We headed up into the hills at 5am, with a Rufous-bellied Nighthawkand Band-winged Nightjarseen on the drive up before reaching the Yellow-eared Parrot Reserve. We stationed ourselves at a particular spot and sure enough we could see flocks of Yellow-eared Parrots heading across the sky, all at some distance.
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| Yellow-eared Parrots |
Fortunately one group headed our way and we had brilliant views as they flew right over our heads. We decided to linger here and luckily a Chestnut-naped Antpitta began calling and as we tried to work out which direction it was in a second bird ran across the track in front of us. After some careful manoeuvring we laid eyes on a pair that came out onto the verge beside the road and lingered for ages.
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| Chestnut-naped Antpitta |
Unbelievably this was our 9th species of antpitta so far. Elated with this we decided to walk down the road a couple hundred metres to where we had heard an Ocellated Tapaculo calling on the drive up. Well, they were still in the same place calling away but it took a lot of persistence to get any sort of view on this notorious skulker. But eventually everyone had tickable views, along with a Tanager Finch initially found by Lia.
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| Tanager Finch |
With breakfast calling we walked back up the hill, but a few of us stragglers then had crippling views of an Ocellated Tapaculo calling away from an open area of moss-covered trees. Wow! Walking back a Yellow-bellied Chat-Tyrant was also seen. Over breakfast we had a superb Black-and-Chestnut Eagle and a Short-tailed Hawk fly over us, followed by superb looks at a Smoky Bush-Tyrant.
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| Ocellated Tapaculo |
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| Smoky Bush-Tyrant |
From around 9am the forest became very quiet and for 3 hours until lunch we actually didn’t see anything new although Black-capped Tyrannulet, Lacrimose Mountain-Tanagerand Golden-xx Whitestart etc were seen. So we headed to the other side of the mountain for our picnic lunch at noon and our luck changed. First a pair of Northern Mountain Caciques appeared above us and them Jose picked up the stunning Chestnut-crested Cotinga feeding on berries at the top of a tree below us. We watched this bird for ages before driving lower in search of the endemic Red-bellied Grackle. We made a few stops seeing Yellow-bellied Elaenia, Inca Jay, Russet-backed Oropendola, Scarlet-rumped Cacique and White-capped Dipper.
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| Inca Jay |
But with time pressing we had an appointment with the local Jardin Andean Cock-of-the-Rock lek and what a great time we had here. There were between 9 and 14 males displaying right in front of us.
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| Andean Cock-of-the-Rock |
This is one of nature’s most memorable sights and sounds as these bright crimson birds make a variety of pig-like squealing and grunts. It truly is a sight to behold.
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| Red-bellied Grackle |
Amazingly there were a bunch of Red-bellied Grackles feeding in the garden as well, along with Streak-headed Woodcreeper, Black-winged Saltator, Bay-headed and Scrub Tanagers, Streaked Flycatcher, Western Emerald, and Golden-olive Woodpecker.
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| Bay-headed Tanager - common but stunning... |
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| Black-winged Saltator |
Walking back to the car a pair of Grey-throated Toucanets and a White-lined Tanager were seen.
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| Grey-throated Toucanet - an interesting taxonomic situation |
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