Giant Anteater!!!! Giant Reward! – Reserva Bigal, Ecuador.

So much to see, so little time. Honestly, one could spend a lifetime in the Amazon and still only see a fraction of the wildlife found there. We had two days. Good luck.
High diversity, but low density. This is why it took us nearly an hour of walking in the jungle before we came to our first bird flock and why, when that flock left us, the forest went silent. Until the next flock came along that is. Flock birding is equal parts exhilarating and frustrating. There’s so much going on at once that one must sort through all of the common birds to find the scarcer rewards. And if the flock moves through too quickly, it’s almost a guarantee that not every bird was spotted. If you’ve ever done it, you know exactly what I mean. And if you haven’t, just picture a solemn forest suddenly burst to life with excitement.

But if you look closely enough, there’s always something new to see in the Amazon. Just turn over a few leaves and see what insects are hiding out. Or scan the trees for different types of fungi. If you’re lucky you might catch site of a rodent or small mammal. Or watch the ants. There’s always ants. And boy do I LOVE ANTS.

To get to Bigal, we took a taxi and then, when the roads became too muddy and it was no longer passable, we walked. After a morning walk into Bigal Reserve, we spent the rest of the afternoon chasing flocks.
One of our favorite flocks was an afternoon antbird flock. Antbirds, as the name suggests, follow ants. Army Ant swarms in and of themselves are quite the spectacle. There’s literally ants EVERYWHERE. Ants covering every inch of the ground, the surrounding trees, and their leaves. You can literally HEAR them marching. While these little buggers pack a mean punch, standing in their midst is prime for viewing the accompanying bird flock.
We first got on a pair of stunning White-plumed Antbirds, and Ross, who thought he saw another, puts up his binoculars to find a Striated Ant-thrush in his binocular field! Striated Ant-thrush is a skulky bird that very few people get to see well. We happened to have great views and despite missing a photo the first time, thought we might get some redemption when it circled back around us. Again, no photo, but the bird itself was a great reward out of this flock. An exact quote following the missed photo opportunity, “I’m pissed… I mean, I’m happy, but I’m pissed.”

Look at how the ground is simply COVERED in Army Ants!

The accommodations at Reserva Bigal are rustic and basic. And our stay was made more rustic and basic by the fact that it was closed for the holidays. The generator wasn’t operating so we had no power whatsoever. The 2-3 person “staff” were all home on break so we had to cook our own meals. (We made simple meals like chicken noodle soup, aka ramen with can chicken in it.) The bed was a mattress on a bamboo frame inside of a bamboo cabin. The facilities included cold showers and composting toilets. In all actuality, the reserve was closed and we almost didn’t get to come as Thierry, the owner, couldn’t be there to accompany us. Luckily Theirry found a member of his staff, Roberto, who was available and the three of us spent the next 2.5 days removed from any other civilization. Honestly, the simplicity was rather nice and hopefully it’s no secret by now that I LOVE a good composting toilet! If I haven’t already recommended taking a trip off the grid, let me say how rewarding spending time immersed in the outdoors can be for your mental health. And I’m not sure there are many places better to do just that than Reserva Bigal. The spacious main building is equipped with lovely basic amenities – kitchen, second story viewing platform, seating, etc. If you are looking for a place to spend a few days or even a few weeks while exploring foothill forests along the Amazonian side of the Andean Slopes, let me highly recommend Bigal River Biological Reserve!

We woke up at 4AM being serenaded by the sounds of singing Band-bellied Owl, Blackish Nightjar, and Nocturnal Currasow. While we would have loved to have seen all three in that moment, we had to choose. We dashed out of bed and down the trail in search of the rarest of them all, Nocturnal Currasow!
It would have been easier if we could have caught a glimpse of these night-dwelling, chicken-sized birds as they crossed the trail. Surely they cross the trail often. But these birds are shy and like to stay in the shadows. Instead we found ourselves climbing up a steep bankside and plowing our way through the vegetation to get a closer look. We heard no less than four singing Nocturnal Currasows and managed distant sightings of two individuals perched in a tree! We weren’t spending nearly enough time at Bigal so we made sure to spend as much time as possible out on the trails, including time that we should have been sleeping. The late nights and very early mornings did result in great views of various “birds of the night,” as well as a few roosting individuals.

And when we weren’t running around at night, the rest of our time at Bigal was spent meandering the trails during the day. Rubber boots are an absolute necessity as the majority of the trails have mud, stream crossings, and snakes so well camouflaged they might as well be invisible. Sadly we didn’t see any venomous snakes. Or any snakes for that matter. But we did see a number of birds and some pretty spectacular jungle! We were concerned we might miss our number one target, Pink-throated Brilliant, as the red flowers on the vine that it frequents outside of camp weren’t blooming! Our only chance was to run into one while we were out on the trails! Despite looking, sadly we didn’t see a single Pink-throated Brilliant during the daylight hours. BUT we did find TWO INDIVIDUALS roosting while out at night! It’s so unlikely that you simply can’t make it up!

We spent countless hours searching steep hillsides along stream beds for the nearly mythical, Rufous-winged Wood-rail, but to no avail. Thankfully it’s not hard to stay preoccupied when in the Amazon. For instance we had Giant Anteater in perfect view less than 10m away!!! That kind of encounter is beyond what we could have wished for! According to Theirry it was only the second sighting in twelve years at Bigal Reserve, something he himself has never seen! (Later in the trip we got to talk with expert bird guide Dusan Brinkhuizen and fellow bird expert, Jonas Nilsson and neither of them had ever seen this species in the wild!) Honestly, Giant Anteater might have been the rarest thing we saw during our time in Ecuador. Gosh, this trip was something else! Another highlight was stumbling upon a Sapphire Quail-Dove sitting on a nest! We snuck closer and could see the down feathers of a chick under the parent.

Other bird highlights included Blackish Pewee, Great Jacomar, Red-necked Woodpecker, White-shouldered Antshrike, Thrush-like Antpitta, Buff-tailed Sicklebill, and Carmilo’s Tanager. The list goes on and on.
Again, we would have loved to have spent more time here, but we had to move on. Next stop Wild Sumaco!