Day 12--Guacamayos Ridge & Antisana Ecological Reserve

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2013 
Birding San Isidro area and Guacamayos Ridge, Antisana Ecological Reserve
Night at Cabanas San Isidro

Today we birded the Guayacamayos Trail at Antisana Ecological Reserve. The Reserve is named for Antisana, the famous volcano contained within it that rises snow-capped and impressive above the grasslands of the altiplano only 30 miles or so southeast of Quito. On a clear day from the trailhead, at an elevation of about 7,000 feet, you can see nearly to the flat expanse of the Amazon.

Internet photo of Antisana

Our Guacamayos Ridge Trail started below a large group of antennas about ten minutes from the small town of Cosanga. The trailhead was difficult to miss as it was marked by a pulloff and an elaborate shrine to the virgin as well as signs marking the Antisana Reserve. The trail was cut into a steep slope. I understand that on a clear day we would have been able to see nearly to the flat expanse of the Amazon from the 7,000-foot trailhead, but that was not to be this foggy, drizzly day.

We split into two groups. I went with Willy’s group while Rose Ann’s group birded at the trailhead for fifteen or twenty minutes to give us some separation on the narrow trail. We again practiced rotating the lead person about every five minutes, so that all had a chance at a first sighting. The first part of the trail was exposed on a narrow scree clinging to the side of the mountain, so I navigated it with a “don’t look down, don’t look down” admonition in my head. The others took it in their stride, literally.

The steepness of the Guacamayos Trail meant that trees were almost always climbing the hillside above us. This often required looking straight up (say “birder’s neck”) into the trees above us on the mountainside, or (less often) looking straight down or across the valley. Actually, we all had to look down quite a bit—relieving the neck kink—because the large, wet, rounded stones on the trail were slippery.

This trail has reached almost mythical status among birders for being home to some of the rarest and most difficult birds in Ecuador, including the Masked Saltator, Barred Anthrush, Andean Potoo, and Greater Scythebill. Of this list we saw only the Barred Anthrush. It crossed the trail not eight feet from my group and stopped momentarily on a rock. There is no good photo of this elusive bird on the Internet, so I have included a drawing.

Willy did pull in a Spotted Barbtail, and we all got a look at an Long-tailed Antbird and another look at an Olive-backed Woodcreeper. We were looking in particular for the Black-billed Mountain Toucan. Our group heard it calling and saw two toucans fly from our ridge to another but the i.d. wasn’t good enough to count.

(L) Olive-backed Woodcreeper, Nick  Athanas; Spotted Barbtail, Dusan Brinkhuizen;
Long-tailed Antbird, Stephen Davies

Sally and Mike had stayed at the lodge this morning with uneasy stomachs. When we returned, I found the two sitting on the benches near the dining room. They reported seeing an agouti in the grass by the hummingbird feeders. Told me that it might still be there. So, I hightailed it to the hummingbird feeders, and sure enough the agouti was there . . . but my camera wasn’t, so the photo here is another from the Internet. Apparently the kitchen regularly puts out corn for this large, cute rodent. It fed food to its mouth with its two front legs and it’s face reminded me of a small kangaroo.

Internet photo of Agouti at San Isidro

After lunch we decided to try going lower to escape the fog and rain. We birded along the old road toward Tena. This road is paved and fairly busy. When it started to rain we took shelter on the side porch of the Cocodrilos Ranger Station of Sumaco National Park. Here we saw a Chestnut-bellied Thrush, according to Rose Ann, “Perhaps our best thrush find was this scarce and local species that reminded some of our American Robin. . . . we watched it in fruiting melastomes [Microna trees] in the rain.” It’s about the size of and does look very similar to our robin, but the lack of white eye crescents gives it away.

Chestnut-bellied Thrush; left photo Scott Olmstead; right, Tadeusz Stawarczyk