Papallacta

Day II of the ABA Conference in Ecuador found me birding with The Tanagers under the truly expert leadership of Marcelo and Jarol. And it found me shivering like I hadn’t shivered for years, on the snowy paramo of Papallacta.

We made several stops on our way up to this magical tundra, pausing for such great birds as Carunculated Caracara and Variable Hawk.

Once up top, the wind and the snow made it painful to be out of the bus, but beauties like Tawny Antpitta and Paramo Ground-Tyrant (South America’s answer to wheatears) more than made up for the foggy cold.  

As our teeth chattered and our hands went numb, we couldn’t help smiling at the proud words on the side of our bus.