Big Day and Big Week in Birdland - Ecuador

Robert Jonsson of Avestravel, inspired by Iain Campbell's Big Month (www.tropicalbirding.com), decided to undertake a Big Week in Ecuador during the first week of May 2001. The object was to see as many birds as possible over a seven day period starting in the Amazon, working our way over the Eastern and Western Cordilleras of the Andes and finishing in the western lowlands. We designed the itinerary in order to cover the most bird regions in a logistically feasible way, i.e. so we were not driving too much during the day when we needed to be birding. We had three factors working against us for a big total, 1) most of the northern migrants had left Ecuador and 2) the weather, this is the rainy season in the highlands and the western lowlands though dryer in the Amazon. One rainy day could be a wash-out for the big week total. On the other hand we didn't want full sun either since this kills bird activity during most of the day in the tropics. Thirdly, Robert had to find a cup of hot coffee every two hours which probably cost us another 50 birds. (Just kidding, Robert!)

We planned to join Iain and Nick during the first few days of the week and then continue on our own itinerary since they could only stay five days in Ecuador on the start of their big month. The first day and a half we would bird at Sacha Lodge (200 m altitude) on the Napo River in the Amazon, then leave by canoe at 1 p.m. for Coca birding along the river. At Coca we would jump in the car picking up open-country birds and arrive at the Sumaco Park research station (800m) for the night. Day three, birding along the Loreto Road in foothill rainforest ending up in subtropical cloud forest at San Isidro (2000 m) for the night. Day 4, birding at San Isidro, Guango (2400m), Papallacta (3000-4000m), and ending at sunset around Pifo in the inter-Andean Valley towards Quito. From there, we would drive at night to Tandayapa Bird Lodge on the west slope at 1600 meters in subtropical cloud forest. Day 5, bird around Tandayapa, Bellavista and Mindo, overnight at Tandayapa. Day six, bird foothill rainforest at Los Bancos (900m) and Pedro Vicente Maldonado (600m), overnight in Santo Domingo. Day seven, bird the tropical rain forest at Rio Palenque (200m) in the morning and La Perla in the afternoon.

We set off on the 29th of April from Quito driving over Papallacta pass on the Eastern Cordillera noting the time schedule for passing through the road construction on the Guacamayos ridge. They are upgrading and paving the road from Papallacta to Tena over the next two years and often at strategic places only allow passage at 9am, 12pm, 3 and 6 p.m. till 6 a.m. Add this to the general mayhem and acts of God in an Andean nation, including travel by dugout canoe, bad roads, dense fog, livestock on the road at night, military checkpoints and an aging Trooper as the main vehicle (although not as old as Iain's Trooper!) and you can imagine what we were up against.

Photo 1. Don't Worry, we didn't count these!
The drive went smoothly until we were on the lower Loreto Road about an hour from Coca when Iain's Trooper loss control on the washboard road and went into the side ditch. He pulled it out and discovered a broken headlight and the two foglights dangling off the bumper by their wires. Well, as Robert said, this is the Formula 1 of birding! We made Coca by late afternoon and settled into the Mission Hotel overlooking the Napo River and had the closest looks of Orange-winged Parrots and White-throated Toucans (Photo 1) (I won't apologize for the photos since they were taken with a $12 non-disposable camera bought on the street in Coca). We birded about the hotel and then went out to the airport to check out some shorebirds and look for the Cattle Tyrant, a new record for Ecuador that Dave Hoddentot, (one of our guides for Sacha Lodge) discovered a few months previous. No luck on the Cattle Tyrant, but maybe on our return trip.

Photo 2.5. Dining hall and arrival dock
at Sacha Lodge

Rules of the Game

Robert and I used the same rules for the Big Week as Iain and Nick did for their Big Month; All species seen or heard are counted, i.e. species that are only heard are counted as well as those species that are seen. A species is counted as seen only if both of us see the bird and at least one of us identifies it with 100% certainty. A species will be counted as heard only if both of us hear the bird and at least one of us can identify the call with 100% certainty based on his own experience or if we can verify the call by listening to a reference recording.

The Challenge

While Ecuador does have a bird list of 1,616 species (the official figure is 1,614 plus recent sightings of Royal Sunangel and Andean Tyrant) and is within a half dozen species of equaling Brazil's, a country which is 31 times larger, its seems to be a likely candidate for setting a world record for a Big Week. The large number of species available in a relatively small area with good road access argues for a winner. However, those of you who have tasted the neotropics realize that birding here is a real challenge with the density of foliage and most birds are heard rather than seen, a far cry from the open country birding of North America, Africa and Eurasia. Also a large majority of those species found in Ecuador are uncommon or rare. A Big Day in Ecuador would probably be in the high one hundreds and it would be impossible to beat the Big Day in Africa of 342.

Day 1

Photo 3. A very early start,
3am the first morning



3 a.m. we are on the trail at Sacha Lodge owling and poorwilling (Photo 3). We scored Black-banded Owl and the Ocellated Poorwill early on and dragged ourselves up the tower before 5 a.m. to score Common and Great Potoo along with Spectacled, Crested Owls and Tawny-bellied Screech-Owl. A good dawn chorus brought us Tinamous, Woodcreepers, Antpittas, Antbirds, Antshrikes and Antthrushes.

Photo 4. Robert scoping a Great
Jacamar, from the tower
at Sacha Lodge
Photo 5. Charlie and Robert
working the tower,
which was "pumping" with flocks
As Dave had anticipated from previous days with good fruiting trees nearby, " the tower was pumping!" (Photos 4,5) We barely had time to eat breakfast which had been carried in from the Lodge and hauled up the tower by Churi, a young guide I had worked with years before in Sacha. From day break to around 10 a.m. when things started to die down we had a list of over 90 species.

Photo 6. Off to the Orquidea
channel in the afternoon
We headed off on the Suizos trail for some specialties, and had lunch on the trail, again hauled in by Churi. Paddling up the Orquidea channel for some Varzea species we worked the Lake in the early afternoon and headed to the farm by the river for more open country birds (Photo 6,7).

Photo 7. Yellow-browed sparrow
at the finca near the Napo River
Finishing at sunset on the Lake with the heavy breathing of Hoatzins as we arrived at the Lodge. Best bird of the day for me was watching the Great Potoo from the tower in its active state with a huge head reminiscent of the Great Gray Owl. For Robert it was the close-ups of the Great Jacamar posing by the tower.

Total species for the day: 190. A record Big Day for Ecuador.

Day 2

Photo 8. Rufous-headed Woodpecker,
from Winkler et al., Woodpeckers
5:00 breakfast and we are on the trail to the river. We stop to admire a pair of Spectacled owls hooting and preening each other in a tree over the board walk. Crossing the Napo, we headed up a small river scoring Ecuadorian Caciques and the Rufous-headed Woodpecker (Photo 8), a new species for Ecuador discovered six years ago by our friend Lou Jost, and a lifer for the four of us. The coloration and patterning of this remarkable species reminds me of some of the Asian woodpeckers. We birded up the Providencia Trail hitting a couple of ant swarms and attendant antbirds as well as some good mixed flocks. Lunulated and Wing-banded Antbirds were the other lifer highlights of the day. We crossed the Napo again to transfer to the large canoe with our luggage for the trip out to Coca picking up herons, egrets, Yellow-billed Tern, and Sand-colored Nighthawk. At Coca we scrambled into our Troopers and hit the airport for shorebirds, Vermillion Flycatcher (a new record for Sacha), Chestnut-bellied Seedeaters and Blue-black Grassquits, but no Cattle Tyrant. The last bird of the day identified with the aid of a spotlight was a Pectoral Sandpiper in a roadside pond. We got to the Sumaco Park research station at around 9 p.m. and did some owling with no luck. Iain wants another early start in order to be 45 minutes up the road at a patch of forest with lianas recommended by Mitch Lysinger and Paul Coopmans. "Mitch and Coopmans sez you gotta be there for the pre-dawn chorus" Iain keeps reminding us. Robert had other ideas, i.e. birding the road above the Sumaco research station first and then on to the lianas. In the end, against our better judgment, we decided to follow Iain's lead.

Total species for the day: 155, new species: 79, running total: 269.

Day 3

Photo 9. We dipped on the Orange-breasted
Falcon on the Loreto Road
2 a.m. we hear the Tropical Screech-Owl from our beds. 3:30 a.m. we drive up the road trolling for owls, when all the sudden we get a panicked call over the two-way radio from Iain saying he and Nick are going on to the lianas so he won't miss the pre-dawn chorus. Two minutes later and we get a response from the Band-bellied Owl, a little later, a response from the Mottled Owl, and the Rufescent Screech-Owl. Too bad they dipped on those owls! We arrived for the dawn chorus at the lianas... chorus nothing, it was as dead as a tomb! "But Mitch and Coopmans sez", Robert kept digging at Iain. This is where we decided to part ways, Iain and Nick continued on to Papallacta while we doubled back to Sumaco research station in the rain for an hour or so of birding, then back again by the lianas and continuing up the Loreto road dodging alternately rain showers and glaring sunshine both killing the bird activity (Photo 9). It was a difficult day of birding but we managed to intercept a few mixed flocks on the Tena road, one which included Vermillion and Blue-browed Tanagers. We passed the construction at 6 p.m. and made it to Yanayacu, Harold's research station above San Isidro for the night serenaded by Rufous-banded Owls.

Total species for the day: 129, new species: 94, running total: 363.

Day 4

We actually got some sleep last night, now that Iain's gone and rolled leisurely out of bed at 530 a.m. to the ominous sound of rain on the roof. Luckily, it was light and tapered off later to allow us to rack up a good list for San Isidro in a short time (Photos 10,11).

Photo 10. Charlie at
Hacienda San Isidro
Photo 11. Robert studying
a flycatcher at San Isidro
Lunch as always at Gina's in Baeza was good and we were off for Guango, a new Lodge owned and run by Mitch's in-laws. It was drizzling when we arrived with no bird activity. Finally, it cleared some and we racked up a good list before heading up the valley through the road construction towards Papallacta pass (Photos 12,13).

Photo 12. On the Papallacta-Baeza
Road above Guango
The elfin forests by the Lake were dead and the paramo was even worse (Photo 14). The flocks were slow in coming but we finally got a respectable crowd and headed over the pass.

Photo 13. Road construction below Papallacta

Photo 14. Near Papallacta pass
on a dead afternoon
The highlight was on the road up to the antennas where we observed an Aplomado Falcon working the ridge, maybe that's why the birds were so quiet! We almost dipped on the Plumbeous Sierra-Finch which is a dead cert, but we definitely dipped on the Hooded Mountain-Tanager, " That's scandalous!", cried Robert. Scrambling down to Pifo we were able to scrape up most of the representative species ending up with an American kestrel at sunset. We arrived at Tandayapa bird Lodge at around 9 p.m.

Total species for the day: 132, new species: 88, running total: 451.

Day 5

Another leisurely start with a 5:30 breakfast in order to face the Hummingbird dogfights around the feeders by the Lodge. We managed to get the 12 common hummingbirds as well as the White-bellied Woodstar, Green-fronted Lancebill and Purple-bibbed Whitetip. Up the main trail it was pretty quiet so we decided to get on the road to Tony Nunnery's and Bellavista to fill out our Hummingbird list. Hardly any Antpittas were calling and the birds were quiet all the way down into Mindo with the drizzle. (Photo 15.)

Photo 15. Nice weather for ducks in Mindo

Photo 16. Robert's friggin' coffee breaks!

Photo 17. Charlie studying
a Pacific Flatbill
at Mindo Gardens





Highlights of the day were the Velvet-purple Coronets at Heike's place and the wonderful display of the Lyre-tailed Nightjar below Tandayapa with its flaming tail in my spotlight. Our day total was not bad but our new species list was short. The hummingbirds saved our day with 17 new species.

Total species for the day: 140, new species: 63, running total: 514.

Day 6

Photo 18. Pichincha volcano below
Bellavista on the old road to Mindo
Against my judgment which was to start early towards Los Bancos, we went with Robert's idea to start at Bellavista cleaning up species we missed the previous day and then continue to the foothills (Photos 18,19). We got the Beautiful Jay, Gorgeted Sunangel and Tanager Finch which was a highlight.

Photo 19. Trolling for
Antpittas below Bellavista







Down to the Moss-backed Tanager site for some species, needless to say we dipped on the Tanager, arggg! Km 106.5 was good though we were there near midday. A leisurely stop at Arashá spa for Robert's coffee and then off to what's left of the Silanche forest, what a depressing sight to see the land completely stripped of forest in preparation for oil palm plantations. In the heat of the mid to late afternoon we were able to roust a few flocks for specialties such as the Grey-and-gold Tanager, Scarlet-browed Tanager, Scarlet-thighed Dacnis, Fulvous-vented Euphonia, Emerald Tanager, Rufous winged Tanager but dipped on the Scarlet-breasted Dacnis, Blue-whiskered Tanager and the Scarlet-and-White Tanager. We ended today hearing the wolf-whistle call of the Black-winged Saltator. Off to Santa Domingo for a burger on the main drag and observing the Double-breasted Bed-thrashers. Off to bed early at the Tropical Inn Hotel.

Total species for the day: 140, new species: 64, running total: 578.

Day 7

Photo 20. Breakfast, Santo Domingo.
"Whoa lady, easy on the oil"
4:30 a.m. Damn, those Pacific Horneros are calling early this morning. On the road before 5, the passenger window crank failed and the window fell into the slot. Breakfast at a roadside "truckstop", fried eggs "hey, easy on the oil there lady!" (Photo 20). We arrived at Rio Palenque for the late dawn chorus. Things started out OK until it started to rain steadily at 8 a.m. Robert was ready to throw in the towel but I convinced him that we were still gaining species slowly but surely.

Photo 21. Fixing the window on the
Trooper in Santo Domingo




We stayed on until 1130, ate lunch and return to Santo Domingo to fix the broken window mechanism (Photo 21). On to La Perla in the afternoon where I thought we could pick up a number of hummingbirds at the Erythrina trees lining the circle road. Nothing was in bloom along the road and the afternoon was quiet (Photo 22).

Photo 22. Slow afternoon, last day
of the Big Week, La Perla

The last bird heard was a Striped cuckoo and the best I thought was the Blue-and-Yellow Macaw flying over La Perla in the late afternoon light! This is the free-flying pet of the owner which commutes home at this time of the afternoon. This was our worst day of the trip for numbers because of the overlap in species in the foothills.

Total species for the day: 128, new species: 34, Grand Total for the Big Week: 612.
We actually saw 498 and only heard 114 species, so 81% of the total species were seen.

Conclusions

Overall we felt like we put in a good effort and saw a good total for a first try, not to mention a record Big Day for Ecuador (190 species) which we shared with Iain and Nick. We would like to break 700 species on the next try maybe in November when there are more boreal migrants and better weather on the Western slope and lowlands. We were lucky with the weather in that we never had a full day of pouring rain but we did have some bad days in the West. In order to break 700 one would need to come out of the Amazon with close to 300 species, have very good luck with weather, and spend the last day on the coast ideally around Guayaquil picking up new wetland species at Manglares de Churute, dryland species at Cerro Blanco and shorebirds around Salinas.

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