OLD LOJA-ZAMORA ROAD - YANKUAM

We birded the old Loja-Zamora Road this morning on our way to Yankuam, and what a day it proved to be. 

Nice scenery along the Old Loja-Zamora Road

Our first stop beside a rushing river failed to produce any Torrent Ducks but we had an unexpected Golden-crowned Flycatcher (no Ebird records for Ecuador!!), a flock of Yellow-whiskered Bush-Tanagers, Three-striped Warbler, Subtropical Cacique, Sickle-winged Guan, a fantastically cooperative Olive Finch and a female Andean Cock-of-the-Rock – all new for the trip. 

Andean Cock-of-the-Rock

Golden-crowned Flycatcher

Olive Finch

Yellow-whiskered Bush-Tanager

Then we drove on along the dirt road a few kilometres before stopping beside a cut over area dotted with large, bromeliad and moss laden tall trees on the slope below us. Fortunately, one of them was fruiting and attracting a lot of birds. In fact it was a veritable tanager-fest with Blue-necked, Golden-naped, Golden-eared, Bay-headed, Saffron-crowned, and Spotted Tanagers! An Ash-browed Spinetail,Masked Tityra, Bronze-green Euphonia and best of all a Rufous-winged Tyrannulet joined them. A flock of White-eyed Parakeets flew along the valley below us and a Roadside Hawk put in an appearance. Just then, as we walked towards our minibus an Olive-chested Flycatcher was heard and we called it in for a decent look at this subtle and pretty scarce bird. Another short drive and then we were out again and walking in the sunshine seeing Fork-tailed Woodnymph, a group of Ashy-throated Bush-Tanagers, Paradise Tanager, Green Hermit, Olivaceous Greenlet and down by the river our first Cliff Flycatcher.

 

We left this fantastic area and headed towards Yankuam, stopping beside some open fields where Black-billed Seed-Finch, Chestnut-bellied Seedfinch and Chestnut-bellied Seedeater were nice additions to our ever-increasing trip list. A Ruddy Ground-Dove was also new but almost ignored in all of the excitement. However, just another short drive away to a stakeout for Spangled Coquette got us crippling views of this beast perched in a tree and then feeding on Verbena flowers right in front of us. 

Spangled Coquette

We had our picnic lunch here before driving to the lodge at Yankuam where Jeff saw a Little Woodstar in the gardens. 

Mucking about on the river......

And we spent the rest of the afternoon on a boat ride along the Nangaritza river, seeing White-banded Swallow, Violaceous Jay, Green-fronted Lancebill, Short-tailed Swift and Plumbeous Kite. 

We saw a few Cliff Flycatchers today

When we returned to the lodge a flurry of activity led to more trip ticks with Magpie and Green-and-gold Tanagers, Long-tailed Tyrant, Great Kiskadee and Glittering-throated Emerald. 

Tropical Screech Owl

A night foray for Band-bellied Owl was a dud but we found a recently deceased Tropical Screech-Owl that had just flown into a passing motorcyclist!