Antpitta Day!

Anyone who has heard about birding in Ecuador will have heard of Snr. Angel Paz, who has created El Paz Refugio de los Aves.   Over the last few years he has habituated several species of antpitta, wood-quail, and olivaceous phia and he is working on others.   In addition he has an andean cock-of-the roc lek which was to be our first stop.

When I visited the site two years ago, they had experienced one of the wettest October periods and I had spent most of the trip in wellington boots.   It was therefore good to have had a couple of dry-ish days before this visit.   We left the lodge at 5.00 am to ensure that we arrived in good time.   After our introductions and a quick run through the rules of the Refuge (including no flash photography, smoking or playback) we were on our way.   Led by the owner at break-neck speed down muddy steps dug out of the forest tracks.   In some parts there were ropes to hold on to and these were needed - for those who preferred Angel does provide sticks.

Spot the Cock-of-the Roc

We arrived at the cock-of-the-roc lek and settled to wait and watch.   Within minutes we could hear the distinctive call of the male as he displays, then a second male responded, and within a few minutes we had four males bouncing around in the trees, displaying and calling well.   In the darkness and with the distance it was hard for me to get any sort of photograph - even a record shot was rough, but at least I have a great memory of the event.

In the background we could hear the calls of andean solitare, great antpitta, grey-breasted wood-wren, barred forest falcon, long-tailed antbird and golden headed quetzal.

Giant Antpitta

After about half an hour we were called by Angel to follow him to the antpittas.   The first one was giant antpitta, this bird came in almost immediately to his call, and a few juicy worms.   The bird was totally at ease and came quite close to peck at the ground where titbits had been thrown.

Next up were dark-backed wood-quail, a noisy burbling group who were quite happy to devour a banana before our eyes.  

Dark-backed Wood-Quail

As we waited quietly for the next relevation, an olivaceous piha moved through the trees above us feeding as it went.   Golden-headed quetzal called and responded to Angel's mimicry but was not to be seen.   Moving to another spot, Angel pointed out a common potoo which was on its roost perch way up in the tree tops and impossible to find without prior knowledge.   Even with the telescope on it, it was hard to find in the binoculars.   Once again, the superb knowledge of this gentleman proved to be a winner.

Spot the Moustached Antpitta!

Ochre-breasted was our next target, but unfortunately the bird (a female named Susannah) failed to show.   Rodriguez, Angel's brother went off to encourage the bird to show, whilst we moved off to find a moustached antpitta.   A very secretive bird (aren't they all!) we got relatively very good views, it was like watching shadows dancing as it darted out from the undergrowth to grab the morsels thrown in its direction.   Still marvelling at our luck (that was a bird I missed on my last visit) a whistle from Rodriguez meaned that he had located the errant Susannah, and we dashed back as quietly as we could to see this delightful bird (another I had missed before!).   This was our final treat of the morning, the glorious golden touches to the wing edges were an absolute delight, sadly not a photo worth keeping as the light was by now appalling.

Common Potoo

It was now time to return to the visitor area where Angel's family had prepared brunch for us to be taken in the covered dining area, which is open air and looks out over Angel's land which is a superb piece of Ecaudorian countryside.   As we dined, binoculars in hand, we watched a juvenile hooded siskin which caused some debate before we finally settled on id.  Yellow-faced grassquit, flame-faced and black-capped tanager were also seen here.   At the humming bird feeders we saw brown inca, purple-tailed sylph and fawn-breasted brilliant.   Brunch of plaintain balls stuffed with chicken and cheese, and empanadas with cheese, and plenty of tea, coffee and hot chocolate refuelled us for the next few hours, and it was soon time to try for a few more Paz specialities.  

Yellow-breasted Antpitta

Flame-faced tanager and toucan barbet were outshone by yet another antpitta, this time yellow-breasted.   Photographically, the easiest to snap, and also a very handsome bird.

Not to be stopped, the next delight was a female orange-breasted fruiteater on the nest, again hard to see without some interesting directions, but we all got there in the end.

Soon it was time to take our leave of both the Refugio and this part of our trip, sad to go but excited by the prospect of Galapagos to come.  

We stopped to bird on the Nono-Mindo road were we added streaked flycatcher and golden tanager.   The idea was to stop again along the way but as the tropical rain began to fall we decided to take our picnic lunch in the minibus then head straight to our hotel in Quito.

Passion Fruit Pudding(s)

We arrived just after 4.00 pm, and had a couple of hours to ourselves.  Some relaxed, others re-packed, some shopping was done, but we all met up again at 7.00 pm for our dinner at the Theatrum Restaurant, a place of some renown.

A great menu left us in a quandary of choice, but eventually we ate, drank and had a great evening.  Early to bed as we have a big day tomorrow .............................

                                                                         Galapagos Bound