Ecuador 2007

With your indulgence, one last photo from Ecuador, this time a male Booted Rackettail at a feeder at Tandayapa Bird Lodge.

Sigh. I left Ecuador as I had arrived, in the dark, and so deprived of (or perhaps spared) the sight of the volcanoes said to ring the airport’s runways. But there was a certain pleasure in another small symmetry: my first bird in Quito had been Rufous-collared Sparrow, and my last bird in Quito, singing [...]

The feeders on the back porch of Tandayapa Lodge are justly famous for the 20 species of hummingbird that can be seen there on a good day–all at once! I did not witness a day like that, but the few hours I did spend watching the sugarwater frenzy were dazzling all the same.

The abundant Andean [...]

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 [...]