Jun 5th - the last day - Antisana in the high Andes
June 5th - our last day - high Andes around Antisana, then adios amigos!!
We had an excellent breakfast at Carlos' house this morning and it must have been quite early. The idea was that apart from Anne & myself whose flight was not until nearly midnight, Bob & Linda's, Elen's and Michael Miles' baggage was loaded on to the bus so that the bus could go straight to the airport once we had finished our visit to the mountains. We had a new driver, a tiny little man who despite his size was a much more "put your foot down and let's get there" kind of a guy, compared to our previous chauffeur, which was at times a little disconcerting on some of the roads we negotiated! The first stop was at a restaurant which had a couple of feeders and was located on a hillside, below which was a fairly deep ravine with a river flowing through, and on the other side of the ravine, a long very impressive vertical cliff. This is an area where Andean Condors frequent, and after some scanning Juan Carlos soon had us looking at a bird perched on a ledge on the cliff, albeit quite distant. Soon after this we had a couple of birds drifting along above the ridge. The feeders were frustratingly on the wrong side of the restaurant from where we were standing and could only be viewed rather restrictedly though the branches of a bush. There were a couple of Shining Sunbeam hummers feeding there, and then a male Black-tailed Trainbearer showed up, sporting its incredibly long tail, plus a Black Flowerpiercer. Also showing very well on exposed perches below the building, was a Giant Hummingbird. After a short while we set off down the slope from the restaurant, to a viewing platform directly above the ravine. There were lots of Great Thrushes hopping around in the adjacent fields. Here we had slightly closer views of the Condors, and then looking down onto the edges of the river below we picked out 2 Andean Gulls, 1 Andean Coot, 10 Andean Teal, 6 Yellow-billed Pintail, and rather surprisingly, a Muskovy Duck. There were several Plain-coloured Seedeaters in the hedges and a Grasswren was heard. We then trudged back up the slope, which is when the altitude became noticeable - I was pretty puffed when I got back to the bus! We had met Alec & co here, who had by now set off on their independent 'extension' trip.
Well satisfied by a good start we set off again, gaining more height and after a while, stopped in a small vegetated valley with a stream running through. Some of the vegetation here was reminiscent to me, of the Fynbos of South Africa. We spent some time here scanning the bushes and the stream. An excellent find here was a Tawny Antpitta skulking around by the edge of the stream. Just across the stream, on a grassy 'island' there was a Chestnut-winged Cinclodes, and then right next to there in some flowering bushes, Andy found another excellent bird, in fact 2 - Ecuadorian Hillstar - a specialist hummer of the higher altitudes. Other goodies here were Andean Tit-spinetail, Tufted Tit-tyrant, and Brown-backed Chat-tyrant.
Onwards again, and we then emerged onto the higher 'paramo' plains high in the mountains, with a wonderful view of the snow covered peak of Volcan Antisana [see the header photo]. Now it was a question of careful scanning from the bus as we slowly drove along. Pretty soon a shout went up and there, not far from the road, were two Carunculated Caracaras - what a name! We found somewhere to park up, and began scanning the vast expanse of grassy plain. Several Andean Lapwings were soon found stalking around amongst the tussocks, and then another Cinclodes species - this time about 6 Stout-billed Cinclodes. More searching turned up Plumbeous Sierra Finch and Cinerous Conebill, and then Andy picked up the call of a pipit - it could only be Paramo Pipit. Soon we saw a fly-over bird and watched as it dropped down into the rather long grass. Stalking back and forth for some time soon rewarded us with reasonable views. A Black-chested Buzzard-eagle was seen at some point, although this may have been farther back down the road. We drove on a little farther and then a shout went up again and a group of Andean Ibises were seen to fly by. They apparently landed out of sight over a ridge, so we drove on a little more and then a couple were spotted way out in the grass. We disembarked and Andy & I stalked them very carefully and eventually got some really nice photos of these impressive looking birds. Some authorities still consider this to be a subspecies of Black-faced Ibis. Time was marching on and we had a lunch appointment at the restaurant by the Condor site, so we set off, fully satisfied with a great morning's birding, especially as it was an unexpected 'extra'. Some pix below - more on the gallery pages.
Back at the restaurant we had a very nice lunch, and then it was time to make our way back to Quito so that the earlier flights could be caught. Very kindly, Juan Carlos' wife had agreed to meet the bus at a rendezvous so that Anne & I could be taken back to their house, whilst the others carried on to the airport. We said our goodbyes to Andy, Bob & Linda, Elen and Michael, and then headed back to Casa Jardin. I had another stroll in the garden and saw a few Eared Doves, another Golden Grosbeak, a male Saffron Finch and a male Vermillion Flycatcher. We had time to have a sleep and complete our packing, and then Juan Carlos' son let me use their WiFi to check in [and his mum-in-law kindly made me a cup of tea!]. Finally Juan Carlos took us two to the airport in his car to catch our 11:55 p.m. flight to Atlanta, and we bade farewell and expressed thanks for their lovely hospitality and a superb 4 days in mainland Ecuador. We were not looking forward to the 11 hours stop-over in Atlanta...........
So, all-in-all an absolutely fabulous trip all round with a great group of folk who gelled well, great leaders and good company all round. My personal tally was 316 species, with 169 lifers for the whole trip, and 67 species during the Galapagos cruise with 40 lifers there.
We had an excellent breakfast at Carlos' house this morning and it must have been quite early. The idea was that apart from Anne & myself whose flight was not until nearly midnight, Bob & Linda's, Elen's and Michael Miles' baggage was loaded on to the bus so that the bus could go straight to the airport once we had finished our visit to the mountains. We had a new driver, a tiny little man who despite his size was a much more "put your foot down and let's get there" kind of a guy, compared to our previous chauffeur, which was at times a little disconcerting on some of the roads we negotiated! The first stop was at a restaurant which had a couple of feeders and was located on a hillside, below which was a fairly deep ravine with a river flowing through, and on the other side of the ravine, a long very impressive vertical cliff. This is an area where Andean Condors frequent, and after some scanning Juan Carlos soon had us looking at a bird perched on a ledge on the cliff, albeit quite distant. Soon after this we had a couple of birds drifting along above the ridge. The feeders were frustratingly on the wrong side of the restaurant from where we were standing and could only be viewed rather restrictedly though the branches of a bush. There were a couple of Shining Sunbeam hummers feeding there, and then a male Black-tailed Trainbearer showed up, sporting its incredibly long tail, plus a Black Flowerpiercer. Also showing very well on exposed perches below the building, was a Giant Hummingbird. After a short while we set off down the slope from the restaurant, to a viewing platform directly above the ravine. There were lots of Great Thrushes hopping around in the adjacent fields. Here we had slightly closer views of the Condors, and then looking down onto the edges of the river below we picked out 2 Andean Gulls, 1 Andean Coot, 10 Andean Teal, 6 Yellow-billed Pintail, and rather surprisingly, a Muskovy Duck. There were several Plain-coloured Seedeaters in the hedges and a Grasswren was heard. We then trudged back up the slope, which is when the altitude became noticeable - I was pretty puffed when I got back to the bus! We had met Alec & co here, who had by now set off on their independent 'extension' trip.
Well satisfied by a good start we set off again, gaining more height and after a while, stopped in a small vegetated valley with a stream running through. Some of the vegetation here was reminiscent to me, of the Fynbos of South Africa. We spent some time here scanning the bushes and the stream. An excellent find here was a Tawny Antpitta skulking around by the edge of the stream. Just across the stream, on a grassy 'island' there was a Chestnut-winged Cinclodes, and then right next to there in some flowering bushes, Andy found another excellent bird, in fact 2 - Ecuadorian Hillstar - a specialist hummer of the higher altitudes. Other goodies here were Andean Tit-spinetail, Tufted Tit-tyrant, and Brown-backed Chat-tyrant.
Onwards again, and we then emerged onto the higher 'paramo' plains high in the mountains, with a wonderful view of the snow covered peak of Volcan Antisana [see the header photo]. Now it was a question of careful scanning from the bus as we slowly drove along. Pretty soon a shout went up and there, not far from the road, were two Carunculated Caracaras - what a name! We found somewhere to park up, and began scanning the vast expanse of grassy plain. Several Andean Lapwings were soon found stalking around amongst the tussocks, and then another Cinclodes species - this time about 6 Stout-billed Cinclodes. More searching turned up Plumbeous Sierra Finch and Cinerous Conebill, and then Andy picked up the call of a pipit - it could only be Paramo Pipit. Soon we saw a fly-over bird and watched as it dropped down into the rather long grass. Stalking back and forth for some time soon rewarded us with reasonable views. A Black-chested Buzzard-eagle was seen at some point, although this may have been farther back down the road. We drove on a little farther and then a shout went up again and a group of Andean Ibises were seen to fly by. They apparently landed out of sight over a ridge, so we drove on a little more and then a couple were spotted way out in the grass. We disembarked and Andy & I stalked them very carefully and eventually got some really nice photos of these impressive looking birds. Some authorities still consider this to be a subspecies of Black-faced Ibis. Time was marching on and we had a lunch appointment at the restaurant by the Condor site, so we set off, fully satisfied with a great morning's birding, especially as it was an unexpected 'extra'. Some pix below - more on the gallery pages.
Back at the restaurant we had a very nice lunch, and then it was time to make our way back to Quito so that the earlier flights could be caught. Very kindly, Juan Carlos' wife had agreed to meet the bus at a rendezvous so that Anne & I could be taken back to their house, whilst the others carried on to the airport. We said our goodbyes to Andy, Bob & Linda, Elen and Michael, and then headed back to Casa Jardin. I had another stroll in the garden and saw a few Eared Doves, another Golden Grosbeak, a male Saffron Finch and a male Vermillion Flycatcher. We had time to have a sleep and complete our packing, and then Juan Carlos' son let me use their WiFi to check in [and his mum-in-law kindly made me a cup of tea!]. Finally Juan Carlos took us two to the airport in his car to catch our 11:55 p.m. flight to Atlanta, and we bade farewell and expressed thanks for their lovely hospitality and a superb 4 days in mainland Ecuador. We were not looking forward to the 11 hours stop-over in Atlanta...........
So, all-in-all an absolutely fabulous trip all round with a great group of folk who gelled well, great leaders and good company all round. My personal tally was 316 species, with 169 lifers for the whole trip, and 67 species during the Galapagos cruise with 40 lifers there.