After a 5.45am breakfast we spent a little time loitering in the car park, where a female Rufous-throated Sapphire had been seen recently and is something of a rarity here. Luckily it was still around and we watched it feeding on the Verbena flowers along with our first Wire-crested Thorntail.
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| Rufous-throated Sapphire |
Overhead we had both Chestnut-collared and Grey-rumped Swifts motoring through the valley. And then we drove a short distance to the trail of the Bombuscoro Section of Podocarpus National park and spent the morning birding the excellent forest. There’s not as big a variety of species here as at Maycu Reserve but what’s here is special. First up was a female White-crowned Manakin in the canopy beside the trail, followed by a White-necked Thrush and then a very confiding Black-billed Treehunter.
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| Black-streaked Puffbird |
A short distance further along the trail and a Black-streaked Puffbird was a welcome addition to our life lists and it showed really well at eye level for several minutes. Next up was Ruddy-tailed Flycatcher and Montane Foliage-Gleaner, the latter probably loitering at the edge of a large mixed species flock just around the corner. In this mishmash of movement in the canopy above were several previously seen tanagers in good numbers including Yellow-bellied, Spotted and a few delightful Orange-eared Tanagers, a pair of Red-headed Barbets, Slaty-capped Flycatcher, and a Wedge-billed Woodcreeper. And then we arrived at the park HQ where a pair of Lemon-browed Flycatchers called away and just at this point a superb Amazonian Umbrellabird appeared and we saw it several times before flying off into the forest.
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| White-breasted Parakeet - mega! |
We followed this with Foothill Elaenia, before a group of stunning White-breasted Parakeets flew in and landed in the tree next to us. Wow! Further along the trail a pair of Ecuadorian Piedtails showed nicely, a Foothill Stipplethroat came in to check us out at very close quarters and at this point in the trail we decided to turn around.
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| Foothill Stipplethroat |
Fortunately our timing was impeccable as an exceedingly rare Orange-crested Flycatcher began calling and Juan Carlos called it in for a decent view and a Plain-breasted Hawk then flew in and landed nearby.
Back at the lodge, it was 1pm and time for yet another excellent meal. We hung around until 3.30pm, checking out the various feeders. A Crowned Woodnymph seemed a little out of range, and we had fine views of Many-spotted and Violet-headed Hummingbirds, as well as Golden-tailed Sapphire, Sparkling Violetear and Violet-fronted Brilliant.
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| Crowned Woodnymph |
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| Violet-fronted Brilliant |
Once the White-faced Capuchin Monkeys had departed some more fruit was put out and we enjoyed a flurry of activity with Golden-eared, Silver-beaked, Golden and Green-and-gold Tanagers all coming in – at one point they were side-by-side (check out my video on YouTube).
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| Golden Tanager |
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| Golden-eared Tanager |
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| Green-and-gold Tanager |
Russet-backed Oropendolas came in en-masse, a fine male Green Honeycreeper lingered, and both Thick-billed and Orange-bellied Euphonias were once again in good numbers.
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| Crested Oropendola |
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| Green Honeycreeper |
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| Russet-backed Oropendola |
Orange-billed Sparrows lurked in the understorey, and then a Grey-chinned Hermit came in to a close feeder, but was chased away by the larger Green Hermit.
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| Orange-billed Sparrow |
And that was it. So we drove back 90 minutes or so to Loja and the same hotel as we’d stayed in a few days before, where we enjoyed a nice meal out a local restaurant to celebrate my birthday.
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