It's lucky that this blog isn't read for its topicality.
Here are some shots from the final leg of our South America trip, in southern Ecuador, back in November 2017.
We booked through
Mindo Bird Tours, and the three reserves we visited are operated by the
Jocotoco Foundation.
Accommodation was simple but comfortable, and profits are ploughed back into buying more habitat and educational programmes.
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| White-tailed Jay - Cyanocorax mystacalis |
Our first stop was Urraca Lodge, inside
Jorube Reserve. A dry forest site at the southern end of Ecuador with Peru visible to the south.
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| Dining Area, Urraca Lodge |
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| Blackish-headed Spinetail - Sinallaxis tithys |
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| Pale-browed Tinamou - Crypturellus transfasciatus |
Our next stop was
Umbrellabird Lodge, Buenaventura. These photos were all taken from the lodge viewing deck !
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| Long-wattled Umbrellabird - Cephalopterus penduliger |
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| Black-and-White Owl - Ciccaba nigrolineata |
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| Chestnut-mandibled Toucan - Ramphastos swainsonii |
And finally to
Casa Simpson Lodge, in Tapichalaca, adjacent to Ecuador's Podocarpus National Park.
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| Buff-breasted Mountain-Tanager - Dubusia taeniata |
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| Chestnut-naped Antpitta - Grallaria nuchalis |
Casa Simpson blends in with its' surroundings.
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Casa Simpson
This is the view of the lowlands from along the thirty-minute walk to the Antpitta site...
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The world-famous Jocotoco Antpittas are well-worth a birders' pilgrimage to go and see them. They are charismatic, handsome and touchingly confiding.
It's remarkable to think that they were unknown to science until well into the 1990s.
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| Jocotoco Antpitta - Grallaria ridgelyi |
Birding can bring so many surprises.
