JORUPE

6am breakfast today with another try for owls around the cabins beforehand – again without any success. So after a fine breakfast we staked out the feeders in front of the main dining room, seeing some cracking White-tailed Jays, both Ecuadorian and Plumbeous-backed Thrushes, a gang of Rufous-headed Chachalacas, Amazilia Hummingbird and several Blue Ground-Doves. 

Rufous-headed Chachalaca

Ecuadorian Thrush

Plumbeous-backed Thrush

Blue Ground-Doves

White-tailed Jay

Then we hit the trails, getting a relatively slow but steady list of new trip birds and lifers for everyone starting with a couple sightings of the much-wanted Watkins’s Antpitta. Not a bad way to start our 4 hour wander and we followed that with Boat-billed Flycatcher, an extremely wary and shy Henna-hooded Foliage-Gleaner, Blackish-headed Spinetail and Grey-breasted Flycatcher. 

Boat-billed Flycatcher

Already we’d nailed several of our main targets for this area and next up was One-coloured Becard, Pacific Elaenia, Olivaceous and Streak-headed Woodcreepers, Plain Antvireo  and more importantly a few views of Rufous-necked Foliage-Gleaner. Walking along a narrow trail across the hillside towards the lodge and things were a little slower with common species such as Tropical Parula and Streaked Xenops, plus a slightly more interesting Ecuadorian Piculet. Roberta had stayed behind at the lodge and was rewarded with a Pale-browed Tinamou visiting the feeding station and she joined me for a short walk before lunch seeing Dusky-capped Flycatcher and Black-capped Sparrow. 

 

After a nice rest following lunch we headed an hour or so up the road to an elevation of 1850m and birded patches of decent habitat, with some roadside birding thrown in. This session proved to be extremely fun and rewarding as we kick-started things with Three-banded Warbler, Golden Grosbeak, a pair of Silver-backed Tanagers, Brown-capped Vireo, a flyover Short-tailed Hawk and best of all, 3 rare Scarlet-fronted Parakeets. 

Golden Grosbeak

Scarlet-fronted Parakeets

Short-tailed Hawk

Silver-backed Tanager

Silver-backed Tanager

Walking downhill along the road and a White-rumped Hawk circled in the blue sky right above us, our first Band-tailed Pigeon appeared and a Black-crested Warbler showed nicely. 

White-rumped Hawk

Then we hit a purple patch with Bay-crowned and White-winged Brushfinches, a pair of Tooth-billed Tanagers, Smoke-coloured Pewee, and a pair of Chapman’s Antshrikes showing amazingly well. A flock of Red-masked Parakeets wheeled around the valley below and just before we reached the minibus a Loja Tyrannulet was spotted. 

Chapman's Antshrike

Then we drove down to the village of Sabiango and watched a bunch of Chestnut-collared Swallows coming to roost. 

Chestnut-collared Swallow

After dinner we made our third attempt at finding West Peruvian Screech-Owl and struck lucky with fantastic views of a bird perched close by. 

West Peruvian Screech-Owl

It was just a shame the calling Spectacled Owl near the cabins didn’t show but anyway, we’d had a superb day.