Southern Ecuador Part 1 (Nov 7-Nov 10)

Black crested Warbler, Reserva Huashapamba, Loja, Ecuador, Nov 9, 2021

Recently back from a trip down to Southern Ecuador with the main focus being a variety of warblers.  The target species for the trip included Gray and Gold Warbler, Citrine Warbler, Three banded Warbler, Masked Yellowthroat (two subspecies-Black lored Yellowthroat and Maranon Yellowthroat) plus the local subspecies of Olive crowned Yellowthroat (I had previously seen two other subspecies (Belding’s Yellowthroat and Chiriqui Yellowthroat) in Costa Rica. These various yellowthroat subspecies likely represent unique species and some taxonomic classification organizations already recognize them as such. I also wanted to try to find the gray bellied subspecies of the Russet crowned Warbler. In addition I hoped to get some photos of other warbler species I have seen in the tropics before before but did not get photographs including Three striped Warbler, Black crested Warbler and Spectacled Redstart.  As it is the tropics I also hoped to add a bunch of other species too.  This was certainly a bucket list trip and one I had been looking forward to making for a few years (the pandemic curtailed lots of travel plans but thankfully some areas are opened up now with obvious restrictions).  The trip began with a late afternoon flight down to Miami on Saturday so I could get a reasonably early flight down to Guayaquil. I was sweating the various legs of the trip as American Airlines had experienced multiple days of thousands of flights being cancelled just a few days before.  This would be my second trip to Ecuador with the my previous visit in November 2015 with posts from that trip attached (Part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4 and part 5).  More details on the warblers for the trip at the following link: southern Ecuador warblers.

Ecuadorian Ground Dove, Carretera Transversal Austral toll booth, Guayas, Ecuador, Nov 8, 2021

 Saffron Finch, Carretera Transversal Austral toll booth, Guayas, Ecuador, Nov 8, 2021

Horned Screamers, Manglares Churute Ecological Reserve, Guayas, Ecuador, Nov 8, 2021

Gray and Gold Warbler, Manglares Churute Ecological Reserve, Guayas, Ecuador, Nov 8, 2021

Striated Heron, Manglares Churute Ecological Reserve, Guayas, Ecuador, Nov 8, 2021

I arrived into Ecuador in the late afternoon of Sunday and met up with the guide (Charlie Vogt) from andean birding for the duration of the trip (he came highly recommended by the Griffiths who had used him as a guide on their trip to Ecuador). We stayed the night in Guayaquil and then headed out after breakfast on Monday morning for our first stop which was along the road near a toll booth in an area of savannah where among the many species in the area I picked up three life birds (Saffron Finch, Chestnut throated Seedeater and Ecuadorian Ground Dove). We then continued south along the coast down to the Marglares Churute Ecological Reserve where we made a several stops including a short hike in the forest that turned up the first target species of the trip with the sighting of a few Gray and Gold Warblers. They were not super cooperative for photos as they worked there way through the forest but I did eventually get some shots.  The hike also produced three more life birds with Pallid Dove, Jet Antbird and Amazilia Hummingbird. The other nearby stops added even more new species with Wattled Jacana, Straited Heron and Horned Screamer (which the guide picked up in a very distant tree). The various ponds in the area contained a wide variety of waders and some ducks as well as a number of raptors. After leaving that area we ran into an issue with our original planned route as a landslide had closed the road. We had to reroute which added at least an extra hour onto our already long day of driving as we headed toward our final destination for the day in Saraguro. 

Masked Yellowthroat (Black lored Yellowthroat), Uzhcurrumi, Azuay, Ecuador, Nov 8, 2021

Scrub Blackbird, Uzhcurrumi, Azuay, Ecuador, Nov 8, 2021

We made a few very brief stops to stretch our legs but most of the rest of the day was spent driving. Nonetheless we still managed to add a couple more new species including the second target bird of the trip.  A pull off in the hills in an area with dense scrub vegetation produced a Masked Yellowthroat of the Black lored subspecies. This bird is recognized as a distinct species by some bird classification authorities and is known as Black lored Yellowthroat. The other new species for the day was a quick drive by look at a Yellow rumped Cacique. We made a lunch stop in a small town and we were such celebrities they wanted photos of us for their Facebook page and gave us each small gifts…I assume not many gringos stop by! Monday produced 13 lifers including two of my targets. We then spent the night in Saraguro in a small hostel named Achik Wasi (which I’m fairly certain has the worlds hardest mattresses!). 

Chiguanco Thrush, Saraguro, Loja, Ecuador, Nov 9, 2021

Jungle in the fog, Chinchipe, Zamora Chinchipe, Ecuador, Nov 9, 2021

Black crested Warbler, Reserva Huashapamba, Loja, Ecuador, Nov 9, 2021

Spectacled Redstart, Reserva Huashapamba, Loja, Ecuador, Nov 9, 2021

Citrine Warbler (species #1600 for me), Reserva Huashapamba, Loja, Ecuador, Nov 9, 2021

Bearded Guans, Reserva Huashapamba, Loja, Ecuador, Nov 9, 2021

White banded Tyrannulet, Reserva Huashapamba, Loja, Ecuador, Nov 9, 2021

Buff breasted Mountain Tanager, Reserva Huashapamba, Loja, Ecuador, Nov 9, 2021

Pearled Treerunner, Reserva Huashapamba, Loja, Ecuador, Nov 9, 2021

Tuesday started early with a predawn breakfast before we headed out. We were not even out of the driveway when we spotted the first lifer of the day with a couple Chiguanco Thrushes. We made it to our first birding location in Reserva Huashapamba a little after six and despite the fog we had some good luck in turning up birds including some vocal Bearded Guans, a couple tapaculo species and multiple tanager species (list here). The real highlight however was finding four of my target species with Citrine Warbler being a lifer and my 1600th species ever. The other targets were Black crested Warbler, Russet crowned Warbler and Spectacled Whitestart. I got marginal photos of most of these as well as other species. We finished off the morning birding the area of Cerro Acanama which was also foggy and made photos a bit tough to get but did hold some higher elevation species.  We birded the road once again on the way back down the mountain and with the fog slightly lifted got better looks and some photos of various species.

Peruvian Pygmy Owl, Vilcabamba, Loja, Ecuador, Nov 9, 2021

Long tailed Mockingbird, Vilcabamba, Loja, Ecuador, Nov 9, 2021

Ash breasted Sierra Finch, Vilcabamba, Loja, Ecuador, Nov 9, 2021

Paradise Tanager, Road north of Zumba, Zamora Chinchipe, Ecuador, Nov 9, 2021

Russet backed Oropendola, Road north of Zumba, Zamora Chinchipe, Ecuador, Nov 9, 2021

Green Jays (Inca Jay), Road north of Zumba, Zamora Chinchipe, Ecuador, Nov 9, 2021

Maranon Thrush, Road south of Zumba, Zamora Chinchipe, Ecuador, Nov 9, 2021

White banded Swallow, Rio Isimanchi, Zamora Chinchipe, Ecuador, Nov 9, 2021

After a few hours of birding we started the long drive toward Zumba down on the Peruvian border in the Maranon Valley. We made a number of brief stops on the way with a few turning out to be quite productive with multiple lifers including distant looks at a couple Paradise Tanagers (one of the more spectacular tanagers in a family that contains loads of spectacular tanagers). It is a long way down a dirt road We stayed the night in a small hotel in the middle of Zumba where every noise expected in a small town went on all night from dogs and chickens to people to motorcycles to music. It was not a great place to try to get some sleep but I luckily come prepared to sleep through loud noises. I managed a very impressive 23 lifers on Tuesday.

Yellow tailed Oriole, El Chorro, Zamora-Chinchipe, Ecuador, Nov 10, 2021

Wedge tailed Grass Finch, Pucabamba, Zamora-Chinchipe, Ecuador, Nov 10, 2021

Lesser Elaenia on nest, Pucabamba, Zamora-Chinchipe, Ecuador, Nov 10, 2021

Blue gray Tanager (White edged), Pucabamba, Zamora-Chinchipe, Ecuador, Nov 10, 2021

 Silver beaked Tanager, Pucabamba, Zamora-Chinchipe, Ecuador, Nov 10, 2021

Black faced Tanagers, Pucabamba, Zamora-Chinchipe, Ecuador, Nov 10, 2021

Lined Antshrike, Pucabamba, Zamora-Chinchipe, Ecuador, Nov 10, 2021

Peru/Ecuador border, La Balza, Zamora-Chinchipe, Ecuador, Nov 10, 2021

Vermilion Flycatcher, La Balza, Zamora-Chinchipe, Ecuador, Nov 10, 2021

We were out the door early once again on Wednesday and with the whole day available we headed south birding along the road all the way to the Peruvian border. Although the morning started off rather cloudy with some fog, the sun eventually won out and it got hot by the time midday rolled around. We made several stops along the road as we worked our way toward the Peru border. Overall most stops were quite active and produced a number of notable sightings including Yellow tailed Oriole, Wedge tailed Grass Finch and Vermilion Flycatcher. Once we got to the border we learned it was still closed off due to the pandemic so our plans to have lunch in Peru got quickly changed. We did get to go out on the bridge after getting permission from the border guards and I added a few species to my Peru list. Without lunch available at the border we had to head back to Zumba for lunch. We took a midday break due to the heat before heading back out again around 1:30. 

Mountains, Road west of Zumba, Zamora-Chinchipe, Ecuador, Nov 10, 2021

Silvery Tanager, Road west of Zumba, Zamora-Chinchipe, Ecuador, Nov 10, 2021

Saffron crowned Tanager, Road west of Zumba, Zamora-Chinchipe, Ecuador, Nov 10, 2021

After a midday break we headed west out of town to some higher elevations and despite a lot of effort we failed to turn up the Maranon subspecies of Masked Yellowthroat but the day was very hot.  Although we did not the yellowthroat we did run across a couple mixed species flocks and got some good tanagers among the other species.  The scenery to the west of Zumba was quite impressive.