Day 8, Guacamayo Ridge, 3/15/16

Spent last night back at the Rio Quijos Ecolodge.  After a nice breakfast I ran back down to the Guacamayos Ridge to give it another try.  Just too many birds there to ignore it.  I arrived at 8:30 AM and guess what?  It was rainy and foggy. Well too bad cuz I'm birding anyway.  No one was at the little cabin at the trailhead so I just grabbed my camera, binocs and umbrella and was off down the trail.  The trail is actually very well constructed and has been in use as a pack trail for centuries.  Angel at Rio Quijos said it dates from Incan times but I can't find any reference to that.

This was to be a day of quality birds and not quantity.  My first one was a goody.  I saw a large woodpecker and as I expected, it was a Powerful Woodpecker.  I had seen this species once before when a buddy and I birded the cloud forest of the Gualaceo-Macas Road back in 1994.  And it also happened to be the third member of the genus Campephilus for this trip (Crimson-crested, Crimson-bellied and Powerful).  I had my iso turned up so I was able to get a poor shot despite the conditions.

A few minutes later I got a shot of this juvenile tapaculo near the spot where I had the Blackish Tapaculo a few days earlier.

Then I got a real good one.  A small antpitta hopped from the trail in front of me and I only managed a couple of shots.  But it was enough for the ID, Slaty-crowned Antpitta.  Their three note call was heard all day long.  I recorded the call on my phone and played it back.  They came in close but I never saw another one.

All day long the fog would roll in and out and the rain would increase and then let up.  A couple of Turquoise Jays were just silhouettes in the mist.

The Guacamayos Ridge Trail is supposed to be great for tanager flocks among other things.  I encountered only a couple of flocks and all I could make out was Yellow-throated Bush-Tanagers.  Occasionally a pair of Gray-breasted Wood-Wrens would sing as they do in the cloud forests of Mexico but I never saw them. Despite the rain and fog it was absolutely beautiful.

After about two kilometers I came across a large bird standing in the trail.  I raised the camera and fired.  I got several shots and then the bird disappeared around the corner.  I could tell it was a quail-dove but that was about it.  Later at the lodge I identified it as a White-throated Quail-Dove.  Apparently this is a fairly common bird but not commonly seen.

I walked to the first stream after the 3 KM marker and it was after 1 PM so I decided I needed to start wandering back.  Then one last good bird for the day.  At first I thought it was just a Great Thrush.  But closer analysis of the photo shows this bird has a reddish belly.  It is the rare Chestnut-bellied Thrush.

The sun almost popped out for few minutes.  I heard toucans and parrots but I couldn't find them.

By the time I got back to the car it was raining extremely hard.  I had spent seven hours on the Guacamayos Ridge Trail and had seen eight species of birds.  I got back to the Rio Quijos exhausted and soaked. Tomorrow it's the Cuevas de Tayos (Oilbird Cave).