Note on logistics: I had a rental car (Chevy Spark), that got me everywhere I needed to go, including up Cerro Toledo, down the road to Valladolid, the Yankuam area, Cerro Acanama and Cerro de Arcos. I found all my places to stay (other than the first night in Cuenca and my three nights at Cabañas Yankuam) by looking on the map (OSMAnd offline navigation app) for a hotel, navigating there, and asking if they had a room and what the rate was. If the place looked ok and was under $15/night, I took it, otherwise I went to the next one on the map. I rarely had to go to a second place though, and everywhere except Yankuam had decent wifi. If you do use the OSMAnd app, multiply any driving times they give you by two, and that will be a more reasonable estimate of how long it will take to get anywhere. For Cabañas Yankuam, I filled out the reservation form about 10 days before I planned on arriving, and then sent them an email a few days before as I hadn't heard back. They got back to me the day before I was planning to arrive, as the internet there hadn't been working. Probably a good idea to book well ahead of time if you know your schedule! For food I mostly ate groceries or included breakfasts for breakfast/lunch, and ate at cheap restaurants for dinners, and I kept a few 6L jugs of water in the car. Everywhere I went seemed pretty safe, and I didn't have any issues - many wonderful people helped me out in various places though!
One downside of travelling solo and driving myself was that I usually didn't have the energy/motivation to do much if any night hiking or owling. Driving in Ecuador wasn't particularly difficult for the most part outside of the chaotic major cities, but it did require a good amount of concentration so as not to hit any of the holes, animals, rockslides, random objects, other drivers going the wrong way in your lane, etc. that were commonplace!
26 Nov
Our flight from San Cristobal landed in Guayaquil around 17:45, and after retrieving our bags we got a quick dinner at the airport (not really recommended, the food was pretty meh). A $4 cab ride later and we were at the bus terminal. The terminal is close enough to the airport that you could walk, but Guayaquil is notoriously sketchy, especially after dark, and $4 split three ways wasn't exactly going to bust our budget. The bus terminal was absolutely massive and not easy to navigate, but we eventually found the ticket booth for the bus to Cuenca and were on the 19:00 bus (3h40, $8 each). The bus ride was pretty rough, as our driver seemed hell-bent on making it as fast as possible through the winding mountain roads, and I was still pretty sick from that lunch in San Cristobal (I took antibiotics after arriving in Cuenca as I couldn't handle it any more). We arrived in one piece (no incidents), and a five-minute walk later we arrived at Hostal Rest House, where we had a triple room reserved for $21.
(Note: anywhere I say we had a room reserved, we made the reservation the day of or before using wifi hotspots wherever we could find them)
Running trip total: 578
27 Nov
My notes from here onward are a little sparse, so the rest of this report is pieced together from memory, photos and eBird lists. I did make notes about where I stayed and how much it cost each night though.
While in the Galapagos, we had decided to try our luck with another car rental, and booked a car out of Cuenca (Chevy Spark with Avis). This saved us the kilometrage and gas to get from Guayaquil to Cuenca and back (would have cost an extra ~$90), plus some late-night driving through the mountains. It also turned out the rental was cheaper from Cuenca, as online I was quoted $912 from the Guayaquil airport or $557 from the Cuenca airport! These prices included the PDW/LDW insurance (partial). With our rental available at 08:00, our good night's sleep was cut short due to the flight delay the day before, and we made our way to the Avis office down the road. Getting the car was relatively quick, and we soon hit the road in our tiny car; my chariot for the next two weeks. The Spark was a bit easier to drive than the Aveo; it was almost impossible to stall, although it was a bit underpowered. Our first stop was for groceries on the outskirts of Cuenca, before making it to Laguna Llaviucu, just inside El Cajas National Park (free entry - https://ebird.org/checklist/S61796855). Here, we made a slow loop around the lake trail, picking up Purple-throated Sunangel, Sapphire-vented Puffleg, Violet-throated Metaltail (good looks at a female) and Line-cheeked Spinetail (heard). Andean Duck and Gray-breasted Mountain-Toucan were also new trip birds.
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| Laguna Llaviucu |
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| Plain-colored Seedeater |
With rain moving in and the clock ticking, we moved onward and upward, stopping at a roadside cafe en route so the caffeine addicts could get their fix. We then spent the afternoon at Laguna Torreadora, walking out and back along the trail on the south side of the lake that parallels the highway (https://ebird.org/checklist/S61806609). Here we focused on the Polylepis forests, home of the Giant Conebill. We didn't see any conebills, but did find most of our other targets: Mouse-colored Thistletail, Violet-throated Metaltail (male) and Tit-like Dacnis, and got better looks at Ecuadorian Hillstar and Blue-mantled Thornbill along with a nice variety of other paramo species.
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| Laguna Torreadora |
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| Tawny Antpitta |
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| Mouse-colored Thistletail |
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| Ecuadorian Hillstar |
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| Terrible photo - great bird! Red-rumped Bush-Tyrant |
Somewhere south of Cuenca, a Giant Hummingbird flew across the road in front of us - no mistaking these guys (https://ebird.org/checklist/S61806635)! Shortly after sunset, we ran into thick fog, slowing us considerably (something that would be a theme for my time in the south). Making it into Girón after about 20-30 minutes of fog driving in the dark, I decided to pull over for the night rather than risk hitting something or going off the road (we originally aimed to get to Santa Isabel, although in hindsight this was a much better decision) and we quickly found a hostel (Hostal Girón, $8 per person for any room - we ended up getting two rooms with double beds) with a nearby cheap restaurant.
Running trip total: 591
28 Nov
Our destination for the morning was the Yunguilla reserve, run by Fundacion Jocotoco, but first we had to figure out how to get there. It doesn't show up on the maps, and the directions given on the Fundacion website are a bit sparse. I had put a pin on the approximate location based on the eBird hotspot and hoped for the best. Following the directions and signs from La Union, we made it to the end of the road where we found three driveways (one with a gate, one with a chain, and one open), but no signs indicating the reserve! After trying the one with a gate and finding an abandoned house, we went up the open driveway where some friendly locals let us use their phone to call the reserve manager (Enrique Calle, +0989765082, necessary to arrange a visit - Spanish only) and told us it was the driveway with the chain across it. With that sorted and Enrique en route to meet us (mostly to collect the $15 per person entry fee), we headed into the reserve and started the search for the endemic and critically-endangered Pale-headed Brushfinch (https://ebird.org/checklist/S61819831).
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| Yunguilla Reserve |
Almost the entire global population of this species exists in this one reserve, so a visit is necessary to see the bird and aid in its conservation. It took us a while, as we explored many of the trails without a good idea of where exactly the birds hang out, but we eventually encountered a flock of 12 Pale-headed Brushfinches on one of the lower trails through some scrubby forest. It helped that I'd been listening to the tapes, and zeroed in on a few birds quietly calling. Sitting quietly on the trail, the birds foraged all around us in the thick tangles, coming too close for the camera to focus at times. A few Gray-browed Brushfinches were also with them, a trip bird for us. We also had brief views of a Rainbow Starfrontlet flying away from us, and added Golden-rumped Euphonia for the trip in the reserve as well. On our way out, we heard three more Pale-headed Brushfinches calling from the undergrowth. I guess many people stake out the feeders that Enrique has set up for the brushfinches, but we never managed to find his feeding station.
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| Pale-headed Brushfinch |
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| Rufous-chested Tanager |
As the brushfinch was our only real target for the reserve (most of the other birds there are more easily found at other sites) and it was quickly heating up on this sunny day, we headed onward about an hour or two earlier than planned. About two hours later, we arrived in the Santa Rosa area, where I had read about some shrimp ponds near Puerto Jeli on another trip report. We checked out a few of them (https://ebird.org/checklist/S61834429), giving the gals a chance to add some waterbirds and more lowland species to their lists before grabbing lunch at a seafood restaurant (Hola la Ola, I think it was called). They had a special on for $27 (the menu was very pricey, by our standards), and our server explained it in rapid Spanish so I only got about half of what he said, but it sounded good. A little while later, he brought out a massive platter of ceviche, shrimp fried rice and other seafood plus juice on the side. What had we done??! With the afternoon heat of the lowlands suppressing our appetites, we gave it our best shot, but that meal could have easily fed four or five people.
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| The humumgous meal at Hola la Ola - normally this would be doable, but in the lowland heat our appetites were reduced! |
Stuffed and not wanting to see seafood again for a while, we moved on, arriving at the upper road through the Buenaventura Reserve (another Fundacion Jocotoco property) after another hour and a bit of driving (https://ebird.org/checklist/S61834429). Thick fog greeted us here, later turning to drizzle and then heavy rain, forcing us to quit early. A Peruvian Tyrannulet was a lifer, and Fasciated Tiger-Heron was a new trip bird, but there was no sign of the El Oro Parakeets that we were really hoping for.
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| Birding the fog on the upper Buenaventura road |
A little farther down the road, we pulled into the town of Piñas to search for a hotel in the pouring rain. It took some doing, as a few of the hotels labelled on our map were pinned in the wrong spots, and one of the places we tried didn't have any rooms left. Eventually we ended up at Hotel Piñas, where we paid $45 for a triple room (about $15 per person seemed to be the going rate in this town for hotels) before going out to find dinner and some groceries. I forgot to mention this earlier, but one big advantage of having the car was that we could stock up on groceries and water jugs without having to worry about how to transport them around!
Running trip total: 599
29 Nov
With the rain having finally quit, we made the drive in to the Umbrellabird Lodge at the Buenaventura Reserve fairly early, where we spent the entire day birding the road and trails (https://ebird.org/checklist/S61855239). Although it isn't far from Piñas as the umbrellabird flies, you have to drive most of the way to Saracay on the main road and then part way back on the entrance road, so it takes ~30 minutes. As we were arriving just after sunrise, bird activity was already peaking and we made a few stops on the way in, getting to the lodge proper right around the 07:00 opening time. Here we paid our $15 each entry fee and watched the swarms of hummingbirds around the feeders for a bit before walking down the main road. I was pretty keen to get to the Long-wattled Umbrellabird lek area while it was still early enough for them to be displaying, but after walking for a while I realized I didn't actually know where the trail started (I had forgotten to look at the trail map in the parking lot). So, back to the lodge we went, where the reserve manager kindly made us a pot of coffee and we had a snack by the feeders while I checked out the trail map.
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| Violet-bellied Hummingbird |
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| Rufous-headed Chachalaca |
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| Coatis swarming the decks |
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| The Buenaventura Reserve |
Caffeinated and oriented, we headed off once more down the road to the Umbrellabird Trail, which took quite a while due to the numerous mixed flocks! Luckily for us, it stayed cloudy all day with a bit of mist here and there, keeping bird activity high throughout our visit (there was thick fog once more at the higher elevations). At about 09:50, we finally made it to the Umbrellabird trailhead, and a little ways down the trail ran into some Club-winged Manakins in full display! Awesome little birds. At the end of the trail is the lek site, and we dutifully searched all of the little side trails with no luck. After about 40 minutes of waiting and occasionally trying a different side trail (all of the side trails are under 40 m in length), I heard a distant, low-pitched 'wuuuuu' call. Umbrellabird! A minute later, the male flew in to the lek area, and set about displaying and cleaning up his favoured perches. He did this right above our heads for almost half an hour before flying off. What an incredible encounter!
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| Long-wattled Umbrellabird displaying above our heads! |
On our way back to the road, I heard a call that sounded oddly familiar (I had been listening to tapes of my target species the night before). A quick check of the recordings confirmed my suspicions - Ecuadorian Tapaculo! Another of our main targets here. Unfortunately it stopped calling shortly after, and we didn't manage to see it or even get a recording. Birding our way back to the lodge, we ate lunch by the feeders and then checked out the Pacific Royal Flycatcher trail, where the bird activity was a bit lower (a few fruiting trees held a nice mix of tanagers though), and we found a Cope's Vine Snake that tried to climb up my leg as I walked past.
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| Cope's Vine Snake |
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| Anthony's Poison Arrow Frog |
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| White-bearded Manakin |
We returned to the lodge, where Rebecca and Siobhan took a break from all the walking and tried for more photos at the feeders, while I went back up the road toward the Umbrellabird trail again, finding a Speckled Tanager - a species only recently added to the Ecuador list (but I didn't know this at the time; it wasn't in my field guide so I figured it must be good for the area!). During our time here, Three-banded Warbler was also a lifer, while new birds for the trip were highlighted by Rufous-fronted Wood-Quail, Scaled Fruiteater, White-throated Spadebill, Brownish Twistwing, Song Wren, Spotted Nightingale-Thrush and Orange-crowned Euphonia. This was definitely one of the better reserves we went to for general birding opportunities (120 species on the day), and it wasn't done yet. On our drive out of the reserve, I had the windows down (as usual) and slammed on the brakes when I heard an Ochraceous Attila singing. It turned out I had stopped right underneath it, and it gave us good views - my last target for the lower part of the reserve! As we still had at least one major target in this area to see, we spent another night at Hotel Piñas, where we got a room with a queen bed ($26) and a single room ($17), saving us a couple bucks compared to the night before.
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| Ochraceous Attila |
Running trip total: 625
30 Nov
With El Oro Parakeet still eluding us, we headed back up to the Upper Road at the Buenaventura Reserve as it seems to be one of the best sites for this species (https://ebird.org/checklist/S61881677). Once again, we were greeted by thick fog and a light drizzle, but we pushed on and gave it a good effort. Our efforts weren't rewarded, however - the Fasciated Tiger-Heron and Peruvian (Loja) Tyrannulet were still there, but we saw nothing new. I reluctantly gave up, and we headed to the nearby Jardin de los Colibries, also part of the Buenaventura Reserve (you have to pay to get in, but the guard let us in when I showed him our tickets we'd bought at the lodge - https://ebird.org/checklist/S61882583). There were some recent El Oro Parakeet sightings on eBird, and I had figured out that these are the 'feeders in the woods' that the trip reports refer to where everyone sees the Ecuadorian Plumeleteer (currently considered a subspecies of White-vented by eBird taxonomy). Staking out the feeders in the rain, we sorted through the swarms of hummingbirds and eventually a male plumeleteer made two quick visits to the station. Fawn-breasted Tanager was also a new trip bird, with one at the banana feeders. Just as we were about to leave, the guard asked if we had seen the parakeets yet. We hadn't, and he offered to take us to the nest box up the hill. It was only a few hundred metres past where I had stopped walking earlier, but sure enough there were six El Oro Parakeets in the box! They came out and perched on some nearby branches, giving us great up-close views for a minute before we left them alone. Talk about an eleventh-hour sighting!
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| El Oro Parakeet |
From there, we headed back to Santa Rosa, where I dropped Siobhan and Rebecca off at the bus station. They were heading back to Guayaquil to catch flights to Quito and then Canada a few days later, while I was continuing on for another 11 days in the south by myself. After getting stopped at first a police and then a military checkpoint and having my bags searched, and hitting thick fog between Alamor and Celica (over 20 km of barely being able to see the road, let alone other cars on it), I finally made it to the "Las Delicias-Celica" road, home of the range-restricted White-headed Brushfinch (https://ebird.org/checklist/S61882461). I had originally figured on arriving in the area around 15:00 and leaving at about 16:30 to give myself time to get to Macara before dark, but my search time was cut in half due to the fog delay. Nevertheless, while walking along the dry riverbed I managed to find a small group of White-headed Brushfinches along with Plumbeous-backed Thrush and a bonus Tumbes Hummingbird. Ash-breasted Sierra-Finch was also new for the trip, while some other Tumbes specialties that I'd seen earlier near Guayaquil also made appearances. With my time here at an end, I carried on, getting in to Macara at 17:30, and quickly found a hostel for the night (Hotel Colina, $12 for a private room). I made the mistake of getting a room at the front of the building - it was a bit noisy and the streetlights shone through the thin curtains all night. Otherwise the place was clean and comfortable, and I was the only person staying there.
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| This went on for 20 km of winding mountain roads |
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| White-headed Brushfinches |
Running trip total: 634
1 Dec
I left early, making the 10-minute drive to the Jorupe Reserve (yet another Jocotoco reserve, $15 entry fee) before sunrise in order to try for some owls (https://ebird.org/checklist/S61914013). The gate was closed, but not locked, and with nobody attending it I let myself in, closing it behind me. Along the entrance road I managed to hear one distant Peruvian Screech-Owl but that was it before the dawn chorus kicked in. It was immediately apparently that despite the similar birdlife to Cerro Blanco and Ayampe, this was better habitat, as Pale-browed Tinamous and Watkins's Antpittas called all along the road in to the Urraca lodge. I spent the early morning birding around the lodge feeders (after paying my entry fee to the reserve manager), then did a loop along the main road, the Tinamou trail, the Jay trail and back to the lodge (in the fog the entire time). By following calls, I managed to get fantastic looks at both the tinamou and the antpitta (multiple individuals), and in the parking lot I had a pair of Saffron Siskins. Along the road/trails, Blackish-headed Spinetail and Rufous-necked Foliage-gleaner were both seen well in multiple places, and I heard a Peruvian Pygmy-Owl but could not get a look at it. Two birds that I'd only heard in Ayampe were also seen - Ochre-bellied Dove and Henna-hooded Foliage-gleaner, and I had better looks at most of the Tumbesian specialties that I'd seen earlier in the Ayampe and Cerro Blanco areas. All in all, it was a fantastic morning of Tumbes dry forest birding, and I cleaned up all of my reasonable target birds here (no Buff-fronted Owl, unsurprisingly!).
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| Pano of the trails at Jorupe (note the fog) |
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| White-edged Oriole |
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| Gray-backed Hawk |
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| Pale-browed Tinamou |
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| Watkins's Antpitta |
At 10:30 I decided to head out, and made my way up toward the Utuana reserve (Jocotoco reserve, $15 entry fee), stopping along the way to photograph some Chestnut-collared Swallows that were nesting on a house beside the road (https://ebird.org/checklist/S61914029).
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| Chestnut-collared Swallow |
An hour later, I arrived at the entrance to the reserve, where I immediately had a few Black-cowled Saltators (https://ebird.org/checklist/S61915222). Unsure as to access I just parked at the main gate and walked in. Later I read some trip reports that just drove right in to the hummingbird garden, and this may be a better option if you're short on time and the road is ok. It took a while, but I eventually made it to the Jardin de Colibries, where many Rainbow Starfrontlets and Purple-throated Sunangels were in attendance at the feeders, giving great looks but proving difficult to photograph well.
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| Purple-throated Sunangel |
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| Rainbow Starfrontlet |
From there, I walked the loop around the Tit-tyrant trail and then up some of the longer trails in behind the hummingbird feeders. Along these trails were a few mixed flocks, although the birding here was pretty frustrating. A very thick undergrowth and midstorey made it difficult to get more than glimpses of anything, and off and on fog and light rain didn't help much. Along the upper trails I had brief looks at Jelski's Chat-Tyrant and heard a Gray-headed Antbird, while a mixed flock gave me good looks at Chapman's Antshrike and a few Rufous-necked Foliage-gleaners. A small covey of White-throated Quail-Doves flushed up from these dense trails as well. The more open areas contained Line-cheeked Spinetails and Silvery Tanagers, but I was unsuccessful at finding a Black-crested Tit-Tyrant.
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| The trails at Utuana went through thick undergrowth |
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| Red-crested Cotinga showing off its crest |
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| Rufous-necked Foliage-gleaner |
Just as I was about to give up on the reserve and check some areas along the main road, I ran into the reserve manager who offered to show me a good spot for Piura (Black-eared) Hemispingus and Gray-headed Antbird, where he apparently sees them regularly with the groups that visit (although always in the morning). At his spots, we managed to hear two Piura Hemispingus somewhere off in the fog, but they didn't come in for views, and the antbirds remained silent. If you want to try these locations, keep going on the main road/trail past the hummingbird garden for a few hundred metres to the switchbacks, and check the bamboo. Out of time and not having any luck in the fog and drizzle, we walked back to the main gate together and I gave him a ride back down the road to his house. I then checked some of the bamboo areas along the highway below the reserve (https://ebird.org/checklist/S61915403) but didn't find anything new besides a Black-capped Tyrannulet (trip bird). With that, I made the ~45-minute drive to Cariamanga, getting a room at Hostal Pamplona ($12) for the night. Another clean, cozy room and this one had a nice view. For whatever reason, most of the restaurants in this town were closed or didn't have any food, so it took a bit of walking around to find a little family-run place that gave me a nice meal for $1.75.
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| Roadside scenery near Cariamanga |
Running trip total: 650
2 Dec
One species I hadn't been able to find yesterday was Bay-crowned Brushfinch, and checking the map and some trip reports showed that there was a gas station near Cariamanga that had a few sightings. It didn't open until 07:00, so I slept in a bit then drove the few kilometres over there (I also needed gas). I poked around the station itself for a bit, then walked a little ways down the road that was in behind it, adding Chiguanco Thrush to the trip list and finding Ash-breasted Sierra-Finch and Elegant Crescentchest but no brushfinches (https://ebird.org/checklist/S61938929).
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| Ash-breasted Sierra-Finch |
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| Roadside birding below the gas station in Cariamanga |
Another hour of driving got me to a little side road between Gonzanamá and Catamayo, which looked promising based on eBird reports (https://ebird.org/checklist/S61938987). This road goes through a dry valley, and has a decent variety of Tumbes specialties - it didn't take me long to find a pair of Tumbes Sparrows and a bonus Drab Seedeater.
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| Tumbes Sparrow |
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| Thorn scrub along the road - perfect for Tumbes Sparrows! |
After that, I stopped in briefly at the Loja (Catamayo) airport, but the habitat there was pretty degraded so I didn't linger. Carrying on, the OSMAnd app took me on the old Catamayo-Loja highway, which was definitely shorter but probably not any faster than the new highway, as the road has seen better days. I decided to skip out on the Cajanuma entrance to Podocarpus National Park, as all of my targets there were possible elsewhere, and instead carried on southward. Around 11:30, I saw the sign for Cerro Toledo just south of Yangana. As I was ahead of schedule, I figured I'd try my luck on the 15-km road up to the paramo (the sign says 20 km, but the birding area is ~5 km before the top). It took about an hour to navigate the road in my tiny car, as a few sections were somewhat washed-out. Luckily the landslides had all been cleared though, so I was able to drive right up to the lookout (https://ebird.org/checklist/S61938898). My main target here was Neblina Metaltail, but I didn't really know where to look - the trip reports usually mention they are in the paramo, whereas the Navarete site guide says to look in the elfin forest before the paramo. In any case, I parked at the switchback just before the lookout and figured I would try both habitats for an hour or so. Although the weather at the turnoff had been sunny, up here it was cold, foggy (neblina means 'fog' in Spanish) and quite windy, with a thick mist blowing sideways getting everything wet. I decided it would be best to leave the camera in the car, rather than submit it to a solid soaking. About 15 seconds later I regretted that decision, as the very first bird I saw after setting out was a Masked Mountain-Tanager!!! This bird was only sort-of on my radar here as they're fairly rare, and so despite the elevation I sprinted back to the car, grabbed my camera, and rushed back down to the spot. Luckily the bird was still there, although a little bit higher up in the trees so the photos are not nearly as good as my initial views.
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| Masked Mountain-Tanager |
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| Neblina Metaltail habitat at Cerro Toledo |
From then on I carried the camera and tried my best to keep it dry as I explored the vicinity of the switchback and the 500 m or so below it. Rainbow-bearded Thornbill, Citrine Warbler and Golden-crowned Tanager were all trip birds here, but it took a while before I heard a Neblina Metaltail about 300 m downhill from the viewpoint (I was seeing if playback would work on these hummingbirds - it didn't). Farther down the road (1.3 km below viewpoint) I had decent looks at two of them chasing one another, and that was it. With my time having run out, I navigated the road back down to the highway and continued on. Between Yangana and Valladolid the road was washed out or gravelled in many places, and it took a bit longer than expected to travel this stretch (about an hour to go the 42 km). Below Valladolid, I parked on the main road just outside the Reserva Palmiteras, and walked the 300 m or so above and below the reserve (https://ebird.org/checklist/S61939651). I got nice looks at a pair of Lined Antshrikes (lifer) right across from the reserve entrance, and a bit up the road a fruiting tree attracted some Silvery Tanagers, while Rufous-fronted Thornbird (heard), Purple-throated Euphonia and both Black-faced and Silver-beaked tanagers were trip birds. I eventually tracked down a Marañon Thrush a bit below the reserve where a stream crosses the road, getting nice views and rather poor photos.
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| The valley below Valladolid |
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| Marañon Thrush |
Back at the reserve entrance, I heard a call that sounded like the thrush, and looked up to see a second one sitting right above my car. With my targets in the bag and the light fading on this cloudy afternoon, I headed back into Valladolid to find a place to sleep. My map showed two hostels, but once in town neither building appeared to actually be a hostel, so I asked at a shop. The owner kindly walked me around the corner and into a building that was looked like it was being renovated, and called the owner of that building down to come talk to me. It turned out that this place was on the map, and was indeed a hostel, it just didn't look like one as the entire bottom floor was under construction. For $5, I got a bed in a room upstairs, and access to a shared bathroom. It was definitely the least nice place I stayed, but the bed was clean and the owners were friendly, and the price couldn't be beaten! A restaurant a few doors down had good food and wifi, so I hung out there for a while after visiting the local panaderia to pick up some breakfast and lunch goodies.
Running trip total: 665
3 Dec
An early morning departure saw me pulling into the driveway at Reserva Tapichalaca (the Jocotoco reserve, $15 entry - https://ebird.org/checklist/S61965762) just before sunrise, where the gate was locked but the side door wasn't. I walked in, and quickly found the reserve manager (Vicente), who came and opened the gate for me. One of my friends had stayed at the reserve a few years earlier and forgotten to tip the staff, and gave me some money to give to them as a thank-you. Explaining this to Vicente, he gratefully accepted the money, then asked if I wanted to come with him to feed the antpittas. I was surprised, as this is usually off-limits to the general public - only people staying at the $160/night lodge generally get to watch the antpitta feedings! Of course, I said yes, and eagerly followed him down the muddy trails. Our first stop was the Chestnut-naped Antpitta location, where it obligingly came in for some worms in the dawn gloom. Farther down the trail we got to the famous shelter for the Jocotoco Antpitta around 07:00. With the worms out and Vicente calling the birds, they seemed uninterested in breakfast as he got no response. After a while, he went off to feed the White-throated Quail-Doves a bit up the trail while I continued waiting. He returned, doves fed, and tried again for the antpittas but again there was no response. He then said he had to go back to the lodge and motioned for me to join him. After a bit of discussion, I managed to convince him that I was ok on my own and promised I wouldn't get lost (I had a trail map), and he allowed me to stay. It took quite a while (1h45), but eventually I looked up from reading trip reports and there, only a few metres away, sat an adult Jocotoco Antpitta! It ate worms for a bit, then hopped onto a nearby stick to preen. As I was the only person there, I moved a bit closer and sat behind a rock. Satisfied I wasn't up to no good, the antpitta hopped out and continued to feed and preen right in front of me, before eventually hopping off into the forest. What an experience!
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| Jocotoco Antpitta! |
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| Close up of the Jocotoco Antpitta |
With my main target in the bag, I carried on down the trail. I ended up doing two loops around the reserve over the course of the day, following the Undulated Antpitta, Jocotoco and Quebrada Honda trails to the road, then the road back to the lodge past the small shrine. New birds for me were Little Sunangel (in the forest and a few at the feeders), Bearded Guan (several spots but best views at the quail-dove feeders), Chusquea Tapaculo (throughout, one seen near the end of the Jocotoco trail), Orange-banded Flycatcher (heard-only on the walk into the antpitta spots), Pale-footed Swallow (at the mirador at start of Piha trail and on the road below the lodge), and Bar-bellied Woodpecker (in a flock on the main road at km 9.1). Barred Fruiteater, Undulated Antpitta, Amethyst-throated Sunangel, Black-throated Tody-Tyrant, Smoky Busy-Tyrant, Crowned and Rufous-breasted chat-tyrants and White-capped Tanager were also new trip birds for me.
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| White-throated Quail-Dove |
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| Tapichalaca Reserve |
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| Pale-footed Swallow - not an easy species to photograph! |
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| A neat Bristlefly |
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| Little Sunangel |
The weather was mostly on and off fog and light rain, with a heavy downpour right as I got to the lodge around lunch time (I waited it out at the hummingbird feeders). Try as I might, I could not turn up another Orange-banded Flycatcher to get looks, and by mid-afternoon I called it quits, figuring I would have a chance at this species later in the trip. I tried the road a few kilometres below the lodge, where the Navarete guide said a good forest patch held Rufous-tailed Tyrants. Unfortunately, the patch was mostly gone, and I didn't turn up any tyrants, just a decent number of raptors taking advantage of the hot sunshine (Tapichalaca seems to sit in a perpetual rain cloud while the valley below is sunny - https://ebird.org/checklist/S61965403). Driving north, I stopped for the night in Vilcabamba, getting a room at Hostel las Margaritas ($15 for a private room with hot water(!), wifi and a big breakfast served by the super nice owners - my only complaint was the pillows were way too thick and I ended up folding up some of my clothes to sleep on). A pizza place across the road provided me with a tasty dinner. A nice thing about Ecuador was the pizzas were pretty good, unlike a bad experience we had in Colombia with a massive and barely edible greasepit.
Running trip total: 681
4 Dec
As breakfast wasn't available until 08:00, and wanting to take full advantage of that, I slept in a little and then walked up the road to a spot I had found on eBird - the Cerro Mandango trail (https://ebird.org/checklist/S61971613). Here, my main quarry was the Purple-collared Woodstar, which had eluded me up until this point in the trip. Focusing on the multitude of flowering plants near the trailhead, I eventually had good looks at a male and two females. I also had a couple of surprise Alder Flycatchers (a rare or more likely under-reported species in Ecuador) and a decent variety of Tumbes species here. If you're in the south and don't go to Jorupe or Guayaquil area, this spot would be worth a stop to pick up some of those specialties. I didn't realize it until later, but this is also a location for Bay-crowned Brushfinch - a species I ended up missing as I thought they were only farther west in the Utuana area! That's what happens when you only have a few days to plan a five-week trip with ~250 target birds I guess - oh well!
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| Alder Flycatcher - not many Ecuador records on eBird |
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| Croaking Ground Dove |
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| The Cerro Mandango entrance |
Back at the hostel, I packed my bags and wolfed down the delicious breakfast before hitting the road, eager to make good time to my next destination. On the ~2h drive to Zamora, I made a quick stop to photograph a Cliff Flycatcher (https://ebird.org/checklist/S62126937), while a few kilometres later I added White-banded Swallow to the trip list.
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| Cliff Flycatcher |
From Zamora, it took 3.25h to get to Yankuam, including stopping in a few spots to look for birds. My first stop was at a stakeout for Bluish-fronted Jacamar and Black-billed Seed-Finch (https://ebird.org/checklist/S62126990), where the Jacamar proved elusive but I had distant looks at the finch. Farther along the road, I made a couple quick stops, at another spot for the jacamar (again no luck) and at a shop to buy some groceries (https://ebird.org/checklist/S62127002). The road to the Yankuam area was paved from the E45 as far as the Paquisha turnoff, where it became gravel and then mud until Guayzimi. Between Guayzimi and Zurmi is good pavement, but after that the road reverts to gravel/dirt for the rest of the way to Nuevo Paraiso and beyond. A couple of landslides were being cleared on my way in, slowing me down a bit - on the way out these had all been cleared and the drive out was quite a bit faster than on the way in. I arrived at Cabañas Yankuam around 14:15, where I checked in and dropped my bags off, having a quick chat with the owners (Carlos and Carlita) and meeting Jacinto, who would be looking after the place while Carlos and Carlita were away in the coming days. They told me the best place to look for the tanagers, and so off I went, walking down the road to the Maycu reserve (https://ebird.org/checklist/S62128978). With their two little dogs following me the entire way, I walked to a point 4.1 km from the lodge (the third large wooden Maycu sign with a tanager on it) and back in the afternoon heat, returning to the lodge just as it was getting dark. Along the way I got a taste of the unique birding opportunities this region provides, adding nine species to my life list and 40 to the trip list. One of these was the logo bird of the reserve, and the main reason people come here; the Orange-throated Tanager. I only had a poor look at one high in the canopy on this afternoon, but had much better views over the following days. The other major highlight was finding an antswarm with seven(!) Hairy-crested Antbirds at it, including a few that hopped out into the open giving fantastic looks. Unfortunately my camera decided that moment was when it wouldn't focus properly, and my settings were a bit off to get anything really good. Other new species included Ornate Stipplethroat, Zimmer's Antbird (heard), Duida Woodcreeper, Dusky-cheeked Foliage-gleaner, Foothill Schiffornis (heard) and Olivaceous Greenlet.
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| Hairy-crested Antbird |
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| One of the Tepuis in the Cordillera Condor |
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| Nangaritza River near Yankuam |
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| These two little dogs were my constant birding companions |
With that taste of the Amazonian foothills and a few of my targets seen and/or heard, I had a hot shower and a fantastic dinner (hearing Band-bellied Owls duetting right outside the dining area). Wiped from a long day of driving and a hot afternoon of birding, I called it an early night and studied up on my bird calls of the region instead of trying to night hike.
Cabañas Yankuam - $30 per person, per night, includes breakfast and hot water; wifi usually doesn't work. Lunch and dinner are $10 per person, per meal - I opted to get dinner there but just ate snacks for lunch as the breakfasts were enormous. The most expensive place I stayed in Ecuador but well worth it as the birding is unbelievably good. Alternatively there are small hotels in Zurmi and Guayzimi that are probably cheaper but are also an hour drive away, or you could try to arrange a stay with a local in Las Orquideas.
Running trip total: 736
5 Dec
The Cabañas Yankuam - Shaime area is definitely an under-birded gem of Ecuador. Flanked by the tepuis of the Cordillera Condor, the Nangaritza River flows down into the Amazon basin, right past Yankuam. Situated at about 900m elevation, this area has quite a unique avifauna, with Amazonian lowland species seemingly following the river upward into elevations well above their usual range. Combined with the tepuis bringing some highland species down to the lower limits of their altitudinal range, and the typical Amazonian foothill species, the diversity in this region is almost unbelievable. I got to experience that diversity firsthand on this day, and it went down as one of my best birding days ever, to date.
Beginning well before dawn, I awoke before my alarm even went off, and could hear a Cinereous Tinamou calling from somewhere out in the gloom. My 05:15 breakfast was spectacular, and way more than I could possibly eat, with multiple bowls of fruit, granola, yogurt, buns, eggs, plantains, juice and coffee. I ended up taking the buns with me for lunch. As it was raining fairly heavily, I decided against hiking up the tepui on this day (a plan that in hindsight was definitely for the best), and instead sat and watched the variety of hummingbirds and tanagers coming to flowers and a fruiting tree in the garden (https://ebird.org/checklist/S62128987).
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| Masked Tanager |
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| Yellow-bellied Tanagers |
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| Green-and-gold Tanager |
When the rain lightened up a little, and looked like it would be stopping soon, I drove the short distance down to the Maycu reserve, parking at the motorbike shelter. For the next six hours, I walked the 1.5 km section of road between 3.1 and 4.6 km from the lodge (mostly in the vicinity of the 2nd to 4th wooden Maycu reserve signs); the birding was so good I could barely stand to leave even after that time! The antswarm from the day before had moved a little farther off the road, but attracted a greater variety of antbirds, and a small mixed flock I'd found the day before snowballed through the morning into a mega-flock. I spent a full hour and a half just with this mega-flock, picking out at least 80 species and easily over 200 individual birds within it. That doesn't even count the flyovers and birds on territory around the area the flock was frequenting! New birds for me through the morning were Musician Wren (heard), Green-backed Becard, Fiery-throated Fruiteater (heard), Blackish Antbird (heard), Red-stained Woodpecker, and Rufous-breasted Wood-Quail (heard). An additional 44 were new for the trip; add that to the 40 the afternoon before in this same location! Other highlights among the 157 total species recorded along the road were far too many to list, so I'll leave the eBird list here for your perusal: https://ebird.org/checklist/S62136266. Once I figured out that an odd call I was hearing was Orange-throated Tanager (a call I didn't have a tape for), I managed to get good looks at a pair around the 4th wooden sign (4.2 km from lodge) feeding on some cecropias. They seemed to like hanging out with the Masked Crimson-Tanagers in this area.
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| Orange-throated Tanager |
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| Peruvian Warbling-Antbird |
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| Black-and-white Tody-Flycatcher |
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| Maycu Reserve |
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| The corner with the mega-flock in Maycu Reserve |
I eventually tore myself away, as the rate of new species had slowed and there were a few other things I wanted to look for. Driving a few kilometres farther, I birded the "Peru Curve" - a short stretch of road that dips into Peru (https://ebird.org/checklist/S62127176) during the heat of the day. A Red-billed Tyrannulet (heard) was new for me but otherwise this was just a fun diversion to add to my Peru list during the slow afternoon. From there, I birded my way back toward the reserve along the road from Barrio San Juan to Miazi (https://ebird.org/checklist/S62131552), focusing on the more open areas. This paid off with my lifer Mottle-backed Elaenia and Olive-chested Flycatcher, as well as 12 more trip birds.
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| White-browed Antbird |
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| Black Caracara being chased by Yellow-rumped Caciques |
Back at the cabins, I spent the late afternoon staking out the flowers and fruiting tree, where a male Amethyst Woodstar was my main reward (https://ebird.org/checklist/S62131620). Unfortunately it disappeared too quickly for a photo. While checking the tanagers coming to the fruiting tree, I heard a pair of Chestnut-headed Crakes duetting from a wet patch behind the cabins and went to investigate. They didn't call any more though, and then I heard a Scarlet-breasted Fruiteater near the fruiting tree - agh! By the time I got back it was also gone. With that, the daylight faded and I sat down to another fantastic dinner, where the Band-bellied Owls called once more. All in all, I had tallied 203 species for the day - my highest single-day list ever, and that despite a late start due to the rain and only covering three small areas only a few kilometres apart! What a magical place.
Running trip total: 807
6 Dec
After another huge and delicious breakfast, I hit the tepui trail across from the cabins around sunrise (06:15 start, $5 trail fee that isn't mentioned on the website). Jacinto told me the trail was in decent condition and that the summit was at about 1500m, so I optimistically set out, the two little dogs in tow (https://ebird.org/checklist/S62131938). Some quick trail info: it turned out that the trail was in decent condition up to the first camp, deteriorating after that and nonexistent in a couple of places higher up where large trees had fallen along it. The summit is also at about 1825m, not 1500, meaning you get a ~925m elevation gain in 5.6 km of hiking; a few places require the use of hands and feet to climb up steep sections. There is a sign a little ways in that says the summit is 6 km; it is 5.4 km from here (measured on eBird tracks). The first camp is 3.65 km from the summit, and the second camp is 1.5 km from the summit. To properly explore, it'd be best to hike up in the afternoon and stay at the second camp, and hope for no rain. Anyway, on the way up I made good time through the first section, stopping occasionally to check small mixed flocks and catch my breath. About 3 km up the trail, a heavy rain started up, so the dogs and I took shelter under some trees for 45 minutes to wait out the rain. The trail was already a bit wet from the rain the day before, and this made it even muddier - that and the fact it was a bit overgrown with some very steep sections requiring a bit of minor rock-climbing, and a few bush-whacking detours necessary around fallen trees, ensured I was thoroughly dirty and wet by the end of the day. I had borrowed a pair of rubber boots from the cabins, which kept me at least a bit dry early on but eventually one ended up filling with water as it sprung a leak and the other was damp. After about four hours of hiking (including birding and rest stops but not including the 45-min rain break), I made it to the fogged-in summit. Along the way up, I heard a Buckley's Forest-Falcon from the cabins and saw quite a few Zimmer's Antbirds in the lower part. Higher up I added Yellow-throated Tanager, Western Striolated-Puffbird (heard), Rufous-vented Whitetip and Napo Sabrewing. At the second camp I had the first of many Bar-winged Wood-Wrens, which were quite tame (an adult with two juveniles).
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| Bar-winged Wood-Wren |
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| One of a few creeks crossing the trail |
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| One of the dogs with the 'trail' |
Finally making it to the summit, I heard and then saw a couple of hummingbirds whiz by me, disappearing into the fog too quickly to identify. Listening to tapes I realized these were my targets - Royal Sunangels! I figured they were coming to some flowering shrubs, so I sat and staked those out for a while, camera at the ready. After half an hour of waiting, I heard hummingbird activity up behind me somewhere - it turned out they were actually coming to some smaller red and white flowers, along with a Lesser Violetear. I then staked out those flowers for a good while before eventually the male Royal Sunangel came back in for nice looks and some photos. During this time I also noticed the vegetation at the top was quite different from that just below it - lots of stunted trees and odd plants, plus some interesting flies that I hadn't seen before.
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| Royal Sunangel |
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| Some kind of Blowfly |
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| The other dog with the vegetation on the tepui |
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| Some neat plants up there! |
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| Another shot of the 'trail' |
After thoroughly exploring the small, flat area on top of the tepui and taking some photos for iNaturalist, I made my way back down (three-hour hike down), not wanting to be on the trail when it got dark. From the top, I'd heard a Roraiman Flycatcher singing, and I got brief looks at it along the upper part of the trail. A bit lower down I heard a Cinnamon-breasted Tody-Flycatcher but couldn't manage to get views. The rest of the trail was pretty quiet; most of the flocks I'd seen on the way up had moved off, and I only encountered one small one near the bottom. Back at the cabins, I changed into some dry clothes and quickly rinsed out what I had been wearing before laying everything in the hot afternoon sun to dry. The rest of the late afternoon and evening I spent birding around the gardens, mostly staking out the flowering verbena in hopes of the Amethyst Woodstar returning. He returned at about the same time as the day before, foraging for several minutes on the verbena, giving great looks.
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| Amethyst Woodstar |
While watching the fruiting tree, an Ecuadorian birder arrived with his mother - it turned out it was Nelson Apolo, a guide from the Mindo area, who was scouting out some spots for an upcoming private tour he was leading. We chatted for a while before dinner, and it turned out we had the same plan for the morning so we agreed to join forces. At dinner, the Band-bellied Owl pair once again serenaded us from across the road.
Running trip total: 823
7 Dec
After breakfast, I hopped in with Nelson and we drove back to the Maycu reserve, again parking at the motorbike shelter near the second sign. We spent the morning walking up and down the same section of road as I had two days earlier, mostly looking for Orange-throated Tanagers but also hoping to fill a few gaps in our lists (https://ebird.org/checklist/S62132182). We succeeded in both, as a distant Grayish Mourner was a lifer for both of us, I found two White-bellied Pygmy-Tyrants which were also new for the two of us, and Nelson found a pair of Purplish Jacamars which were new for me. The tanagers were in the same general area as my first two days, with a pair in the cecropias near the 4th sign and another pair not far past the motorbike shelter. Other good birds were Lanceolated Monklet, Foothill Stipplethroat, Tawny-throated Leaftosser and Euler's Flycatcher. Despite knowing that this was the meeting point between Amazonian and Andean birds, it still felt odd to see Golden and Opal-rumped tanagers side-by-side in a mixed flock! The antswarm and mega-flock from the other day had mostly dissipated, but we still had a great morning of birding before it was time to go.
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| Maycu Reserve - the White-bellied Pygmy-Tyrant spot |
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| Orange-throated Tanager |
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| Ornate Flycatcher |
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| A view of one of the tepuis - not sure if it's the one I climbed |
Back at the cabins, I packed up my stuff, spreading my still-damp clothes around the car so they would dry out on the drive, paid Jacinto for my nights and meals, and signed the guestbook. Along the drive out, I had a Caqueta Seedeater but still no luck with Bluish-fronted Jacamar. The drive out went a bit quicker than the drive in, as the road had been mostly fixed up, and with some extra time I decided to go up to the Santa Cecilia trail above Paquisha. My little Spark made it almost to the end of the road (surprisingly - some sections were pretty dicey), and I walked the rest of the way to the good forest (https://ebird.org/checklist/S62135875). Here, I quickly encountered a mixed flock, and worked through it until I heard a loud thunderclap. Looking behind me, I realized a rather large thunderstorm was moving in, and fast. I beat a hasty retreat to the car, making it just moments before the first raindrops fell. The highlights of this stop were a heard-only pair of White-necked Parakeets that remained frustratingly out of view and a pair of Spectacled Prickletails in with the mixed flock. On the way down the mountain, the deluge hit, with some of the heaviest rain I've experienced and extremely loud thunder. Glad I had made it to the car in time, I focused on getting down the mountain before the already sketchy road got any more washed out! That marked the end of my birding for the day as I made the drive back to Zamora, getting in a bit before dark. The first place I tried looked a little dodgy, even for me, and the second place looked a bit upscale but I decided to try it anyway. I ended up staying at the expensive-looking place (Hotel Samuria), where $25 got me a fancy private room with a modern bathroom, hot water, fast wifi and included breakfast. After a few days in the boonies I felt a bit of luxury was well-deserved, and took advantage of the air-conditioning to do some laundry (all my laundry on this trip was done by hand in bathroom sinks!). To make up for the splurge on a room, dinner came in the form of various snacks from a nearby grocery store.
Running trip total: 840
8 Dec
Breakfast wasn't available until 07:00, so I slept in a bit and had a hot shower before eating and heading up the road to the Rio Bombuscaro entrance of Podocarpus National Park (free entry). I parked about halfway between Copalinga Lodge and the park entrance at a little pulloff, and walked the road to Copalinga and back, hoping for a fly-over White-necked Parakeet (no luck - https://ebird.org/checklist/S62159407). Bird activity was pretty low along this stretch, and the sunny morning meant the temperature quickly rose and activity died down much sooner than I was anticipating. I then walked the road up to the park entrance and through the first bit of the park, signing in at the visitor centre. In the park itself, I birded the area around the visitor centre/admin buildings and the first few hundred metres of the Higuerones trail. Activity along this stretch was much higher than on the road, and I added Orange-crested Flycatcher, Gray-mantled Wren and Equatorial Graytail. New trip birds were Black-throated Brilliant, Black-streaked Puffbird, Coppery-chested Jacamar, Blue-rumped Manakin, Amazonian Umbrellabird, Foothill Elaenia and Black-billed Treehunter in the park itself. I also heard a few White-necked Parakeets flying over somewhere uphill, but they were blocked from view by the canopy.
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| Rio Bombuscaro |
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| Ancyluris aulestes |
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| Orange-crested Flycatcher |
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| Traumatomutilla incerta |
Leaving the park, I tried to get into the Copalinga Lodge feeders but the gates were all locked and it seemed that nobody was around. I ended up just birding the road near the lodge for a bit, seeing Many-spotted Hummingbird but not the hoped-for Little Woodstar that sometimes visits the verbena (I did have a woodstar fly by me in this area but couldn't tell which species it was). Eventually I ran out of time, and I set off for my next destination, having once again only heard the White-necked Parakeet. Along the drive to Loja, I finally saw a White-capped Dipper for the trip in the river below the highway, and it started raining, and kept raining for most of the afternoon. The streets in Loja were mostly flooded, with many of the gravel side roads looking pretty destroyed by the heavy rains. My navigation app chose this moment to take me on a strange detour, trying for a 'shortcut' down the old highway north of Loja. After sitting in traffic for quite a while and navigating the flooded roads, I realized this mistake and had to backtrack quite a ways. Closer to my destination of Saraguro, the rain finally stopped, but I rounded a corner and hit thick fog right before my hoped-for spot to look for Red-faced Parrots. I gave it a quick try but in the thick fog I couldn't see or hear much, and with dark approaching I just headed into Saraguro to find a hostel. There were quite a few decent-looking places; I ended up at Hostal Saraguro, where $12 got me a private single. It took a while but I eventually found an open restaurant that had food a few blocks away, and stocked up on groceries for breakfast/lunch.
Running trip total: 854
9 Dec
Up well before dawn, I made the 40-min drive to the top of Cerro Acanama, getting there shortly after sunrise (although on this cloudy, drizzly day there wasn't one - https://ebird.org/checklist/S62216329). I spent the morning scouring the bamboo thickets near the top, flushing a Jameson's Snipe from the road at one point. It took a long time, but I eventually heard a Crescent-faced Antpitta calling from a roadside bamboo patch. Maneuvering into position, I could hear the bird calling from only a few metres away in the thick bamboo before it abruptly stopped, and never called again. I tried very quietly playing some calls, but had no response. Crouched and waiting in the understorey, I did eventually get an extremely brief view of its back and a wing flick, and that was it. Half an hour of sitting in the bamboo yielded no additional calls or visuals. It seemed like most of the birds up here were taped-out, and I ran into a private tour that basically just trolled the road with tapes for all of their target species, which may be the reason why. Great Sapphirewing and White-browed Spinetail were new trip birds here.
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| Ash-colored Tapaculo - one of very few photos of this species on eBird |
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| Cerro Acanama |
Out of time, I headed back down the mountain and over to the Red-faced Parrot spot in Reserva Huashapamba (https://ebird.org/checklist/S62216205). Here, I staked out the open field, hearing a small group of Red-faced Parrots off in the distance. A few reports I'd read referenced a clearing in the forest (viewable on satellite), so I checked that spot out as the parrots sounded like they were in that direction. Getting there, I found no parrots, and waited around for a while with no luck. I had read that they are pretty responsive to playback, at which point I discovered that the tapes I had for them were extremely quiet and probably wouldn't bring a parrot in from more than 15m away... Anyway, I eventually gave up and moved on, heading up toward Cerro de Arcos. From Saraguro, it was a three-hour drive up fairly rough and muddy roads. In a high-clearance vehicle with more power it would have been significantly shorter, but navigating the mud, potholes and construction zones while gaining elevation in the Spark was a struggle. As seemed typical, the drive was sunshine and clear skies the entire way from Saraguro to just before the cerro, until I got to the area, and then thick fog rolled in and persisted for the entire afternoon and evening. I spent the rest of the day on the lower part of the road to Cerro de Arcos and along the road to Sabadel, mostly in the vicinity of the intersection of the two (https://ebird.org/checklist/S62216229). Here, I found a few patches of Chuquiragua, the preferred food plant of the newly-discovered and critically-endangered Blue-throated Hillstar, but alas, no hillstars. New trip birds were Mountain Caracara, Streak-backed Canastero, Plain-capped Ground-Tyrant, Black-billed Shrike-Tyrant, Paramo Pipit and Paramo Seedeater. While searching, I ran into a local and asked about accommodation in the area. He said there was none in Sabadel itself, but there was a refugio up the mountain. After chatting for a bit, he offered that I could sleep at his place if I wanted, but he had to go do something first. I said sure, and birded around a while longer before going to the house he had told me was his. I waited for a bit, but there was no sign of him, so I decided to go check out the refugio. The road up the mountain was pretty slippery, but I made it. At the refugio, a band of grubby kids were the only people around; they told me they were there to look after the place, and they had the gate keys to let me in but apparently not the keys to the small cabins there. The entry fee was $10, so I paid it and checked out the mass of hummingbird feeders (they have 20 set up) until it got dark. A bunch of Jameson's Snipes were displaying over the area just after dusk, while fireflies glowed all around, but the kids were running a generator making it a little difficult to enjoy the setting. I ended up spending a cold and somewhat uncomfortable night in the car, and had to run it for a bit to warm up at about 01:00 as I didn't have proper camping gear with me! The stars were fantastic once the fog cleared, though. I also went to bed fairly hungry as there was nowhere to eat in Sabadel - I had some chips, cookies and leftover yogurt for dinner, which was also what I ate for breakfast and lunch...overall definitely the low point of the trip.
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| The refugio the next morning, once the fog cleared |
Running trip total: 865
10 Dec
After a somewhat fractured sleep, I rolled out of bed (the passenger seat of the car), drank the last of my juice for breakfast and went for a walk to warm up in the early morning sunshine. Up and over the hill from the refugio, I found what I'd been looking for - a massive patch of Chuquiragua (https://ebird.org/checklist/S62216258). Staking this out proved fruitful, as five individual Blue-throated Hillstars (my last lifer of the trip) came in over the next couple of hours, and one male in particular liked to perch on a bush about 15 metres from me. He seemed to visit the flowers more frequently in the earlier part of the morning, coming in every 2-5 minutes; once it warmed up and the sun rose higher this dropped to every 10-20 minutes. I spent this entire time sitting and watching the flowers, hoping he might come in to the ones closest to me, while also keeping an eye out on the valley below (it was a pretty awesome view). Overall it was quite an amazing experience, sitting all alone in the paramo while critically endangered hummingbirds buzzed around, at one point flying by within a metre of my head.
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| Blue-throated Hillstar |
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| Showing off that blue gorget |
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| His favourite perch |
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| Chuquiragua flowers and hillstar habitat at 3600 m |
Satisfied with my time here, I headed back to the refugio to re-organize the car and stake out the feeders for a bit. A female hillstar visited briefly, but the feeders were mostly dominated by Shining Sunbeams. With a bit of a drive ahead of me, I made my way off the mountain, and ended up giving a guy a ride from the Manu turnoff all the way back to Saraguro. Other than a few construction stops, the drive back was much faster (downhill), and I chatted with my passenger for a bit. It turned out he had grown up in the area and had seen the hillstars on many occasions, but had no idea how unique they were or why people came to see them until I told him it was the only place in the world to see that species. After dropping him off, I made a quick detour to the parrot spot, this time seeing a small flock briefly in flight at a distance; not exactly the most satisfying encounter (https://ebird.org/checklist/S62216199). I didn't have time to try at the clearing again though, and carried on toward Cuenca, driving through thick fog in a few places and stopping at a roadside carwash to clean two weeks' worth of mud off the car (and it was filthy), not wanting a repeat of our Guayaquil rental return the month before. Arriving in Cuenca around 17:00 and once again in a thunderstorm, I ended up at Hostal Aranjuez for the night, conveniently located right across from the bus terminal and only a few blocks from the Avis office ($15 with hot water, wifi and breakfast included). I grabbed dinner at the nearest restaurant, where I ended up eating two plates of food and a big glass of juice (I hadn't had a proper meal since dinner two days earlier!) for $6.
Running trip total: 866
11 Dec
After breakfast, I brought the (clean) car back to Avis, where there were no problems with the check-in but I did have to pay the extra 433 km over my 1400 km limit. Retrieving my bags from the hostel and walking across the street to the bus terminal, I arrived at 08:42 and managed to get on the 08:45 bus to Guayaquil, with a window seat no less. The ride through Cajas NP was much nicer during the day, and our driver was slightly less crazy than the one on our ride, taking four hours instead of 3h40. Once we got to the lowlands closer to Guayaquil, a couple of Savanna Hawks were my last new species for Ecuador. In Guayaquil, I caught a $4 cab to the airport (the walk isn't that long but I've heard it's pretty sketchy), where I waited around for my 17:07 LATAM flight to Quito. There I had more waiting before my 01:35 flight to Houston, then Denver, then Vancouver and finally the ferry back to Victoria, arriving in the morning on 13 December and promptly doing back-to-back Christmas Bird Counts in Victoria and Sidney!
Running trip total: 867
Overall my (mostly solo) tour of the south of Ecuador was fantastic, with no major mishaps and only a few minor annoyances. I saw or heard most of my target species, and had some pretty incredible encounters and birding days at the various reserves and hotspots I visited. It was also a great opportunity to practice my Spanish, as once Rebecca and Siobhan left I hardly met anyone who spoke English (other than Nelson), and went a whole week only speaking Spanish to people. Other than the car rental, costs were quite reasonable. I opted for the car as I figured out I couldn't get everywhere I wanted to in the time that I had by taking public transit. All of these sites are accessible by public transit in some fashion or another though if you have the time, with the possible exception of Cerro de Arcos (it is possible, but one would likely need to factor in 2-3 days to do it properly from Saraguro, and bring camping gear). With an additional person or two, the car rental cost works out to be not much more than taking public transit after you factor in the time savings of not having to figure out bus/taxi schedules and wait for rides, and convenience of being able to easily carry groceries and water jugs with you (would have worked out to $17/day per person for three people including rental, gas, extra kilometrage and insurance).
Cost breakdown for two weeks in the south:
Car rental: $557.16 (3.5 days of this split 3 ways, so $464.30 was my cost)
Extra kilometrage: $91.72
Gas: $63.50 ($13 of this split 3 ways, so about $54 was my cost)
Carwash: $2.50
Bus (return) Guayaquil-Cuenca: $16
Taxi in Guayaquil: $4
Accommodations (each): $230
Entry fees to reserves: $75
Food (plus/minus $5): $95
Total: ~$1030 USD
Total if car costs had been split 3 ways for the entire time: ~$660
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