Day 7--Old Loja-Zamora Road

FRIDAY, JANUARY 25, 2013
Early breakfast, birded the feeders, then Birding Eastern Andes cloud forest lower part of Loja-Zamora Road, birding up mountain; picnic lunch provided by Copalinga Lodge; dinner Loja hostal; 3rd Night at Hostal Aguilera Loja

Red-crested Finch; Internet photo Tadeusz Stawarczyk

The rain stopped during night. Before we left, we enjoyed a great breakfast while watching the feeders. Rose Ann had talked to us about what we’d like to do in the way of birding today. Our choices were go back to the same steep trail in Podocarpus we’d birded yesterday or to play leapfrog with the bus on the old Loja-Zamora Road. We chose the old road. Despite intermittent traffic, birding was good and we saw quite a few birds, including a Red-crested Finch, a.k.a. Red Pileated-Finch. A male came to the same trees several times along the lower Loja-Zamora road. Rose Ann says: "At the time The birds of Ecuador was written, this species was known only from the Zumba region of the Maranon Valley. We were quite surprised to see it, but it may have colonized to the north. It was new for Willy and me for our Ecuador lists."

When we were able to see the new road across the valley, it appeared they were letting traffic through, but it must have been only worker vehicles because when we came to an area where we could look across the valley to the place on the new L-Z road where the slide had occurred, men were still working there, and no vehicles were in evidence. 

The slide that stopped all traffic for days on the new L-Z Road.
Notice that I am standing at the top of a slide on our side of the valley.

The new, two lane, paved Loja-Zamora Road from the old dirt, one-lane L-Z road across the valley; that's a waterfall passing under the road. The Sabenilla River runs swiftly along the valley floor.

Traffic was going strong when Iris and I needed to make a pitstop. We went up a trail from the road, but ran into a gate, so stopped in elevated but plain view of the oncoming trucks and vehicles. Nothing for it but to take turns standing in front of each other to block the view. Ever since we began, whenever I need a pit stop, a cavalcade of traffic shows up, no matter how small the road or how many hours the road had been deserted. All joked about never going with Susan for a pitstop because traffic is bound to pick up.

Heavy equipment, birders, and cows on the Old L-Z road

Rose Ann, Willy, and Mike oblivious of the traffic and cattle in the road, including the good sized bull, left.

Sally and Mike cooling off in the shade and the water-cooled air of one of the numerous waterfalls.

This is one of my favorite photos. I aimed the camera straight up to the lip of the falls and caught the water as it cascaded down the hanging roots and vines.

This photo of the cows did not come out as I had hoped. These three bovines peered down at us comically from a pasture that nearly hung out over the road. We all laughed at their seeming curiosity.

It was very wet and muddy along most of the road--but because of the water (caused by rain runoff not snow-melt), the roadside and hills were filled with the wonderful plants and tumbling waterfalls above.

On the following pages are some photos of the showier or more unusual birds we saw today along the Old L-Z road: Lafresnaye's Piculet, Red-headed Barbet, Common Tody Flycatcher, Lined Antshrike, Mottle-backed Elaenia, Andean Cock-of-the-rock, Green-backed Becard, Slaty-capped shrike Vireo, Magpie Tanagers, Chestnut-vented Conebill, and Spotted Tanager. My two favorites of the day were the Red-headed Barbet and the Spottted Tanager.

Red-headed Barbet, photo by Nick Athanas

Spotted Tanager; photo by Wim de Groot; just look at the feathers on this beautiful bird!

(L) Mottle-backed Elaenia, photo by Claudio Timm; this is exactly what the bird looked like through the spotting scope--VERY odd crest; (T)  Green-backed Becard, photo by Luiz; Common Tody Flycatcher photo by Harold Stiver; Chestnut-vented Conebill, photo by Wagner M. C. Lemes

(L) Male Lined Antshrike, (R) female Lined Antshrike, both photos by Wim de Groot

Lafresnaye's Piculet, photo by Nick Athanas. Tiny piculets are one of my favorite Ecuadorian  birds. The first time I was in Ecuador, we mist-netted several Olivaceous Piculets. They are the feistiest little woodpeckers ever, struggling and pecking "ferociously" at our fingers when released from the netting. By contrast, the high-strung hummers that we mist-netted lay unmoving in the net and on the weighing scales. Conserving their energy, I suppose.

Magpie Tanager, photo by Glenn Bartley

Slaty-capped Shrike Vireo; photo from planetofthebirds.com

I would have named this Andean Cock-of the Rock as one of my favorites today, but I got only a brief glimpse of it as it nearly collided with the windows on the opposite side of the bus; this photo was taken by Jim Ownby, one of my fellow Payne County Audubon members and a great bird and wildlife photographer

We got back to Loja early so I went out and explored the city, taking the photos of the castle and hostal that appear in a previous blog entry.

This was our last night at the Hostal Aguilera, and to celebrate, Ricardo, presented Rose Ann with an "authentic" bottle of mango liqueur. Rose Ann accepted the bottle graciously but then got sidetracked until Mike asked if we could all have a taste. The bottle--the color and shape of a mango--was ceremoniously opened and passed around the table. All poured a taste into a small glass. Then we raised our glasses to toast our host, Ricardo, and our guides, Rose Ann and Willy. Just one sip transformed everyone's face into the Mr. Yuk poison symbol. The liqueur was pure alcohol and tasted like something made in a backyard still! Would we survive our sip? That last is an exaggeration, but it was pretty terrible. Later on, after we had left the hostal, someone asked what had happened to the botttle and the rest of its contents. Willy said he had poured it out and thrown away the bottle. We could not have taken it on the plane back to Quito at any rate.

Jim, Lynn, Rose Ann, Bev behind the infamous Mango Liqueur bottle