I arrived at the Quito airport at midnight and found a taxi to the not to far away Hostal Colibri. It only cost $25 and that was about what it was worth. The room was damp, the bed was hard and the blanket smelled a little of vomit. But it was quiet, close to the airport and the area was birdy the next morning. First bird of the day singing outside was the omnipresent Rufous-collared Sparrow.
Followed by the common Streak-throated Bush-Tyrant.
A little pishing turned up a couple of Saffron Finches. I was surprised to learn they are actually a sparrow and not a fringillid finch.
The new Quito airport is east of the city near Tarabela and in an area that is still a bit rural. So walking around the hostal I was able to find several species of the dry high intermontane valley habitat that I did not see elsewhere on my trip, like this Southern Yellow Grosbeak.
And Blue-and-yellow Tanager in a eucalyptus tree.
A couple more South American dirt birds; Yellow-bellied Seedeater and Blue-and-white Swallow.
Then it was off to the airport to pick up my tiny Chevy Spark and I was soon on the road to the east and Papallacta Pass. I had not driven a manual transmission in a while but I soon got the hang of it.
One thing about Quito is the elevation is about 9000 feet so it doesn't take a lot of driving to get the the high paramo country. Unfortunately, the beautiful morning turned to rain as I climbed higher. The new highway over the mountains get you up there in a hurry but there is no way to get off of the pavement and do some birding. Fortunately I had printed off some pages from the excellent online "Where to Find Birds in Ecuador" and I was able to find a good birding road near the pass at about 13,000 feet. With the steady rain I did not see a lot but I did find a bird I had missed in a couple of previous trips, Red-crested Cotinga.
Who can resist the Scarlet-bellied Mountain-Tanager? Turned out to be my only mountain-tanager of the trip.
Brown-backed Chat-Tyrant is common in the paramo.
The rain would not let up as the rough dirt track I followed paralleled the highway back downhill towards Quito. Though I had seen a few nice birds, I was disappointed with the start of the trip. Finally got a Black-tailed Trainbearer in bad light.
The road led back to the highway so I drove back up to the pass again and down the other side to the town of Papallacta and its famous thermal baths. It was cold and rainy and I needed to find a place to spend the night. I had seen La Choza de Don Wilson online but it looked empty so I moved on. Turns out it may have been a good place to stay as I discovered on return at the end of my trip that there was good habitat above the resort. I knew the Guango Lodge was was just a few clicks down the road and though a bit expensive, I knew they had some good birds around. Luckily they had only a couple of guests and were quite happy to put me up for $135 a day which included three meals and taxes.
As the light faded I managed to pick up a few lifers at their excellent hummingbird feeding area. Chestnut-breasted Coronets were the bosses of the feeders.
They had more than a few battles with their fellow congener, the Buff-tailed Coronet.
The female Tourmaline Sunangel was quite different from the male.
This Masked Flowerpiercer also liked the sugar water.
A late afternoon walk down to the Guango River after the rain had stopped turned up a flock of Turquoise Jays.
I managed only a couple of shots at this guan. I didn't know what it was till I got home and lightened up the photo. Turns out it's an Andean Guan. Thank goodness for digital photography.
With the light gone It was time for dinner. The pretentious meal was really mediocre but the bed was comfortable and the shower was hot. Antpitta feeding time is in the morning. Can't wait!
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