Gary and Dona's, and Ram and Dawn's, and Joe and Esther's

Amazing Birding Trip to Ecuador

March, 2011

Part 8: Guango

We arrived at Guango Lodge pretty tired, but not too tired to get out and wander around. Esther got a ride back up to Papallacta, where she relaxed in the hot spring. When she came back the driver picked up another American who was hitching a ride because their vehicle had died. He turned out to be with a party who were friends of Joe and Ram's, and they all got a good visit when they came by the next day.

The rest of us wandered down to the Papallacta River, where we saw a pair of Torrent Ducks. They hung around pretty consistently; we saw them every day.

Papallacta River and Tributary Confluence
Papallacta River and Tributary Confluence
Torrunt Duck Torrunt Duck (Female)
Torrunt Duck Torrunt Duck (Female)

The lodge was wonderful. Clean rooms, hot showers, and comfortable common areas with big windows. The dining room / common room on the main floor has a fireplace which was great after a day out in the cool drizzle.

Guango Lodge Guango Lodge
Guango Lodge Common Room with Fireplace
Guango Lodge Guango Lodge
Upstairs Common Room Upstairs Hallway

Like every other place we stayed in Ecuador, the lodge had hummingbird feeders set out. We saw a few new species, but I never did see the Sword-Billed.

Xxx Hummingbird Xxx Hummingbird Long Tailed Sylph
Xxx Hummingbird Xxx Hummingbird Long Tailed Sylph

Guango Lodge is still fairly high up the Andes, at 2700 m, and is surrounded by a humid, temperate forest. There are a number of very well maintained trails around the lodge. None of them are particularly long, but there is a lot of variety and the birding was excellent. There are several bridges over the river, although the trails end at the bridges, as that is the boundary of the lodge's property.

Papallacta Bridge Papallacta
Papallacta Bridge Papallacta
Papallacta Bridge Papallacta Bridge
Another Papallacta Bridge Something for Everybody!
This Papallacta Bridge was a Busy Place

Dona's camera drove her nuts on this trip. She bought it because it had a very long zoom lens, which was good. Unfortunately, it had no focus options; in particular, it did not have a spot focus. That made it virtually impossible to take pictures of birds in thick foliage, as the camera always focused on some foliage that was closer than the bird. So she spent a lot of time taking pictures of flowers and critters. The flowers were splendid and almost as amazing as all the birds, and the butterflies and other insects were pretty cool too.

Dona Flower
Dona Xxx Pink Flower
Flowers Cascade
Xxx Yellow Flowers Cascade

One of the trails goes to a great little waterfall, where we all had to take our pictures and Ram had to get his feet wet. But it wasn't hot and sunny and was a little too cool for a dip.

Waterfall Waterfall
Waterfall Waterfall

Joe, Dona and I were out on one of the higher trails and were able to see the rarest bird in Ecuador, the Red-Capped White-Booted Esther Bird. It even displayed for us!

Elusive Red-Capped White-Booted Esther Displaying Red-Capped White-Booted Esther
Elusive Red-Capped White-Booted Esther Displaying Red-Capped White-Booted Esther

The food at Guango Lodge was outstanding. The soups were amazing, and tasted really good after a few hours out in the damp.

Typical Lunch at Guango
Yum! Lunch at Guango

We had some pretty good birding in the morning before breakfast. We'd walk the trail down from the lodge and up the next hill, where there was a nice mixed deciduous fencerow. There would be a great variety of birds feeding there.

Masked Flower Piercer Cinnamon Flycatcher Cinnamon Flycatcher
Masked Flower Piercer Cinnamon Flycatcher Cinnamon Flycatcher
Andean Guan Glossy Backed Thrush Xxx Flycatcher
Andean Guan Glossy Backed Thrush Xxx Flycatcher

Down by the river we didn't see a lot. There were the Torrent Ducks, and a few White-Capped Dippers and Torrent Tyrannulets. In the woods close to the river we sometimes found a Trogon.

White-Capped Dipper Torrent Tyrannulet
White-Capped Dipper Torrent Tyrannulet
Beetle
Beetle
Flowers Flowers
Xxx Flowers Xxx Flower
Blossoms Blossoms Blossoms
Xxx Blossoms Xxx Blossoms Xxx Blossoms

From Guango we headed down the Andes into a more tropical habitat, to San Isidro Lodge. Along the way we saw numerous crosses along the highway, something rather unsettling but we are used to that because you see the same thing in Montana. They were working on the road in several places, so we had short detours with some interesting drop-offs. There were waterfalls pouring off the mountains in many places, not surprising given all the rainfall.

Village Valley with Roadside Cross
Village Valley with Roadside Cross
Bridge
Bridge Under Construction
Waterfall Waterfall
Waterfall Waterfall
Waterfall Waterfall
Waterfall Waterfall
Van in Road Van in Road
Who Needs a Shoulder; Just Park Anywhere... It's Amazing We Weren't Killed
Before Getting Out of the Bus!