And the final result is....

At the end of this big year time to look at the stats, look back a bit at highlights and to look forwards to the new. I'm not going to post my favourite photos of 2007 but looking back I seem to have been fairly prolific again, I hope you enjoyed them.

My favourite Quebec bird of the year is a tie between Connecticut Warbler and Sabine's Gull. The former because we worked for it and it has been a long time coming. The latter because I like gulls and I think there are few better looking ones around than Sabine's. My World bird of the year is Andean Cock-of-the Rock and I look forwards to seeing them again.

The big year ended on 266, I missed quite a lot, in part because its not always feasible to do the distances required and work has been demanding this year. Also rarities, or at least rarities that stayed around, were few and far between. Another factor has been the limited supply of news in Quebec and, more importantly, good directions. I owe a debt of gratitude to Louise Simard and her Oiseaux rares du Quebec site which provided me with some good information and also to those Quebec birders who took the time to share, too many don't and I'm gradually begining to realise who they are.

The garden list has flourished and the score for the year was 88, bringing the overall total since we moved here in 2003 to 128. The best new bird for the garden was another tie, a Northern Grey Shrike on December 29th was tremendous, I hope it didn't catch the American Tree Sparrow it was after and comes back for another go. A Hornemanni Hoary (Arctic) Redpoll on 22 December was also special, my first 'Snowball'.

My local patch has not had the coverage it deserves but I still managed to take my list there to 193 with three additions for the year. My visits were down, as stated earlier, being just 64 and taking my pits visits to 549 all told. My pits year list was just 141 species.

In Quebec I managed to see seven new species although only Connecticut Warbler was a lifer.

On the World stage, visits back to England in January and then Ecuador in November-December resulted in a World year list of 912 species, the Ecuador trip bumped up my World list to 2,335.

Some stats for the big year were: Field days in Quebec 217. Kilometers covered 26958. Species/bird days per month were January 74/10; February 72/15; March 75/19; April 131/24; May 195/27; June 137/21; July 122/9; August 151/24; September 119/30; October 110/20; November 64/10; December 36/8.

And so there it ends.

If you are a regular reader of my rants and ravings and want to continue to be offended, my 2008 blog address is http://qcbirding2008.blogspot.com/

A few extras

Its quiet birdwise so I thought I'd post a final flush of photos from Ecuador. They are here in no particular order.
























White-tipped Dove, Tandayapa.




















White-chinned Jacamar, Sacha.




















Tyrian Metaltail, Guango.

















Stripe-headed Brush-Finch, Guango.

















Speckled Hummingbird, San Isidro.




















Sparkling Violet-ear, Tandayapa.



















Southern Lapwing, San Isidro.






















Smoke-coloured Peewee, Tandayapa.


















The San Isidro mystery owl.




















Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, Tandayapa.






















Female Purple-bibbed Whitetip, Tandayapa.























Parrot lick, Sacha.



















Pale-mandibled Aracari, Rio Silanche.



















Orange-cheeked Parrot, Sacha.


















A mystery hummer at Tandayapa that I think is a Wedge-billed, any other suggestions (too small for a Brown Violet-ear).





















Mealy Amazon, Sacha.















Mealy Amazons, Sacha.





















Female Masked Trogon, Tandayapa.





















Buff-tailed Coronet, Tandayapa.























Western Emerald, Tandayapa.




















Buff-tailed Coronet, Tandayapa.
























Buff-tailed Coronet, Tandayapa.




















Golden-crowned Flycatcher, San Isidro.






















Green & Rufous Kingfisher, Sacha.



















Dusky-headed Parrot, Sacha



















Double-toothed Kite, Sacha.



















Collared Inca, Guango.























Brown Violet-ear, Tandayapa.




















Broad-billed Motmot, Milpe.


















Female Booted Racket-tail, Tandayapa.
















Male Booted Racket-tail, Tandayapa.



















Blue-headed Parrot, Sacha.



















Andean Emerald, Tandayapa.



















Western Emerald, Tandayapa.

Ecuador views

This is the last post relating to our recent birding trip to Ecuador. if you want to read chronologically please go back a few posts.

Having thoroughly review all of my notes and having sorted out a couple of IDs the trip list for the whole sortie is 593 seen (453 lifers) and 42 species heard only (635 for those who are hard of maths).

Throughout the whole trip Tropical Birding were first rate and our next guided will be with them, the whole thing could ot have been better, watch this space.



















A view on the way to Antisana




















A Culpeo, a Fox type that danced in front of the van.


















A Llama (in the foreground) up on the high paramo. The Lammas are stock animals but still evocative of the landscape. For more information about Laamas (you have probably guessed, I can't spell Llama) see Monty Python's Llamma sketch!


















A view of the Antisana volcano. Quito is surrounded by volcanos, I hope they have a long blue touchpaper when they go off.




















A Brazilian Rabbit possibly trying to avoid a Brazilian wax job.























One of many many stunning butterflies seen.
























A tree of Oropendola nests.
















The welcome view at Sacha Lodge.


















Rush hour at Sacha.

















Part of the Sacha welcome committee, a Spectacled Cayman

















Howler Monkey, part of the audio entertaiment at Sacha, er this one's a male.




















Spider Monkey, lots around Sacha and all cute.






















A Southern Tamandua that ran up a tree but then found out it was not much of a tree at all.























A Pygmy Marmoset, the smaller monkey in the World and possibly the ugliest.



















Suicide Towers, the rain washes the stains off regularly.
























The wooden canopy tower (from the bottom)



















The Tandayapa Valley, is that a Toucan Barbet in the third tree from the right?

To Antpitta or not to Antpitta

Friday 7th December.

We had pre-arranged with Tropical Birding for a trip on the Friday to see the Antpittas at Angel Paz’s farm. When the Tropical Birding guide Olger arrived at Tandayapa we discussed alternatives, our trip list was already quite spectacular, I fancied adding a few more. We agreed on a 4.30 start and Olger was to put together an ad-hoc itinerary whereby we would bird some of the Western Slope and enjoy ‘a good days general birding’

Driving out through the early fog we descended onto a dirt road heavily used by trucks, seemingly moving a hill from one place to another. Birds (and ticks, that’s lifers not insect pests) were everywhere and Olger was quick to locate all of the callers, singers and skulkers. A Brown Wood-rail was coaxed out of the undergrowth and gave a virtuoso performance of its amazing song. If you want to hear it, Google Xeno-canto, a splendid repository of bird songs and calls from the Neotropics.

We moved on to Rio Silanche then to Milpe and both were just great places to bird. The latter site could do with a full day alone as everywhere we went we found birds. One downside of the day was that Sandra got a migraine and so preferred to remain in the car. The fact that she missed so many birds is reason enough to go back and spend more time in the west, back up reasons are the gaps where Moss-backed Tanager, Scaled Fruiteater and Toucan Barbet are on our Ecuador lists.

The two preserves we birded had an entrance fee of $6 and the permit was good for both sites, ridiculously cheap. At Rio Silanche I even climbed up to observation tower with barely a spatter although the canopy birds must have known we were coming as they had vamoosed. Down below a Black-headed Antthrush actually strutted its stuff in a gap in the vegetation and some Rufous-fronted Wood-Quails bolted for cover when we approached. At Milpe we found two good flocks and worked both seeing some great birds. In the woods the bizarre Club-winged Manakins ‘meeped’ their mechanical sound from many perches.

By late afternoon the light was going as clouds began to thicken and so we made our way back to Tandayapa. As a finale we birded the old Mindo road finding Plate-billed Mountain Toucan and even getting a Spillman’s Tapaculo to show itself. Back at the lodge Sandra hit the sack and I hit the hummer feeders, we were on for a good day list.

All but three of the regulars showed bringing the ‘good days general birding’ list to 175. Thanks are due to Olger for excellent guiding and to the driver, I don’t know is name so I’ll call him Clint, who left Sandra to recover in the car while he waited for us.
I managed to grab a few photos of variable quality. The next post will be animals and scenery and there will endeth the blogging of our Ecuador trip.
























Brown Wood-rail. It was dark!























Broad-billed Motmot, yes they look this good.

















Ornate Flycatcher, a very good looking member of the flycatching tribe.




















This interesting hermit was at Rio Silanche, it had us stumped at the time but having pored over the avalaible literature, I came up with Bronzy Hermit, any other thoughts would be appreciated.





















Pacific Parrotlet.




















Purple-chested Hummingbird, although according to HBW the tail should be dark.





















Rufous-tailed Jacamar, our fifth jacamar species for the trip.




































Swallow-tailed Kite, a small flock entertained us at Rio Silanche.

Time to relax, well sort of.

Tandayapa 6-8 December 2007

The hectic pace of the tour was starting to play on our old limbs and we were looking forwards to relaxing at Tandayapa Bird Lodge on the west slope. Renato collected us from the airport in Quito and we bade farewell to the Scott, Jim and Marcelo. The ride out to Tandayapa was to be about an hour and 45 minutes, we barely saw a bird the whole way.

Ascending the lousy road to the Tandayapa car park we were offered a choice of foot propelled route to the lodge, the ramp or the stairs. If you go, and you really should, take the stairs, we took the ramp and arrived breathless at the very smart lodge.

Taking almost three minutes to dump the bags in the room we repaired to the balcony and were immediately wowed by what Scott had described as the best hummingbird spectacle in the World, he is 100% right. Sipping coffee on the sun speckled deck we soon recorded 15 species of hummingbird, most of them new. Its great fun to watch the tiny Purple-throated Woodstars whack the bigger nectar slurpers to claim a feeding slot. Take a look at the previous post for a short video clip.

Over the next few days we birded the trails, hide and decks and saw some of the regulars such as Immaculate Antbird and Masked Trogon going about their daily routine. The trails were not easy birding but we did manage to see a feeding flock high up on the Toucan Trail and spent ages getting views of a skulking singer on the Potoo Trail eventually identifying the mystery at Bronze-olive Pygmy-Tyrant. We enjoyed excellent meals and met birders from Venezuela who were also enjoying the delights of Ecuador. Later John from the Amazon (sounds like a sort of Tarzan figure but then you should have seen him charging through the brush for the Hairy-crested Antbird) arrived at the lodge for the second part of his trip and we enjoyed a beer and swapped stories, it made for a great finale to our Ecuadorian escapade.

Tandayapa is the place to base yourself to bird the west slope, we have it on our radar for a return visit, we still need to see Toucan Barbet after all.

Below a few photos. Our day out on the western slope will feature in the next post with the final Ecuador post saved for scenery and a few animal shots.














































Violet-tailed Sylph, a superb hummingbird.






















Western Emerald, a zippy little hummer and not shy.





















Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, one of the bruisers apt to give all the other nectar customers a hard time.






















Andean Emerald, a very classy little bird.





















Purple-bibbed Whitetip showing both.




















Brown Violet-ear, not so flashy as the others but with subtle beauty.























Green Violet-ear, you see its basically green with this violet ear.



















Sparkling Violet-ear, the sports version of the violet ears.
























Buff-tailed Coronet, very fluffy.






















Fawn-breasted Brilliant, a nice hummer.



















Purple-throated Woodstar, the all action super agressive midget.













Booted Racket-tail, a real star in its snow boots.










































Wanna fight?


















Tropical Parula a colouful gem.


















Blue-winged Mountain Tanager, a spanking big tanager.



















Spotted Barbtail in a hurry as usual.




















Crimson-rumped Toucanet, go on show us your rump.



















Golden-crowned Flycatcher, a light attracted insect opportunist.



















Immaculate Antbird, very immaculate indeed.
















Golden-naped Tanager, one of the bright lights of the canopy.
























Masked Trogon, a patient slow motion moth snaffler.
























Streak-headed Woodcreeper, one of the easier to ID brown tree huggers.

Ecuador Video clips.

Below a few clips from our recent Ecuador trip. If your computer is steam driven you won't be able to view them, sorry.

The sequence is paddling out at Sacha towards the lodge.

Parrot licks

Tandayapa Hummingbird feeders.

Enjoy.

Amazonian birding

29-Nov to 5-Dec 2007

The continuing Ecuaudor vacation

After leaving Guacamayos Ridge we took the road out east towards our evening destination, Casa del Suizo lodge on the River Napo. En-route we did a few birding stops, the most spectacular being on the Loreto Road. We birded the first 2km or so finding a substantial feeding flock that kept us active until a sudden sharp shower forced us to cover. In the space of about 45 minutes around 25 species were seen, most of them new.

Our itinerary meant that we needed to push on and we bumped through this poorer part of Ecuador noting the change in birds from the foothill glamour pusses to the lowland ‘trash’ species such as Smooth-billed Ani and Ruddy Ground-Dove. Arriving on the river bank we bade farewell to the trusty van. Luis would be over-nighting with us before returning to Quito without, as he cheerfully said, stopping all of the time. We boarded the slim craft and sped down the river. Suddenly we were being passed by flocks of birds, Sand-coloured Nighthawks with a total of c350 in numerous loose groups. This was ticks all around time, even for Scott. Later enquiries revealed that this species is not seen to frequently, serendipity was with us again.

Casa del Suizo is quite swish, set high on the banks of the river with a luxury pool and pleasant bar/restaurant. Light faded fast and we soon settled down to a meal, the daily bird log and then some welcome sleep. I arranged with Scott to take advantage of the first hour of daylight birding a local marsh, weather permitting.

Rain overnight relented and a couple of Ladder-tailed Nightjars flirting around the chalet roofs were new. We walked through the sleepy village and tried to tempt the Rufous-sided Crakes that inhabit a damp field to show, no joy though but I was able to add the species to my moving grass list. After breakfast it was time to board the boat for the lengthy trip downstream and we (actually I) settled back in the newly installed deck chairs for the fairground ride offered by the narrow boat and the high seating position. Sandra was not keen on this and after birding one of the islands, and seeing Parker’s Spinetail well, we altered the arrangement to Sandra’s relief.

Birding from the boat was fairly relaxed and we passed Cocoi Herons, Swallow-winged Puffbirds and small bands of hirundines as we made our way to Coca. In Coca we awaited the arrival of the rest of the transferees by entertaining ourselves with a few nice birds and some interesting refugee animals. In Coca we enjoyed refreshments and were introduced to our new group member John, another Californian but from the sunny end and Marcelo, our Sacha guide and legendary demon birder. Pablo, our native guide also joined us, the team were ready to go.

We sped downriver for a couple of hours and eased into the Sacha Lodge moorings ready to do some true Amazon birding. We paused on the dock waiting for the non-birding tourists to go away and commenced the first of several trips down the boardwalk picking up new species as we went.

Here is not really the time to go into too much detail about the birds seen during our stay at Sacha, my trip report will do then when written. Needless to say, Sacha was everything it says it is and the birding, although hard work at times and pretty intense, was very rewarding.

Sacha Lodge is reached by water only. Once the boardwalk has been traversed you climb into a narrow canoe and are paddled down a creek and across a lake. This is very atmospheric, especially when lightening is flashing across the sky and the heavens open as happened on one such crossing., it is also a pleasant way to bird and we utilised the canoes on several occasions to good effect. The lodge hoves into view once the creek is cleared and the jungle experience truly begins.

Our time at Sacha included a trip to suicide towers, the 50m high walkway strung between three gantries guaranteed to produce brown trousers in those, like me, who don’t like heights. There is also a wooden tower which is wrapped around a sturdy Kapok tree. At ‘only’ 40m I ventured up it and, while it may not be quite brown trouser time, I was definitely touching cloth.

Our schedule also included birding the river islands for the specialties found there and the terra firma forest on the south shore. The north shore and flooded forest or varzea hold different species and we covered both. We also visited two parrot licks, banks where several species of parrot come to ingest clay, an antidote for the poisonous fruit they sometimes eat.

I like to think we birded hard, we never shirked a challenge, plunging off trail in pursuit of antthrushes and manakins when Marcelo led and trying so very hard for some of the night birds. Our last night was spent plunging through undergrowth as a Crested Owl led us a merry dance in pitch black. How dangerous this may have been I neither know or care, we tried but failed although the scuttling Scorpions seen in the torch beams as we made our way back for dinner were good entertainment.

Sacha was a fabulous experience, we would go back tomorrow without a blink and perhaps a few years hence we will. We left still seeing new species and left steamy Coca for the swift flight over the High Andes. Our trip still had legs, next stop Tandayapa.


Now a few photos. The jungle is pretty dark so not much photograph took place. A later post will have views and clips from the parrot licks.





















Punk rocker bird, a Mottled Elaenia at Casa del Suizo






















Brown-chested Martin, enjoying a hot flagpole in Coca.

















Pied Plover, the Neoptropical equivalent of Egyptian Plover.

















Hoatzin, as seen earlier. Common around the lagoon at Sacha, their curious spitting, hissing and grunting calls give them away, also the fact that they move through the vegetation like a grand piano helps to locate them.

















From the boardwalk, a Great Potoo. We saw it on the way in along with Common Potoo, a sort of welcoming committee.


















King Vulture, always looking for a free meal.



















Brown Nunbird, a good bird of the forests that is brown but looks nothing like a Nun.





















Double-toothed Kite. This immature entertained us for a while as it inexpertly fell from its perch.




















Orange-crowned Manakin, looks nothing like a manakin.




















Purplish Jacamar, patiently waiting for a meal.




















Ladder-tailed Nightjar, nap time by the river.
















Parrot lick view, the licks were spectacular, go see for yourself.




















Hairy-crested Antbird, lousy picture I know but just look at that eye.
























You looking at me? A Boat-billed Heron enjoys a grandstand view while we were creek birding.





















White-necked Puffbird looking down from his lofty perch.

















Green & Rufous Kingfisher. The two small kingfishers (the other is American Pygmy) have long been on my want to see list, we got them both.
























Two special herons were possible at Sacha. Zigzag eluded us, Agami didn't. Taken from a moving boat in the dark!



















Yellow-browed Antbird, looks more like a warbler.




















Black-fronted Nunbird, common around Sacha.





















Spectacled Owl peeping out of its nest site atop a palm.

















Smooth-billed Ani, a trash bird but who cares?