A few more Ecuador questions

I wasn't planning to post more mystery birds from Ecuador, but after discovering that my identification of birds wasn't always the same as our travelling companion's, I realized there are a few more I need to check on.

1. I called this a Double-toothed Kite.

 

2. And this was my Eastern Wood-Pewee

2b. but in case that doesn't work I have a backup.  A very tiny backup.

3. This one has evaded all my investigations.

4. A mysterious bird.  It may have had a nest hidden under the plant.

5. My favourite unidentified bird.  I know what I want it to be.  It was taken at 2 in the afternoon in a valley in Eastern Ecuador along a highway near where we had just watched several Swallow-tailed Kites dipping and gliding.

And that, I promise you, are all the mysteries from Ecuador that are worth investigating.

Early Winter Birding in the Mountains

I had hoped it would be Early Autumn Birding but farming often gets in the way of my travelling desires, so we ended up leaving home on the 24th of October.

Being unseasonably cold everywhere we went, the smart birds were hiding or down south.

But that left a few.

This first bird was seen before reaching the mountains.  We see a lot of Sharp-tailed Grouse around home but they are generally on the ground.  This one was in a leafless tree where it stood out very well.

We visited Lethbridge first where we saw no birds to speak of, though being the serious sort of birders that we are, we still take note of starlings, magpies and crows.

Things got much more interesting when we reached Creston where my sister and brother-in-law have a Mountain Ash tree leaning over the fence at eye level to their kitchen windows.  We spent a lot of time and pixels admiring House Finches

Dark-eyed Juncos

Black-capped Chickadees

and American Goldfinches.

We took long walks up and down the streets of Creston (it's built on a mountainside) where each day we saw a larch tree full of Wild Turkeys.  The same tree each day.

One day they left sooner than planned when a hawk flew in to disturb them.  It may have been a Rough-legged Hawk, but please recall I am really bad at identifying hawks.

I had a couple of birds I really, really wanted to see on this trip.  One was the Pileated Woodpecker which has managed to elude us wherever we've gone.  The other was a Steller's Jay of which I have only a poor photo though we have seen one two or three times. 

Fortunately my sister of the sharp eyes spotted the Pileated flying over us on one of our discover Creston walks.  I snapped off a couple of shots really fast but still sought it among all the trees thoughout the rest of the trip, hoping for one I could just admire for a while.  However, this brief look was all we got.

 

 The Steller's Jay we managed to see every day, but I will still be seeking a better photo of it as well .

We were also privileged to see Eurasian Collared Doves at eye level in the back yard.  This was good as all my other photos are taken with them ten or more feet above my head.

Our drives into the areas around Creston presented us with geese, ducks and American Coots as well as this immature Bald Eagle

and several Snow Buntings that hopped down the road ahead of us moving so slowly I finally got out of the car to take their picture.

On our last day we visited a creek (or do they call them rivers out there?) where we watched three or four American Dippers hunting and appearing to not mind the icy water.

The bird I was most surprised, and possibly the most pleased, to see occurred on a walk up the mountain behind the Ainsworth Hot Springs.  That is where we saw several Varied Thrush, a bird that I have wanted to see ever since I slept through the visit of a single bird to our yard in May of last year.  To see that bird, go here.

I was hoping to see a Grey Jay, but it didn't happen.  I guess we'll just have to go back sometime.  Perhaps sometime when it is not quite so cold.

Hawk in our yard

I went outside this morning expecting to see a lot of Yellow-rumped Warblers and hoping for the occasional other warbler. I heard the occasional peep deep in the trees but saw nothing.  When this fellow swooped around our fruit trees I may have found the answer to the quiet.

I think it is a juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk but would appreciate having someone confirm that.  Hawks are probably the family of birds with which I have the most trouble.

Mystery Birds

When one goes to a foreign country in a totally different climate zone, one is apt to see a lot of birds one has never seen before.  Like 300 plus.  One is also apt to take photos of birds that one has no recollection of seeing.

I have pictures of birds on my computer that I know came from my camera, and I look at them and despite all the evidence to the contrary, I say to myself: I have never seen that bird before.  Most of the time I can recognize the family group of the bird, then I look at our list for the day and can usually make a shortlist of possible species after which I start comparing pictures in my guidebook or online and generally come up with an identification.  But then there are the others.  Often the ones that are a bit too blurry, a bit too dark, a bit too hidden by leaves.  But they are still birds and I still want to know who they are. (Yes, I usually refer to birds as who, not what.)

So here are some of the better photos of the mystery birds from two weeks in Ecuador last December. (You don't want to see the worst ones.  Neither do I.)  Clicking on the photos will make them bigger.

UPDATE:  Steven Easley, our guide to all these birds checked out these photos.  He has identified most of them, and made a guess at 3 or 4 of the worst ones.  I will add his IDs in Red.



#1    This is a hummingbird from December 2.  It was in the grounds around the Bella Vista Lodge about 8 in the morning.  It is a dark bird.  What can I say? Gorgeted Sunangel

#2   This next hummer was photographed in the afternoon of the same day at Quinde Luna. I would like it to be a Gorgeted Sunangel.  Obviously it is not since the one above is.  Fawn-breasted Brilliant.

 
#3     I have no guess what this bird is.  I paged through 1600 birds in my bird guide trying to find it.  Okay, that is a lie.  I totally skipped the shore birds, the gulls, the hawks, the parrots...  Even without them, though, there were a lot of birds to look at.  I thought I would recognize this guy by his shape and his short tail, but I didn't.  It was taken late in the morning on Dec. 2 so it would have been on a walk in the larger area around the lodge.  This one was a challenge even for Steven, given the bad photos, but he has suggested it might be a juvenile Dusky Chlorospingus.

I'm including this second shot of the above bird only because it shows the shape of its bill.  Otherwise it is even more of a throwaway photo than the first.

#4    This is an example of a partial bird, but I hope there is enough here to make an identification.  Perhaps a Becard?  Female?  Black-and-white?  Barred?  Female Black-and-white Becard

#5      Or what about this one?  Bad lighting, the bill looks like the bill of a Becard, doesn't it?  Both of these photos were taken on December 2 around Bella Vista.  Dusky Chlorospingus

#6    Not all the mystery birds were on December 2. This poor photo was taken on December 6.  I would like someone to tell me it is a Double-banded Greytail, but only if it really is.  This one is a big disappointment to me.  It is a bird I wanted to see, but we saw it many other times.  Blackburnian Warbler, winter colours.

I think this is the same bird.

There are unfortunately many more birds that after several months I still have not identified.

#7     Day 2, Bella Vista, outside the dining room window.  Probably Tricoloured Brushfinch.

#8  December 6, Rio Silanche  I believe these two photos are of the same bird but I can't be sure of that.  The second photo looks like a member of the parrot family but my list is a bit short on those birds that day.    Oops, not the same bird.

Collared Aracari

Maroon-tailed Parakeet

#9 also December 6, Rio Silanche tower.  Slaty-capped Flycatcher

#10  December 8:  Antisana.  Should be hawks but which ones?  Again, my list is short on hawks, aside from the Variable Hawk, but this looks a bit too variable for that.  Oops, not hawks.  Juvenile Carunculated Caracara.  Those juveniles can really confuse a person.

 

#11  December 12:  Soon after leaving San Isidro. Green-and-Black Fruiteater female?  One of the photos I don't recall taking.  I remember seeing the male, but not the female, so maybe this is a different green bird.  Female Green-and-black Fruiteater

#12  December 5, just a random bird flying though the trees while on our way to see the Oilbirds. Probably a female Variable Seedeater.

#13, oops, another from the morning at Bella Vista on December 2.  One of those bad photos that I hope is still identifiable. Masked Flowerpiercer

#14  From our last day, December 14, early in the morning at the Wild Sumaco bug lights.  By the white on the back I am hoping it is a Blackish Antbird.  By the reddish eye I fear it is a White-backed Fire-eye. But maybe it is just reflection.  After all, lots of people get red eyes in photos, and we were using flashlights.  White-backed Fire-eye

#15  December 12, first bird at the bug lights at San Isidro.  Could be a flycatcher. Or not.  Brown-capped Vireo

#16,  December 13, Wild Sumaco, another early morning photo. One possibility is Dusky-capped Flycatcher, but his cap is too small, his throat is too grey.  Or not. Dusky-capped Flycatcher

Unfortunately this is not the end of my unidentified photos but I'm going to quit there.  Maybe some year we'll go back to Ecuador and have another chance to see these amazing birds again.

Ecuador: Day 10

We started December 10 in the mountains around Papallacta  before moving east to San Isidro Lodge.

This day was notable for my seeing the bird I most wanted to see in Ecuador, the Torrent Duck.

That any of the babies live to grow up is amazing.

There were multiple times when one or the other was completely submerged.


The White-capped Dipper is also fond of rushing water.

The Green Jay, not a new bird to us but a beautiful one, was on the edge of the river.

The Tawny-rumped Tyrannulet was found on the grounds of the lodge.

Most of our hummingbirds were seen at Guango Lodge, a stop on our way between Papallacta and San Isidro.

These Chestnut-breasted Coronets may be having an argument, but it could have just been a conversation.

We saw our first of many Long-tailed Sylphs at Guango Lodge, but this photo was actually taken the next day.  His tail might not be as long as some, but the colours show magnificently.

In case you are wondering about sylphs, I couldn't tell the Violet-tailed from the Long-tailed, but fortunately they know on which side of the Andes they belong.  There are several species of birds that have the same characteristic: similar birds but they stay in either the east or the west but not both.


One of the colourful birds of the day, the Crested Quetzal.

December 10, the beginning of our East Slope birding: 55 total species, 25 new trip birds, 22 lifers.