Wednesday 6 December 2017

6th December 2017 Bellavista

We spent the early morning again birding around the lodge and nearby trails seeing both White-throated Quail-Dove and Spillmann's Tapaculo at the Bellavista compost heap. We then drove down to Tony Nunnery's garden where we enjoyed watching the Hummingbird feeders where a White-tailed Hillstar proved an unexpected bonus. A passing mixed-species flock contained a male Chestnut-breasted Chlorophonia but unfortunately we again failed to see Beautiful Jay despite hearing one nearby. In the afternoon we descended lower in our search for the Jay concentrating on the quarry and nearby waterfalls again only succeeded in hearing the species. After an uneventful journey back to Quito airport Avis gave our car a close inspection but failed to find any problems and we enjoyed four seats between the two of us on our KLM flight back to Schipol. Once there, annoyingly, KLM had cancelled our connecting flight to Aberdeen that they said was due to poor weather although both Schipol and Aberdeen airports were open. Despite being an international carrier operating out of an international airport they wouldn't make an international call to Loganair to let them know that we would therefore miss our onward flight from Aberdeen to Shetland that needless to say departed on time. We finally made the call ourselves and thankfully Loganir were exemplary in re-booking our flights for the following day. We weren't the only disgruntled delayed passengers to find it no great surprise that the KLM late evening flight from Schipol to Aberdeen had enough room to accommodate all the passengers from both flights - no doubt, just coincidence!

Turkey Vulture 1
Barred Hawk 2
Broad-winged Hawk 2
Plumbeous Pigeon 2
White-tipped Dove 2
White-throated Quail-Dove 1
White-capped/Speckle-faced Parrot 40
White-collared Swift 4
White-necked Jacobin 1
Brown Violetear 2
Sparkling Violetear 1
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird 4
Andean Emerald 2
Speckled Hummingbird 2
Purple-bibbed Whitetip 4
Green-crowned Brilliant 1
WHITE-TAILED HILLSTAR 1
Brown Inca 1
Collared Inca 1
Buff-tailed Coronet 10
Gorgeted Sunangel 2 males
Booted Racket-tail 6
Violet-tailed Sylph 2
Toucan Barbet 2
Slaty Spinetail 2
Lineated Foliage-gleaner 1
Strong-billed Woodcreeper 2
Rufous-breasted Antthrush h
Spillmann's Tapaculo 1
White-tailed Tyrannulet 2
Cinnamon Flycatcher 1
Smoke-coloured Pewee 1
Golden-crowned Flycatcher 1
White-winged Becard 1
BEAUTIFUL JAY h
Red-eyed Vireo 2
Slaty-backed Nightingale-Thrush 1
Glossy-black Thrush 4
Grey-breasted Wood-Wren 4
Blackburnian Warbler 2
Slate-throated Whitestart 2
Russet-crowned Warbler 4
CHESTNUT-BREASTED CHLOROPHONIA 1 male
Orange-bellied Euphonia 1 male
Golden Tanager 2
Flame-faced Tanager 2
Golden-naped Tanager 2
Beryl-spangled Tanager 2
Blue-winged Mountain-Tanager 2
White-winged Brush-Finch 6
Rufous-collared Sparrow 2


At last a beautiful morning to enjoy views of Tandayapa Valley

this Butterfly no doubt enjoying the better weather too

Golden-crowned Flycatcher at Bellavista

Strong-billed Woodcreeper at Bellavista

Male Glossy-black Thrush at Bellavista


White-throated Quail-Dove at Bellavista

Juvenile Grey-breasted Wood-Wren at Bellavista





Spillmann's Tapaculo at Bellavista


Barred Hawk over Tony Nunnery's garden

Plumbeous Pigeons at Tony Nunnery's garden

Male Orange-bellied Euphonia at Tony Nunnery's garden

Golden-naped Tanagers at Tony Nunnery's garden

Golden Tanager at Tony Nunnery's garden

White-tailed Hillstar at Tony Nunnery's garden

Male Chestnut-breasted Chlorophonia at Tony Nunnery's garden
a terrible shot but of a beautiful species that proved to be our final new bird of the trip


Fallen fruit at Tandayapa


the approach to a frozen Sumburgh airport