Day 7: Deep in the darkest corners of an Euador forest

In case the title didn't make it clear enough, December 7th was the day I could have left the camera in the van and hardly missed a thing.

It started early in the morning (when didn't it start early in the morning?)  Our first bird of the day was called up by yet another young man who feeds antpittas.  This particular antpitta is called Shungita.  She, or possibly he, is a Rufous-crowned Antpitta. A little hesitant at first, eventually Shungita came out for a good visit and many photos.

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We then spent a couple of hours wandering around glimpsing distant bird-like shapes that through binoculars revealed themselves to be some of the most sought after birds of the South American rain forests.   A Long-wattled Umbrellabird, a Purple-throated Fruitcrow, a Club-winged Manakin, a Choco Toucan.  Ah it was a wonderful day.

Just not wonderful photos.

We did see goats. Not wild goats, so they didn't count on our daylist.

After the experience in the forest of Mashpi Shungo we were rewarded with a visit to the Alambi Hummingbird Feeders.  We saw 18 different Hummingbirds this day, 1 of which was a new bird to us, though 2 were new trip birds.

The new hummer was a Tawny-bellied Hermit.

I prefer to photograph the hummingbirds away from a feeder, but sometimes that just doesn't happen.

Our wild mammal of the day was a South American Agouti.  

I am told we saw 72 different species on Day 7; 13 were new trip birds, 11 were lifers for us. If the photo numbers seem a little low, never fear.  Day 8 is coming.  Day 8 when I got a photograph of every new bird we saw.  Oh wow.