I don't know why I ever thought I would be able to maintain a blog during such a busy itinerary!  Even when internet access was available, which was not often, I had no time to write, edit and post an entry.  Most days we had breakfast at 5:00 or 5:30, birded all day and then had lists to go over before or after dinner.  With organization required for the next day, and the need for a good night's sleep with the alarm set for 4:00 AM, I put the writing on the back burner so I could keep up with the birding activities each day.  On day 3, because we had some afternoon rain, I was able to write an entry on Word but could not post it as there was no internet available.  I've copied it below, and will write a full trip report to be posted some time in the next few weeks.

It was an AMAZING trip, with 661 species seen by the group along with an additional 67 species heard, representing a whopping 44.4% of all the species in Eduador encountered in just 17 days of birding!  Some of the highlights included stunning views of a dark morph Crested Eagle as he preened on a branch at eye level from our canopy tower perch, Fiery Topaz dancing in the air with long intersecting tails flowing, Giant Hummingbird, rare Cocha Antshrike (male and female in open view) and even rarer Tanager-Finch, 60+ species of Tanagers, and . . .   but you can read all about it in a few weeks when I post the full trip report.  Please come back later to read all about it.

Now, for day 3, with an exciting climb down into a narrow gorge to see roosting Oilbirds:

Day 3 started off a little slow (by tropical standards, anyway).  The bus took us to a birding spot near Bellavista only to find that we had driven into rain.  Andres instructed our driver, Luis, to stay there for 10 minutes instead of going back to have our luggage loaded as planned to see if the shower would be temporary.  After several minutes, the rain picked up and we headed back to the lodge.  Along with a break in the rain, a pair of Masked Trogons greeted us as we entered the Bellavista gateway.  We watched as the male caught a huge moth and devoured it.  Minutes later, the female caught an equally impressive Katy-did and stayed on the ground trying to eat it.  After a few minutes of wrestling with the insect and finally getting it into swallow-able pieces, the male swooped down from his nearby perch and grabbed part of the female’s catch. 

As I was still trying to get some good shots of the trogons in the poor light, someone said Andres had located a White-throated Quail-Dove nearby.  The entire group gathered at the end of the trail and watched as the huge dark bird wandered on and off the path.  I thought poor lighting was the reason we couldn’t see detailed field marks on the bird, but we soon saw a second bird that had much brighter plumage, so I guess it wasn’t the lighting at all.

Since the rain had now stopped and we could not continue to our next site until all the luggage had been  loaded and our box lunches were ready, we headed on down the trail.  We got good looks at some birds that had eluded part of the group earlier, including Gray-breasted Wood-Wren, Rufous Spinetail, and Smoke-colored Pewee.

The most striking find of the morning was a pair of Powerful Woodpeckers on a tree about a hundred feet from the trail.  Because the trail went along the side of a steep slope, the woodpeckers were at eye level, giving us great looks as they fed in the moss-covered bark of the tree.  Smoky Brown Woodpecker was also seen by everyone in the group, and the previous “heard-only”  Yellow-bellied Chat-Tyrant made an appearance.

At 9:00 AM, we left for a 3-hour drive to a location where Andres knew of an oilbird roosting site.  Although we had seen an oilbird in flight last night, this was to be an experience unlike any that any member of our group had ever had.  The roosting site of oilbirds is usually a cave, usually very dark with limited viewing.  This roosting site is a deep narrow gorge where shafts of light break the darkness and allow for exceptionally clear views of the birds.  Not only was the site special, but getting there was an adventure.  The farmer who owns the land where the gorge is located says the birds have been on his family’s land for as long as he remembers.  They did not know what the eerie sounds coming from the gorge were for a long time, and named the area “Infiernilla” or “Little Hell” because of the frightening sounds emanating from the area.   Only a few years ago did he become aware of how much birders would love to see his oilbirds, so he has worked to make them accessible while still remaining protected.  We started off for a ride in a wooden tractor-pulled wagon through fields of corn, citrus, and other crops.  After about  1 kilometer, we disembarked, grabbed a bamboo walking stick and headed down a steep trail.  The trail was, I’m sure, at one time quite treacherous, but this farmer had cut steps out of the hillside to make the footing better and the trek easier.  At one point, his helper had a scope on some oilbirds so that anyone who felt they could not participate in the final part of the adventure would still get to see the birds.  In the final step, we were put in harnesses such as those used by rock climbers, and then we descended down a series of  home-made bamboo ladders  into the gorge.  As we went down the first ladder, spray from a waterfall  cooled us before we made our way through a stream to the top of the second ladder.  At the second ladder another assistant waited to handle the rope as we ventured further into the crevice where a third ladder would take us even deeper into the narrow gorge.  The third ladder was not needed, however, as nesting pairs of Oilbirds were visible at eye level just 25 feet on the opposite side of the gorge.  Fuzzy little white babies rested near their parents, and occasionally an adult bird would fly out of the deeper areas and swoop in front of us.  An 18-inch bird with a 30-inch wingspan, this was indeed an impressive sight!

After riding our “chariot” back to the farmer’s house, we visited his “mini museum” , an outbuilding that housed many artifacts found by his family over many years.  Stones used for grinding grain, tools for starting fires and other ancient remnants were housed with interesting shells, rocks, and nests found on the farm.

We left the farm and drove to Sachatamia, our lodge for the night.  Even though it was raining, the hummingbird feeders were swarming with some familiar hummers and some new ones as well such as Velvet-Purple Coronet, Empress Brilliant, Brown Violet-Ear, Green-crowned Brilliant, and White-necked Jacobin.

The fruit feeders were visited by Flame-faced Tanagers (WOW!), Blue-winged Mountain Tanagers, Golden-naped Tanagers, among others.  Not a bad place to spend some time on a rainy afternoon! 

I have to call this "Day 0" because the official tour doesn't start until tomorrow.  The six of us who arrived yesterday spent the day in and around Quito, visiting some historical sites and then changing the itinerary Andres had planned for us so we could try to find some BIRDS.  The botanical garden would probably have been very productive had it not rained most of the time we were there.  Still, we managed good looks at Black-tailed Train Bearer, Sparkling Violet-Ear, Vermilion Flycatcher, Gray-breasted Martins, Blue-and-White Swallows, Great Thrushes, Rufous-collared Sparrows, Eared Doves, and several others we couldn't peg due to our inexperience with the birds of Ecuador and the incredibly lousy lighting.  We are very anxious to leave the city and head up to Yanacocha in the morning.

There is some concern for our fellow birders, wondering if the snow storms in the US delayed their departures.  Jean from Minnesota and Deb and Annie from Florida should have no problems, but we're a little worried about our friends from Ohio, Robin, Dan, and Doreene.  From what we can glean from the internet, it looks like they should be here on time, with five of the six landing at around 7:30 PM.  Poor Robin won't arrive until 10:19, which means she probably won't be in her room until around midnight, and Andres wants us to be ready to leave at 5:45 tomorrow morning.

Our travels were uneventful yesterday with a long layover in Miami.  On that note, I'd like to make a small suggestion to flight attendants.  When you want to explain to passengers on your flight that the movie won't be shown as planned, maybe you should not preface your statement with "I'm sorry, Ladies and Gentlemen, but we've had a technical malfunction . . . "  NOT words you want to hear when you're 36,000+ feet off the ground! 

The packing is finished (too much, too heavy, what was I thinking?), our transportation set (brother-in-law to the rescue once more), and we are finally ready to begin our Ecuador birding adventure!

Jim and I are going a day ahead of the scheduled tour, as are 4 other participants.  Traveling in February from Ohio, you don't want to take chances on airline delays.  For our last trip (to Panama), we left on Jan. 7, just hours before a big snow storm hit Cincinnati, and it looks like we're dodging another bullet this time.  Our plane leaves at 7:15 tomorrow morning, and the snow is suppposed to start some time during the night, mixing with rain and ice tomorrow.  Forecasters are talking about 6 inches of snow in some areas before it's over, so hopefully we'll get out of Ohio before the heavy snow and/or ice hits.

The six of us who are arriving early plan to spend the day touring Quito on Feb. 6 while others are in transit.  We have a driver for the day, and we are grateful to Andres for setting everything up for us.

Jim and I are so excited about this trip!  Over 1600 species of birds in an area the size of Nevada, including 131 hummingbirds!  Andres tells me he developed a checklist for this trip with over 1000 species possible following our itinerary.  Wow!

I'll try to keep the blog updated during our time in Ecuador, but I'm sure there will be many days where there is no internet access (or I'm just too spent to try to write).  I'll try to include a lot of bird information, as well as some anecdotes along the way.  I hope you enjoy reading this blog, and I'd love to receive suggestions and constructive criticism from you.