Day 16--Rio Silanche Sanctuary

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2013
Birded Rio Silanche Bird Sanctuary and its access road
Overnight: Septimo Paraiso

Today we spent the greater portion of the day at the Rio Silanche Bird Sanctuary. The road to the sanctuary is being cleared and planted with African palms—palm oil being one of Ecuador’s fastest growing exports—at a depressingly fast rate. When researching the area, one of my sources predicted that the reserve was soon “destined to be a postage stamp reserve in a sea of African palm plantations.”  Another also bemoaned the encroachment of palm plantations but noted that despite this, “The sanctuary [in 2008] remains an exhilarating place to bird, where 100m walks through the forest can take an hour and stakeouts in the canopy tower half a day.” Well, 5 years later in 2013, the Rio Silanche Sanctuary still proved to be an “exhilarating place to bird” for our group. We saw tons of birds and saw them well. 



Top photo shows the African Palm plantation meeting the lowland forest;
bottom left: Chestnut-mandibled Toucan, photo, Wang Hc and
right, a Cinnamon Becard, photo Nick Athanas

On the road in, we finally nailed the Chestnut-mandibled Toucan. On our first day on the trail to the ground-cuckoo we’d walked under a yelping chorus of them. This day they perched right overhead. On the road in we also saw two Cinnamon Becards (below) at a big nest, and found a male Thick-billed Seed Finch in the disturbed pastures and woodland edge along the Silanche entrance road. Here we also heard a flock of Dusky-faced Tanagers and called in one responsive bird for a good look. 

Because we were scheduled to spend the morning atop a canopy tower, I had spoken to Rose Ann the night before about my acrophobia. She assured me that the Silanche tower was not high and had concrete steps. Okay! I could do concrete steps. It’s when I can see through steps that I get sick to my stomach and unbalanced. I have not always had this fear and don’t know why I am cursed with it now. Someone once told me that maybe it proved that I was not as closely related to tree-swinging monkeys as the rest of mankind. Ha.

This morning when we got to the tower, I found that Rose Ann was right. It was not particularly high (only 50 feet), but she was wrong about the steps. The tower had open railings and metal-see-through stairs spiraling up to its platform. It was built atop a small concrete block building that contained a bathroom, and since I was the last one to use this facility, when I came out I found that all had already climbed to the tower. This was a good thing. I was determined to conquer my fear and climb to the top. Now no one would see me creeping slowly and tearfully up, clinging to the railing, and shaking with fright. But I made it! After a welcoming hug and getting accustomed to the tower shake when people walked, I enjoyed an amazing morning. 

As Rose Ann wrote in her post-tour notes: We experienced a “bird-packed morning atop the Rio Silanche canopy tower,” where we all got great looks at many species: Black-striped Woodcreepers, Scarlet-browed Tanagers (drawing, left, best illustrates the scarlet brow and yellow rump), Scarlet-thighed Dacnis (this Choco endemic was a highlight of our morning but you’d need to have this bird in hand to see its scarlet thighs so I have inserted a drawing), Black-faced Dacnis, Blue Dacnis, Blue-headed Parrot, Orange-fronted Barbet, Rufous Motmot, Brown-capped Tyrannulet, Greenish Elaenia, Dusky-capped Flycatcher, a “vacationing” Red-eyed Vireo, Purple Honeycreeper, and a Fulvous-vented Euphonia, a bird seen here for the first time, but, like the Scarlet-thighed Dacnis, a blue and black bird on which one cannot easily see its namesake characteristic, a fulvous (orange-brown) vent. 

Purple Honeycreeper; photo, Magnus Manske

One of the first birds we saw from the tower was a Snowy-throated Kingbird. Rose Ann said: “This austral migrant . . . normally breeds in the desert scrub and woodland of lowland southwest Ecuador during the rainy season, and migrates north during the non-breeding season (Jun-Nov). I was surprised to discover one sitting atop the dead perch tree beside the Silanche tower at this time of year. They may have extended their breeding range farther north with the [palm plantation] clearings.”

We had amazing close views of two kites from the tower: A Double-toothed Kite lit on a dead snag so close to the tower that we could see its two "tooths" through the scope. Then a Plumbeous Kite flew in and traded places with the Double-toothed Kite. Each remained for quite awhile and we had great looks at both. Then Lynn spotted a male Choco Trogan, a.k.a Blue-tailed Trogan, sitting at some distance. It sat for a very long time on the same perch, affording us good scope views. 

Double-toothed Kite, Marc Chrietien: Plumbeous Kite, Horacio Luna; Choco Trogan, Roger Ahlman

From the tower we also saw a White-bearded Manakin displaying nicely and also saw this bird at its Silanche lek. Because I did not walk the Milpe trail where two other manakin species were spotted, this was the only manakin I saw on the tour. Manakins are fascinating birds, each species having its own elaborate courtship display. The display of one species was so fast that only recently were the intricacies of its display discovered through ultra-slow-motion video. It was doing a Michael Jackson-type moonwalk! Some manakins, such as the Club-winged Manikin seen at Milpe, have inner feathers modified for aural display purposes. 

A male White-bearded Manakin displaying its beard

Club-winged manakin displaying, and successfully attracting a female; The wings are blurred because they are moving so fast; left, Steve Blain, center, Gary Rosenberg, right, Tim Laman

Some of the most exciting sightings from the tower were of woodpeckers: beautiful Cinnamon Woodpecker, Black-cheeked Woodpecker, Lineated Woodpecker and Guayaquil Woodpecker each flew in for protracted and good views. Compare below the Lineated Woodpecker with the Guayaquil Woodpecker with which it is often confused. The Lineated has a narrow white malar, and its white back stripes do not meet to form a V as they do on the Guayaquil which has a thick white malar stripe and a white-spotted red cheek. 

Cinnamon Woodpecker, Bill  Hubick; Black-cheeked Woodpecker,Chuck Bell/StevenEasley; Lineated Woodpecker, Cotalora; and Guayaquil Woodpecker, Roger Ahlman

We also had some very cooperative Lesser Greenlets that helped bring in a mixed flock, and great studies of the very different looking male and female White-shouldered Tanager. In addition to the Scarlet-browed Tanager mentioned earlier, we also got looks at the Gray-and-Gold Tanager, Bay-headed Tanager, Golden-hooded Tanager, and Rufous-winged Tanager from the Silanche tower. 

Lesser Greenlet; photo by Paul G.Pickering

(L) White-shouldered Tanager and its very different- looking mate; (L) Marcus G. Martin; (L) Nick Athanas

Grey-and-gold Tanager, Nick Athanas; Bay-headed Tanager, Judd Patterson;  Rufous-winged Tanager, Mike Danzewnbaker; and Golden-hooded Tanager, Manuel Retana

About 10 minutes before our tower viewing came to an end, I slipped back down the stairs. This because I did not want to be on the stairs when anyone else was, and also because I wanted to use the restroom again. It was much easier going down. While waiting for the group to descend, I sat on a log and watched a tarantula zip into a hole beneath a rock. I waited very quietly, camera poised, but it did not come out again, even when I gently poked a twig into the hole. So, I had to be content with photographing a millipede motoring along in the same area. 

After the tower, we walked the loop trail back to the parking lot where we enjoyed our lunch. On the trail a Band-tailed Barbthroat responded briefly to Rose Ann’s broadcast and even dashed into view for some. There were pink Aphelandra flowers in the gardens surrounding the parking lot, and because of this we got good looks at a Blue-chested Hummingbird and Purple-chested Hummingbird as they fed. The Blue–chested differs from the Purple-chested in having gray, not white, undertail coverts, a less-intense, more spotted blue chest patch, and a bronzy rather than deep-blue tail. They occur together at Silanche. We also saw a male Violet-bellied Hummingbird feeding on these flowers. 

Blue-chested, Mike Danzenbaker; Purple-chested, Dusan Brinkhuizen; and Violet-bellied, Steve Metz

On the loop trail Edgar spotted an Ecuadorian Bullfrog next to the trail. 

On our return from Rio Silanche, we stopped after crossing a bridge. Here Willy and Rose Ann heard Brown Wood Rails, a species that Rose Ann had never seen but wanted to add to her life list. So, we all got off the bus and navigated the mud while Rose Ann and Willy broadcast for the bird, first on one side of the river and then the other. The rails seemed to be excited by Rose Ann’s and Willy’s broadcast of their vocalizations: They answered loudly and even came pretty close, but try as we might, we could not get them to show themselves. Eventually their vocalizations trailed off up a slope and into the streamside woods. Brown Wood Rails are on the endangered species list as their habitat is rapidly disappearing, proof being that I could find no photo of one on the Internet. Instead there were many photos of Grey-necked Wood Rails.

While we were searching for a way to get closer to the wood rails, I volunteered to check out what seemed to be a road along the water at the back of a gravel quarry on our side of the river. It was not a road, and in my exploration I managed to step up to my ankle into deep mud. I was not wearing my boots, so had quite a bit of cleanup to do before boarding the bus and later that evening. 

It was near the bridge also that we saw a White-tailed Trogan. This trogan has a yellow-belly and blue-gray eye-ring and was seen above the road near the Rio Silanche bridge. At this stop it was also a real surprise to see a specialty of humid western Ecuador: a pair of gray-backed hawks circling above. We also saw a Barred Puffbird along the road on the way back, Rose Ann being drawn to it by its wolf-whistle-like vocalization. 

White-tailed Trogan, Bradley J. W. Davis; Barred Puffbird, Birdquest Tours

Laughing Falcon; Manuel Retana

Edgar had a keen eye. Even though driving the bus, he spotted a Laughing Falcon on the way back to Septimo Paraiso. I had seen one of these birds along the stream out of El Suspiro, Ecuador, on a 2006 Ecuador Earthwatch Expedition. Though they haven’t the bill, their coloring is reminiscent of that of a Kookabura. Rose Ann says that the falcon is a snake eater, and among the few species that can survive well among the extensive palm plantations (with lots of snakes!) in this area” of western Ecuador. 

Come to think of it, El Suspiro where I’d seen my first Laughing Falcon did have several palm plantations near it, Toquilla Palm plantations. The fibers from these palms are used to make “Panama” hats. But, in our Earthwatch research area, one needed look no farther than one’s feet to find a snake, usually a Fer de Lance. We had a Costa Rican herpetologist with us, and he was always pointing out (and diving into the bushes for) a snake we’d not noticed. One time he even drew our attention to a very well camouflaged yellow-green Eyelash Pit Viper curled atop a lopped off bamboo stem not a foot from the trail. Carlos would bring his snakes back to the casita in gingham bags and hang them in the rafters over the outdoor dining area until he could get to them in the evening. One of his neatest snakes was a very long, thin and pretty Parrot Snake. But I digress again. 

Parrot Snake, Todd Pierson

We organized our gear and checked our flashlight and headlamp batteries before hitting the sack early this night, Willy’s after-diner instructions ringing in our ears: “You need to be ready to get on the bus at 4:15 tomorrow morning. It takes about half an hour to drive to Angel Paz’s place and then 30 to 45 minutes to walk down the trail to the Cock-of the Rock lek and viewing area. We need to be in place before dawn.” 

P.S. My cold has now gravitated to my chest and I am doing a lot of coughing and blowing. Sure glad I got this cold at the end of the tour and I’m sure the others are glad they have only one more day with me too. It is difficult to stalk birds when one is hacking and blowing.