If our day was hampered by the weather yesterday, it was rocked to its core today. Our birding site for the day was the high altitude cloud forest/Paramo border on a peak called Cerro Toledo. Although there were not so many species for us to find at this site, there were a few important ones, and as such we set aside the whole day to make sure the we could find them.
And it is just as well that we had the full day, as due to
fog and torrential rain at that altitude, birding could not really commence
until after lunchtime. We tried to make the most of our morning, and we were
able to find the Neblina Metaltail, one of the sites most important species, as
well as multiple individuals of the Glowing Puffleg and fantastic
Rainbow-bearded Thornbill. In the bushes we found a very responsive
Mouse-coloured Thistletail and heard many Loja Tapaculo, although none came out
of the vegetation for us to look at.
By 10:00 the rain really set in, so we took a nap in the car
and waited for it to pass, which it finally did at midday. From then on the
focus was on finding a Loja Tapaculo that would actually show. In the end, we
managed to see three different individuals, but none that would show for enough
time for a photo, meaning that Loja Tapaculo joins the very small club of
Tapaculos I have seen, but been unable to photograph. This list I consider my
list of greatest shame.
We stayed up the mountain until late afternoon, working our
way through the small number of birds present. On our drive down however, things
livened up substantially, with a few lively flocks featuring Crimson-backed Woodpecker,
Streaked Tuftedcheek and Scarlet-bellied Mountain Tanager. There was also a
bonus from yesterday, when we finally found Orange-banded Flycatcher, a target we
had missed in Tapichala.
Overall a frustrating day, but one with some good rewards,
and after all, we did see a new Tapaculo and that always makes for a good day.
We ended the night in the city of Loja, reluctant to drive any further, and
this means that our morning will be spent driving rather than birding. However,
these are the compromises in keeping an itinerary fluid.
Cerro Toledo: Band-tailed Pigeon, Rainbow-bearded Thornbill, Tyrian Metaltail, Neblina Metaltail, Glowing Puffleg, Collared Inca, Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle, Bar-bellied Woodpecker, Crimson-mantled Woodpecker, White-capped Parrot, Scaly-naped Amazon, Loja Tapaculo, Chusquea Tapaculo, Streaked Tuftedcheek, Pearled Treerunner, Mouse-colored Thistletail, Orange-banded Flycatcher, Brown-backed Chat-Tyrant, Rufous Wren, Great Thrush, Rufous-collared Sparrow, Pale-naped Brushfinch, Yellow-breasted Brushfinch, Citrine Warbler, Spectacled Whitestart, Grass-green Tanager, Lacrimose Mountain Tanager, Scarlet-bellied Mountain Tanager, Golden-crowned Tanager, Blue-backed Conebill, Glossy Flowerpiercer, White-sided Flowerpiercer, Masked Flowerpiercer,
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