Alison and I decided to take off and enjoy the beautiful autumn afternoon here in central New York, and headed to the Rogers Center, a marshy tract of woodland and trails just south of here in Chenango County. There wasn’t much around, but we enjoyed watching some birds that I at least don’t get to […]

Northwest Ecuador is teeming with birds of subtle charm: Brown-backed Chat-Tyrant, for example, was my first lifer this time around, and Yellow-bellied Chat-Tyrant my last; both are absolutely beautiful flycatchers, but perhaps not what most people think of when they imagine birding the tropics.
Tandayapa Bird Lodge is ideal for getting to see many of those […]

One of my favorite afternoons in Ecuador earlier this month was spent at Tony and Barbara’s place in the upper Tandayapa Valley. Their hummingbird feeders were going great guns, with Mountain Velvetbreasts and Green-tailed Trainbearers a common sight right at the house, and small tanager flocks worked the edges while we watched from the comfortable […]

Everywhere we turned in Ecuador there were birds to gape at, but once in a great while one of the abundant butterflies paused long enough to be admired, even photographed. Here is a selection of what we encountered; leave a comment if you know what any of them are.
This one was feeding on a sort […]

Many, many thanks to everyone who helped identify our mystery hymenopterans as digger bees Centris pallida. Apparently the furor in the photo is a clump of males sniffing around for virgin females emerging from ground nests. I shoulda known!
And the yellow one is a male that hadn’t yet had time to clean up after visiting […]