The Deskbound Birder: Flame-faced tanager

Showing posts with label Flame-faced tanager. Show all posts

Saturday, 17 August 2019

Mashpi Lodge (Galapagos and Ecuador) - 17th August (Day 4)

It rained most of the night and we awoke to light rain and dense fog. After a leisurely breakfast we took a bus up to the Hummingbird Garden near to the lodge entrance gate. Here there was a good range of hummingbird species including Green Thorntail, Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, Empress Brilliant, Velvet-purple Coronet, Violet-tailed Sylph, Crowned Woodnymph, White-whiskered Hermit, Brown Inca and Andean Emerald. Other species included White-throated Quail-dove, Glistening-green Tanager, Golden-naped Tanager, Flame-faced Tanager, Moss-backed Tanager and Golden-collared Honeycreeper.

Glistening-green Tanager - Mashpi Lodge, Ecuador

Golden-naped Tanager - Mashpi Lodge, Ecuador

Flame-faced Tanager - Mashpi Lodge, Ecuador

Golden-collared Honeycreeper - Mashpi Lodge, Ecuador

Toucan Barbet - Mashpi Lodge, Ecuador

White-throated Quail-dove - Mashpi Lodge, Ecuador

Velvet-purple Coronet - Mashpi Lodge, Ecuador

Green Thorntail - Mashpi Lodge, Ecuador

Purple-bibbed Whitetip - Mashpi Lodge, Ecuador

Empress Brilliant - Mashpi Lodge, Ecuador

White-whiskered Hermit - Mashpi Lodge, Ecuador

Purple-bibbed Whitetip - Mashpi Lodge, Ecuador

Violet-tailed Sylph - Mashpi Lodge, Ecuador

Empress Brilliant - Mashpi Lodge, Ecuador

We headed back to the lodge for 10:30, packed our bags, checked out of the room and had lunch with a couple of beers. Estoban collected us at 12:30 and we began the journey bag to Quito. A short way from the lodge gates we encountered a small flock containing two Black Solitaire, Sulphur-rumped Flycatcher, Rose-faced Parrot and Orange-breasted Fruiteater.

Thereafter we basically drove back to Quito. We did a brief stop at the Pululahua Reserve View Point, this is a view of the crater of the Pululahua volcano, one of only two inhabited volcano craters in the world, the other being the phenomenal Aogashima in Japan. We then stopped at the very touristy monument on the equatorial line inside the Mitad del Mundo Touristic Complex where we saw Black-tailed Trainbearer and Sparkling Violetear before heading to the Wyndham Quito Airport Hotel. We arrived at the hotel at 17:30, showered and then spent the evening meeting the group for the next leg of the trip - Galapagos.

Pululahua Reserve View Point, the 'mountains' are the rim of the volcano - Quito, Ecuador

Saturday, 4 May 2019

Mashpi Amagusa, Upper Mashpi Road (NW Ecuador) – 4th May (Day 10)

After a 06:00 breakfast at Chontoloma Ranch we drove higher up the Mashpi Road stopping at a few birds sighted from the car including a Plumbeous Kite guarding its nest, a Swallow Tanager and a few mixed species flocks as we left the farmland for more forested areas. We arrived at Mashpi Amagusa at around 08:45 and first visited the main house where there were many Hummingbirds including Green Thorntail, Andean Emerald, Brown Violet-ear, Empress Brilliant, Velvet-purple Coronet and my favourite, Purple-bibbed Whitetip. There were good numbers of Tanager including Golden Tanager, Flame-faced Tanager, Golden-naped Tanager and the stunning Glistening -green Tanager which unfortunately arrived in a bout of fog and so did not show its plumage in all its shiny splendour.

We then birded down the road to the entrance to Mashpi Lodge where the highlight was a pair of Orange-breasted Fruiteater, the female on a nest and the male perched in the shadows of the same bush nearby. At the Mashpi Lodge entrance gate we birded the trail to the left and past the artists house. Here we had good views of Broad-billed Motmot, Emerald Toucanet and more distant views of Moss-backed Tanager and Chestnut-throated Solitaire. We then continued down the steep slope and down to the river and to a dilapidated building. This trail was fairly slow but we did record Tawny-breasted Flycatcher, Esmeralda's Antbird and Masked Trogon. Back at the artists house we walked up onto one of the upper balcony's of the property where a female Lyre-tailed Nightjar was roosting.

Driving a little way up the road to some higher feeders we spent a short while where we had good views of White-throated Quail-dove, Moss-backed Tanager, Toucan Barbet and Black-winged Saltator. At a stand of Heliconia, a long-shot, Gabrielle played a recording of White-tipped Sicklebill and amazingly within a very short while this amazing Hummingbird flew in and showed briefly as it fed amongst the Heliconia flowers, its obscenely curved bill well adapted to the unusual flower structure

After lunch in the attractive village of Pacto we drove the long bumpy road to El Chontal Oilbird Cave where we had excellent views within the cave of at least 15 Oilbird. On the outward journey a short stop produced a White-throated Crake before the drive to Mirador Bianco in Los Bancos for a two night stay.