10 - 20 August 1998

by Mark E.  Mulhollam

ITINERARY

August 10 : Arrival in Quito from Minneapolis, Minnesota
August 11 : Papallacta Pass a.m., Yanacocha p.m.
August 12 : Drive to Bellavista
August 13 : Bellavista a.m., to Mindo p.m.
August 14 : Yellow House trail a.m., Silanche p.m.
August 15 : Papallacta Pass a.m., to Baeza p.m.
August 16 : San Isidro road a.m., Cock-of-the-Rock trail p.m.
August 17 : Baeza to Sumaco
August 18 : Sumaco
August 19 : Sumaco a.m., Papallacta Pass p.m.
August 20 : Return to Minnesota

This trip was the third to Ecuador for Mark (your writer) and the first for Doug.  Sumaco and Silanche were the only new sites for Mark.  All ground arrangements were made by Robert Jonsson, a Swede living just outside Quito in Pifo with his wife and family at their homestead they call Friendship Heights.  The trip was very successful with great views of many special birds and generally good weather.  Unofficially, 371 spp.  were seen by at least one of us three with an additional 36 heard.  And there were two controversial birds to liven things up (Masked Mountain-tanager and Green Manakin/Broad-billed Sapayoa).  Food was excellent throughout.  Generally, I will note special birds seen within the daily accounts below, not all birds seen - I will also note a longer list after each day to give a flavor of the birds seen at each site.  All bird names are capitalized the first time they are mentioned except for the longer listings at the end of each day.  Comments or corrections are welcome.  If you want more details please contact Mark.

August 10

Arrival and transfer to Friendship Heights, Pijo (2700 m).  Robert and his wife Kristine Ivarsdotter own a nice place approximately a half hour from the airport.  They have a guest cottage with two separate rooms each with their own fireplace.  The food was excellent at their family table and the kids were a scream.

August 11

 Plans were to go to Papallacta Pass (PP) in the morning and to Yanacocha in the afternoon.  All meals at Friendship Heights (FH) this day.  Mark's first bird of the trip : STREAK-THROATED BUSH-TYRANT.  Also seen at FH before leaving were BLACK-BILLED SHRIKE TYRANT, BLACK-TAILED TRAINBEARER, TUFTED TIT-TYRANT and VERMILLION FLYCATCHER.  PP was cold (~40 degrees), misty and windy, good looks at ANDEAN TIT-SPINETAIL on road to antennae (4300 m), juvenile ANDEAN CONDOR below PP, also below PP: CRIMSON-MANTLED WOODPECKER (Hilty's plate doesn't do justice to this incredible bird), HOODED, BUFF-BREASTED and SCARLET-BELLIED MOUNTIN-TANAGERS in the first flock of the day.  Scarlet-bellied's would be seen repeatedly throughout the trip.  GIANT HUMMINGBIRD doing its tern imitation on the hillside.  RED-RUMPED BUSH-TYRANT.  Wonderful looks at a little CROWNED CHAT-TYRANT just beyond the town of Papallacta.  Decent looks at SWORD-BILLED HUMMER in Papallacta itself (~4000 m).  We birded a few places on either side of the pass itself, other birds seen include:
 

Scaly Ground-dove (FH)	Shining Sunbeam
Buff-winged Starfrontlet	Viridian Metaltail
Tyrian Metaltail	Blue-mantled Thornbill
Tawny Antpitta	Tawny-rumped Tyrannulet
White-crested Elaenia	White-throated Tyrannulet
Rufous-breasted Chat-tyrant	Rufous Wren
Cinerous Conebill (FH)	Blue-and-yellow Tanager
Black Flower-piercer	Hooded Siskin
Ash-breasted Sierra-Finch (FH)	Band-tailed Seedeater
Plain-colored Seedeater (FH)	Paramo Seedeater
Rufous-naped Brush-Finch	-

We went to Yanacocha in the afternoon, unfortunately the weather was warm and sunny so we saw few birds. Yanacocha (~3450 m) is known for its Pufflegs. We went as far as the tunnel. Birds seen at Yanacocha include:
 

White-rumped Hawk (with a Streak-throated Bush-tyrant in its talons!)
Red-backed Hawk	Mountain Velvetbreast
Sapphire-vented Puffleg	Golden-breasted Puffleg
White-banded Tyrannulet	Scarlet-bellied Mountain-tanager
Brown-backed Chat-tyrant	Smoky Bush-tyrant
Rufous Wren	Blue-backed Conebill
Glossy Flower-piercer	-

Night at Friendship Heights.

August 12, 1996 : Drive to Bellavista (2200 m)

Mostly via the "new" road - the old road is reportedly impassable at places. Arrival at B @ 1:30. Acros the street from small restaurant near turnoff to Nono from main road saw many birds, including : GOLDEN, BRIGHT-RUMPED AND FAWN-BREASTED TANAGERS, CRIMSON-RUMPED TOUCANET and BROWN INCA. Further up this road a SCALED FRUITEATER was seen. Bellavista had lost our reservations but fortunately some large group hadn't shown up. After arrival at B had excellent looks at YELLOW-BELLIED CHAT-TYRANTS (many), Golden, BERYL-SPANGLED, GOLDEN-NAPED, GRASS-GREEN TANAGERS. One poor look at METALLIC-GREEN TANAGER. Very good looks at BARRED BECARD, CINNAMON FLYCATCHER (nesting on bedroom balcony), Crimson-mantled WP, STREAKED TUFTEDCHEEK, BLUE-WINGED MTN-TANAGERS and one PLATE-BILLED MTN-TOUCAN. Toucan Barbets were heard this afternoon but not seen. A COMMON POTOO was spotlighted while looking for Swallow-tailed Nightjars (no luck). Other birds seen this day include:
 

Barred Parakeet	Red-billed Parrot
Squirrel Cuckoo	Rufous-bellied Nighthawk
Tawny-bellied Hermit	Green Violet-ear
Sparkling Violet-ear	Green-crowned Woodnymph
Fawn-breasted Brilliant	Collared Inca
Buff-tailed Coronet	Gorgeted Sunangel
Violet-tailed Slyph	Purple-throated Woodstar
Crested Quetzal (female)	Powerful Woodpecker
Spotted Barbtail	Pearled Treerunner
Scaly-throated Foliage-gleaner	Striped Treehunter
Green-and-black Fruiteater	Streak-necked Flycatcher
Flavescent Flycatcher	Golden-crowned Flycatcher
Turquoise Jay	Brown-capped Vireo
Tropical Parula	Capped Conebll
Blue-capped Tanager	White-sided Flower-piercer
Masked Flower-piercer	Yellow-bellied Seedeater
Black-winged Saltator	-

Night at Bellavista - marinade soup for dinner.

August 13, 1998 : Mark gets his YUMBO.

In the morning we birded the road above the lodge and the Heliconia trail. In one place and at the same time, we had great looks at TOUCAN BARBETS (3 or 4 individuals), SICKLE-WINGED GUAN (1 at eye level) and the ubiquitous TANAGER FINCH (this bird is my anti-nemesis, I've seen it three times - basically whenever I've been in habitat, without tapes). Oh, and still before breakfast we had great views of OCELLATED TAPACULO, Powerful WP, MASKED TROGON and Crested Quetzal (all along the Heliconia Trail) and Doug vented.

At breakfast at the lodge, we added FLAME-FACED, Golden, Golden-naped and Blue-winged Mtn-Tanagers to the daily list (all foraging at eye level and below in the sun). We also heard White-faced Nunbird along the Heliconia Trail. After breakfast we headed towards Mindo back along the same road and saw more Green-and-black Fruiteaters and had so-so looks at YELLOW-BREASTED ANTPITTA. Closer to Mindo we had lots of rain but also BAY WREN, SWALLOW-TANAGER, BLUE-NECKED TANAGER, Fawn-breasted Tanager (much more iridescent than shown in Hilty),COMMON TODY-FLYCATCHER, RED-FACED SPINETAIL and Pearled Treerunner. We stayed the night at the Hotel Bijau in Mindo and had lunch and dinner there as well. The trout was excellent, as were the figs and cheese in honey sauce. Other birds seen this day in the Bellavista/Mindo area and not already noted for previous day include:
 

Bronze-winged Parrot (perched)	Smooth-billed Ani
Chestnut-collared Swift	Rufous-tailed Hummingbird
Speckled Hummingbird	Golden-olive Woodpecker
Azara's Spinetail	Slaty Spinetail
Rufous Spinetail	Red-faced Spinetail
Pacific Hornero	Slaty-capped Flycatcher
Golden-faced Tyrannulet	Yellow Tyrannulet
Marble-faced Bristle-Tyrant	Bran-colored Flycatcher
Black Phoebe	Rusty-margined Flycatcher
Sepia-brown Wren	Three-striped Warbler
Dusky Bush-Tanager	Black-eared Hemispingus
Thick-billed Euphonia	Bay-headed Tanager
Metallic-green Tanager	Orange-billed Sparrow
Tricolored Brush-Finch	Buff-throated Saltator
Black-winged Saltator	-

August 14: Quetzal and nature call at same time

The trail beyond the yellow house in the a.m.; Mindo road (1250 m); Los Bancos and Silanche p.m.

First real birds of the a.m. were PALE-MANDIBLED ARICARIS, closely follwed by such as STRONG-BILLED WOODCREEPER, ANDEAN COCK-OF-THE-ROCKS (2 or 3 at an apparent small lek, another in the forest by me while the others looked at BARRED FOREST-FALCON), RUFOUS-BREASTED ANTTHRUSH, RED-HEADED BARBET, ESMERELDAS ANBIRD, CHOCO TOUCAN, TAWNY-CRESTED TANAGER, EMPRESS BRILLIANT, PACIFIC-STREAKED ANTWREN (an almost whitish bird with fine black streakings). And perhaps my trip highlight, a COMMON POTOO I found in the daytime. I've seen many at dusk the usual way, but never a daytime find. It was doing exactly as shown in Hilty, with head upstretched - a vertical bump along a horizontal branch. It slowly, slowly swiveled its head to look in our direction. The fun part was saying to Doug and Robert while they were looking elsewhere (probably at some dusky tyrannulet) "You'll never guess what I am looking at - [pause, pause] - a Potoo!". I would have strung them out a bit, but if it would've flown I would have felt bad, of course, the odds of it flying were about nil. I forgot to mark the trail so we could look again on the way down.

Doug and Robert got excellent looks at GOLDEN-HEADED QUETZAL while Mark attended to the remnants of the morning's coffee. Mark got only "brief" looks.

Not bad for the a.m. highlights, so we tried for and got MOSS-BACKED TANAGER! at a tree Robert knew near Los Bancos (1000 m). Silanche in the afternoon was very birdy and well worth spending two or more days at rather than the one afternoon we had. This spot was about 45 minutes from Mindo and about two hours from Quito. Its elevation is 400 m. The bird list includes such gems as SILVER-THROATED and RUFOUS-WINGED TANAGERS, ROSE-FACED PARROT (perched), RED-CAPPED and WHITE-BEARDED MANAKINS and as we were leaving, the Choco endemic ORANGE-FRONTED BARBET.

Also our first difficult bird: Robert and I saw, very close, a bird I first called a female manakin because it was that shaped, I thought, and all olive-green with no other distinguishing marks other than light buffy feather edges on the wings, but it was definitely large for a manakin. I would be happy to call it a GREEN MANAKIN but Robert thought it was too large and had the wrong posture and shape and much prefers to call it BROAD-BILLED SAPAYOA . Further research seems to indicate that the feather edgings point toward the Sapayoa, as does the "apparent" absence of a contrasting lighter belly. I would welcome any coments, especially about the buffy feather edges. Other birds seen this day (M=Mindo, S=Silanche) include:
 

Ruddy Pigeon (M)	Dusky Pigeon (S)
Pallid Dove (M)	Maroon-tailed Parakeet (S)
Red-billed Parrot (M)	Bronze-winged Parrot (M)
Striped Cuckoo - heard only	Band-tailed Barbthroat (M)
Green-fronted Lancebill (M)	Green Thorntail (M)
Andean Emerald (M)	Brown Inca (M)
Stripe-throated Hermit (S)	Barred Puffbird (heard M)
Crimson-rumped Toucanet (M)	Chestnut-mandibled Toucan (heard S)
Smoky-brown WP (M)	Choco WP (S)
Spotted Woodcreeper (M)	Lineated Foliage-gleaner (M)
Buff-thrpated Foliage-gleaner (M)	Great Antshrike (heard S)
Russet Antshrike (M)	Slaty Antwren (M)
Dot-winged Antwren (S)	Western Slaty Antshrike (heard M)
Rufous-rumped Antwren (where?)	Black-headed Antthrush (S)
Barred Becard (M)	Cinnamon Becard (M)
Black-and-white Becard (M)	Masked Tityra (M)
Ornate Flycatcher (M - reminds me of a manakin)
Masked Water-tyrant (M - at the yellow house)
Streaked Flycatcher (S)	Whiskered Wren (M)
Bay Wren (M)	Ecuadorian Thrush (M)
Lesser Greenlet (S)	Olive-crowned Yellowthroat (M)
Yellow-throated Bush-tanager (M)	White-shouldered Tanager (S)
Rufous-throated Tanager (M)	Golden-hooded Tanager (S)
Blue-necked Tanager (M)	Scarlet-thighed Dacnis (S)
Green Honeycreeper (S)	Purple Honeycreeper (S)
Yellow-tufted Dacnis (M)	Variable Seedeater (M)
Blue-black Grassquit (S)	-

Lunch at Hotel Bijao (trucha frita); night at Friendship Heights.

August 15 : Mark sees a ghost.

Once again we stopped at Papallacta Pass (PP) because the weather was so bad the first time and we saw few birds. This time the weather was clear (very nice views of Antisana) but very windy and cold. Thus no seedsnipes, thistletails or Giant Conebills. But we did see Many-striped Canastero better this time, Andean Tit-spinetail again and GRASS WREN. We also saw SILVERY GREBE and ANDEAN DUCK at the Conebill spot but from very far. After trying briefly for Sword-billeds again in Papallacta (I get greedy), we stopped at several places on the way to Baeza (1900 m), our destination for the night. At one stop where Robert has had Rainbow-bearded Thornbill, we had GOLDEN-CROWNED TANAGER - a pair furtively foraging in thick scrub. Anything on plate 50 is a joy. At another stop we had what may have been the looks of the trip - LONG-TAILED SLYPH. Not an uncommon bird, but this guy was at eye level in the sun, perching at all angles and hovering at flowers also in the sun. This is simply an incredible bird. We also saw Mountain Velvetbreast at this place.

At another stop, in hillside, streamside, bamboo we had good looks at the SLATY-BACKED CHAT-TYRANT, which completed the possible chat-tyrants, one of my favorite groups. We tried hard for Torrent Ducks (Pato Torrentera) and White-capped Dippers at most of the river crossings but with no luck. Other stops at various altitudes produced PALE-NAPED BRUSH-FINCH and SLATY BRUSH-FINCH in the same flock, Hooded and LACRIMOSE Mtn-TANAGERS, GREEN JAYS (with an almost white top of head here), STREAKED XENOPS, EMERALD TOUCANET, WHITE-CAPPED PARROT, and WHITE-THROATED HAWK. The ghost Mark saw was a "possible?" MASKED MOUNTAIN-TANAGER far below typical altitude. Of course, Mark was the only one who saw this bird - Doug and Mark were trying to describe the position of two different birds to Robert at the same time so confusion reigned.

The altitude was ~2275 m. (I know) and the bird was with MOUNTAIN CACIQUES, Green Jays, and Turquoise Jays. The light was good, the bird was fully exposed for a reasonable length of time and I called out the description as I was looking at the bird (I do this not only for others but it helps me to remember what I am saying). I called out a plump-type mountain-tanager (i.e., not the slimmer Blue-winged M-t shape), yellow on top of head (I meant from bill to neck), black in the face and green back. I immediately knew it was the other mountain-tanager on pl. 50 (I've looked at pl.50 once or twice) that I had never seen. From the field marks noted it seems as if it could be nothing else, but I did not get an impression of a disinctive yellow crown stripe and olive top of head as the plate and description suggests - I do not know how obvious this is. I would love to hear any comments on this bird you may have, as I said, I know this sighting is some 1000 m or more below typical range, but I am at a loss to ascribe anything else to such a distinctive bird. Oh well, another reason to go back. Other birds seen this day include:
 

Yellow-billed Pintail	Andean Condor (immature)
Puna Hawk	Mountain Avocetbill (Robert only)
Rufous Antpitta (heard)	Barred Becard
Green-and-black Fruiteater	Sierran Elaenia
Tropical Pewee	Rufous-breasted Chat-tyrant
Brown-backed Chat-tyrant	Plain-capped Ground-tyrant
Mountain Wren	Russet-backed Oropendola
Cinerous Conebill	-

White-capped Tanager (what is it doing down here? This was a very high flyby of a single bird identified by its vocalization. Fortunately, Mark was lucky enough to have seen a group of these quite well in one morning at San Isidro last time)
 

Scarlet-bellied Mountain-Tanager	Blue-winged Mountain-Tanager
Saffron-crowned Tanager	Golden-naped Tanager
Glossy Flower-piercer	Plumbeous Sierra-Finch

Night at Hotel San Rafael (not too noisy at all) Dinner at Restaurant Gina

August 16

San Isidro (2000 m) road a.m.; Cock-of-theRock trail p.m. We birded the road into San Isidro in the morning after breakfast at Restaurant Gina which opened at 5:00 a.m. This was an excellent morning of birding highlighted by Doug finding a very cooperative BLACK-BILLED MOUNTAIN-TOUCAN which foraged nearby for as longed as we wished. We also saw a splendid HIGHLAND MOTMOT (similar to the Blue-crowned and large), Crimson-mantled WP (I can't get over how beautiful this bird is, and common too), Streaked Tuftedcheek (long looks while it checked out mossy clumps), Streak-necked Flycatcher (another subtle but stunning bird that the plates can't do justice to), RUFOUS-CROWNED TODY-TYRANT, WHITE-CAPPED DIPPER, BLACK-BILLED PEPPERSHRIKE, SUBTROPICAL and Mountain CACIQUES, PLUSHCAP (seen by me while looking for another bird altogether - one of those put the binocs up expecting to see bird x but its bird y instead), and the tanager flocks included Saffron-crowned, Beryl-spanled, Blue-necked, Flame-faced, Blue-winged Mountain- and GOLDEN-EARED TANAGERS.

Feeling quite satisfied with the morning, and greedy, we decided to try for Rupicola rupicola again on the Cock-of-the-Rock trail (which has a lek near the river about 45 minutes straight walk from the cabins). Prior to starting the trail, the feeders near the main building drew Speckled, FAWN-BREASTED BRILLIANT, Bronzy Inca and Long-tailed Sylphs. We also saw an ANDEAN SOLITAIRE near here. Unfortunately, it rained most of the afternoon and the Gallito de las Penas never showed. Robert did see a male GOLDEN-COLLARED HONEYCREEPER along the trail, but Doug and I only saw a female or immature. Because of the rain, we did not try for Lyre-tailed Nightjars or Rufous-banded Owls at a spot Robert knows near Baeza. Other birds this day include:
 

White-capped Parrot	Collared Inca
Emerald Toucanet	Olive-backed Woodcreeper
Azara's Spinetail	Spotted Barbtail
Bicolored Antvireo (heard)	Barred Becard
Rufous-breasted Flycatcher	Ashy-headed Tyrannulet
White-tailed Tyrannulet	Sulphur-bellied Tyrannulet
Torrent Tyrannulet	Marble-faced Bristle-tyrant
Handsome Flycatcher	Pale-edged Flycatcher
Golden-crowned Flycatcher	Sepia-brown Wren
Mountain Wren	Gray-breasted Wood-wren
Glossy-black Thrush	Brown-capped Vireo
Russet-backed Oropendola	White-sided Flower-piercer
Bluish Flower-piercer	Masked Flower-piercer
Olivaceous Siskin	Yellow-browed Sparrow

August 17

This day we drove from Baeza to the INEFAN station. The early portion of this is along the Loreto road, the final two hours is along the Sumaco road. The INEFAN station is at 1100 meters and is poised below the Sumaco volcano. Small groups can stay at the station where they were very accommodating; you will need to bring your own food. Reservations may not be necessary, but can be made in Quito with INEFAN (about 50 people had signed the guest book in 1998, apparently only one group of six Swedes of whom were birders). The road along which we birded, above the station, extends for only a short way (~ 2 miles) to a little settlement, from which extends a trail up to the volcano itself, but it is at least a half-hour steady walk to good forest along this trail and perhaps more (we turned back at that point) and there is plenty to see along the road. A rough estimate puts the station about two hours from the turnoff from the Loreto road down a poor road.

Out of Baeza we first stopped at the Guacamayos ridge (SG, 2000 m) which has a few specialties of its own. Unfortunately, the weather was bad. Nevertheless, we managed to tape in SLATE-CROWNED ANTPITTA and WHITE-RIMMED BRUSH-FINCH. We also saw RUFOUS-HEADED PYGMY-TYRANT with its manakin-like wing snaps and Hooded Mtn-t. Below the ridge we made some stops which yielded a lifer for Robert, the OLIVACEOUS PIHA, this bird was actually close to the road and below eye-level, and a glimpse of a CHESTNUT-BELLIED THRUSH. The Piha is a beautiful olive, mossy-green, a perfect deep forest bird.

We headed for Sumaco, but were forced to overshoot the turnoff to get gas. The gas station east of Baeza is closed. So we made for lunch and gas at Archidona (only a half-hour too far). The fancy new lodge/restaurant (the Paradiso Hotel) is extravagant and of course we were the only people there. Doug had Tilapia. This extra trip did yield the first TURQUOISE TANAGERs of the trip, GREATER YELLOW-HEADED VULTURE, GREAT-BILLED HERMIT, BLACK-FACED DACNIS and GRAYISH SALTATOR. In Sumaco that afternoon, we had CHESTNUT-FRONTED MACAWS, LEMON-THROATED BARBETS (getting close to a Barbet sweep), THRUSH-LIKE WREN, BRONZE-GREEN EUPHONIA, ORANGE-EARED and PARADISE TANAGERS, and GOLDEN-EYED FLOWER-PIERCER. That evening, Robert taped in LINED FOREST-FALCON and a pair of BAND-BELLIED OWLS. These owls have an undulating duetting call. Other birds seen this day (all are Sumaco unless noted otherwise) include:
 

Little Tinamou (heard)	Squirrel Cuckoo
Smooth-billed Ani	Short-tailed Swift
Violet-headed Hummingbird	Fork-tailed Woodnymph
White-tailed Hillstar	Collared Inca (SG)
Black-streaked Puffbird (heard)	Red-headed Barbet
Highland Motmot (east of Baeza)	Crimson-mantled WP (east of Baeza)
Olivaceous Woodcreeper	Olive-backed Woodcreeper
Dark-breasted Spinetail (Archidona)	Rufous Spinetail (SG - heard)
Pearled Treerunner	Striped Treehunter (below SG)
Flammulated Treehunter (SG)	Lined Antshrike (heard)
Chestnut-crowned Antpitta (heard,SG)	Black-and-white Becard (somewhere)
Green-and-black Fruiteater (SG)	Streak-necked Flycatcher
Olive-striped Flycatcher	Rufous-breasted Flycatcher (close to Baeza)
Common Tody-flycatcher	Plumbeous-crowned Tyrannulet
Ashy-headed Tyrannulet	Golden-faced Tyrannulet
Ornate Flycatcher	Cinnamon Flycatcher
Cliff Flycatcher (below SG)	Smoke-colored Pewee (SG)
Black Phoebe (near Baeza)	Smoky Bush-tyrant (SG, 1900 m)
Lemon-browed Flycatcher (heard)	Social Flycatcher (Archidona)
Great Kiskadee (Archidona)	Spotted Nightingale-thrush (Robert only)
Black-billed Thrush	Olivaceous Greenlet
Bananaquit (Archidona)	Yellow-throated Bush-tanager (S)
Ashy-throated Bush-tanager (S)	Silver-beaked Tanager
Orange-bellied Euphonia	Golden Tanager
Saffron-crowned Tanager	Flame-faced tanager
Golden-naped Tanager	Blue-necked Tanager
Blue-and-black Tanager (SG, 1900 m)	Black-capped Tanager (SG, 1500 m)
Black-and-white Seedeater	Chestnut-bellied Seedeater

Night at the INEFAN station, no cold beer although Robert tried.

August 18 : Doug sees a phantom barbet.

Full day at INEFAN. Fairly sunny and hot all day but the birding was still quite good.

Highlights included RED SCYTHEBILL , FIERY-THROATED FRUITEATER!, WHITE-THROATED SPADEBILL, GREEN-AND-GOLD TANAGER, BLACK-SPOTTED BARBET (completing the barbet sweep), lots of good looks at Red-headed Barbet, ECUADORIAN PIED-TAIL, BLACK-EARED FAIRY, SPOTTED and YELLOW-BELLIED TANAGERS, a probable NAPO SABREWING, LAFRESNAYE'S PICULET, FOOTHILL ANTWREN, GRAY-MANTLED WREN, RUFOUS-NAPED GREENLET and tons of Golden, Blue-necked, Paradise and Green-and-gold Tanagers, ORNATE and YELLOW-BREASTED ANTWRENS and even a few SWALLOW-TAILED KITES.

To cap off the evening, Robert taped in a RUFESCENT SCREECH-OWL. I must admit to cheating on the Spadebill, Robert and Doug had spent 10-15 minutes looking for it while I watched a flock which yielded the first Green-and-gold and WHITE-WINGED TANAGER. Then I walked over and immediately saw the Spadebill which I think they never actually did see. The White-winged Tanager was an immature male which has a reddish-orange head blending into a golden body with white wing patches on black wings. We also had close focus looks at a female WHITE-CROWNED MANAKIN, perhaps the only female manakin that rivals the male. Dark gray head, olive body and fire eye and seen at eye-level! Other birds for the day not already noted on yesterday's list included:
 

Gray Tinamou (heard)	Bat Falcon
Collared Forest-falcon (heard)	Ruddy Pigeon
Maroon-tailed Parakeet	Chestnut-collared Swift
Green Hermit	Wire-crested Thorntail (female)
Yellow-ridged Toucan (heard)	Yellow-tufted WP
Smoky-brown WP	White-throated WP
Lineated WP	Wedge-billed Woodcreeper
Buff-throated Woodcreeper	Ash-browed Spinetail (heard)
Montane Foliage-gleaner	Streaked Xenops
Lined Antshrike (heard)	Russet Antshrike
Blackish Antbird (heard)	White-backed Fire-eye (heard)
Plain-backed Antpitta (heard)	Wing-barred Piprites (heard)
Olive-striped Flycatcher	Ecuadorian Tyrannulet (heard)
Scale-crested Pygmy-tyrant	Crowned Slaty Flycatcher
Social Flycatcher	White-thighed Swallow
Wing-banded Wren (heard)	SLATY-CAPPED SHRIKE-VIREO
Brown-capped Vireo	Buff-rumped Warbler
Subtropical Cacique	MAGPIE TANAGER (ditto)
Blue-naped Chlorophonia (in the treetops)	Bay-headed Tanager
Beryl-spangled Tanager	Black-faced Dacnis
Golden-eyed Flower-piercer	Yellow-browed Sparrow
Blue-black Grassquit	Gray-chinned Hermit
Slate-colored Grosbeak	-

Night at INEFAN station.

August 19

Last day birding. Sumaco area till 9:30, then hightail it for last chance at Papallacta specialities. This morning's highlights included COLLARED TROGON, Masked Mountain-tanager (just kidding), LINED ANTSHRIKE (finally seen well), YELLOW-CHEEKED BECARD, WHITE-WINGED BECARD, MUSICIAN WREN, and Slate-colored Grosbeak (seen well today, striking red beak). The gaudy Red-headed Barbet and Slaty-capped Shrike-vireo were seen well again. Birds seen this morning and not mentioned before for Sumaco include:
 

Ocellated Woodcreeper	Masked Tityra
Lemon-browed Flycatcher	Coraya Wren (heard)
Purple Honeycreeper	-

Then it was back to Friendship Heights with stops at Guacomayos ridge, Baeza area and Papallacta Pass. Before Baeza, Robert spotted ORANGE-BREASTED FALCON for us at his stakeout with Cliff Flycatcher nearby. In the Baeza area we finally got a pair of TORRENT DUCKS on what must have been the thirtieth attempt.

Between Baeza and the pass, we saw our old friends the Sunbeam and Velvetbreast, and even saw the Golden-crowned Tanager again at the same spot as before (have Robert take you there). Robert saw BAR-BELLIED WP here as well. Mark finally got his WHITE-CHINNED THISTLETAIL here (long study - less of a white chin than I expected). Of course we saw the Scarlet-bellied Mtn-t once more, with Buff-breasted Mtn-t's.

At the Conebill stop, we got our best views of a CARUNCULATED CARACARA flying low. Earlier views had been soarers. The Giant Conebills were heard once but never seen.

The weather was finally good at the pass and we had better looks at Bar-winged Cinclodes and STOUT-BILLED CINCLODES, Andean Tit-spinetail, Brown-backed Chat-tyrant and Tufted Tit-tyrant. At the pass itself, on the third try, four RUFOUS-BELLIED SEEDSNIPES, the last new birds for the trip, and worth the jog Mark endured at 4300 meters.

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Please send any comments or corrections to Mark. If you are interested in a similar trip, I am always looking for traveling partners.

Mark Mulhollam
mulho005@tc.umn.edu
(612) 333-3232
Minneapolis, Minnesota