Although we suspected they were in the area, an early morning rain greatly reduced any chances of picking up a Band-bellied Owl. Umbrellas were still in order as we walked down the path to breakfast. We had already left our bags under the eaves of our cabin for staff to bring to the bus while we ate.
Today would include a very long bus day as we traveled from Zamora (via Loja) up to Cuenca. Mileage was listed as a little over 100 miles. In WI a 100-mile trip, say from Appleton to Milwaukee, could be done in two hours or less. Narrow, winding roads, slow traffic on cloud-shrouded mountain passes, and road construction delays would guarantee adding several more hours of riding. Scenic – but slow.
We bid Catherine and the staff at Copalinga farewell and bordered our bus. On our way out of Zamora we stopped to revisit the Old Zamroa Road, one last try for a Cock-of-the-Rock. Overnight rain had caused a section of road we had walked on the day before to give way. It made it unsafe for bus travel so walked. However, we had no luck connecting with a Cock-of-the-Rock. Rain continued on and off. Back onto the bus again, we returned to the main highway.
Indeed, road construction played a major role in delaying our forward progress. There were a few stops for fuel or bathroom breaks before we pulled off in the early afternoon at “Acanama Road.” We ate our Copalinga prepared box lunch then went for a walk. The walk was as much to stretch our legs as it was to bird. We found several birds we’d seen earlier on the tour and managed to add a few new trip birds: Bar-bellied Woodpecker, Blue Dacnis, Supercillaried Hemisphingus, and Black-billed Treehunter.
Back on the bus, everyone slipped back into their bus time routines: Sorting and sharing digital photos, journaling, snacking, grabbing photos through the bus windows, and napping. Lots of napping.
It wasn’t until well after dark that we pulled into Cuenca and the Hosteria Duran. The grounds had swimming pools, spas and hot springs. The architecture was captivating. Walkways to rooms between buildings were punctuated with courtyards and gardens. Even a gift shop with local art for sale and a nearby art gallery (both closed owing to the lateness of the day). The realization that we had to get up and leave early the next morning left many thinking how unfair it seemed to spend so little time at a lodge with so many attractive options. Specially when contrasted against our three nights spent in Macará. Alas, we were on a birding trip, which dictated more about where the birds were rather than the accommodations. Still…
The next morning we were scheduled to pick up a local guide who would accompany us to La Cajas National Park. “Cajas” is derived from the Quichua word “cassa” meaning “gateway to the snowy mountains.” We would be headed into the highest elevation habitat of the trip: páramo and mountain lakes.
Speaking of owls, early in the morning two were calling. They sounded close to Richard’s cabin, up the hill from our cabañanumero cuatro. Richard and José ID’d them as Band-bellied Owls. A few of us gathered on the trail in the dark to listen and watch but nothing doing. It would certainly be worth keeping an ear out that evening and early the next morning.
Candlelight in the cabin in the morning wasn’t an inconvenience. But it meant no power for hair driers. In fact, the use of hair driers, even when the power was on, was strongly discouraged. The system would not be able to sustain multiple driers running simultaneously. It should be noted that once we got going on a day of birding, that “hat hair” was the norm anyway. What difference did it make?
Breakfast behind us, we headed back to the Podocarpus trail head where we quickly found ourselves engrossed in listening for Amazonian Umbrellabird calls. Not too far along the trail we found a small flock of Gray-breasted Parakeets working a colpa or clay lick. Ingesting small amounts of kaolin-type clay is thought to help detoxify the poisons found in seeds of rainforest trees, which members of Psittacidae consume as part of their daily diet. The lick was at a bend in the trail making it difficult to get a straight line of sight for photos but we certainly had good looks through binoculars. This would be a good place to stake out early some morning for photos and video opportunities.
Standing at an overlook and watching the river valley below, a movement attracted José’s eagle eye. A male umbrellabird had glided in from across the valley and landed somewhere below the overlook but out of sight. We craned our necks as far over the edge as we dare. Another umbrellabird flew past – a female. We quickly retraced our steps along the trail to track the bird’s flight path into the jungle. José found the perched female and put up the scope for quick looks by the group. We managed more looks with binoculars as she flew further away. For such a large bird (crow-sized) they certainly were tough to see!
We encountered a few small foraging flocks of birds at various times, which caused us to backtrack depending on which way the flocks moved. Foraging flocks can be so large and move so quickly making it difficult to observe every species present. Fortunately these flocks were relatively small so José and Richard had more opportunity to call out species as they were seen. The trick was finding the same bird that the guide was calling. New birds on the day included: Crimson-bellied Woodpecker, Dark-breasted Spinetail, Olive-backed Woodcreeper, Orange-crested Flycatcher, Pale-eyed Thrush, Golden-collared Honeycreeper, Bronze-green Euphonia and Subtropical Cacique (both were heard only).
Some of the group ventured onto a side trail from the headquarters area to investigate a waterfall. The trail wound up being rather steep and narrow in spots with slippery rock but everyone managed to stay on firm ground. While we gathered at the waterfall a couple of hummingbirds appeared, moving rapidly as hummingbirds tend to do. There were two possibilities – a Green-fronted or a Blue-fronted Lancebill. Eventually José was summoned for a look and ended all speculation, pronouncing them to be Green-fronted.
As we headed back to the bus José decided to take a few alternate trails which presented more challenging elevation changes (i.e., steep ups and downs). One trail produced a Blue-rumped Manakin. The male is black with a shiny white crown and nape and a pale azure blue rump. Definitely a pocket-bird. We also pulled out a Sickle-winged Guan. Definitely not a pocket bird. Another new hummingbird for the day: Green Hermit. And a heard only bird: Yellow-cheeked Becard.
Back at the same clay lick a flock of White-eyed Parakeets appeared. Not nearly as nice looks as the Gray-breasted but pretty decent just the same.
By now the trail was full of flocking Carnival revelers headed toward some of the same water features we had visited earlier. Time to leave.
Lunch at the lodge was followed by another relaxing break. José wanted to try some roadside birding on the other side of Zamora in the afternoon. Richard elected to stay back at the lodge for some solo exploration of trails around the lodge.
Outside of Zamora the road was still pretty busy with Carnival festivities as many vehicles made their way to the Río Bombuscaro. Parallel to the road was a flat, straight and narrow length of pavement, which looked liked an airstrip. In fact, it was an airstrip. Niko pulled off onto a road leading to it. Although it looked as though it could still be in use (probably by the military), it didn’t appear to have been used for sometime judging from a other vehicles parked on the tarmac near houses that butted up to the airfield. We opted to walk.
By now the sun beat down pretty hard but birding turned out to be pretty good. Black Caracara, Little Cuckoo, Smooth-billed Ani, Spot-breasted Woodpecker, Yellow-tufted Woodpecker, Great Kiskadee, Social Flycatcher (which we also saw at the lodge), Black-crowned Tityra, White-banded Swallow, Black-capped Donacobius, Thrush-like Wren, and Black-and-white Seedeater.
At the end of the runway was a small wetland. A big surprise was when a Blackish Rail jumped up and flew the length of the marsh. Attempts to show itself resulted in two Blackish Rails carrying on a “discussion” with one another but never out in the open where we could see them again.
Back on the bus we made another run through the Carnival gauntlet in Zamora. At one point the police stopped our bus to allow young people to board and solicit funds (by way of selling a T-shirt or a hat) aimed at supporting efforts to curtail drunk drivers. How could we resist? A few people bought T-shirts. A worthy cause.
José had apparently equipped himself with an aerosol can of “silly string” which he used to squirt unsuspecting pedestrians as our bus passed them. Some of his targets didn’t seem to mind – one young woman in particular was talking on her cell phone when she was doused. She never blinked an eye as she kept walking and talking as if nothing had happened. No doubt she would receive a bucket of water somewhere down the road to help wash it off.
Back at the Copalinga some of us gathered for a small impromptu party at Claire and Melissa's cabin. We also spent time speaking with a handful of other tourists who were also at the lodge watching the “Tanager Tree”. After dinner and our daily checklist, we settled up our bar bill since the next morning we would pack up and head north toward the city of Cuenca. Another long period of “bus time” lay ahead. A very long time.
While we didn’t have far to drive to begin our birding at the northeast entrance to Podocarpus NP, we still needed to get an early start. That’s when birding is most active. A charming candlelight breakfast got us off in the right direction.
Pordocarpus NP is part of the El Cóndor Biosphere Reserve, which covers over 2.6 million acres in southern Ecuador. Podocarpus is critically import for protecting endemics like the White-breasted Parakeet, just one of many target birds today.
We would spend time hiking a trail at roughly 1100 meters in elevation (3800 feet). A bit overcast but that’s fine since full sun would have heated us up pretty quickly. One bird in particular we hoped to find was another one of the umbrella birds, the Amazonian Umbrellabird.
There were a few parakeets as heard only: White-eyed and White-breasted. Blue-headed Parrots did a nice flyby and landed within viewing distance. A short detour off the main trail to the Río Bombuscaro netted us a male Torrent Duck. Nice looks at Coppery-chested Jacamar and Black-streaked Puffbird. A Lineated Woodpecker (heard only) and Ash-browed Spinetail were added along with Plumbeous Pigeon and Swainson’s Thrush. Montane Foliage-gleaner put on a nice show along with a Strong-billed Woodcreeper and Lined Antshrike. Flycatchers included Ecuadorian Tyrannulet, Golden-winged Tody-Flycatcher, Common Tody-Flycatcher, Olive-chested Flycatcher, Olive-sided Flycatcher and Cliff Flycatcher. Oh, yes, and a Lemon-browed Flycacther. We added a few tanagers: Yellow-throated Bush-Tanager and a Summer Tanager observed feeding a Shiny Cowbird youngster. Alas, while one was heard, we whiffed on the umbrellabird.
We eventually reached the headquarters building where a few families had pitched tents in primitive campsites. Their children seemed to be enjoying the experience – what a terrific opportunity. With the sun now overhead, a number of butterflies were found in a large clearing near the headquarters building. Oh, yes. And a much needed potty stop (not in the open field but in the restroom!).
By the time we began our hike back to the bus, the trail had become saturated with dozens of boisterous locals enjoying their Carnival holiday. Another reason for an early start: avoid heavy trail traffic, which was now made it difficult to bird.
Wow! No box lunch today! We returned to the lodge for instead. As we ate we were constantly distracted by more bird watching from the dining area. A new hummingbird species: Ecuadorian Piedtail. The “Tanager Tree” was quite productive: Orange-eared Tanager, Golden-eared Tanager, Paradise Tanager, Green-and-gold-Tanager, Spotted Tanager, Yellow-billed Tanager. We had caught passing glimpses of tanagers while hiking earlier but now through a scope, we had great looks. Included in the mix were some of the tanagers we had seen the day before.
After a very filling lunch, we took a short break and relaxed around the lodge. About 3:00 PM we regrouped and boarded the bus to try the Old Zamora Road. Our route took us back through town where we were subjected to many more Carnival water baths.
The Old Zamora Road used to be the main road connecting Loja and Zamora. The new paved highway now bore the brunt of traffic, which left the old road (still needed to reach distance farms) open to more sedate pastimes – like bird watching.
As we crossed a “suspenseful” cement bridge over a swollen river we observed a Fasciated Tiger-Heron perched on a boulder in the raging river. Just down stream we finally caught up with a “Jim bird” – a White-capped Dipper. For real this time.
Chestnut-tipped Toucanet, Red-headed Barbet and for some in the group, a decent look at a Cock-of-the-Rock as it flew across the road – if one happened to be looking in the right direction at the right time.
After a brief break on the road, José stopped and began to setup up his scope. We all had learned by now that this was a good sign. With the scope in place he said two words, “Lanceolated Monklet”. He didn’t have to say repeat them. Carol was on the scope in a shot. Happy Valentine’s Day! How on earth José had plucked that bird out of the tree was nothing short of amazing.
During the course of the trip there was a good deal of comical banter (for José’s benefit) about what a bird’s rating should be. “Charming” or a “cute” or a “pocket bird”. This was definitely a “pocket bird”, a bird so small and “adorable” that one wanted to scoop it up, put it in one’s a pocket and take it home.
Golden-eyed Flowerpiercer, Black-billed Thrush, and a typically secretive but eventually cooperative Blackish Antbird after José recorded and then played back the bird's call. Yellow-breasted Antwren, Little Woodpecker and another pocket bird: Lafresnay’s Piculet rounded out our walk. Old Zamora Road had turned out to be very productive. Before leaving the lodge in the afternoon, José had asked us to bring flashlights. We would be returning to the trail head at Podocarpus to try for an owl and a nightjar.
Darkness descended as we parked the bus. José played a Blackish Nightjar recording. Almost immediately one landed on the road near us. José shined his beam and there was the bird in plain view. Boy, was that easy or what? Next he played a Spectacled Owl call as we walked a short way in on the trail (I expect some in the group were wondering just how far we would walk in the dark!). The owl didn't pop out as the nightjar had done. In fact, it didn’t even bother to return our call. We whiffed on the owl.
Back to the lodge for another scrumptious meal and our daily checklist. The next morning we would return to Podocarpus to mop up of a few species we had missed and won't have a chance at elsewhere. Like the Amazonian Umbrellabird.
An “honorable mention” bird species for the day was the Highland Motmot. A number were heard and seen over the course of the day. This is considered a subspecies of the Blue-crowned Motmot. It doesn’t appear that the SACC (South American Checklist Committee), an official committee to the AOU, is going to upgrade it to full species status any time soon. Technically it's not a "countable" bird since it lacks this status. We refer to these birds as “bankable birds”. That's a bird we take note of having seen in the hopes that some day it will be granted full-species status and thus become countable. It reinforced the idea of keeping reliable field records. You just never know.
