Birding in Southern Ecuador

Umbrellabird Lodge

late February and Early March, 2015

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It was a long, windy, bumpy, but interesting drive from Guayquil to the Umbrellabird Lodge on the lower slopes of the Andes in southwestern Ecuador. As we drove along Ram or Dawn would point out birds they were familiar with and recognized, and we even recognized some of them as well.

The lower slopes of the Andes are tropical and subtropical rainforest; it was hot, humid, and rainy. Umbrellabird Lodge is at around 500m in the Buenaventura Reserve, which is owned by the Jocotoco Foundation.

Our accomodations were great; a nice airy bungalow with hot shower and a porch where we might catch some birds. We didn't have a long view; but we hoped there would be birds popping around.

Our Umbrellabird Bungalow

Forest Mist

They were working on an additional bungalow along the road between our place and the main dining hall, so we checked it out each day. I was surprised to see a young woman working alongside the men; something you don't often see in Central and South America.

Construction of a new Bungalow

As expected, we had loads of hummingbirds buzzing around all the time.


			Photo by Dona
White Necked Jacobin


Photo by Dona	Photo by Dona	Photo by Dona
Brown Violetear


Brown Violetear


Photo by Dona	Photo by Dona
Green Crowned Brilliant		Green Crowned Brilliant F


Green Crowned Brilliant

Green Thorntail


Photo by Dona	Photo by Dona
Xxx F	Xxx Hummingbird


Photo by Dona	Photo by Dona	Photo by Dona
Xxx Hummingbird	Xxx Hummingbird	Xxx Hummingbird


	Photo by Dona
Bananaquit


Photo by Dona
Southern Yellow Grosbeak	Xxx


Masked Tityra	Rufous Headed Chachalaca

The Green Honeycreeper was one of my favorites. It's a green color so intense it doesn't seem like it can be real.


	Photo by Dona	Photo by Dona
Green Honeycreeper

Green Honeycreeper F

The tanagers are always some of my favorites because they are so colorful. Some of the Ecuadorian ones are pretty outrageous.


	Photo by Dona
Blue Gray Tanager

Photo by Dona

Blue Necked Tanager


Photo by Dona
Lemon Rumped Tanager


		Photo by Dona
Northern Violaceous Trogon		Xxx Northern Violaceous Trogon F

Photo by Dona

Swallowtail Kite


Photo by Dona
Raptor Xxx

Then there was the lodge's namesake, the Long-Wattled Umbrellabird. How that bird even gets around without tripping on its wattle and falling to the forest floor is beyond me. I can't imagine hauling that thing around, but apparently the ladies think it's pretty special.


Long-Wattled Umbrellabird Photo by Dona

Ram

We would have walked right past this Pauraque if it hadn't been pointed out to us. Even when it was, we had a heck of a time finding it. Once you knew it was there it was easy, but otherwise ... what a camouflage job!


Pauraque

Saffron Finch


Xxx Olive Striped Flycatcher


Olive Backed Woodcreeper	Olivaceous Woodcreeper	Buff Throated Creeper


Pale Mandibled Aracari

One of the nice things about Umbrellabird Lodge is their big open porch / dining area. We had delightful breakfasts, lunches and dinners there. There were always loads of birds hanging around. One evening, a Black and White Owl flew right through and almost landed on my hat. There must have been a big moth or something right above me, because we observed the owl flying off to catch things in the night and then returning to his perch.

Umbrella Bird Lodge Ram Dawn Dona Matching

The flowers were about as outrageous as the birds.


Hibiscus Photos by Dona

Heliconia


Orchid Xxx White Pink Photo by Dona	Orchid, Xxx White Violet	Orchid Xxx White Photo by Dona


Flower Xxx Pink Photo by Dona	Flower Xxx Pink Photo by Dona


Flower Xxx Orange Photo by Dona	Flower Xxx Red Photos by Dona


Flower Xxx Red Photos by Dona


Flower Xxx Lavender Photo by Dona	Flower Xxx Lavender Photo by Dona

Some of the flowers were really weird. At first I didn't even think they were flowers.


Zingiber spectabile Photos by Dona

Leaf Red
Photo by Dona

I was really hoping to see a bunch of cool frogs, but we only found one.


Photo by Dona
Frog


Howler Monkey

The butterflies were great, but as usual didn't want to hold still with their wings open for photographs. One of the cool things is how different some of them on the top and bottom sides of their wings.


Photo by Dona		Photo by Dona
Cydno Longwing (Heliconius Cydno)

Butterfly Xxx Blue Brown Eyeballs


Moth Xxx Red Orange		Moths

The locusts made a heck of a racket in the evening, but they were really difficult to locate. They were right there, but when you looked there they weren't.


Locusts		Green Locust

Agouti
Photo by Dona

We were a little disappointed with our stay at Umbrellabird. There was a place up one of the roads where they were in the process of building an observation deck or some sort, and it was a place where some cool birds were frequently seen. The staff didn't tell us this, and we walked by it numerous times without stopping because of the construction going on. If we had known, we would have lingered to see what might show up.

We also had a bit of a screw-up in communications. We didn't have our own vehicle, and our hosts asked us if we wanted to try to see the El Oro Parakeets. We asked how far it was, and they said a half-hour drive -- but we didn't have a car. We asked how far to walk, and it was too far. We told them we didn't have a car and declined, but realized later they would have arranged for a ride for us. There were a number of things we didn't get a chance to look for as a result; next time we would do much better; it was a lesson we learned for the places we visited subsequently.

Then we moved up the Andes a bit, to the Urraca area.