Saturday 9/18/21 (Teri)
We were ready to leave by
6. We had a foggy morning for some road
birding.
Today’s destination was the Mashpi resort area. Jose told us that the Mashpi Lodge wanted $150 per person for us just to go into the resort for a few hours to bird! I looked the lodge up on-line and saw that one night for two persons would cost $1,122 plus about $200 additional in taxes.
Lucky for us, a couple
started their own birding resort right outside the high-dollar lodge. Reserva Amagusa is owned by Sergio and Doris
Basantes. This reserve is only for
birding. There are no rooms. We paid $15
each and were the only “guests” there.
We walked up the road to the reserve and the owner, Sergio, came to meet us. He was very nice and worked hard to help spot birds in the thick forest.
The first thing I noticed
when we arrived inside the gate was a Crested Guan making a mess of a potted
plant.
We found out that the owners had been given this Guan right out of the nest and it had become a pet. He followed us around like a puppy and continually got into everything. Besides digging out a potted plant, he also turned over a few chairs.
He was a lot of fun to have around but I think he might get a little annoying if he followed you around all day, every day.
They had some really nice
bird feeding set-ups and we had close-up views of some great birds.
We had our box lunch in an outside dinning area where there was another bird feeding area.
It was a very nice area for
lunch.
We birded all the way back to Tandaylapa and got back around 4:30. Dinner was vegetable soup, baked barbeque chicken, mashed potatoes and shredded cabbage. These are not the same kind of russet potato we have in the US. They are good but they taste different.
Saturday, 9/18/2021 (Mark)
Up at 5:00, breakfast at 5:30 and in the van before 6:00. We headed to the Mashpi resort area, but stopped a few miles short and did some road birding. It was incredibly foggy for much of the walk, with visibility changing by the minute. We had a Sickle-winged Guan silhouetted in a tree, and two Rose-faced Parrots flying over. We did get excellent looks at a Buffy Tuftedcheek and a Uniform Treehunter. We got back in the van and drove up to Reserva Amagusa.
The Mashpi Resort started the birding trend in this area, but has gotten extremely expensive for both overnight stays and for day visit. So a couple started their own birding resort not too far outside of the Mashpi gates, and they invite birders to visit for $15 per person. They have a nice variety of hummingbird and fruit feeders in several different locations.
The highlight was their “main” fruit feeder which is a simple setup that offers banana pieces and a couple of different places for birds to perch. There is a covered area adjacent to the feeder where birders and photographers can sit and watch. The owner put bananas on the feeder as soon as we got up there, and almost immediately the tanagers started to pour in. The “main event” was the arrival of Glistening-green and Flame-faced Tanagers.
The first is an unreal shade of bright green, and the second is a variety of colors, with a beautiful orange/red face. The clouds and fog came and went (this is a cloud forest, after all) so photography opportunities were mixed. In spite of that we got great looks at a lot of very nice birds including Golden, Golden-naped, and Rufous-throated Tanagers, and the seemingly ever-present Crimson-rumped Toucanet.
We returned to the reserve to eat our boxed lunch, then got ready to leave. But we were missing one of our target birds, the Moss-backed Tanager. The owner took us to a different spot in the forest, and put out bananas on yet another feeder, one that was obviously seldom used. Within minutes a single Moss-backed Tanager arrived and stayed long enough for a few photos.
At the same time an unexpected Golden-collared Honeycreeper arrived. Both of these were life birds for Teri and I.
On our way home we stopped at a few places on the road. In one place José wanted to find us a Black-chinned Mountain-Tanager. We got out and while he was calling for the Mountain-tanager, he heard a Club-winged Manakin, which is a bird we’d searched for on previous days. The male manakin makes an odd buzzing sound with its wings as a territorial and courtship display, and this is what we heard. We walked down the road to get closer, and then found a rough path into the forest and followed it in.
José was able to call in and then spot the male Manakin way up in the trees. He continued to play the call and the bird came down lower and lower until we got very good looks at it doing its display. It was an amazing display of skill and knowledge by José!
We continued birding on the drive back to Tandayapa Lodge, picking up Smooth-billed Ani and Yellow-faced Grassquit along the way.
Next time: A six Antpitta morning.
Looks like a very successful day seeing the birds you wanted to see :)
ReplyDeleteIt was a great day in a beautiful area.
DeleteThe pictures were great. The Tanagers especially had great detail when you zoomed in.
ReplyDeleteMark does a great job on the pictures. He just bought a pro printer and we're finally going to get some pictures up on the walls.
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