Explorating Guacamayos Ridge

The famous Guacamayos Ridge is one of the better birding locations in the eastern Andes, and for good reason. Cut into the side of a steep ridge, the stone path heads southeast for many miles, passing through pristine cloud forest in the mountains near Cosanga, Ecuador. It is said that this path was created by the Incas and was used to access the eastern lowlands, though I cannot find any sources that confirm this. The Guacamayos Ridge has a long list of bird species, some of which are the most highly desired species in the eastern Andes. These include the Greater Scythebill, Peruvian Antpitta, Barred Antthrush, Andean Potoo and many many more.

View from Guacamayos Ridge at dawn

Laura and I were based near Cosanga for the last five nights, just a five minute bus ride north of the ridge. While most birders who visit this area stay at the expensive San Isidro Lodge, we opted for something that fit our budget a little bit better. While searching on AirBnB we found some cabins - Cabañas San Luis - located almost exactly halfway between San Isidro (an excellent birding area in its own right) and Guacamayos Ridge. What sealed the deal for me was seeing a review by none other than Mark Dorriesfield - a friend of mine from my university days - who had nothing but excellent things to say about Cabañas San Luis.  

I have to say, the cabins surpassed all of our expectations. The host, Toni is originally from Colorado but has been living in Ecuador for 15 years. Her husband is a native Ecuadorian and they live on the property with their kids. They have built two cabins which they are renting out and are in the process of building several more. Toni was awesome, has a background in biology, and was even willing to make all of our meals (for a very reasonable price) as well as coordinate rides for us. The cabins are new, spacious and quite comfortable, and the property backs onto a beautiful river containing White-capped Dippers. If you are a birder or naturalist who wants to visit this part of the Andes but does not want to pay the eco-lodge prices at San Isidro, I highly recommend Cabañas San Luis. You won't be disappointed!

The river behind Cabañas San Luis

Because the cabins are just down the road from Guacamayos Ridge, Laura and I visited on three separate days. The trailhead starts at "La Virgen", a shrine built to the Virgin Mary with a small parking lot that is located at the highest point of the highway between Baeza and Tena. When getting on one of the buses that drive this road, just mention "La Virgen" and the driver will know where to drop you off.  

The stone path starts at an elevation around 2240 m and slowly descends, eventually reaching a pipeline near 1850 m, more or less. The path crosses four creeks before reaching the pipeline. You can continue on the trail past the pipeline, though we found that walking to the pipeline and back (4 km each way) was sufficient to take up the entire day, especially if the birding is good.

Green Jay - Guacamayos Ridge, Napo Province, Ecuador

My main goal on the ridge was, of course, to connect with a Greater Scythebill. This near-mythical species is found in low densities in pristine cloud forest in the Andes. There are few places where it is ever reported, but Guacamayos Ridge seems to be one of them. Unfortunately I never did see the bird; however, on my third (and final) day on the ridge, I heard two individuals singing and calling just after 5:30 AM, about 700 m down the trail. This seems to be one of the more reliable ways to find this species, if one is not lucky enough to come across one in a mixed flock. 

During our first visit to the ridge, we arrived shortly after 6 AM and stayed until mid-afternoon. Our second visit was two days later; unfortunately due to a bus not picking us up, we were not on the ridge by 5:15 AM as originally planned and we missed the early dawn chorus that may have contained the Greater Scythebill. That day we stayed for just a few hours in the morning but we returned in the evening for a night-hike. On the third and final day I went on my own. This time I arranged for a neighbour of Toni to drive me since I did not want to risk bus shenanigans again. I was dropped off at the ridge by 5:15 AM and returned back to the cabins by 9:30 AM. This was beneficial since I heard the scythebill, as well as a few other neat birds early in the morning (White-throated Screech-Owl and Andean Pygmy-Owl tops among them). 

 Guacamayos Ridge, Napo Province, Ecuador

The weather at Guacamayos is known to be finicky at times but Laura and I lucked out big time for our full day on the ridge. While there was some rain in the early afternoon, we enjoyed a solid seven hours of birding in sunny or cloudy conditions beforehand. The morning started out slow but we picked up some good birds as we went along - Dusky Piha, Emerald-bellied Puffleg, Powerful Woodpecker, and heard-only Barred Antthrush, Slate-crowned Antpitta and White-bellied Antpitta. If one puts in the time at the ridge, eventually one will come across some really awesome birds.

Smoky Bush-Tyrant - Guacamayos Ridge, Napo Province, Ecuador

Andean Guan - Guacamayos Ridge, Napo Province, Ecuador

Andean Guan - Guacamayos Ridge, Napo Province, Ecuador

Dusky Piha - Guacamayos Ridge, Napo Province, Ecuador

The Dusky Piha was a species that I had never seen before and we lucked out with at least three different individuals on the day. This youngster was not at all shy, perching right above the trail.

Dusky Piha - Guacamayos Ridge, Napo Province, Ecuador

 We always keep an eye out for interesting insects when we hike. This hopper was pretty awesome.

We made it to the pipeline by late morning and made quick work of our hearty lunches that Toni had packed for us. While Laura had a siesta for a few minutes, I wandered off on a side trail and had a few nice sightings. Within about five minutes I had found my first Chestnut-bellied Thrush, along with an Olivaceous Piha and a couple of Masked Trogons.

Chestnut-bellied Thrush - Guacamayos Ridge, Napo Province, Ecuador

A medium-sized dark bird flew past, appearing to land in some obscured trees. With my interest piqued I slowly and carefully moved my position until I re-discovered it. A Black-streaked Puffbird!

Black-streaked Puffbird - Guacamayos Ridge, Napo Province, Ecuador

This species is a very scarce resident of the eastern Andes and one that I did not even have on my radar for Guacamayos Ridge. I frantically hustled back to the pipeline where I had left my camera and my phone and hurried back. The puffbird was gone, but after ten minutes of careful scanning I spotted it, teed up on a horizontal branch. Photos were taken and I called for Laura to join me. It was a tense minute or two as she came down the trail but the puffbird remained still, allowing both of us to have "walk-away views" of this enigmatic bird. We were both pretty excited!

Black-streaked Puffbird - Guacamayos Ridge, Napo Province, Ecuador

Our day list climbed during the walk back, even though the early afternoon showers tried to put an end to that. A pair of Slaty-backed Chat-Tyrants was an overdue lifer near the third creek, while we also finally had a few nice mixed flocks of tanagers and flycatchers. Though try as we did, the Greater Scythebill and the Peruvian Antpitta refused to call or reveal themselves. Still, we were pretty thrilled with a very successful day on the ridge, with some rad birds seen very well.

Slaty-backed Chat-Tyrant - Guacamayos Ridge, Napo Province, Ecuador

Scarlet-rumped Cacique - Guacamayos Ridge, Napo Province, Ecuador

Our second day on the ridge was bit more anticlimatic, and we only birded the area for a few hours in the morning before heading back for a well-earned siesta. The previous day had included 15 hours at San Isidro Lodge, a place I will mention in my next blog post, so we were pretty tired to say the least. The bus shenanigans from early in the morning did not help our mood either.

Turquoise Jay - Guacamayos Ridge, Napo Province, Ecuador

Chestnut-bellied Thrush - Guacamayos Ridge, Napo Province, Ecuador

The above Turquoise Jays put on a show near the trail head, while a Chestnut-bellied Thrush tolerated my close approach for some photos. We added a few new species including Sulphur-bellied Tyrannulet and Rufous-crowned Tody-Flycatcher and we also had a nice close encounter with a White-throated Quail-Dove. Even though the birding was a bit slow and our main targets remained elusive, it was still great to be exploring such a beautiful area.

White-throated Quail-Dove - Guacamayos Ridge, Napo Province, Ecuador

White-throated Quail-Dove - Guacamayos Ridge, Napo Province, Ecuador

Red-tailed Squirrel - Guacamayos Ridge, Napo Province, Ecuador

Masked Flowerpiercer and Blue-and-black Tanager - Guacamayos Ridge, Napo Province, Ecuador

This morning was my final chance to bird the ridge. As mentioned above, obviously the big highlight was finally hearing two Greater Scythebills (even though they remained out of sight), along with the vocalizing owls. But  the rest of the morning was pretty awesome with a number of great species. I enjoyed spending some time listening to a couple of Barred Antthrushes singing just before the first creek, and I also came across a handful of mixed flocks of tanagers and flycatchers. 

Scarlet-bellied Mountain-Tanager - Guacamayos Ridge, Napo Province, Ecuador

Good birds sometimes come in bunches. Within a five minute period I found an awesome Brown-billed Scythebill (and watched it take down a big spider!), followed shortly by great views of a pair of Olive Finches and a heard only Black-billed Mountain-Toucan. Prior to today I had never seen or heard any scythebill species; just this morning I was on the board with two species!

 Fog at the Guacamayos Ridge, Napo Province, Ecuador

Brown-billed Scythebill - Guacamayos Ridge, Napo Province, Ecuador

Brown-billed Scythebill - Guacamayos Ridge, Napo Province, Ecuador

One my way back to the road I noticed a furtive Flammulated Treehunter in some trailside vegetation. It popped out to check me out after I played a its call twice from my phone. A great bird to conclude the hike!

Flammulated Treehunter - Guacamayos Ridge, Napo Province, Ecuador

Flammulated Treehunter - Guacamayos Ridge, Napo Province, Ecuador

Flammulated Treehunter - Guacamayos Ridge, Napo Province, Ecuador

I'll finish this post with a few photos from our night-hike on Wednesday. Unfortunately it absolutely poured with rain for nearly the entire walk, causing us to give up after an hour or so. We tried waiting it out but the rain just wouldn't relent. Fortunately we were able to flag down a transport truck who gave us a ride back to the cabins. Despite the rain, I broke out my camera for a few species. These included a cool toad species known as Osornophryne guacamayo, endemic to a small section of the eastern Andes in Ecuador, and several of the phantastic phasmids (stick insects) that were littering the trailside vegetation. Hopefully we will have a chance to visit again in the future to properly night hike the ridge.

Osornophryne guacamayo - Guacamayos Ridge, Napo Province, Ecuador