2008 Tour Narrative
In Brief: Our tour to Cabañas San Isidro marked the fourth year in a row that we’ve visited this lovely lodge, which has become famous for its excellent food and even better birding! Located in the eastern Andes at nearly 7,000 feet, overlooking the Guacamayo Ridge, the setting is stunning. This tour is an excellent introduction to Andean birding, with a wonderful diversity of fancy tanagers and incredible hummingbirds. A one-day foray to the lower elevations along the Loreto Road adds a number of foothill and Amazonian species to the tour list. Our total exceeded 250 species for the week.
In Detail: We began the tour with a visit to beautiful Antisana. The road climbs up above the treeline on the slopes of Antisana Volcano, where we had a fantastic day seeing virtually all of the specialties possible. Perhaps the best bird was an Andean Condor that circled close, allowing us excellent views of this stunning vulture! Another favorite was the pair of Aplomado Falcons sitting among the cushion plants. We found a nice flock of some 15 Black-faced Ibis, a species now very rare in Ecuador. Add to that great birds such as Andean Gull, Silvery Grebe, Andean Lapwing, Giant Hummingbird, Ecuadorian Hillstar, Streak-backed and Many-striped Canasteros, Stout-billed and Bar-winged Cinclodes, Paramo Pipit, Sedge Wren, and Plumbeous Sierra-Finch.
We then continued to Papallacta Pass in search of Rufous-bellied Seedsnipes. Unfortunately the weather was not conducive, and the seedsnipe would have to wait until the next day, but we did find some nice high-elevation species such as Red-rumped Bush-Tyrant and Andean Tit-Spinetail. We finished the day with hummingbirds at Guango Lodge, including Tourmaline Sunangel, Sword-billed Hummingbird, and White-bellied Woodstar.
Before heading down to San Isidro, we returned to Papallacta where we successfully found the seedsnipe—much to the glee of the group! In the Polylepis forest we located a few highland species such as White-chinned Thistletail and Pale-naped Brush-Finch. On the way to San Isidro we ran into a few mixed-species flocks with such stunning birds as Saffron-crowned Tanager and Blue-winged Mountain-Tanager. We arrived in the late afternoon to the very comfortable Cabañas San Isidro, our base for the next five days.
Birding on the grounds at San Isidro and along the road just above the lodge is an excellent introduction to subtropical Andean birding. We also visited the nearby Guacamayo Ridge, as well as the Rio Bermejo and Borja roads. Mixed-species flocks rule the day in the Andes, and tanagers dominate these flocks. It is always fun seeing lots of fancy tanagers such as Flame-faced, Saffron-crowned, Blue-necked, Black-capped, and Golden-naped, and add to that lots of flycatchers, including White-tailed Tyrannulet and Rufous-breasted Flycatcher, and other tropical beauties like Black-billed Peppershrike, Scarlet-rumped Cacique, and Inca Jay: the general birding around the lodge is great! In the early morning, birds flock to a few streetlights right on the grounds of the lodge, with stunning birds such as Masked Trogon and Highland Motmot loafing around eating moths. A visit to the Guacamayo Ridge yielded excellent views of Black-billed Mountain-Toucan and Hooded Mountain-Tanager, and a trip up the Rio Bermejo Road found a large flock of White-capped Tanagers. A trek down the forested trails right at the lodge resulted in excellent views of a male Andean Cock-of-the-rock and Golden-headed Quetzal.
We spent a full day at lower elevations along the Loreto Road for a nice introduction to tropical Amazonian and foothill species. This is always a bird-filled day, and our highlights were many. Some of the more spectacular birds we found included Golden-collared Toucanet, Red-headed Barbet, Lined Antshrike, Golden-winged Tody-Flycatcher, a surprising Large-headed Flatbill, Lemon-browed Flycatcher, White-bearded Manakin, Olivaceous Greenlet, Thrushlike Wren, Chestnut-vented Conebill, Bronze-green Euphonia, and Paradise, Green-and-Gold, Bay-headed, Spotted and Blue-necked Tanagers. Our day of birding yielded more than 100 species, most of them new for the tour.
On the last day we wandered around the beautiful forest trails on the grounds of San Isidro, finding the diminutive Bronze-olive Pygmy-Tyrant, a very vocal Rufous-vented Tapaculo, and Golden-headed and Crested Quetzals. We had even better views of a male Crested Quetzal on our last foray along the road near the lodge. The forest at San Isidro is really beautiful, and just strolling along the trails or the road makes one appreciate how important saving the tropical forests is! We had one more gourmet lunch and headed back to Quito, with a brief stop at Papallacta Pass (in a hailstorm!), before enjoying a farewell dinner at our hotel.
Gary Rosenberg
Updated: March 2008