Day 13--Road to Las Cucheras, Baeza Cuttoff, & Papallacta Pass

THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 2013

Bus from San Isidro to Quito via Papallacta Pass;
Birding road to Las Cucheras, Baeza Cutoff, and Papallacta Pass to 14,000’
Night at Quito Sheraton Hotel

After breakfast, we boarded the bus and birded along the road to Las Caucheras, unencumbered by most of our gear, which we left at San Isidro. This time we drove past San Isidro in the opposite direction of the main road.

We finally bagged an adult Rufous-banded Owl along the road at San Isidro, or so writes Rose Ann in her final report. My grey cells must have been asleep because I only very vaguely maybe remember this sighting.

Rufous-banded Owl; photo by Tadeusz Stawarczyk

On the Baeza cutoff road, we also saw Golden-faced Tyrannulets (a bird whose name outshines its appearance); Black-and-white Seedeaters in the tall grass; an Olivaceous Siskin (whose appearance outshines its name); and the fanciest of the euphonias, the Golden-rumped Euphonia, in the mistletoe along the road. 

Golden-faced Tyrannulet; photo Lior Kislev

Black-and-white Seedeater on a Quinoa stem; photo David Weaver

Golden-rumped Euphonia; photo by Nick Athanas

Olivaceous Siskin; photo by Megan Perkins

 I think this is where we also saw a Southern Lapwing. Rose Ann writes of the lapwing: “Considered a lowland species in the Birds of Ecuador, this species has colonized the clearings from the Napo up to where we saw them—in the pastures at more than 7000-feet on the road beyond San Isidro.” The one we saw was in a farm yard.

Southern Lapwing; photo by DeVerm

Also, on the cutoff road, Bev spotted two perched Swallow-tailed Kites. Though they were a bit distant, we all got good looks at these birds. It was a fine morning of birding.

Internet photos of Swallow-tailed Kites; the one on the left by Rachell Cass shows four on a branch whereas we saw only two on a branch; the photo on the right is by Brian Small. On a previous trip to Ecuador with Earthwatch, there were a dozen or more swallow-tailed kites over the valley by our research mountain. All in the kite family are wonderful graceful fliers.

Bird happy, we returned to San Isidro, gathered up our gear, picked up our lunch boxes, and headed for Papallacta Pass. We had not given up on seeing the nearly ptarmigan-sized Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe. We were intent on tracking it down and perhaps seeing a spectacled bear in the process, and I wanted Iris, who had been ill the first time, to see the weird plants, as well, at this our highest elevation. 

Quickly through this entrance trail and down to our cabanas to gather our gear

A little "good-bye San Isidro" birding near the parking lot

This time, the top of Papallacta Pass was warmer and less windy, but still mistily shrouded in clouds and fog. Nonetheless, due to Sally’s sharp eyes, we found our seedsnipe! Actually a pair of seedsnipes right beside the road. When they wandered out of sight into the dense páramo fog, Willy circled around and herded them back down to us, again. See a photo below showing the seedsnipe’s intricate feather pattern.

Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe--left photo Glenn Bartley; right photo, Bob Gress

On the way up to PP, we stopped at a trout pond for White-cheeked Pintail and also got our first good sighting of Andean Gulls. We also learned at the entrance that a spectacled bear had been spotted the day before . . . but though we all looked keenly, we did not see a bear. We did, however, have a terrific view of an adult male Andean Condor circling against the mountains. 

White-cheeked Pintails in breeding plumage; photo by Jose Luis Tamayo

Andean Gull in winter plumage; photo by Frederic Leviez

Soaring Andean Condor; later in the tour we were taken to an Andean Condor rookery; there were no birds on this elevated cliffside, however. They were all out and about.

Edgar took the old road down from PP. This road is a favorite of mountain bikers and on the way down we passed three spooling down the dirt road . . . and one at the bottom of this long muddy climb, just starting uphill. I was impressed. At one point I called a halt and took the photo below. It was a beautiful area, our road passing farms and very large houses. Beside one of these houses we almost lost Harvey to guard dogs. He had gotten out to check out a bird. 

Hillsides denuded for pasture, beautiful nonetheless

We then bused back to Quito, entering at “rush hour,” which means any time of day in this big city where everyone seems to own a small car or other vehicle.

Edgar reflected in his mirror as he negotiates the usual Quito traffic; the cities are stuffed, the countryside little populated

Speaking of vehicles, have I commented on the driving etiquette in this county? With a toot of the horn, cars weave in and out and pass each other with impunity. One of the oddest is double- and even triple-passing. Double-passing is when a car passes the bus, for instance, and is in turn passed by another car, so that there are three vehicles abreast on the road, two of them facing oncoming traffic! Triple-passing is double-passing plus one more, let’s say the bus with two cars abreast passing it and a motorcycle passing abreast of, and even between, them. Even single-car-passing could be unnerving on curvy mountain roads where solid and dotted lines were seemingly nothing more than artistic expression.

Again, the Sheraton was not ready for us, and it took us a long time to be assigned our rooms. I can’t remember, but this, rather than the last Sheraton visit, may have been the time when they told us our rooms were not ready and then, after a considerable wait, assigned several of us luxury suites and privileges.

In the middle of the night I was struck by the same stomach ailment that has laid several of the group low. I took a couple of outdated (2008) Imodium that Iris had in her kit and a little later another. Outdated or not, the pills seemed to put the brakes on, but I did not go down to breakfast.