As I mentioned in my most recent blog post, Laura and I were based at Cabañas San Luis, conveniently located halfway between two excellent areas - the Guacamayos Ridge and the forest around Cabañas San Isidro, an excellent ecolodge. Laura and I made it out to San Isidro on two occasions. There is a 10$ pp entrance fee to use the trails at San Isidro. We opted to splurge on that during our second day, but during our first visit we stuck to the roadsides. The entrance road has high quality forest beginning about 1 km before the ecolodge and continuing for several more km past the lodge. Most, if not all of the bird specialties of the ecolodge can be found along the roadside, anyways.
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| San Isidro entrance road, Napo Province, Ecuador |
On our first morning in the Cosanga area, we woke at the reasonable time of 6:00 AM and by 6:30 had begun the walk down the main road towards San Isidro. We opted to walk since it was only about 3 km to the turnoff to San Isidro (and another 3 km from there to the lodge), and we wanted to save taxi money. After all, the buses were not running due to the protests throughout Ecuador. Along the way we checked out the Cosanga River which is home to Torrent Ducks but none were showing themselves. By the time that we had reached the San Isidro entrance road we had seen thirty-some species of birds including two that were new for me - Lemon-browed Flycatcher and Green-backed Hillstar. Unfortunately no photos were taken of either. My camera was safely stowed in my pack due to the constant rain.
Eventually we turned onto the entrance road, which was around the time that the rain let up. Some vocal Azara's Spinetails were sounding off in the scrubby roadside vegetation. They enticed me to break out the camera - after all, I had never photographed this common species before.
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| Azara's Spinetail - San Isidro entrance road, Napo Province, Ecuador |
Eventually the sun nearly came out as well, trying to burn through the persistent clouds. It was enough to convince a big flock of swifts to take to the wing; I guess they take whatever opportunities arise in this very wet part of Ecuador. Most of the swifts appeared to be Chestnut-collared, the expected medium-sized swift here, but two additional species stood out - a single Spot-fronted and at least a couple of White-chested Swifts. These two species are relatively rare across their range with not a whole lot known about them, but the Cosanga area is a good location to come across them.
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| White-chested Swift - San Isidro entrance road, Napo Province, Ecuador |
The rain held off for a few hours, allowing us to explore along the road in relative comfort. It was a good day for flycatchers and I was pleased to come across Sulphur-bellied Tyrannulet, Plumbeous-crowned Tyrannulet and Variegated Bristle-Tyrants, All pretty desirable species in this area, if drab yellowish flycatchers high up in the canopy are your thing. The Streak-necked and Flavescent Flycatchers were a little more confiding, commonly appearing beside the road.
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| Flavescent Flycatchers - San Isidro entrance road, Napo Province, Ecuador |
Eventually the road began to pass by the higher quality forest and the bird diversity changed as a result. Flocks of tanagers were prevalent which included the spectacular Saffron-crowned. A common species, but one I will never tire of!
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| Saffron-crowned Tanager - San Isidro entrance road, Napo Province, Ecuador |
Our first White-bellied Antpitta sounded off at one point, while a Masked Trogon was extremely approachable as well. This poor individual had several engorged ticks hanging on to its face; it was looking a little rough.
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| Masked Trogon - San Isidro entrance road, Napo Province, Ecuador |
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| Masked Trogon - San Isidro entrance road, Napo Province, Ecuador |
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| Masked Trogon - San Isidro entrance road, Napo Province, Ecuador |
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| Masked Trogon - San Isidro entrance road, Napo Province, Ecuador |
Flowerpiercers are common denizens of the Andes and in this area there were two additional species that I had not seen before. One of these was Deep-blue Flowerpiercer which we were fortunate to catch up with on a few occasions in mixed flocks. Bluish Flowerpiercer was the other and we did not have to wait long before finding our first pair!
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| Bluish Flowerpiercer - San Isidro entrance road, Napo Province, Ecuador |
It was a nice change to see that Glossy-Black Thrush was the default species here, whereas in the Quito and Otavalo areas Great Thrush was dominant.
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| Glossy-black Thrush - San Isidro entrance road, Napo Province, Ecuador |
As we neared the late part of the morning a few more butterflies made appearances.
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| Pedaliodes asconia - San Isidro entrance road, Napo Province, Ecuador |
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| Corades enyo - San Isidro entrance road, Napo Province, Ecuador |
We passed the lodge and continued along the road, dealing with intermittent light rain that came and went. But the birding remained steady and we sifted through a few mixed flocks. One of the species I was most hoping to chance upon was Golden-collared Honeycreeper. Laura and I enjoyed decent, if slightly backlit looks of one perhaps 500 m past the lodge in a mixed flock.
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| Golden-collared Honeycreeper - San Isidro entrance road, Napo Province, Ecuador |
The road passed through sections of forests interspersed with Chusquea bamboo patches. The bamboo provided habitat for a different suite of species; some new for me, others which I had only seen once or twice before in Colombia. These included Long-tailed and Blackish Tapaculo, Rufous-crowned Tody Flycatcher and Streak-headed Antbird. Rufous-crowned Tody-Flycatchers are dazzling little puffballs. Several were quite easy to see as they foraged low in the bamboo.
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| Rufous-crowned Tody-Flycatcher - San Isidro entrance road, Napo Province, Ecuador |
Eventually we turned around to make the long walk back to Toni's place. We added several more species on the walk back and birded a few more mixed flocks. By the time we had left the San Isidro entrance road, our checklist stood at 66 bird species, a pretty reasonable number considering the elevation and the periods of rain.
Two days later Laura and I headed back to San Isidro; this time with the intention of exploring the lodge and its extensive trail system. We arranged for one of Toni's neighbours to drive us at 6:00 AM and Toni packed us breakfast and lunch to store in our daypacks. By 6:17 we had arrived at the lodge, with instructions to our driver to pick us up at 8:30 PM. This would give us a chance not only to explore for the entire day, but also to stay into the evening to search for the famous San Isidro Owls.
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| Black Agouti - San Isidro Ecolodge, Napo Province, Ecuador |
We arrived and checked in with Guido, one of the employees who lives in the first building on the right when one enters the lodge property. We chatted for a few minutes and settled up the day-use fee. Guido was a friendly guy and invited us to check out the feeding of the White-bellied Antpitta which would commence at 7:30 AM. I had heard from others that day-use visitors are not usually invited to see the antpitta feedings but that was not an issue for us. Perhaps it was because we were literally the only people at the lodge that day. No tours groups, and practically no staff either. We had the place to ourselves!
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| White-bellied Antpitta - San Isidro Ecolodge, Napo Province, Ecuador |
After a tense few minutes of waiting, the White-bellied Antpitta showed up to its breakfast buffet and made quick work of the worms that were placed there by the staff member who accompanied us. I cranked my ISO on my camera to combat the low light.
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| White-bellied Antpitta - San Isidro Ecolodge, Napo Province, Ecuador |
Antpitta feeding stations are a relatively new invention. Of course there is Angel Paz's famous property near Mindo, Ecuador, where one can see three or four species of antpittas show up for feeding time. Rio Blanco in the central Andes of Colombia is another famous location; one that I visited in 2015. In the years since many other places have tried to train antpittas to come in to the feeding stations each day. It can be a great way to see these secretive skulking species, though it does seem a little bit "fake", and others have questioned the ethics of it. Personally I do not see it as a problem. If it brings extra tourism money to an area that can be further used for education or conservation, it is worth it at the expense of.a couple of habituated antpittas.
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| White-bellied Antpitta - San Isidro Ecolodge, Napo Province, Ecuador |
After gobbling up the few worms, the White-bellied Antpitta hopped around on the ground to search for any rogue individuals that may have wriggled off its "plate", a flat green leaf. Then almost as quickly as it began, the show ended, and the antpitta hopped out of sight back into the dark understorey.
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| White-bellied Antpitta - San Isidro Ecolodge, Napo Province, Ecuador |
For the rest of the morning and into the early afternoon, Laura and I worked over some of the trails. The forest near San Isidro is gorgeous, but the mixed flocks are often high in the canopy which makes identification a bit challenging. We dodged rain for much of the day. Most of the trails were quite muddy and nearly impassable without rubber boots, which we did not have.
As far as birds were concerned, I had a much reduced "hit list" due to our success in the preceding days. Peruvian Antpitta was the big one, but despite much effort we could not turn one up. Black-chested Fruiteater was another; one or two teased me in the canopy but would not show themselves well. One lucky find, however, was a Highland Tinamou which flushed from the Cock-of-the-Rock trail, providing good, albeit brief views. Highland Tinamous are thinly scattered in the Andes and are far more often heard than seen. A final "life bird" for me was Geoffroy's Daggerbill. Wedge-billed Hummingbird was recently split; I had seen the western form (now called Choco Daggerbill), but never the eastern one. I had great views of a male along the beginning of the Cock-of-the-Rock trail at dusk while unsuccessfully searching for Peruvian Antpittas. Another individual briefly showed itself at the feeding before getting chased away by the bullies, the Chestnut-breasted Coronets.
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| Chestnut-breasted Coronet - San Isidro Ecolodge, Napo Province, Ecuador |
Speaking of hummingbirds, we spent a couple of hours throughout the day taking breaks by the hummingbird feeders. The sitting area is quite comfortable (and covered - super helpful during the rain) which was quite necessary and prevented us from having to spent all 15 hours on our feet.
Below is Laura pictured with her new friend - a Chestnut-breasted Coronet.
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| Laura with a Chestnut-breasted Coronet - San Isidro Ecolodge, Napo Province, Ecuador |
Highlights at the hummingbird feeders included the aforementioned Geofrroy's Daggerbill as well as a female Gorgeted Woodstar. Long-tailed Sylphs and Speckled Hummingbirds were common, while Fawn-breasted Brilliant, Bronzy Inca, Collared Inca, Lesser Violetear, Sparkling Violetear and Tawny-breasted Hermit rounded out the list.
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| Collared Inca - San Isidro Ecolodge, Napo Province, Ecuador |
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| Fawn-breasted Brilliant - San Isidro Ecolodge, Napo Province, Ecuador |
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| Long-tailed Sylph - San Isidro Ecolodge, Napo Province, Ecuador |
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| Bronzy Inca - San Isidro Ecolodge, Napo Province, Ecuador |
In the late afternoon we decided to change things up and go for a stroll down the road, turning left out of the San Isidro entrance and walking for about 1.5 km. The weather had cleared, turning into an absolutely gorgeous evening and the butterflies and birds were active.
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| Lasiophila orbifera - San Isidro entrance road, Napo Province, Ecuador |
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| Glossy-black Thrush - San Isidro Ecolodge, Napo Province, Ecuador |
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| Common Chlorospingus - San Isidro entrance road, Napo Province, Ecuador |
We found this road-killed caecilian which I believe is
Caecilia orientalis, a common species in this part of the Andes. It was the first caecilian that either of us had found. Hopefully we will be able to turn up a live one at some point!
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| La Bonita Caecilian (Caecilia orientalis) - San Isidro entrance road, Napo Province, Ecuador |
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| Tapeti - San Isidro Ecolodge, Napo Province, Ecuador |
Eventually we returned to the lodge to stake out the hummingbird feeders and wait for dusk to fall. I checked out the Cock-of-the-Rock trail one final try in a desperate attempt to find a Peruvian Antpitta; again to no avail.
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| Cock-of-the-Rock trail - San Isidro Ecolodge, Napo Province, Ecuador |
Earlier in the day we had discovered a Slate-throated Redstart nest with one egg inside. A brief check in the evening confirmed that the egg was viable - a tiny baby was present, beside the cracked egg. It was no more than six hours old! Below are the before and after photos.
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| Slate-throated Redstart nest - San Isidro Ecolodge, Napo Province, Ecuador |
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| Slate-throated Redstart - San Isidro Ecolodge, Napo Province, Ecuador |
The San Isidro Owl is an ornithological curiosity that looks somewhat like a cross between a Black-banded Owl and a Black-and-white Owl. The only problem is that Black-and-white Owl is found on the west slope of the Andes, while Black-banded is restricted to the Amazonian lowlands, 1,500 m lower in elevation. At the moment no one is really sure if this owl is its own species, or perhaps a high elevation subspecies of Black-banded Owl. Others have hypothesized that this is a hybrid between Black-and-white and Black-banded, though that seems incredibly far-fetched to me. At any rate, this owl is only found in the Cosanga area, with most people observing them at San Isidro lodge where they come into the lights in the evening to hunt moths. Laura and I enjoyed checking out the moth sheet and finding a few frogs while we waited for an owl to show.
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| Undentified Saturniidae moth - San Isidro Ecolodge, Napo Province, Ecuador |
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| Velvet Ant sp. (Hoplomutilla) - San Isidro Ecolodge, Napo Province, Ecuador |
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| Cerodirphia sp. - San Isidro Ecolodge, Napo Province, Ecuador |
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| Xylophanes sp. - San Isidro Ecolodge, Napo Province, Ecuador |
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| Emerald Moth sp. (Geometrinae) - San Isidro Ecolodge, Napo Province, Ecuador |
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| Tussock Moth sp. (Lymantriinae) - San Isidro Ecolodge, Napo Province, Ecuador |
Finally around 7:30 PM we were in luck. Some high pitched hoots got our attention from near the moth sheet (which is by the hummingbird feeders); we were reasonably sure it was a San Isidro Owl. Eventually Laura noticed a big owl glide into the treetops above us and she frantically called me over. We enjoyed watching the bird for about five minutes, its eyes lighting up red in our flashlights.
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| San Isidro Owl - San Isidro Ecolodge, Napo Province, Ecuador |
Eventually the big owl glided away silently into the forest, the last we would see of it. A pretty awesome bird and a great way to close out our time at San Isidro. All told we had 80 bird species on the day, including whatever the San Isidro Owl is.
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| San Isidro Owl - San Isidro Ecolodge, Napo Province, Ecuador |
