Day 13: Cabiñas San Isidro and Road to Quito
This morning we were scheduled to hike the Guacamayos Ridge, part of the Reserva Ecológica Antisana. This required a brief 20-minute bus ride to a trailhead located on the Baeza-Tena road, about 5 miles south of Cosanga.
Since we did not have far to travel, we enjoyed a comfortable breakfast. Coffee drinkers in the group all agreed that Cabiñas San Isidro won our “best coffee on the tour” award, hands down.
Since we had whiffed the day before on antpittas, the antpitta wrangler agreed to try again. Following breakfast, we revisited both antpitta locations but came up empty once more. We heard a RUFOUS-CRESTED ANTPITTA, and added a new hummingbird near the observation platform: GREENISH PUFFLEG.
Since the ridge trail could be muddy, several people left to retrieve their boots. While others waited, we found a pair of Masked Trogon feeding near the parking area, which presented a wonderful photo and video opportunity. At one point, the male landed on a bare branch not more than a foot above my head! He was so close I could not focus without kneeling down.
Parked at a gravel pullout along the highway we found the trailhead. Here the trail elevation was approximately 7200 feet. Almost immediately after getting off the bus, we were attracted to a loudly calling Green-and-black Fruiteater, sitting on a guy-wire attached to one of the many communication antennas located on a ridge above the pull-off.
The trail was partially “paved” with rocks and logs, which when wet, proved to be slippery. I classed the difficulty rating of this trail as “moderately difficult”.
Our hike began in sun but within a half hour, dense clouds closed in, threatening rain. Visibility dropped to between thirty and forty feet. Although it never actually rained, cloud moisture content produced a fine mist. The appearance of clouds was not surprising since the ridge regularly snagged westward-flowing Amazonian clouds, making this an exceptionally super-humid cloud forest.
The clouds, combined with dense vegetation consisting of many epiphytes and bryophytes, plus a thick canopy, made bird finding extremely challenging. At a sharp bend in the trail, a Chestnut-crowned Antpitta started calling. For several minutes everyone in the group stared into dense vegetation, thinking that this time they would not be denied. At times it seemed as though the bird was within arm’s reach but it never appeared. Simply amazing. And very frustrating! What we would have given for some mealworms and the chance to emulate Angel Paz’s, “Venga, Venga, Venga”.
A few small feeding flocks flowed past but with our limited visibility, it was tough to get clear looks. Many of the birds in the flocks were not new trip birds. However, when we did get looks, they were pretty good ones. Flocks contained Azara’s Spinetail, Sulpher-bellied Tyrannulet, Streaked Tuftedcheek, and Olive-backed Woodcreeper. There were a few new birds, too: HANDSOME FLYCATCHER and a specialty bird of the area, GREATER SCYTHEBILL. We found a pair of Pearled Treerunner feeding young in a cupped nest neatly camouflaged in moss hanging from the trunk of a tree.
We also had a number of heard only birds. Some we had heard on earlier days: Spotted Barbtail, Long-tailed Antbird, Spillman’s Tapaculo, Unicolored Tapaculo, and Andean Solitaire. New to the trip ‘heard only’ were: WATTLED GUAN, SLATE-CROWNED ANTPITTA, and PLAIN-TAILED WREN.
Tangers were mixed in with the flocks but nothing new: Saffron-crowned Tanager, Beryl-spangled Tanager, and Hooded Mountain-Tanager. A tanager some in the group had not seen yet and were now thrilled to finally see: Grass-green Tanager. Even in the fog this was a dazzling bird.
The ridge is noted for a couple of mountain-toucans, Gray-breasted and Black-billed. When a BLACK-BILLED MOUNTAIN-TOUCAN began calling we peered at every fog enshrouded leaf and branch in the canopy for several minutes. Eventually, I managed a clear look, albeit a brief one. I happened to be standing in the right place on the trail, at the right time, with my binoculars raised and pointed at a small opening that the bird moved into – and then quickly out of. Pure dumb luck.
It was obvious that the clouds were not going to dissipate anytime soon. What had dissipated instead was our time left to bird the ridge. We reluctantly returned to the bus.
Back to the lodge, it didn’t take long to clear out our rooms. As instructed, we left our luggage outside our room doors for staff to move to the bus.
We gathered in the dining room for lunch. Rho Ann had the day off so we were unable to properly say goodbye and thank her for her hospitality. However, Carmen, one of the lodge owners, was overseeing lunch. Not only did we get the opportunity to meet Carmen, and express our pleasure at having experienced Cabiñas, we were also able to convey our praise of Rho Ann directly to Carmin, who happened to be Rho Ann’s supervisor.
As we finished lunch, we presented Niko with his tip and a token we had brought with us for just this occasion: A Green Bay Packer 2007 Division Champions T-shirt (which he will wear proudly). Above all we thanked him profusely for his expert driving and friendship.
A little last minute shopping, and of course a little birding along the path that lead to the bus. Bird-wise, nothing new, but we had more good looks at: Highland Momot, Bronzy Inca, Collared Inca, Long-tailed Sylph, Olive-backed Woodcreeper, Smoke-colored Pewee, Black-crested Warbler, Russet-crowned Warbler, Bluish Flowerpiercer, Subtropical Cacique, and Russet-backed Oropendula. Amazing what we could cram into a walk lasting less than a 100 yards!
We posed for group photos and after making sure our luggage was on board, we were off. The drive back to Quito wouldn’t be a long one. There wouldn’t be much in the way of stopping to bird. Whatever we saw along the way would have to be from a bus window. This was a good time to just sit back and enjoy the scenery, catch up on some note taking, or simply doze.
Before we knew it, we pulled up in front of the Hotel Quito. The hotel lobby was filled with people dressed for some kind of gala celebration. It appeared to be a wedding. Over the entrance to the lobby was a large arch constructed of hundreds of colored balloons. In stark contrast to people wearing formal dress, we strolled in still wearing our rubber boots and our birding clothes. We must have made quite a sight.
Check-in went quickly. Off we went to our rooms to freshen up. We met in the hotel bar to celebrate the end of a wildly successful trip. Fortunately, José was able to join us. It would not have seemed a proper celebration without him. We presented him with his tip and thanked him for all his expert guiding and shepherding us safely through the Andes. We migrated from the bar to our dinner table, spending a good long while recounting our favorite bird sightings. This would be our final meal together as a complete group.
We tallied our daily checklist, which was uncharacteristically but not surprisingly low (67 day total/9 new to trip total) since our birding today had been limited. José would not be setting our next day’s agenda since the tour was now officially over. Instead, he determined when everyone would need rides to the airport the next morning so he could arrange transports. Not everyone would be leaving at the same time nor would we all be on the same flight.
Finished with our evening meal, we bid José farewell, expressing our hope that we meet up with him again. The birding world is, after all, very small. We also said our goodbyes to Richard, thanking him once more for all his efforts arranging our trip through Tropical Birding. We’ll be seeing Richard again when he leads our group in Costa Rica scheduled for February 2009.
We headed to our rooms to finalize packing and mentally prepare for our trip home. Everyone, that is, except Marge. She was staying another whole week! She had relatives living in Quito who had invited her to extend her stay. She would not be bird watching, at least not in the same organized fashion we had just done. Instead she would shift gears and become a bona fide sightseeing tourist. Judging from her report following her return to Wisconsin, she had a marvelous and relaxing time. A week that did not revolve around getting up before daybreak or doing without electricity or water for showers! Her report included words like “five-star”, “facial”, “sauna”, and “massage” and “shopping”!
