This morning, we were up long before the sun rose with a full day planned. We met our private guide in the lobby of the hotel, just before 4:30 a.m. He was picking up boxed breakfasts for us from the front desk and soon we were on the road in a Honda CR-V. This was our first introduction to the driving habits of drivers in Ecuador. High speeds, swerving in and out of traffic, tailgating, incredibly winding roads - I tried to just focus on the scenery as the sun started to rise. Paul was surprised by the capabilities of the CR-V as he was sure this was the hardest a CR-V had ever been pushed.
We had booked this tour with the Andean Cock-on-the-Rock add-on. Our first stop was the Amagusa Reserve in the Masphi Area. The drive probably should have taken just over 3 hours. We did it in less than 2.5 hours.
After parking, we walked a short distance to the deck of a house that overlooked a forest area with feeders and banana. Several other photographers and birders were already there.
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| Rose-faced Parrot |
We soon continued on up a small incline to a covered area with chairs looking out on a natural looking set-up where Sergio, the owner of the reserve would put banana to attract tanagers. This gave us some close up chances to admire the beauty of tanagers in Ecuador. The canopy over us was a huge plus as it kept us dry as it started to rain. This reserve is located in a cloud forest and so our entire time spent there felt like we were in the clouds with heavy fog, drizzle, and at times rain.
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| Black-chinned Mountain Tanager |
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| Black-chinned Mountain Tanager |
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| Flame-faced Tanager |
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| Flame-faced Tanager |
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| Flame-rumped Tanager (Female and Juvenile) |
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| Flame-rumped Tanager (Female and Male) |
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| Flame-rumped Tanager (Juveniles) |
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| Flame-rumped Tanager (Male) |
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| Flame-rumped Tanager (Female) |
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| Glistening-green Tanagers |
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| Glistening-green Tanager |
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| Glistening-green Tanager |
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| Glistening-green Tanagers |
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| Glistening-green Tanager |
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| Golden Tanager |
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| Golden Tanager |
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| Golden Tanager |
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| Golden-naped Tanager |
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| Golden-naped Tanager |
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| Moss-backed Tanager |
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| Moss-backed Tanager |
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| Moss-backed Tanager |
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| Orange-breasted Fruiteater |
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| Ornate Flycatcher |
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| Rufous-throated Tanager |
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| Rufous-throated Tanagers |
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| Rufous-throated Tanagers |
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| Slate-throated Whitestart |
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| Rufous-throated Tanager and Golden Tanager |
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| Glistening-green Tanager and Flame-faced Tanager |
We took a walk along the road and eventually climbed a very muddy hill to another area where Sergio had set up a natural looking perch where he could put banana in hopes of seeing the Toucan Barbets.
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| Golden-collard Honeycreeper (female) |
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| Toucan Barbet |
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| Toucan Barbet |
We returned back towards the main area of the reserve to spend some time around the hummingbird feeders.
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| Empress Brilliant |
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| Green-crowned Brilliant |
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| Green-crowned Brilliant |
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| Green-crowned Brilliant |
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| Velvet-purple Coronet (juvenile) |
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| Velvet-purple Coronet (adult) |
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| Violet-tailed Sylph (male) |
We then had lunch at the reserve. Sergio's wife ran a small restaurant. She served us a very good vegetable soup and then either chicken or fish and of course a tasty really hot bowl of popcorn we really enjoyed (an Ecuadorian tradition). We sat at tables under an overhang overlooking this beautiful pond which attracted many birds.
After lunch we drove to a private reserve northeast of Gualea (Reserva la Victorian, I believe) where at least 40 male Andean Cock-of-the-rock birds live. We walked a hilly path about 20 minutes to a blind that had been set up to allow us to view the birds up close without disturbing them. They were very vocal while we were there. We couldn't stay too long as we had to get back to the hotel but I was able to get a few photos of a couple males. The females were supposedly sitting on the nests below. They are seen more often in February and March or early in the morning. These are a very unique looking bird! We had added this stop onto the tour we selected because this bird intrigued us.
After an exhausted day of birding, we made it back to the hotel about 6:10 p.m. We had paid extra to keep our room until 7:00 p.m. which allowed us just enough time to get our phones and portable charger charging, stop by the Executive Lounge for hot appetizers, snacks, and a glass of wine which would be our dinner, and then return to the room to shower, change, and pack up.
We then settled down in the lobby near an outlet to continue charging everything and waited for our 9:00 p.m. pick up by Celebrity. I made use of this time to download all my photos from the day, back them up, and start editing them.
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| It was when I took this photo and surveyed our pile of luggage that it hit me that this trip was truly over. |
Gabriela from Celebrity was in the lobby checking in with us by about 8:45 p.m. She would be taking us and one other couple to the airport to catch the late Delta flight. Porters helped us with our larger bags and she walked us through until she had to leave us at security. We had to go through immigration on our way out and received a second Ecuador stamp in our passport.
Our flight left just before midnight and arrived in Atlanta early morning. I was able to doze a bit on and off, interrupted by the light dinner they provided about 1:00 a.m. I don't think Paul slept at all. In Atlanta, we went through US customs and then had a couple hour wait for our last flight which got us home about 8:30 a.m.
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