Yanacocha Reserve, Ecuador

We all felt a little jaded but we had a transfer to do to Mindo, and on the way we were going to explore the Yanacocha Reserve which lies on the slop of the Pinchincha Volcano at around 3500/3800 m.   Yanacocha means Black Lake or Water, and the water supply from the volcano supplies much of the water supply for Quito.   As we walked we crossed channels and pipes relating to the water system.

View from the trail

At the entrance to the reserve there are some hummingbird feeders and our first identification was buff-winged starfrontlet an elegant hummer with buff coloured spots on the wings - just what it says in the name! - and therefore quite an easy one to start with.   Great sapphirewing, shining sunbeam and tyrian metaltail were also spotted quite easily.   After a while we moved on along the trail, working along the side of the volcano laterally this made for a relatively level walk.   Tawny antpitta, and unicoloured tapaculo were heard as we progressed and a smoky bush-tyrant gave us great views.

Great thrush, brown-bellied swallow and rufous-naped brush-finch, spectacled whitestart (redstart), superciliaried hemispingus, scarlet-bellied mountain-tanager, bar-bellied woodpecker and rufous-collared sparrow were all seen about the reserve.

Smoky Bush-Tyrant

When we returned to the hummingbird feeders were spent time watching these delightful birds at close quarters, with them whizzing past our heads almost touching.   Sapphire-vented puffleg with their white "pantaloons" looked smart and we had been told to look for the golden-breasted puffleg too, a more rare species.   As I watched one of the feeders a puffleg with a different colour on the breast appeared, and it was indeed the bird we were watching for.  Masked and glossy flowerpiercers joined the hummers at the feeders.

Tawny Antpitta

A picnic lunch was next on the agenda, along with more hummingbird watching.   Before we left the reserve, the local warden asked if we would like to watch as he brought tawny antpitta in to worms - there was no need to ask, we were heading in his direction in double-quick time.  Within minutes a pair of these beautiful but secretive birds were running towards us.   The warden had obviously learned well at the hands of Angel Paz who is renowned in birding world for getting antpittas and other similar species coming to food.

It was soon time for us to move on along the old Nono-Mindo Road, birding along the way.   Several stops added to our list with rufous spinetail, black phoebe, white-capped dipper, but the bird of the journey was an andean cock-of-the-roc lek which we viewed from across a river, and although it was distant we were able to hear the male birds calling and watch them displaying. 

Eventually we arrived at Sachatamia lodge, our home for the next two nights.