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High Andes
I actually was only on the trip for the
Galápagos leg, but since I arrived two days early, I got to bird with
the group in the high Andes mountains near Quito. On the second day we birded
on the slopes just below the mountain Antisanna (above). It was so beautiful in
the mountains and the birds were great. I just can't resist writing something
about these two days.
The first day Diego Andrade (right), a partner of Juan
Carlos took Daan Sandee, Noel Mann and myself to the Yanacocha Reserve where
eventually the rest of the group caught up with us.
Daan and Noel are
traveling the world and I last ran into them in New Zealand.
Quito is a
large city located at 6000' in the interior of Ecuador. Yanacocha is even
higher at 10,000' |
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Here I am at Yanacocha looking a little whipped. I am
standing south of the equator and the far mountain range is north of the
equator. Going from sea level in New Hampshire to 10,000 feet in one day left
me rather breathless. |
| Here is a shot of the easy trail that winds along the side of
the mountain at Yanachocha. It was a gradual uphill or downhill most of the
way. We were there on a Saturday and were bothered by bicyclist whizzing past
without warning. I eventually started walking in the middle of the track with
my walking stick to the side to prevent them from passing without my
notice. |
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There are hummingbird feeders at points along
the trail and I was able to photograph this Sapphirewing with my point
and shoot camera. The feeders were busy and made nice resting spots along the
trail. Birds seen included: Black Flowerpiercer, Band-tailed Pigeon, Great
Thrush, Hooded Siskin, Plumbeus Sierra Finch, Scarlet-bellied Mountain Tanager,
Superciliary Hemisphingus, Red-crested Cotinga, Brown-bellied Swallow, Black
Vulture, Variable Hawk, Unicolor Tapaculo, Band-tailed Seedeater, Buff-winged
Starfrontlet, Shining Sunbeam, Sapphire vented Puffleg |
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On to Antisanna. Here is a band of wild horses grazing
peacefully on the slopes. Birds along this road were: Andean Condor, Black
Vulture, Variable Hawk, Carunculated Caracara, American Kestrel, Andean Coot,
Black-winged Ground dove, Eared Dove, Giant Hummingbird, Ecuadorean Hillstar,
Andean Lapwing, Black-faced Ibis, Bar-winged Cinclodes, Stout-billed Cinclodes,
Many-striped Conistero, Brown-backed Chat Tyrant, Paramo Ground-Tyrant, Paramo
Pipit, Black Flowerpiercer, Cinerous Conebill. |
The woman with her son posed for a picture beside the high
lake that is her home. They were dressed in their Sunday best probably for a
visit with relatives.
At or near this lake we saw Silvery Grebe,
Andean Teal, Andean Coot, Andean Gull. |
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