IT RAINED FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, STOPPING JUST in time for yesterday’s 5AM breakfast. We needed an early start for the six hour drive to Buenaventura with birding stops in Zapotillo and Almora.
Crimson-breasted Finch
Rellano Sanitaria may sound better but it was still the road to the Zapotillo garbage dump. This was supposedly our best chance to see the Black and White Tanager, an enigmatic bird that breeds here in March and disappears to somewhere in deepest Amazonia for the rest of the year. The old pygmy owl ploy, considered ethically dubious by some, did the trick and I got some decent photos along with some of the colorful Crimson-breasted Finch. A stop in Almora netted us Baird’s Flycatcher and the Supercilliated Wren, a small bird with a big name.
Black and White Tanager
I don’t know how far we drove today but Nestor says we have covered more than 3000 kilometers so far. With 500 birds seen, that works out to more than 3 miles per bird. And that’s not counting the ups and downs.
Supercilliated Wren
Maybe they should have named it Hummingbird Lodge. When we arrived last evening at the Umbrellabird Lodge, the feeders had about 50 hummers of perhaps ten different species actively feeding and another couple of dozen waiting in the bushes for their turn.
Hummingbirds at Umbrellabird Lodge
We spent today on lodge property searching for flocks of tanagers. It was a drab morning with rain and mist — a dreary day for photos. After a long lunch break we slip-slided down the Umbrellabird Trail in search of Long-wattled Umbrellabirds. We spotted two high in the canopy, silhouetted against the gray sky. Terrible light for pictures. Back at our cabin, we were able to snap a few shots of another directly above our deck before it flew off.
