SANTA ELENA PENINSULA

We began the day with a 5.30am breakfast, a quick pack of the minibus and short drive back into the birding trail of Ayampe. Along the way, Juan Carlos heard a Watkins’s Antpitta calling so we made our first attempt at this tricky species, but despite a valiant effort we never got close to it. So back into the trail, and alas no woodstars or much of anything to be honest apart from a cracking pair of Guayaquil Woodpeckers above us in a huge Cecropia tree.  And that was it, adios Ayampe as we had many more birds to see during what turned out to be an action-packed day. So we headed to the Santa Elena Peninsula, spotting our first Burrowing Owl along the way. At an arid area of thorn bushes and scrub we spent a pleasant couple of hours despite the heat walking along a path where Croaking Ground-Doves and Long-tailed Mockingbirds were common. 

Short-tailed Field-Tyrant

Almost immediately we had the first of several Short-tailed Woodstars, followed by a Grey-and-white Tyrannulet, several Parrot-billed Seedeaters, a group of Collared Warbling-Finches, and some nice close Pacific Parrotlets posing nicely for photos. 

Pacific Parrotlet

An Elegant Crescentchest was next up and this time showing several times amongst the bushes. Wow! A pair of Variable Hawks sky-danced, a Short-tailed Field-Tyrant hung around for ages, more Burrowing Owls were seen and a demure Tumbesian Tyrannulet was a lifer for everyone. 

 

Driving down to the peninsula we stopped to look at Harris’s Hawk, Vermilion Flycatcher and took a detour for Peruvian Thick-knee before reaching the coast. Fine sandy beaches lined this end of the peninsula and were home to American Oystercatchers, Hudsonian Whimbrels and Sanderlings. A stop at some lagoons allowed us to scope a surprising variety of shorebirds this early in the season and to Brits there’s nothing better than scoping distant specks but we amassed quite a list: Black-necked Stilt, Common Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher, Western, Semipalmated and Least Sandpipers, Semipalmated Plover, Willet, Greater Yellowlegs, Green Heron, Cocoi Heron, our one and only distant Chilean Flamingo, Pied-billed Grebe and a single Red-necked Phalarope. Just over the road we scanned the beach and ocean and were fortunate to spot a lone Grey Gull several hundred metres away. Even luckier, it flew towards us and landed nearby. Wow! 

Grey Gull

We did see a few more as we drove along the coast road a little later. But from our vantage point overlooking the beach we also spotted a group of Common Terns, a few Royal Terns and a couple of Blue-footed Boobies out to sea. Driving along a large lagoon held what could well have been over a thousand Red-necked Phalaropes! Amazing!

 

Driving down to La Chocolatera Viewpoint we passed another lagoon and simply had to stop when we spotted a group of Roseate Spoonbills.  A quick scan revealed 6 Wilson’s Phalaropes, 2 Snowy Plovers, Spotted Sandpiper and a Gull-billed Tern. Once at the viewpoint we saw many Blue-footed Boobies and Magnificent Frigatebirds flying past, found a Wandering Tattlerand amazingly a young Swallow-tailed Gull. 

Blue-footed Booby

Magnificent Frigatebird

Swallow-tailed Gull

Wandering Tattler

That was quite some day! But there was still the small matter of a 2+ hours drive to our hotel in Guayaquil, arriving shortly after 6pm where we had another fine meal and cervezas!