Friday 27th November. Last day at las Gralarias Lodge today, this afternoon I will transfer to Quito ready for an excursion up into the higher Eastern Andes tomorrow. This morning we searched the trails around the Lodge for some of the birds that the resident Lodge guide had found recently. And very successful it was too with the first major find being a magnificent Plate Billed Mountain Toucan, a beautifully coloured bird much better looking than illustrations in the field guide suggest. Although not uncommon here it has a very limited range being restricted to a narrow strip of sub-tropical forest in Ecuador's Western Andes.
Plate Billed Mountain Toucan
Plate Billed mountain Toucan I managed to get a couple of decent shots which show just what a stunning bird this one is and so nice to see wild and free in its natural habitat.
As we moved around in this small forest reserve it became apparent that even a relatively small area of unspoilt forest can harbor a good number of species. All you have to do is look and be patient.
As we moved around in this small forest reserve it became apparent that even a relatively small area of unspoilt forest can harbor a good number of species. All you have to do is look and be patient.
Bird Guide Gabriel scanning the forest for signs of avian life
The next significant sighting was a beautiful Crimson Mantled Woodpecker. I have seen many woodpeckers but this one has to be my favourite. Unfortunately I was not able to get really clear shots but you can see from these images the startling colouration. It is definitely crimson mantled with a strikingly clown-like white face, a red and white speckled chest and yellow underparts and black & white tail. The face is extraordinary, like a carnival mask. A truly stunning woodpecker.
Scarlet Mantled Woodpecker
Scarlet Mantled Woodpecker
| Compare the Crimson Mantled with the other Woodpecker of the morning, a Powerful Woodpecker which itself is a very striking bird, but dull in comparison with its crimson cousin. Below is a Giant Cowbird. Quite an imposing looking crow-like bird quite common around forest edges. The interesting thing about this bird is that it is a brood pasasite, laying its eggs in The nests of Oropendolas, large birds that make pendular nests often together with colonies of Caciques. More of this later. |  Powerful Woodpecker |
Giant Cowbird
I did not know that the Barn Owl (Tyto alba) is the most widely distributed species of owl, and one of the most widespread of all the World's birds. Although it is a tyto alba I must say it doesn't look the same as the Barn owls I see in in Britain, and ornithology does recognise different sub-species depending upon location. This New World bird is much bigger than those I am used to, and I think it has darker plumage. Anyway it was a very large bird and a pleasure to see.
Barn Owl - tyto alba
Hard to decide which was bird-of-the day but the Crimson Mantled Woodpecker impressed me the most. Before lunch and departing for Quito I snapped a few more hummingbirds to pass the time and this shot of a Velvet purple Coronet came out quite well.
Velvet Purple Coronet
And so I said goodbye to las Gralarias Lodge which had been my comfortable base for the past week, enjoying high standards of cooking and comfort and during which time I had so many new and interesting birding adventures. I hope to return one day.
Glossy Flowerpiercer
I finish the day's account with a nice photo of a Glossy Flowerpiercer that I believe I took up at Silanche, but it could just as well have been here, and last but not least a nice shot of a Southern Lapwing that we picked up on the way to Quito.
Southern Lapwing
