’s location was the reserve of Rio Silanche and surrounds, which protects a small patch of forest in the lower foothills/lowlands, and therefore brought us many new species not found higher in the Andes, where we’d birded thus far. This is always an exciting day, which in spite of the 90-minute drive to get there, more than justifies this, with a large swathe of new birds. 5 www.tropicalbirding.com +1-409-515-9110 [email protected] Tropical Birding Trip Report ECUADOR: The Andes Introtour Nov 2018 The entrance road is always lively with birds, and this day was no different; we found Green and Ringed Kingfishers, Pacific Antwren, Little Cuckoo, the wolf-whistling Barred Puffbird Black-headed Tody-Flycatcher, Black-cheeked, Lineated and Golden-olive Woodpeckers, Olivaceous Piculet, Yellow-tufted Dacnis, Bay-headed, Blue-necked, Golden-hooded Tanagers, a soaring Hook-billed Kite, and a nesting Bay Wren. While having lunch on the small canopy tower, we began seeing birds within a small feeding flock nearby, like Orange-fronted Barbet, Scarlet-breasted Dacnis, Green Honeycreeper, White-shouldered, Rufous-winged, Scarlet-browed, Gray-and- gold, and Guira Tanagers. Dot-winged and Checker-throated Antwrens were both noted in the subcanopy too. After eating lunch we managed to call in both Choco and White-tailed Trogons beside the tower. Red-masked Parakeet flying over was a surprise find, and a perched Black Hawk-Eagle was also seen from there. After our time on the tower, we took a walk along the reserve trails, which yielded Streak-headed, Plain-brown and Wedge-billed Woodcreepers, Black- crowned Antshrike, Tawny-crested Tanager, and Tawny-faced Gnatwren. However, the star performer was the rare Crimson-bellied Woodpecker. Near the parking lot, we also added Purple-chested Hummingbird and a pair of White- bearded Manakin. In the afternoon, we drove back upslope and returned to Tandayapa Bird Lodge once again, feeling like we’d spent the day in a very different world. Milpe 22nd November As with the day before, we spent our time lower downhill from the lodge, although not as far as the day before, this time focusing in the foothills at Milpe, at an elevation of around 1100m/3610ft.