Birding in Southern Ecuador

Urraca and Macara

late February and early March, 2015

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Southern Ecuador is mountainous, and the small villages seem to be built as one-lane towns along the road. There's probably a lot more to them that is apparent from the road.


Town	House

Our driver, Patricio, was cheerful and informative. He also got a few errands done in the process of shuttling us around... We stopped to pick up tires for his son along the way. I was surprised to find recycle bins along the wall at the side of the gas station where we picked up the tires. At one point Patricio asked if he could borrow a pair of binoculars; we were approaching a police check point, and he told us it's much easier to get through if you are obviously guiding birders. So periodically we would do a mad scramble and transfer binos to him, which he proudly displayed to the police with a big smile as he told them he was guiding us around.


Recycle Bins	Patricio's Truck

Our lodging at Urraca was great. We had a small bungalow with hot shower and a nice porch looking out on the forest, where we could relax and look for birds. It would have been nice if the porch was covered, given the amount of rain; but when it wasn't raining it was really pleasant. Ram and Dawn's place was similar, although their view was better and included lots of parakeets!


Urraca Bungalow	Urraca Grounds

Our guide at Urraca, Jovanni, did a great job; he went out of his way to find things for us.

Dona Ram Dawn Jovanni


Jovanni Dawn Ram	Group

The food at Urraca was great. As on our previous trip to Ecuador, we had soup every night with dinner and it was always delicious.

Urraca Dinner Dona Ram Dawn

There was a woodcreeper nesting in a tree cavity right outside the restaurant. It would sneak in and out so fast it took quite a few tries to get a picture of it.


Streak Headed Woodcreeper


Yellow Tailed Oriole

For us, this was the land of parakeets...


Gray Cheeked Parakeet


Red Masked Parakeet Photos by Dona


Red Masked Parakeet Photos by Dona


Red Masked Parakeet


Red Masked Parakeet

Ram Hunting Parakeets

Amazilia Hummingbird

White Tailed Jay


White Edged Oriole


Southern Yellow Grosbeak Photo by Dona	Xxx Thrush Photo by Dona

One of the hilights of this place for me was the Blue-Crowned Motmot which dona found for us.


Photo by Dona	Photo by Dona	Photo by Dona
Blue Crowned Motmot

Streaked Flycatcher


Xxx Pale Browed Tinamou Photo by Dona	Turkey Vulture Photo by Dona

Ecuadorian Ground Dove


Photo by Dona
Pacific Pygmy Owl

Salmon Lined White (Perrhybris Lorena)
Photo by Dona


Butterfly Xxx Brown White Photo by Dona	Butterfly Xxx Brown Yellow Photo by Dona	Butterfly Xxx Vee Winged Photo by Dona

There were things dropping out of the trees, but it wasn't too scary.


Xxx Caterpillar In Air Photo by Dona	Xxx Caterpillar In Air Photo by Dona


Urraca Bug Xxx	Urraca Moth


Photo by Dona
Guayaquil Squirrel

Flower Xxx Yellow
Photo by Dona


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

There were these crazy looking red and white flowers produced by some epiphytes hanging from vines.


Epiphyte Flowers Xxx Red White

Urraca Lodge is just outside of the town of Macara, which is on the border with Peru. We spent one afternoon driving around the town and surrounding countryside and found a lot of different birds from those up in the lodge area.

Macara
Photo by Dona


Great Egret Photo by Dona	Bird Xxx Photo by Dona	Cocoi Heron Photo by Dona	Striated Heron


Photo by Dona
Blue Black Grassquit


Photo by Dona
Bat Falcon

The Pacific Hornero is a weird bird. It builds a mud nest on a branch, instead of in a mudbank the way swallows do.


Photo by Dona
Pacific Hornero

Photo by Dona

Hornero Nest


Flower Xxx Yellow Photo by Dona	Hibiscus White Red Photo by Dona

I was totally surprised to see a lot of rice being grown, both down in the valley around town and squeezed into available space higher up the valleys. Then there were the steep hillsides people had cleared for other crops, and the attendand huge amounts of errosion. The rivers ran muddy brown, but streams in undisturbed areas were clear.


Cultivated Hillside	Macara Rice Fields

Jovanni Dona

Our lunches were delicious, and it was a treat to sit down and rest and relax a bit after our morning hikes. We were introduced to "Jorchate," a locally popular tea. We asked how to make it and were told you could buy the dried mix just about anywhere in Urraca, so on our way to our next stop Patricio pulled in at a roadside shop and we picked some up to bring home. Yum!


Lunch

Dinner

There were quite a few large Ceiba trees around. The seeds of this tree are where the fluffy stuff in old-fashioned life preservers came from; it's still used for pillows. They are cool trees; as a kid I would have loved one as a place to put a tree-house!