CERRO ACACANA

We headed up to Cerro Acacana at 3200m in search of Crescent-faced Antpitta this morning, which involved a 5am breakfast at our hotel in Loja and then just over a 90 minute drive with the last 8kms steeply uphill on a track barely passable by our minibus. But we made it and got cracking on the antpitta straight away. Unfortunately the CFA didn’t respond despite numerous attempts involving walking into the bamboo understorey and crouching down on the steep slope. But all wasn’t in vain as Juan Carlos called in an Equatorial Antpitta on two occasions with the latter attempt getting us cripplingly close views of a bird perched a few feet off the ground right in front of us. What a chunkster it was, a real round ball of bright rusty brown! 

Equatorial Antpitta - one of the numerous Rufous Antpitta splits....

We also had some very, very good views of a Mouse-coloured Thistletail that didn’t really skulk too badly beside the track, as well as a Brown-backed Chat-Tyrant being another new addition to the trip list. 

Mouse-coloured Thistletail

Previously seen species included Glossy Flowerpiercer, Red-crested Cotinga, Lacrimose Mountain-Tanager, Glowing Puffleg and Tyrian Metaltail. We spent a good few hours searching for the near-mythical Chestnut-bellied Cotinga without any luck, and also a calling Andean Pygmy-Owl didn’t cooperate either. 

Glowing Puffleg

Red-crested Cotinga

Bird density was very low at this altitude so we called it quits and headed to lower elevations, which proved to be a genius move as we had cracking views of an Ocellated Tapaculo calling away from a tree stump beside the track. It was an unbelievable sighting and we watched it for a good 5 minutes before it jumped down off its songpost and melted into the undergrowth. 

Crowned Chat-Tyrant

Ocellated Tapaculo

A Masked Trogon was equally showy at the same spot and we also added Crowned Chat-Tyrant to our impressive list as well before leaving for lunch at a nearby restaurant.

Masked Trogon

Well , we ate our packed lunch at the restaurant actually and had a cup of coffee before going to the Red-faced Parrot site, just a 20 minute walk across a field and through a narrow belt of forest to a clearing. All uphill of course! But boy was it worth it as we saw over 20 Red-faced Parrots flying around the epiphyte-laden forest, as well as nailing a couple really clear scope views of perched individuals. Yes! And what a beautiful parrot it is. 

Red-faced Parrot - looked better through the scope tbh!!!

There was also scope views of Grey-breasted Mountain-Toucan and a Northern Mountain Cacique to add to the excitement as well. And then it was a 3 hour drive to our amazingly plush hotel at El Cajas NP.