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See this triplist in printable PDF format with media only on page 1.

Banded Ground-Cuckoo, with antswarm at Un Poco del Choco (by Rose Ann Rowlett)

Willy and I will always remember this tour as the first Banded Ground-Cuckoo tour. Getting our whole group to see such a dynamic and alluring rarity well was a real highlight for us, not to mention watching this mythic bird ourselves! The sound of that bill-clapping and the vision of that pulsating crest are etched in my memory. Classified as Endangered by BirdLife International, this army ant follower of the humid Choco forests occurs at very low population densities in an increasingly fragmented range, with an estimated population (based on total potential habitat left) of 600-1700 mature individuals remaining. We owe a debt of gratitude to Nicole and Wilo for making our seeing it possible--and we wish them success in increasing the size of their precious reserve.

But there were countless additional highlights, some of which may loom equally large to most of you, for whom the riches of Andean Ecuador were all new. Looking through the long list of goodies, it's hard to pick a reasonable number of favorites; but here's a try (in more or less phylogenetic order), aided by your comments at our farewell dinner:

--watching that pair of Torrent Ducks along the rushing Sabanilla River while our first White-capped Dipper foraged on boulders at the water's edge;

--watching and photographing those rare Dark-backed Wood-Quail that were eluding Angel and Rodrigo and then appeared, silently, right below us at Refugio Paz;

--that adult male Andean Condor that circled against the slopes near Papallacta, exposing the contrasting white patches on its upper wings;

--that pair of Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe that, with a little herding, emerged from the dense paramo fog above Papallacta Pass to walk right down to us, disclosing their subtly beautiful and amazingly cryptic plumage;

--that tiny Andean Pygmy-Owl at Yanacocha, that sat cooperatively (even as it was dive-bombed by hummers), turning its head from side to side, thus exposing the false "eyes" in the back of its head;

--the big Rufous-banded Owl that we ultimately saw after hearing its evocative calling for so long or the mysterious "San Isidro Owl" that abruptly interrupted our list session our first night at San Isidro;

--that long-tailed male Lyre-tailed Nightjar at its sheltered day roost near Refugio Paz;

--among the seemingly endless list of amazing hummers, outstanding this year were such behavioral highlights as that male Black-tailed Trainbearer in dramatic courtship flight high above the Yanacocha hills and that male Violet-tailed Sylph that was bathing in the first rains at Tony & Barbara's reserve;

--for mind-boggling structure and color, we LOVED that Sword-bill sipping from the feeders at Guango and those dynamite Velvet-purple Coronets that so brightened the dark, rainy days;

--that quiet Coppery-chested Jacamar that appeared right beside the Bombuscaro trail long after we had given up fishing for it;

--those big, loud, beautifully patterned Ocellated Tapaculos that came in so close at Acacana;

--those monotypic Scaled Fruiteaters we saw so well along the Septimo entrance road, where oodles of fruit attracted the most Yellow-collared Chlorophonias I've ever seen in one place;

--those gorgeous Andean Cocks-of-the-rock, the orange male on the east slope and the red males displaying at Refugio Paz;

--our unbelievable looks at that rare Dusky Piha that sat for photos in the alders at Guango;

--that family group of Rufous Wrens that bounced around through the bamboo and then broke into song before us at Cajanuma;

--that energetic group of enigmatic White-capped Tanagers, detected by their distant calling, that then flew right in and scolded us, bobbing up and down--a red-throated male and four purple-throated females;

--those Giant Conebills foraging at El Cajas by poking under the loose bark scales of the Polylepis trees;

--all those delightful highland tanagers at Yanacocha, foremost of which were the trio of Black-chested Mountain-Tanagers that came so close;

--that bird-packed morning atop the Rio Silanche canopy tower, where we all got great looks at so many dynamite species, from Cinnamon & Guayaquil woodpeckers to Black-striped Woodcreepers, Scarlet-browed Tanagers, and Scarlet-thighed Dacnis;

--our terrific views of all those Yellow-collared Chlorophonias that were feeding on an abundance of fruits at Septimo Paraiso;

--yes, all those gorgeous Tangara tanagers that elicited oohs and ahhhs, from Green-and-gold, Golden, & Golden-eared lined up at the Copalinga bananas near the beginning of our trip to Golden-hooded & Rufous-winged from the Silanche tower near the end of our trip;

--and, ultimately, our final new bird of the trip: those superb Tanager Finches singing away along the Tandayapa Ridge. What a way to end our journey together!

Read on for brief annotations on the many additional "jewels" of Ecuador. Plus, there was the beautiful montane forest scenery, a good chunk of which is protected within Ecuador's many reserves and national parks (see my cover photo from Podocarpus NP at Cajanuma). I've embedded more photos, some audio, and a bit of video in the online version of this triplist. Enjoy!

During our sampling of varied habitats, from arid intermontane valleys to some of the wettest rainforest on Earth, we stayed in some comfortable lodgings right in great habitats, ate some delicious food, and met some wonderful people. We owe thanks to our hosts, our local guides, and our terrific driver, Edgar, who not only transported us safely and dealt speedily with contingencies, but found some great birds for us as well.

Here are some promised email addresses:

1) Un Poco del Choco - http://www.unpocodelchoco.com/. To read about the ground-cuckoo, click on Ecotourism & Banded Ground-Cuckoo. At the bottom of the page are links to Nicole's blog and to her Facebook page.

2) Tony & Barbara's new website is http://www.pachaquindi-naturerefuge.com/. "Pachaquindi" means "hummingbird place" in Quechua.

3) The Cabanas San Isidro website is http://cabanasanisidro.com/.

Special thanks, too, to all of you for sharing not only a marvelous espirit d'corps, but so many great photos as well! Credits for the cover photos are given under each species.

Willy and I had a great time sharing the many jewels of Ecuador with you...but we only scratched the surface! Come again sometime...to the Jocotoco Foundation lodges of the SW or to Wildsumaco or Amazonia. There are many jewels yet to be seen!

Abrazos,

Rose Ann

KEYS FOR THIS LIST
One of the following keys may be shown in brackets for individual species as appropriate: * = heard only, I = introduced, E = endemic, N = nesting, a = austral migrant, b = boreal migrant

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

In addition to the birds and mammals listed above, we saw what were probably various species of bats (from Copalinga to San Isidro) and a number of other critters. Perhaps the most outstanding was that of the big South American Bullfrog, Leptodactylus pentadactylus, along the trail at the Silanche Reserve.

Totals for the tour: 534 bird taxa and 4 mammal taxa