Day 0--Stillwater to Quito

FRIDAY, JANUARY 18, 2013
Stillwater to Quito
1:11 Dep Tulsa arr Houston 2:43
4:15 pm depart Houston arr Quito 10:40 pm
Night at Quito Sheraton Hotel

We found ourselves on the Houston Flight to Quito with Field Guides "Jewels of Ecuador" participants Margaret Kelch & Harvey Medland, Toronto; Mike Seamans, Seattle; as well as seatmate 25-year old Emma, from New Brunswick, and her two friends. The three were to meet Emma's boyfriend in Quito and then rent a car to bird Ecuador on their own. We were to meet the rest of our birding group at the Sheraton Hotel in Quito.

Emma sat next to me and had the complete Birds of Ecuador guide (we carried only the bound plates rather than the 2-inch thick book). Emma would look at a page crowded with similar looking parrots, for instance, study it for a few minutes, and then be able to remember the birds' names and point out the differences among them. I wished my memory were again that of a 25-year old!

I enjoyed looking down at the Andes, some with narrow dirt roads tracing their sides and knife edge aretes, seemingly connecting no more than a small farm or two. Little did I know that the majority of our birding would be on this kind of narrow, muddy, cliff-hanging dirt road, one better private one roughly hand-cobbled.

Iris McPherson, my travel companion, and I got to Quito at about 11:45 pm EST, and waited in a great crowd to get through customs. While we were waiting, an Ecuadorian man approached me and pointed to the "Senior Line" which had only about four people in it. I jokingly asked him how he knew I belonged in the senior line, and we all got a good laugh out of it. Truth of the matter, I am tall, fair skinned, and have short grey hair. Ecuadorian women are short, dark complected, and retain their blue-black hair, worn long, even into old age. We were glad that this senior line was pointed out to us, however, because we did get through customs much more quickly than the younger huddled masses.

Internet photo of Quito from the air

Our Sheraton driver was waiting outside customs. He collected Iris and me as well as Harvey, Margaret, and Mike, and then began snagging other Sheraton customers. The four of us were soon joined by Sally Marrone, Brinnon, WA; and Susan Marsden, Richmond, NH. These two were also Field Guides participants who had flown in on a Delta flight. The five of us, plus Steve, a traveler from Australia, piled onto the Sheraton shuttle bus. Australian Steve was dressed in shorts, flip-flops, and had wrapped a blanket around his shoulders. He'd just come from Costa Rica and was freezing in the cold air of 9350' Quito. He was on his way to the Galapagos.

My feet and ankles were swollen from the flights and altitude, but our Sheraton room was comfortable and we were in bed by 1:30 am.

Day 1--Quito, Ecuador

SATURDAY, JANUARY 19, 2013

Free day in Quito
Night at Quito Sheraton Hotel

Some of the participants, who arrived early, opted to go shopping at the famous Otavalo Market this day, but Iris and I wanted to visit El Quito Park and its botanical gardens, Jardin Botanico. We also decided not to eat breakfast at the pricy hotel buffet, so ordered a fruit and museli breakfast in our room. After eating breakfast and identifying our first bird--two Eared Doves on the roof below our room--we set off, foolishly sans water and snacks.

We walked the couple of blocks to the 6.5-acre park and then walked the park from one end to the other, taking pix of the painted frogs, sculptures, fountains, and people at the entrance, and identifying only Eared Dove, Summer Tanager, Great Thrush, Black Flower-piercer, Black-tailed Trainbearer, and Rufous-collared Sparrow (Internet photo left) along the way. We were to see many "Ruffies" over the course of our tour. They are very attractive sparrows.

Since it was Saturday, there were many families enjoying the park--playing volleyball and soccer, riding bicycles, having picnics, doing group Tai Chi, aerobics, etc. There were also places to rent all sorts of things--bikes, soccer balls, scooters, pedal cars, and boats. At one point, two guys who were renting soccer balls, walked toward us with the extra balls comically tucked under their tees and into the backs of their shorts, making them look like women with huge behinds and breasts. We laughed. I was too late in pulling out the camera so have no photos.

 

We strolled along a shady row of trees that I remembered as being some sort of Eucalyptus, but in the photo below they look to be some sort of cedar.


Iris on the way to the botanical gardens



While in the Orchid house, I took a (very poor) photo of Iris standing under a large leaf (above). I did not realize that I'd see many giant leaves of all types on our birding travels.

After we exited the orchid house, I began to get a dull headache and feel woozy. My feet and ankles were still swollen, we were at high altitude, it was HOT, and neither of us had drunk enough water. Iris asked a passerby where we might find food, and we ended up at a tiny bar tucked into the foliage right around the corner. The two boys running it had no water, but they did make each of us a delicious freshly squeezed pineapple drink. It was incredibly delicious and revived me.

The boys were playing classical music at high volume. An Ecuadorian woman who spoke perfect English stopped at our table under the trees and explained that she had requested such music. She thought the rock music the boys had been playing undignified in the Gardens. Apparently she was hanging about just to ensure compliance. We told her we were glad of her choice and complimented the boys on their choice of music when we left.

That evening we met our guides and all but two of the group over dinner in the Sheraton dining room. The full group consists of 11: Iris McPherson and me, Stillwater, OK; Margaret Kelch & Harvey Medland, Toronto; Susan Marsden, Richmond, NH; Bev McMaster, Ottawa; Lynn Peterson, DeLand, FL; Jim Rundel, Santa Rosa,CA; and Mike Seamans, Seattle, WA; our tour guides Rose Ann Rowlet and Willi Perez. This looks to be a good group.

Rose Ann Rowlett Field Guides founder and tour guide and Willy Perez, FG guide. These two were exceptional birders and worked very hard to find the birds for us. Willy, married to an English woman had just moved to England. Rose Ann was training others in preparation for retirement. She'd been heading up Field Guides since the early70s.
Willy will be remembered for his: "Do you see the light?"(his green laser); "People!People!" when he spotted a bird; "Don't be British" (when participants were too polite to take a turn viewing the bird he had in the scope); and "Oh sugar" (when he'd get a bird in the scope but it would fly off before anyone had a chance to see it). From past experience, he and Rose Ann knew where the birds were to be found and they found them.

We were told to order freely from the menu, that all was covered except alcoholic beverages of our choice. Both Iris and I ordered the salmon salad. Iris's salmon was not cooked and "salad" was a euphemism. There was a small bowl of diced mangoes, pecans, and cranberries on a couple of leaves, and a small piece of artfully arranged salmon in a sauce. No greens. Each time we'd return to the Sheraton, we'd eat dinner in this dining room. We soon learned that the chefs were more concerned with presentation than with palatability.

Rose Ann was very excited to change our schedule a bit. Rather than going to Yanacocha the next day (our first birding day) as planned, she wanted to go to Un Poco del Choco (a little bit of the Choco) to see a Banded Ground-Cuckoo, a Choco speciality that had just been sighted again after many years. Rose Ann had been to see it two days before. It was a life bird for her. The cuckoo was attending army ant swarms on the west slope of the Andes not far from San Miguel de los Banchos in the Mindo cloud forest area. We were all for it. I had seen this bird's picture in the bird plates--a large stunning bird (see Internet photo below)--and had marked it as one that I wanted to see.

Day 2--Un Poco del Choco

SUNDAY, JANUARY 20
Up at 4:45 am; breakfast at 5:30 am
Depart 6:00 am for Un Poco Del Choco
Return early to rest before next day's flight
Night at Quito Sheraton Hotel

We ate breakfast at the Sheraton's buffet, which contained everything one could possibly want to eat for breakfast. The bread selection alone took up one whole wall. I grabbed what I thought was a container of yogurt to put on my museli, but it turned out to be watery oatmeal that people and babies like to drink. Oh well, tasted fine on the cereal nonetheless.

Part of the Sheraton's breakfast bread selection

After breakfast, we boarded a big rental bus and got a taste of the kinds of roads this big bus could navigate. We climbed up and out of Quito on a busy paved road and crossed the equator in the process. No equator party. All were single-mindedly intent on seeing the cuckoo. We descended a couple  of thousand feet and abruptly turned onto a narrow, muddy, rock-strewn dirt road, barely wide enough for the bus and the cows that were being milked at roadside along its length. Willy explained that it was much easier and cleaner to milk the cows at roadside for milk pickup than to haul it from the fields. Of course this meant that in early morning, the road was filled with cows. No need for barns in this year-round growing climate, so the cows remain in the fields day and night. They looked very fat and healthy, unlike some of the sad, bony, pest-riddled cattle I have encountered in Nicaragua and farther north in Ecuador.

We drove up this sometimes cliff-hanging road until we got to a little town called, I think, Las Tolas. Here we debarked and some young guys from the village came to pick us up in three pickup trucks. Only two had 4-wheel drive, so when the going got too rough for the 2-wheel drive, the people in it crowded into the other two trucks--bear in mind that there are 11 of us. We bumped and skidded up the road for another half hour before getting out and walking down the very deeply muddy road to the entrance of a trail. Just before the trail was a deeply muddy spot that sucked off boots and was difficult to navigate. One had to balance on roots or spider walk it.

The dashboard of the pickup I was in

Un Poco del Choco is situated at 3,937 feet and has trails down to the Pachijal River 821 feet below. We hiked a quarter mile along the trail, and then it descended steeply toward the river. Each time I'd try to support myself on my walking stick, the bottom shock-corded section would stick in the deep mud and separate, and I'd have to bend down to wrench it free. The walking stick was less than useless for this kind of terrain . . . and very frustrating. I eventually left it at trailside to pick up on the way out.

Willy helped me when he could, but he was moving at speed, anxious to get to the site himself to see the bird that he had never seen before. Nicole Buttner had discovered the Common Ground-Cuckoo at her new refuge just three months prior to our visit. Today, Nicole was tossing grasshoppers to it to keep it in view for us. Her husband, Wilo helped us down the trail also.


Nicole Buttner and Wilo Vaca

Here is part of an Internet interview with Nicole:
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Q. What is Un Poco del Choco and when did you start it?
A.  Un Poco del Choco is a 15 hectares reserve in the Northwest of Ecuador, two and a half hours from Quito. In 2008, Wilo and I came back from Germany and bought this nice piece of montane rainforest. As it is a small piece of land inhabited by a lot of Choco endemics, we named it Un Poco del Choco, a little bit of the Choco. First we started with construction of our own house, and in 2009 we received the first volunteers to help us build a small biological field station that we opened in 2010. We now live here full time and work mainly with biology students who come to do their own research projects. I also supervise interns and teach tropical ecology courses for undergraduates. This station has always been open to visitors, although we never really promoted it this way. But, now, with the ground cuckoos around, of course we are happy to have birders , photographers, and nature lovers visiting and to host them at the station.

Q. Tell us more about the discovery. Did you realize that it was such a hot bird for the birding community?
Wilo discovered the bird one morning right next to the station. The army ants were swarming there and he noticed on the forest floor this big bird that he had never seen before. Wilo isn't a birder, but he had seen the cuckoo before on a poster. I was working with some students when Wilo came into the lab and told me about his sighting. He described the bird and when I showed him the Banded Ground-Cuckoo in the field guide, he was sure he had seen that one. I couldn't  believe it because I knew this bird was very rare. But, after a few minutes next to the army ant swarm, I also saw it! We observed it for about an hour. Our presence didn't seem to bother it. It even came to feed on a trail and we took some photos. In the same afternoon, I put the photos on the database Roger had mentioned. I knew that the bird was rare, but honestly didn't know that it is normally so difficult to see that even the majority of Ecuador's best bird guides and ornithologists had never seen it.
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The cuckoo was in mountainside shrubs in the dark cloud forest. It follows army ants, eating the insects that they scare up. The army ants go through a nomadic stage and a stationary stage, staying in one place until the food supply dwindles and then moving on. This was day 19 of the ants' 17-day cycle, but Nicole was keeping the cuckoo there by throwing grasshoppers to it, so we were able to see this rarely seen bird well and at length. 

Iris's knees and my knees and hip were very uncomfortable while balancing on the steep, muddy mountainside to view the cuckoo. Going back was really rough on the knees and hip--uphill and in deep mud. In one place it was so steep that when I loosened a small rock, it fell to the shoulder of the person behind me, fortunately doing little damage.

After seeing the cuckoo, we returned to Un Poco del Choco, washed our boots, visited the composting toilets, washed up at the outdoor spigot, and ate our lunch sitting on the porch or on little benches out front. Wilo made each person a cup of coffee or tea. I enjoyed the respite.


Sally, Jim, Margaret, and Nicole eating lunch and taking a break ar Un Poco del Choco

We birded along the road a bit on our way back to the village, all observing a roosting Common Potoo. Soon however, heavy rain drove us to  wait in an old chicken house for the pickup trucks. Willy's pickup group saw a crested Quetzel on a fencepost. I, for one, was envious of that sighting, but we would have three other good quetzel sightings before the trip was over.

Common Potoo; Internet photo by Jim Ownby, a Payne County Audubon member

Because it rains a lot in this area, many of the small villages have erected large metal covers over an area for outdoor cooking, soccer, basketball, etc. It was still pouring when those of us in the first pickup arrived in the village, so we waited under such a shelter. Two small boys approached and showed me a bedraggled Atlas Moth they had found. They were learning young the advantages of ecotourism when I took a photo of it and gave each a stick of gum.

That evening we enjoyed another artfully presented, pricy, so-so Sheraton meal and then completed our bird lists. We had seen 73 bird species, including, of course, the banded ground cuckoo--an excellent though strenuous first day.

Rose Ann's photo of the Banded Ground-Cuckoo

Day 3--Catamayo Valley & Loja

MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2013

Flight to Catamayo Valley; FG bus toLoja
Up at 3:00 am; bags down at 3:45 am; leave hotel for airport 4:15 am; Dep Quito 5:45 am
Bird at Catamayo Airport and the fertile Catamayo Valley and slopes to 4500' to 6500'; arrive Loja around 5:30 pm
Night at Hostal Aguilera, Loja

Iris and I were up early, by necessity. We had left our room service breakfast orders on the door to be served at 3:30 am. However, we had completed the order form incorrectly, so only one breakfast arrived, and that not what either of us had ordered--scant fruit and coffee, both unwise choices for me so early in the am, so I passed on breakfast.

Last night, both of us had sorted our clothes and laid out our clothing for the day, so we were soon dressed and in the Sheraton lobby with the others awaiting the Sheraton shuttle to the airport.

We were served a midget croissant & cheese mid-flight, so we were not running on empty after all.

We arrived in Catamayo's small "airport." The sole airport building was being renovated so there was no terminal, though there was a small single toilet for each sex outside the gate, for which we all were thankful.

A tired Edgar met us in the airport parking lot. While we were birding yesterday, he was driving his bus from Quito to the Catamayo Airport to meet us--a trip of about 650 miles. Edgar, a knowledgable birder will make the 12th member of our group, and will transport us for the remainder of the tour.

At the hotel the day before, Rose Ann had introduced us to Edgar, "The best bus driver in the world." He started driving for Rose Ann 16 years ago and had gradually worked his way up through smaller vehicles until he was able to purchase his present bus--an elaborate Volkswagen bus--no, not the hippie kind, but a Volkswagen tour bus the size of a city bus. It was large enough so that each of us could sit at a window seat. Snacks, lunch food and beverages were stashed in coolers on the rear bench seats.

Edgar with his bus

Edgar's steering wheel was blue marbled plastic and his dash was of the same material. The lights over the seats were like go-go lights, all different colored circles. Edgar was very proud of his bus and kept it immaculate despite our muddy boots and paraphernalia.

After we'd loaded our suitcases and gear onto the bus, Edgar joined us for a little birding right off the airport parking lot. Here we saw flocks of Pacific Parrotlets, Peruvian Meadowlarks with their bright red breasts, Saffron Finches, Croaking Ground Doves, Band-tailed- and Dusky Pigeons, Gray-breasted Martins, a couple of stripy Fasciated Wrens on the wires of a pole, an Ash-breasted Sierra Finch, and our first hummer, an Amazilla, as well as several other less striking birds.

Pacific Parrotlet; Internet photo: ibc.lynxed.com

Peruvian Meadowlark; Internet photo: Dubi Shapiro

Fasciated Wren; Internet photo: Dustin Brinkhuizen

Amazilla hummingbird; Internet photo: Peter van Zoest

After birding the airport, we boarded the bus and drove to an arid area close by where we spent several hours. In this area we found a pair of Burrowing Owls that seemed as curious about us as we were about them. Also Speckle-faced Parrots flew over, better heard than seen. We also saw a Golden-olive Woodpecker, Pale-legged Hornero, Tumbesian Tyrannulet, Plumbeous-backed Thrush, Three-banded Warbler, Eastern Blue-gray Tanager, and a Peruvian Pygmy Owl. Of the Owl, Rose Ann said: "Its distinctive 'song' is a very rapid series of whistles, almost too rapid to imitate."


Our burrowing owls; photo taken by Sally at some distance

Peruvian Pygmy Owl; this owl is very tiny, big feet and long talons not withstanding; internet photo Dubi Shapiro

Eastern (L) and Western Slope (R) Blue-gray Tanagers. The eastern slope bird has a white wing patch and is much brighter and showier; This  is a good photo of the Western slope bird because it generally appears almost dull blue-gray; Internet photos: eastern,Nick Anthenas; western, antpitta.com







This gorgeous guy is a Golden-olive Woodpecker; it's breast is striped something like a flicker's; Internet photo

We took the old dirt road over the mountains to Loja, getting off the bus often to bird a mile or two and then reboarding. The first area off the main road had been used as a garbage dump. We saw the actual dump later from the bus. It was covered with Black and Turkey Vultures.

Loja and the Catamayo Valley are very  green and fertile

The sun illuminating the hills below ours

What kind of geological phenomena creates such a peak among the more rounded slopes?

At about 11 am, we enjoyed a picnic lunch, set out by Willy and Edgar beside the road: sandwich makings, chips, cookies, and cold drinks, including cold beer. My tiny, tri-cornered camp stool felt quite luxurious. We got up early and have hiked quite a distance all told.

Willie, always quick to get the scope on a bird, directs us to move back down the road to where he has located a bird

Despite sunscreen on my face, I am sunburned in a weird upside down V-pattern created by holding my binocs to my eyes. I forgot to apply sunscreen to my neck and chest and must have sweated off the sunscreen I'd applied to my face. I am also sporting numerous insect bites, some of which are raised and fiercely itchy. I had Willy look at them just to ensure that I'm not harboring a bot fly or some other disgusting freeloader. Willy and Rose Ann assured all of us that there are no malarial mosquitoes in this area, either, TG.

I was very muscle sore when we arrived at the hotel--due to the steep climb down and back to see the banded cuckoo yesterday; and, I think, the long, tense waits beside the road today when Rose Ann would try to call into view a tiny tapaculo, antpitta, or other "skulker." Sometimes these silent stands would last for 30 minutes or more. Several of us tried to sit on our camp stools, but with this many birders and the sneaky forest-floor birds, you couldn't see unless standing. The standing, climbing, and weight-bearing is very hard on my hip . . . plus my feet and legs remain swollen. Gads, am I a wreck or what?

Our Loja hotel

Mural across the street from the hotel

What the motorist sees after passing through the city gate

Iris's and my room was on the second floor, Room 8. It was a large room with four single beds, a wardrobe, and a fairly large bathroom. From our room we could look out across the hotel parking lot to the castle that was the city gate.

The family who owns this hotel have come to know Rose Ann and Willy over the years. They are very congenial, looking after our every need. For instance, Ricardo, the head of the family and primary owner, washed some plums that Mike had bought at roadside in a special antibacterial solution so that all could have a taste without getting a stomach bug.

Owner Ricardo and his son; note the Elvis poster behind the bar

Son, Ricardo, Ricardo's wife, two women--undoubtedly relatives--who work as staff

Since this was the first opportunity to do a wash, Iris and I sorted and itemized our sweaty, muddy clothes, and each took a bag of dirties to the front desk. The clothes were done in a washer/dryer, so service was one-day only and very inexpensive--less than $4 ea.

For dinner this evening we were served typical Ecuadorian fare of chicken, beans, and rice, as well as a cream of spinach soup appetizer served with tasty garlic-Parmesean toast points. Desert was ice cream and bananas drizzled with chocolate. . .my lactose-intolerant dessert sans the ice cream. Bah! This meal was plentiful, delicious, and far better than the stylized, self-conscious dishes at the Sheraton. After dinner we compiled our bird sightings for the day. My favorite of the day was the Barred Fruiteater, I think, followed by the hooded Mountain Tanager.

Barred Fruiteater; Internet photo: cougarbiology.pbworks.com



Hooded Mountain Tanager

Iris and I were in bed and asleep shortly after dinner. There was only one ceiling light in our room and it was not bright enough to allow for leisurely note taking or reading. It was an odd looking affair--an ornate metal chandelier with a single, modern, twisted light bulb in the center, and all the other sockets empty.