Altitude: 8,858 feet a.s.l.
Ecoregions: Humid Temperate Forest
New Hummingbird Species Seen: Chestnut-breasted Coronet, Tourmaline Sunangel, Long-tailed Sylph, and great looks at many others!
 |
| The bill of the Sword-billed Hummingbird is so long they have to polish their feathers with their feet. |
|
Located only 11 kms down the Interoceanica Highway from the town of Papallacta – the Guango Lodge is hummingbird heaven. Rushing rivers, stunted trees, rain, mud, cowpies and a lodge that reminded me of Vermont is what greeted us at Guango.
 |
| Balancing optics and an umbrella was a challenge. |
 |
| The rivers in Ecuador are spectacular! |
We spent two full days here walking the trails along the river and up the slope looking for the target birds for the area – the Torrent Duck, Torrent Tyrannulet, and the Gray-breasted Mountain-Toucan.
 |
| Great view of the Gray-breasted Mountain-Toucan |
 |
| Male Torrent Duck in the Papallacta River. |
 |
| Male Masked Trogon at Guango Lodge |
But, we could have spent the entire time just sitting at the feeders. This lodge has an amazing assortment of hummingbirds including the Sword-billed which I could watch all day.
 |
| The Long-tailed Sylph is gorgeous and fast! |
 |
| Collared Inca, Chestnut-breasted Coronet, Sword-bill |
 |
| Female Tourmaline Sunangel |
It was nice to have 2 days with no guide. We really needed time to check our lists, review our photographs and just reflect on what we had seen so far. The cold rain and deep mud made birding a bit of a chore on the trails but the spectacular Papallacta river was worth the muddy boots!
 |
| Keeping track of what I saw when and where was time consuming. |
 |
| Guango is so lush and moist. Plants grow on every surface. |
 |
| The wooden bridges had bootle caps nailed into them for traction on the wet surface. Good idea! |
 |
| Female White-bellied Woodstar. These tiny hummers fly like a bee! |
 |
| Collared Inca |
No comments:
Post a Comment