Day 12: Cabiñas San Isidro
As we left the dining room building the night before, we had noticed a number of interesting flying insects attracted to the outside lights. “Mothing”, as it came to be known, was the first item on our agenda this morning – following breakfast, of course.
Something that non-birders on vacation will never understand: Getting up early to eat breakfast in order to maximize daylight hours was a good thing. It wasn’t raining and the skies looked pretty favorable as we stepped outside to see what birds the moths had attracted. We birded the stretch of path between the dining room entrance and the large outdoor light located near the parking area. Inca Jay, Russet-backed Oropendula, and Subtropical Cacique were actively feeding and new for the day BLACK-BILLED PEPPERSHRIKE, GLOSSY BLACK-THRUSH, OLIVE-BACKED WOODCREEPER and BLACK-CRESTED WARBLER. Foraging in the brush and seen by a few (but heard by everyone) RUSTY-CROWNED TODY-FLYCATCHER. This is a bird that Bill and his wife got good looks at but seemed to elude most of our group. We also added some of our neo-tropical friends familiar in Wisconsin: BLACK-AND-WHITE and CANADA WARBLER, and more Blackburnian Warbler, a very common species on the trip.
Angel Paz’s methods for attracting antpitta has spread to other ecolodges including Cabiñas San Isidro. We were scheduled to meet with the lodge’s local “antpitta person” at 7:30. 7:30 came and went and it seemed he would be a no-show, however, as we started our walk down the lodge driveway, he arrived. We immediately shifted gears and tried for antpitta.
We gathered along the “short-cut” trail, which connected the dining room and the Mirador lounge complex. The antpitta wrangler tried to call in a Chestnut-crowned Antpitta, but the bird was not cooperative. We then shifted our attention to a small clearing located on a trail a short distance from the opposite side of the dining hall to try for a White-breasted Antpitta. Alas, we whiffed again. Apparently both birds had been regulars up until two weeks prior to our arrival. The feeling among lodge staff was that the antpitta had shifted territories somewhat. They were still being heard in the vicinity but their new territories had yet to be determined (at least by lodge staff – the antpitta pretty much knew where they were!). This is not uncommon behavior for antpitta – just our bad luck. We were again reminded of just how difficult it is to see this family of birds.
However, near the clearing was a small covered shelter with hummingbird feeders where we added BRONZY INCA.
Since more time had been taken trying for the antpitta than planned for, José suggested that instead of walking the driveway we should instead board the bus for a short drive to another roadside location. While people scattered to retrieve belongings from their rooms, a CHESTNUT-CROWNED ANTPITTA called loudly (but not seen) from thick cover near the path where we had been birding on earlier. Go figure!
By now the sun was out, and while San Isidro is at about 7500 feet, the air warmed quickly – a welcome change in the weather.
Along the road we picked up more new birds: SAFFRON-CROWNED TANAGER, BLUISH FLOWERPIERCER, BARRED HAWK (soaring overhead), FLAME-FACED TANAGER (not terrific looks by everyone) , EMERALD TOUCANET, COMMON BUSH-TANAGER, and BLACK-CHESTED FRUITEATER. Another heard only: BLACK-EARED HEMISPINGUS.
The Bustamante family owns Cabiñas San Isidro. Carmen Bustamante, and her husband, Mitch Lysinger, are the overall property managers. They are deeply engaged in actively promoting the property for research purposes as well as pursuing their own research projects. A close neighbor and friend, noted entomologist Harold Greeney, owned and managed the Yanayacu Biological Station.
During our morning roadside birding, we happened upon Harold who was in the process of gathering butterfly eggs. How does one go about collecting butterfly eggs? They are, after all, pretty darned small. Harold explained – and demonstrated – the best way was to watch a female lay its eggs in vegetation, then, collect the vegetation with the eggs intact as well as collect the female for identification. Using our bins in reverse, Harold showed us the near microscopic eggs in the plant material. Fascinating! Yet one more example of why there is so much more to learn and discover beside birding.
Now close to noon, we returned to the lodge for lunch. SOUTHERN LAPWING were discovered feeding in a field of low-cut grass. José and Richard marveled at finding this bird at higher elevation. It’s normally found below 400 feet in eastern Ecuador lowlands although Ridgely’s guide noted that the bird is known to “wander higher”. Apparently this was one of those times.
Lunch was nothing less than superb. Rho Ann, having described what our afternoon meal would consist of, asked if there was anything else anyone would like. Since the day had been sunny and warm, I jokingly mused “Wouldn’t a tall, cool, gin and tonic be nice?” José followed with, “A Coke with rum would be great, wouldn’t it?” Minutes later Rho Ann placed our drinks in front of us. The look of surprise on our faces must have pleased her to no end – and how decadent on our part. But we were, after all, on vacation!
After lunch, José suggested we should hike some of the lodge’s forested trails. Those who had not already done so, donned their boots. On her way back to our cabin to retrieve her boots, Carol encountered a HIGHLAND MOTMOT feeding close to the trail. She came and got me and we easily found the bird feeding in almost the same location. Eventually, over the course of the day, everyone else would get good looks at this bird. A distinctly different call and measuring about 3-inches larger, distinguished it from the similar Blue-crowned Motmot
The trails around the lodge are mid-elevation habitat, consisting of hardwood trees, mosses, and countless orchid and flamboyant epiphytes. High canopy and low understory old growth jungle presented us with what had become regular challenges: lean-back, neck-craning searches and frustrating sounds from masterful bush skulkers. But these were challenges for Richard’s and José’s expert ears and eyes, which they sorted out.
We added: MARBLE-FACED BRISTLE-TYRANT, RUFOUS-BREASTED FLYCATCHER, SIERRAN ELANIA, SPOTTED BARBTAIL, PALE-EYED THRUSH, SULPHUR-BELLIED TYRANNULET, RUFOUS-CRESTED TANAGER, and MONTANE FOLOIAGE-GLEANER. Two heard only: LONG-TAILED ANTBIRD and WHITE-THROATED QUAIL-DOVE.
A loud, repetitious call turned out to be an EQUATORIAL RUFOUS-VENTED TAPACULO. The bird moved invisibly from left to right to left along one side of the trail. At times it sounded further away then suddenly it sounded closer. Recorded calls had an impact but didn’t bring the bird out into the open. I managed to capture its call on my digital recorder and played it back loud enough for the bird to respond. Eventually some of us got good looks (albeit brief ones). I was kneeling on the trail, peering into the bush when no more than three feet away, it suddenly poked its head out from behind a leaf, pivoted, displayed its rufous vent, and disappeared. Less than a five second glimpse but that’s all I needed.
The call of this bird was loud, often carrying on for upwards of half a minute. Then why was it so gosh darned hard to see? The Scytalopus group, like the Anpitta, are “pájaro tímido”, exceedingly secretive. This bird’s plumage was dark, slaty-gray with no other distinct markings aside from the rufous vent. It measured 5 ¼ inches in size – ¼-inch larger than a Blackburnian Warbler. The understory was thick and filled with shadow, which blended well with the bird’s overall nearly black coloration. Tapaculo are “muy dificil” to see even under the best of conditions.
Likewise, looking for a small, dark, inconspicuous bird in the canopy – such as the Spotted Barbtail - proved equally as challenging. This bird was seen hopping in moss-covered branches and tree trunks. A bird not known to be very vocal, Ridgley’s field guide stated that the bird is “not often seen despite it being fairly common.” We could easily understand why!
While we had been distracted by the tapaculo, another bird had called quite close: CRESTED QUETZAL. Once we had moved on from the tapaculo, repeated attempts to draw the quetzal out, failed. Another highly sought after target bird, WHITE-CAPPED TANAGER was heard but not seen. A small flock was working in the tree tops but apparently at a distance well out of sight from our vantage point.
Where had the time gone? It was now late afternoon and reluctantly, we headed back to the lodge. We could easily see why spending a few more days exploring the extensive trail system at Cabiñas San Isidro would have been very productive. Alas, this would be our last full day of birding.
Back at the lodge many of us took advantage of the “boot wash” outdoor concrete sink to clean our muddy boots. We took time to freshen up, then congregated for our style of Happy Hour: Watching the hummingbird feeders from the Mirador lounge deck with adult beverages. Long-tailed Sylph, Collared Inca, and Chestnut-breasted Coronet were prevalent and somewhere in the distance a WHITE-BELLIED ANTPITTA taunted us. It was difficult to comprehend that our Ecuador trip was close to ending.
Our evening meal was delightful. As I recall, a cream of onion soup (with popcorn, of course), and potato gnocchi stuffed with chicken. I not sure about the desert (was it passion fruit?) but the coffee was heavenly.
Some of the group revisited the “gift shop” in the corner. For many, this was a regular occurrence before and following each meal. There had not been many “shopping” opportunities and many of the local artist creations were captivating. The table cloth Carol bought is a vivid reminder of our Ecuador trip.
In between our evening meal conversations, we somehow managed to work through our checklist (83 day total/32 new to trip total). José suggested that everyone should do the bulk of packing their luggage that evening in order for us to squeeze out more time for birding the next day. Our return drive to Quito would take up the better part of the afternoon but that would leave us all morning to bird a nearby area, Guacamayos Ridge, and still have time for lunch at the lodge.
