Day 6--Podocarpus Park, Bombuscara Entrance

THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 2013

Carry hotel lunch in daypack and carry walking stick; wear boots and bring umbrella; hilly trail in foothill forest; dinner at the lodge; owling after dinner
Night at Cabanas Copalinga Lodge, Zamora

Iris and I were up early to see the birds coming to the lodge feeders, our alarm being a frog that sounds exactly like my alarm clock. We ate a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs, breads & jams, fruit, juice, and coffee. While eating, we delighted in the easily seen tanagers, hummingbirds, and others that came to the banana and hummingbird feeders: Thick billed- and Orange-bellied Euphonias, Scarlet-rumped Caciques, Russet-backed Oropendolas, Yellow- and Ashy-throated Bush Tanagers, striking Orange-billed Sparrows, Buff-throated- and Grayish Saltators, Green Honeycreepers, a Golden-eared Tanager feeding a fledgling; and a slew of other colorful tanagers: Saffron-crowned, Green-and-gold, Paradise, Orange-eared, Flame-rumped, Silver-beaked, and White-lined. A Swainson's Thrush (one of several N.A. birds spending the winter in Ecuador) came repeatedly to the banana feeder, as did a Collared Aracari.


(L) Thick-billed Euphonia, arthur Morris; (R) Orange-bellied Euphonia. Jim Ownby--one of my fellow Payne County Audubon members

Green Honeycreeper male (L) and female (R); Internet photos: ecuadorrebel.com

Paradise Tanager, (L) Lovern Raffy Lopez; (R) Nathan Rupert

Clockwise: Golden-eared Tanager, Dusan Brinkhuizen; Green-and gold Tanager, Wim De Groot; Orange-eared Tanager, Ang Hwee Yong; Saffron-crowned Tanager, Andy Wombat

Orange-billed Sparrow, Jim Burns; Silver-beaked Tanager, Carlos Henrique L.N. Almeda

There were so many hummingbirds that it was hard to keep track. My favorite was the Spangled Coquette. I even bought a tee with a Spangled Coquette male on it. Unfortunately, all we saw while at Copalinga were far less showy female Spangled-Coquettes. The male, with his wild, rusty hairdo was not in evidence and Catherine said he had not been around for a couple of days.

(L) Spangled Coquette male; Glenn Bartley; (R) Spangled Coquette female, Tom Hince

 Some  larger birds also came to the feeders at Copalinga.

Squirrel Cuckoo; these birds were common on both slopes. I like these birds. They are big, flashy birds and not quietly shy like our Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Collared Aracari; Internet photo: Kevin Watson

Speckled Chachalaca; Internet photo, Sharon and Jack Parsons

We could not tear ourselves away from the feeders until well after breakfast. We returned to our cabins, washed up, grabbed our gear, and then boarded the bus and headed for the Bombuscara entrance to Podocarpus NP. The trail was narrow and steep in places, and it was hot. Nonetheless, we saw some good birds, but we spent a lot of time doing it, going back and forth several times on the trail to get them. One that we kept missing was the Coppery-chested Jacamar.

Leaf-cutter (Atta), army, and other ant species crossed the trail in many places. There were so many of them that they actually left cleared, grooved trails of their own. In one place a leaf-cutter mound was right next to the trail. It was about 3-feet high by 5- or 6-feet long, looked like a mound of coarse sand, and had many entrances and exits, with bits of cut leaves strewn over it. I have read that next to humans, leaf cutter ants form the largest and most complex animal societies on Earth. Large colonies may have as many as 5 to 10 million workers, with up to seven different castes, or job categories. Different-sized ants do different tasks. The queen, far larger than the others, may lay 50 million eggs over a lifetime. Soldiers protect the nest; workers gather leaf material. "Minima" or smaller workers are specialized for moving around in the small spaces of the fungus garden. I find these ants absolutely fascinating. I tried to get down to take a photo but the hip wouldn't allow this, so the photos here are from the Internet.

Leaf cutter ants cutting a section of leaf and others transporting bits of leaves that are far larger than they to their nest; bottom left photo shows a Minor ant (one a little larger than a Minima) on the leaf piece. How strong these ants must be! The ants do not eat the leaf bits but chew them up and integrate them into a large fungus garden that becomes their food source.

Enough about ants. Back to the birding. We birded our way up the trail to the administration building at the top, stopping on the way so that I could snap a photo of the group at a sign explaining the bird species at this south entrance. We ate our box lunches sitting under a shelter out of the sun at the Ranger's Station. Our lunches were huge, two sandwiches, so many of us shared a sandwich with the ranger, who was also sitting in the shelter. He made out like a bandit. Most of us ate our very tasty chicken curry sandwich, however, and ended up asking for the same sandwich in our boxed lunches next day.

Back row l to r: Rose Ann Rowlett, Susan Marsden, Iris McPherson, Bev MacMaster, JimRundel, SallyMarrone, Mike Seamans -- Front row l to r: Margaret Kelch, Willy Perez, Harvey Medland, Lynn Peterson

New administration building

Sitting after climbing up the trail felt fine; that's the shelter inthe background where we ate our lunches

We checked out the administration area where a lot of work was going on. Then it was back down the trail, not stopping very much. On the way back, Rose Ann spotted the Coppery-chested Jacamar sitting in the open right by the trail. We didn't really need binoculars to see it well. 

Coppery-chested Jacamar; Internet photo: Wim de Groot

On the way back we stopped at theRio Bombuscaro where we saw a Fasciated Tiger Heron.

Rio Bombuscaro where we saw the Fasciated Tiger Heron below

Fasciated Tiger Heron; Internet photo, Nick Athanas

When we got back, we had some free time--the first of the trip! Iris and I rested a little and then joined the others watching the feeders. Eventually we all moved some chairs into the parking lot to watch the hummer activity at the vervain hedge. Here is where the female Spangled Coquette acted like one. People brought out wine and beer and we had a great time sitting, sipping, and easily seeing the birds that came to the hedge or flew over.

Easy birding at the Copalinga Lodge vervain hedge

Bev, binocs in one hand, glass of wine in the other

Just before dark, we boarded the bus and set off for a place where Rose Ann and Willy had previously seen a Blackish Nightjar. Nightjars tend to rest in the  dirt road and their eyes shine brightly in the dark. Willy and Rose Ann shone their bright lights into roadside trees, and we walked a bit searching for this elusive nightjar. Suddenly Willy spotted it resting beside the road, its eyes bright orbs. We all had good views of it as it made short flights down the road away from us.

Blackish Nightjar; Internet photo Martin Reid

After dinner, Iris and I left for bed. It was raining. I was in the shower and Iris was partially undressed when Rose Ann knocked on the door to tell us that Sally had spotted the Band-bellied Owl if we wanted to come. We were tired and on our way to bed, so passed on the owl. In fact, I didn't hear about the owl until I was out of the shower. I would not have dressed and gone out in the rain again, nonetheless. Below is the owl we didn't see.

Band-bellied Owl; Internet photo, Pete Morris