Ecuador Day 3, Bella Vista to Sachatamia

The morning of our third day was spent around Bella Vista. We saw some of the same birds again, but spent more time looking for new ones.

One of our first life birds of the day was also the first of several using the same word in its name, the Plumbeous Pigeon. Plumbeous means dull gray such as the colour of lead.  This could have been called the Grey Dove or the Plumbeous Dove, but the namer appeared to appreciate the alliteration.

There is a family of birds that uses an interesting form of camouflage to hide in the woods.  The Common Potoo looks so much like a piece of a tree that it is very easy to miss.  Fortunately we were the recipients of inside information so our guide, or possibly our driver, found this fellow with not a lot of trouble.  The trouble came when our inexperienced eyes searched him out from quite a distance away.  As you can see, there were trees separating us but I managed to find a hole in the foliage.

Coronets are another family of birds that share a characteristic.  In this case it is the habit of holding their wings in the air for a second after they land.  If pixels can be wasted, I wasted a lot of them trying to get this Buff-tailed Coronet with its wings up.

 

 In the afternoon we went to the San Tadeo Feeders where, appropriately, we saw this male White-lined Tanager feeding a juvenile almost as big as him. With the banana right beside them, I wondered why he didn't just say "Help yourself" but maybe the youngster was younger than it looked.

 

This Golden Tanager adds colour to our day birds. We had seen one on day 2 but this was our best photo opportunity.

 

 This Masked Water-tyrant was an unexpected sight at the feeders.  We didn't see either of the pair eating bananas, but they were bathing in a little fountain.

 

 The female Flame-rumped Tanager has no red on her to suggest flames, but then, neither does her mate.  A lot of flames are yellow, anyway.

 

 The male is striking with his black suit and yellow contrasts.

 

 The Three-striped Warbler, seen earlier in a tree, was also easier to photograph as it waited its turn for the pool.

This was the third of ten days on which we were able to see Slate-throated Redstarts. Another bird that could win awards for cuteness.

We counted 73 different species on Day 3, 22 were new trip birds and 15 were lifers for Ray and me.