Friday 9/17/21 (Teri)
We started birding at 6:00
this morning. There is another black
light sheet a short walk from the lodge.
We didn’t know this blind was here until last night when Jose told us
about it. There weren’t any insects on
the sheet when we got there. We sat
about 45 minutes but didn’t have any birds show up so we headed back down to
the lodge to breakfast.
Breakfast was a bagel with scrambled eggs, cheese and ketchup. We also had marinated grape tomatoes and sausage (which looks and has the texture of our hotdogs).
At 8:00 we drove to the Upper Tandayapa Valley. This is a beautiful area with many layers of mountains.
The road repair crew had been
dropping piles of dirt on the road. I
guess they would be spreading it out later.
But in the meantime, we got stuck!
The picture looks like we could just drive right over the dirt but the piles were higher than they look and the dirt was very loose. Everyone got out and spread the dirt around enough that Edison could drive over.
We got back to the lodge in
time for lunch at noon.
Hominy soup, barbeque chicken, white rice and some unidentified grain.
We had a couple of hours to
bird on the deck before heading down Nono-Mindo Road. It only took a few minutes to get there from
the lodge. We saw some good birds before
getting back at 6:15 where we went straight to dinner.
*** CLICK TO ENLARGE ANY PHOTO***
Friday, 9/17/2021(Mark)
Got up at 5:30 and headed to the blacklight blind at 6:00. We saw a Rufous-breasted Antthrush on the trail on the way there, and José and I saw a Zelodon’s Antbird as we arrived, but that was about all. There were no insects on the white sheet, so they’d either been eaten already or there just weren’t many.
We ate breakfast at the lodge and then headed back up into the upper Tandayapa Valley, hoping for better looks at Plate-billed Mountain Toucan. The roads are narrow and very steep in this part of Ecuador. Here is a look down at the road from an overlook that we stopped at.
José did manage to find a Plate-billed Mountain-Toucan for us, and I got pictures this time! It is a very cool looking Toucan with an odd square yellow "plate" that protrudes from the base of the bill.
There was a pair of Turquoise Jays chasing the Mountain-Toucan, and they were fun to watch.
There were a few other birds staying back in the shrubby areas, so while we were able to see them, photography was challenging. I did get this peek-a-boo shot of a Streak-headed Antbird.
We returned to the lodge for lunch at 12:30. We had the afternoon to relax. We read and I did some photography of hummingbirds on the back deck and other birds at the front banana feeder.
But I don't only take pictures of birds. Here is a beautiful orchid that was growing nearby.
At 3:30 we drove down to the lower part of Nono-Mindo road. We saw a female Andean Cock-of-the-rock fly out from under the bridge in town. José said that they nest there. I had imagined that these were rare, perhaps endangered birds. Thankfully that doesn't seem to be the case!
We also got decent looks at Scaled Fruiteater and Crested Quetzal.
Overall, it had been a slow birding day, but the weather was great and it was nice to have some down time.
Next time: Mashpi
Great pictures of birds and interesting food as usual! Who gets to be the keeper/decider of all the bird names?
ReplyDeleteThis organization is responsible for English bird names: "American Ornithological Society’s North American Classification Committee (NACC)". It may not come as a surprise that there is currently a movement afoot to get rid of bird names that reference specific people (ie Audubon's Oriole or Wilson's Warbler) as every person has some history that is offensive to some other person. Stay tuned, as there may be a wholesale overhaul of English bird names in the works!!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like it could be a massive overhaul in your data keeping and memory banks too if you have to record or remember new names for birds you've already learned/seen.
DeleteAnother dumb question from your birding ignorant friend: Do birds mate outside their classification? For example, does a female Empress Brilliant mate with a male Purple-throated Woodstar? If so, is this likely how new classifications happens, or is the environment (weather, food, etc) the likely cause of evolution?
ReplyDeleteGenerally speaking, bird species don't breed outside of their species. In fact, that is one of the primary determiners of what defines a species. That being said, closely related species (those in the same genus typically) do occasionally interbreed. So the Empress Brilliant might be able to interbreed with a Fawn-breasted Brilliant, but not with any of the Woodstars. I am reading a book now on evolution of birds in the tropics, and the factors are many. But typically geographical isolation (mountain ranges, huge grasslands, islands, even wide rivers) either now or in the past is the primary driver of speciation.
ReplyDelete