Weird, Just Plain Weird

In my time at Winging It, we ran at least two articles on Angel Paz and his antpittas. The phenomenon seemed interesting, and if I ever made it to Ecuador again….

Well, I joined Tim and Debbie, Darlene, and Nick for one of the strangest mornings of my life. We left Tandayapa Lodge in the early dark and pulled into the Paz de las Aves preserve at just past 5:30. Angel and his family were right behind us, and we set off down the well-built trails in the first glimmers of dawn.

I knew what to expect, but I had no idea what to expect. As we crept silently along the paths, occasionally Angel would erupt into shouts: “Venga, venga,” ‘Come on, come on!’ He wasn’t urging us on to greater speed; he was calling the birds. A Moustached Antpitta emerged onto the trail ahead of us, and then a Dark-backed Wood-Quail actually joined our group for a second before continuing into the woods. It was getting weird.

We stopped at the first feeding station, where grapes and bananas are carefully fastened to a line, then fed out on pulleys into the forest canopy. Toucan Barbets were singing, so we had great hopes that they might come in while we were out on the trails. We never got to see that bird (I still have never had a good look), but we found on our return that the fruit had attracted a couple of Crimson-rumped Toucanets.

Much more surprising was an Olivaceous Piha, a rare canopy-dweller I hadn’t expected to see at all, much less at close range for a good half hour while it pondered the grapes hanging on the feeders.

The unexpectedness of the sighting and the beauty of this big, thrush-like cotinga made it immediately one of my favorite birds of the whole trip.

We didn’t tarry long at the feeders, though, as Maria was waiting for us. Maria is the most famous antpitta in the world. Angel and his brother led us to a sort of grandstand in the forest, where we took our places and Angel began to whistle and call: Venga, venga! And she did. This absurd football-shaped and -colored thing bounded down the trail on long legs, then hopped up on a stump to take eviscerated worms from Angel’s hand.

He actually touched a Giant Antpitta, and we weren’t much farther away from the bird ourselves. Maria gobbled for several minutes, then bounced off into the forest to remove her makeup and rest up for the afternoon performance.

I finally managed to shut my gaping mouth a couple of hours later, but only after we’d had another close encounter with a small family of Dark-backed Wood-Quail and a beautiful look at a Yellow-breasted Antpitta.

You’ve got to go see this place. Believe me.