Travelling in the age of coronavirus restrictions is not easy. Keeping up with the status of transmission and the ever-changing laws can be confusing and the general uneasiness surrounding international travel adds another layer of frustration. But more complicated does not mean impossible. So with a negative COVID test in hand, I hopped on a plane to Ecuador. (Although had I been from Europe where a faster spreading strain of this virus is currently wreaking havoc, it actually would have been impossible. Best to always be watching!)
For anyone who hasn’t done any travelling during these crazy times, I felt perfectly safe with the precautions that have been implemented, despite being confined to an airplane for a total of 7 hours. I carried hand sanitizer with me, kept my mask on at all times, save for a bite to eat in an unoccupied corner of the airport and a few sips of water, and made sure to keep my distance. (It also helps knowing that I already got the first dose of the vaccination and my chances of catching COVID-19 are only 50%. Perks of being a nurse!) Anyway, It was a fast and easy flight.
Quito was the destination.
Ross picked me up at the airport and told me stories of his first week in Ecuador alone. My conclusion: the man knows how to torture himself! He drove 2,700km (1,690mi) in just one week! Here’s a quick account from Ross for the first week of his solo trip:
After arriving in Quito and receiving negative results from a PCR test, I headed south for ten hours to the town of Saraguro. From here I was able to pick up my first targets Crescent-faced Antpitta and Red-faced Parrot, but also my first dip of the trip, Chestnut-bellied Cotinga. Saraguro is also the starting town for one of South America’s newest (and rarest) birds, the Blue-throated Hillstar. This hummingbird, only discovered in 2017, is critically endangered with probably only a few hundred individuals left at most. Luckily, I was able to track down a male fairly quick and got a few recordings of its call as well as an interesting high pitched song. From here it was a whirlwind which lead me south of Loja for Neblina Metaltail and Loja Tapaculo, then north west for El Oro Tapaculo and Esmeraldas Woodstar, and then back towards Quito with stops for Brown Wood-Rail, Coopman’s Elaenia, and Imperial Snipe. Add in Koepcke’s Screech Owl and Long-wattled Umbrellabird and it was a very successful first 6 days. Essentially it was a loop of the country! In total I covered 2,700km which in the US would be about 24 hours’ worth of driving, but factor in winding and often degraded Ecuadorian roads and the amount of driving is closer to 48 hours’ worth in just the first 6 days!
Clearly Ross did see a bunch of birds so I’m sure he will tell you it was worth it.
Shortly after he flew down, a nation-wide curfew between the hours of 2200-0400 went into effect, which makes his excessive driving even more ridiculous because he couldn’t do the majority of it through the night. I know very few people who would willingly do what Ross regularly does to see life birds. Skip dinner for a lifer? Of course! Not even a question. Skip breakfast and lunch the following day as well for another lifer? Yeah, he did that too. Eating and sleeping are not the priority, only the birds!
As for me, I stepped off of the plane and into the clouds. First stop, Reserva Ecologica Antisana on Guacamayos Ridge in what is known as “cloud forest.” The thick moisture in the air was immediately palpable and the trees were beautifully clothed in moss and lichens as a result. True to form, the forest stayed almost entirely in the clouds during our whole evening and following morning/afternoon visit.
It had been so long since we’ve been in South America, but walking this trail was like deja-vu. Immediately I was reminiscing about the trip we had taken to South America before I was a seasoned traveller. Back when my “life list” was comprised of less than 1,000 birds. It’s crazy to think that I’ve only been birding for 7 years, an activity I was introduced to when I met Ross, and now I’ve seen over 5,000 of the world’s birds. How things change and yet, how they stay the same.
Our main target, Greater Sythebill, a “Holy Grail” bird for major listers has become slightly more reliable in recent years at this location. (And by “slightly more reliable” I mean, you could visit Guacomayos Ridge 10 times and would probably see the bird on ONE of those ten visits.) Seeing this species was by no means a guarantee, but in the end, we had photos, recordings, and scope views of this woodland creeper. Better to be lucky than good as my father in law likes to say.
Can you spot the woodcreeper in this photo?! 
Greater Scythebill really is great
The trail was wide but very slippery. The stones not only were wet, but were covered in moss adding to their precarious nature. Regardless we marched on through the lush, green forest towards a known territory of Peruvian Antpitta. Our friend Julien had recently visited and informed Ross the birds remained in the area. I think it took us longer than we expected to get to the spot, even though we only stopped on a few brief occasions to scan flocks above our heads. Unfortunately the clouds had rolled in which made matters very difficult. While we certainly had to be patient and watch closely for our skulky target, after two hours of searching, we once again ended the quest with point blank views of two Peruvian Antpittas! We watched as they twisted their tiny bodies as if dancing to some unspoken music. Talk about cuteness overload! This is another mega rare bird!
By 9:30AM we had our two biggest targets in the bag! If it hadn’t been for the weather, we would have had a lot more “filler birds.” Locating birds in the fog can be done, but identifying them is nearly impossible when visibility is so limited. We ran into a few flocks, but the fog was so thick we could barely make out any disquinshable features. On the few instances we had a reprieve from the fog, we managed Dusky Piha, Black-billed Mountain Toucan, White-capped Tanager, Large-footed Tapaculo, Green-fronted Lancebill, and a bunch more! (Full e-bird checklist here for those die-hard bird lovers.)
With moisture so thick we could practically watch rain drops materialize out of thin air, we decided to leave and start our journey towards the lower foothills. And then it really started raining. We got off the ridge just in the nick of time! Initially we hoped to bird our way down the mountain, stopping along the way to scan for flocks, but the rain crushed any hopes we might have had of that being a possibility. Instead, we resigned ourselves to a few quick stops, but still managed Green-backed Hillstar, Western Striolated Puffbird, and Coppery-chested Jacomar.
Our next stop: Reserva Bigal!
Beautiful mossy trees !!!