Day 2, Guango to Rio Quijos, 3/9/16

7:30 AM and it's antpitta feeding time at the Guango Lodge.  One of the guides for the lodge placed a few worms in a cleared area under a thicket and proceeded to whistle the three note call of the Chestnut-crowned Antpitta.  It only took a few minutes for the beauty to appear.  Anytime you get to see an antpitta it's a great day.  Wished my brain had been engaged and I had thought to raise my camera's ISO.  I was lucky to get this shot.

Guango has some nice trails and some great birds but they were hard to come by on this day.  At least it didn't rain.  The main drawback is that the lodge is right on the busy highway and it's pretty noisy.  A walk down to the river gave me my first White-capped Dipper for the trip.

Walking the trail that follows along the band of trees along the river produced some nice birds.  Spectacled Redstarts were common.

Saw several Pearled Treerunners but they were hard to photograph.

A mixed flock turned up a Montane Woodcreeper, White-banded Tyrannulet, Blue-backed Conebill, lots of Gray-hooded Bush-tanagers, Spectacled Redstarts and a Mountain Cacique.  Here's the Montane Woodcreeper.

And a poor shot of the White-banded Tyrannulet.  Having a camera really helps with the ID of the tyrannulets and flycatchers which are probably the most confusing group down there.

There must have been at least ten Gray-hooded Bush-Tanagers in the flock.

I just could not get a good shot of the Blue-backed Conebill.

Not noticed at the time of the photograph, the above photo before cropping held another bird.  A fuzzy Rufous-fronted Flycatcher.  Should I count it?  You bet I will.

Also on the trail were a couple of Black-crested Warblers,

and two Slaty Brush-Finches,

and a Rufous-breasted Chat-Tyrant.

There was a beautiful trail across the highway that snaked along high above the road surface.  It provided great views and excellent habitat but few birds.  I heard a Chestnut-crowned Antpitta and whistled it in close but I could never get it in view.  The only birds I saw were a couple of Russet-crowned Warblers and a Pale-naped Brush-Finch.  Waterfalls like this one on the opposite slope are a common sight in Ecuador.

After returning to the lodge I spent some more time with the hummers.  Here's a male White-bellied Woodstar.

At the same group of feeders was a sunny spot on the ground that was enjoyed by both a female Tourmaline Sunangel and a Chestnut-breasted Coronet.  Feels good after all that gloomy weather!

It took me a while to identify this big dull hummer.  I eventually figured out it was a Fawn-breasted Brilliant.

Well, it was checkout time and I decided I needed to watch my pocket book so I packed up and headed on down the road.  Online I had found an interesting looking lodge on the Quijos River near Baeza called the Rio Quijos Ecolodge.  I pulled in later in the afternoon, unannounced, and was warmly welcomed by Angel the manager.  Turned out there was a birding couple from California who were using the lodge as a base to explore the area.  At $29 a night and very comfortable it sounded like a good plan.  I think set meals were five dollars each.  The lodge is owned by people who frequently bring groups of whitewater kayakers to the Rio Quijos.  They didn't like the facilities in the area so they built their own lodge.

Back behind the lodge is the raging Quijos River.  Angel told me he often sees Fasciated Tiger-Heron, Sunbittern and Torrent Duck on the rocks.  I managed a distant Torrent Duck, Torrent Tyrannulet, Spotted Sandpipers and a Neotropic Cormorant.

Angel keeps a half dozen hummingbird feeders up and they were well used.  Of special interest to birders visiting the area were at least half dozen White-tailed Hillstars who rule the feeders.  Few lodges in the area regularly attract this species.

Also fighting for sugar water was the Violet-fronted Brilliant.

I was hoping to eat with the visiting birders from California but they had a previous commitment.  However I was joined at dinner by Matt, an American expat who is a rafting guide in Tena; Mark, another American expat and environmentalist who owns a 1000 hectare reserve up the road and Camila, a young college biology student from Florida.  We had some good discussion of nature in the area and politics over some beer and good food.  I had read about Mark's reserve in a blog called Birding Ecuador and was surprised to get to meet him.

There are some interesting looking trails through the second growth forest on the Rio Quijos Ecolodge property.  I will check them out tomorrow.

.