Ecuador & The Galapagos Is.

14-31/12/09

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Blow-by-blow birding account

Monday 14th

Up before 0400, and off in the freezing cold to Gatwick. Car dumped offsite without any hassle, and the flight left early at 0915. Boring flight – food not great, films rubbish. Arrived Atlanta 1400 local time, and had to be submissive to a cretin of a border guard. First impressions etc. Idiot. After managing to get ten minutes of birding in outside the terminal (Northern Mockingbird the only item of note!), it was three hours of boredom and junk food until our next Delta flight departed in heavy rain at 1800. Luckily, we slept a bit on the next leg, but we were still shattered on arrival in Quito just before midnight.

Friendly José picked us up, and in no time we were at the San Jorge Lodge, just 20 minutes up the hill, at a chilly 3200m. SLEEP!

Tuesday 15th

But less than we might have wanted! Light and hummer calls woke us before six, and a bit of  pre-breakfast birding was nicely productive – Sparkling Violetear, Green-tailed and Black-tailed Trainbearers, Southern Yellow Grosbeak, Great Thrush, Hooded Siskin, and Masked and Black Flowerpiercers. Unbelievably strong coffee and excellent melon were trumped only by cheesy scrambled eggs, and after checking in officially (thank you for not making us do that last night, José!), we set off for a three hour walk up to about 3450m (gasping in the thin air!).

Slowly birding our way up and down, the birdlife was hardly prolific, but we had some nice moments – Sapphire-vented Puffleg, Shining Sunbeam, Azara's Spinetail, Tufted Tit-tyrant, White-throated and White-banded Tyrannulets, Spectacled Whitestart, Scarlet-bellied Mountain-tanager, Blue-and-yellow Tanager, Plain-coloured Seedeater and everything we'd seen earlier too! For Simon only, very brief views of a Blackish (was Unicoloured) Tapaculo followed two lengthy call only grubbings about in the undergrowth – an official “git bird”...

After a ridiculous four course lunch, attended by various hummers, we siesta-ed for a couple of hours, before enjoying an excellent eucalyptus-flavoured sauna...mmmmm. The only extra bird this afternoon was a Rufous-naped Brush-finch – but today was mainly about jetlag recovery and holiday! As evidenced by a superb dinner of fresh grilled trout. No slumming it here! The Hosteria is a really attractive old hacienda perched on the side of a hill high above Quito's suburbs – a real oasis just outside the teeming city.

Wednesday 16th

Up at 0515, a snappy breakfast and then out into the field with Jorge for our first “proper” morning of birding. Most of the birds were the same, of course, but we did add several new species: Blackburnian Warbler (right by the terrace), Cinereous Conebill, Black-crested Warbler, Crimson-mantled Woodpecker (briefly), White-crested Elaenia, Streak-throated Bush-tyrant and a few raptors – Carunculated Caracara, Variable Hawk and at least three Plain-breasted Hawks, all very close, with one perched for some time with a bird it had caught – some discarded feathers nearby suggested an Antpitta! We also got better (if still frustrating) views of Blackish Tapaculo, and superb close-ups of a Sapphire-vented Puffleg, presumably close to a nest. Puffing and gasping (still not fit, let alone acclimatized to the altitude), we made it back in time for a shower and rest before lunch – and a Sword-billed Hummingbird right by our room.

At 1415 we set off with Jorge uphill, towards the Yanacocha montane elfin forest – and into ever less-promising low cloud and fog! The weather really closed in on us – visibility was down to just a few yards – but we still managed a good few specials, such as Buff-winged Starfrontlet, Mountain Velvetbreast, Great Sapphirewing, Crowned Chat-tyrant, Glossy Flowerpiercer and a noisy Andean Guan. Sadly, Undulated and Tawny Antpittas remained heard but unseen in the murk....

The journey back turned up three Short-eared Owls and a Band-tailed Nightjar, but the main feature of the evening was absolute, shattering tiredness – altitude?

Thursday 17th

Up at 0430 and away shortly after 0530 – first stop Papallacta Pass in the paramo (the grassy, shrubby “tundra” of the high Andes). Again, grossly cold weather, low cloud, fog and rain frustrated us a little bit – but with effort and persistence we really scored with some über-ultra-mega montane species – Tawny Antpitta (at last), Andean Tit-spinetail, Paramo Ground-tyrant, Red-rumped Bush-tyrant, Brown-backed Chat-tyrant, Many-striped Canastero, Bar-winged and Stout-billed Cinclodes, Grass Wren and best of all, several (endemic) Ecuadorian Hillstars. Add to that lot Andean Gull and Andean Teal, and mammals in the form of White-tailed Deer and a very cool Andean Wolf successfully hunting a (?) rabbit, and it was a really cool (if freezing!) morning.

After a quick stop by a volcanically-dammed lake (complete with salted coffee...oops) for Andean Coot, Greater Yellowlegs and Yellow-billed Pintail, we stopped off at a certain Gustavo's farm above Baeza, where we idled away the whole afternoon, luxuriating in stacks of hummers (including new species – Collared Inca, Tourmaline Sunangel, Chestnut-breasted Coronet, Speckled Hummingbird and Long-tailed Sylph), a superb fresh trout lunch cooked by Gustavo's wife, Iolanda, and a whole host of other cloud forest edge birds – highlights included Canada and Blackburnian Warbler, Chestnut-breasted Chlorophonia, Northern Mountain-cacique, Blue-winged Mountain-tanager, Pearled Treerunner, Beryl-spangled, Summer, Grass-green, Saffron-crowned and Black-capped Tanagers, Torrent Tyrannulet, White-capped Parrot and Turquoise and Inca Jays – finally, some real tropical colour! And there were stacks of very cute fluffy dogs to play with as well....

Now again shattered, we eschewed the prospect of a late finish to do some speculative owling, and headed down to Baeza, where we checked in to our functional but most unexciting hotel, and crashed (guess what) stupidly early once more, because.....

Friday 18th

...we were up at 0430 again! This time over the pass at Cosanga, and steeply down the east flank of the mountains, stopping frequently for extremely many new and good birds – just a taster would include Black Caracara, Yellow-browed Sparrow, Olivaceous and Yellow-bellied Siskins, Green-fronted Lancebill, Blue-and-yellow Macaw, Spix's Guan, Swainson's Thrush, Many-banded Aracari, Chestnut-eared Toucanet, Magpie, Swallow, Yellow-bellied and White-lined Tanagers, Yellow-tufted Woodpecker and various raptors, including Swallow-tailed Kite.

We had an extended lunch break at a roadside cafe at Ollin – and just down the hill by the falls we scored heavily with a family of White-capped Dippers and a Golden-headed Quetzal. sadly the afternoon was a near complete washout – very heavy, persistent rain, thunder and lightning – and just two new birds, both swifts – Short-tailed and White-collared. A pretty miserable afternoon, really!

Saturday 19th

If yesterday afternoon was very disappointing, today was, to coin a phrase, a near-total fucking wash-out. We got up at the usual stupid hour, and things were looking up – the cloud base had lifted and the fog cleared in the first half hour of daylight. So it was with optimism that we drove to Jorge's Cosanga reserve, and quickly saw some nice birds – Slaty Brush-finch, Long-tailed Ant-bird, Grey-breasted Wood-wren and best of all, a pair of Crested Quetzals.

But, alas, that was that for the day – the heavens opened once more, and we were washed out completely. This was not rain – it was a precipitation apocalypse direct from the bottoms of the Gods. Sodden, we limped back to Baeza in Jorge's now dodgy van – brake trouble! While he tried to get that fixed (failed), we had a second breakfast and a very early siesta. At 1145, with the rain still coming down like molten, if cold, titanium-reinforced stair-rods, we bailed from Baeza – actually only a couple of hours (but unfortunately many tens of birds) earlier than scheduled. With Jorge's van unreliable, we went with a chap called Benicio in his 4x4 – the journey was further interrupted by a big traffic jam at a damaged canyon bridge, and the low cloud continued all the way back to Quito. It wasn't much fun.

The rain and drizzle continued all afternoon – essentially a grim, poor day....apart from the sauna at the end of it. A write-off, really....

Sunday 20th

Galapagos day! Off the airport for 0600, where we were met and gret (as it were) and easily got checked in – apart from Julia getting our Swiss Army knife confiscated! The flight stopped off in Guayaquil, and by lunchtime we were on the ground at the old American air-base on Baltra Island – made it at last!

We saw some Small Ground-finches and a Galapagos Dove almost immediately – which took our mind off the very lengthy arrivals process. Eventually we got through, met our naturalist (Alex) and some of the others on our tour – from Turkey, Germany, America and Russia! The bus ran us down to the ferry, and we transferred quickly over to Santa Cruz, before a longer drive across the island to Punta Aruya (???), where we got ferried out to the MV Monsarrat by Zodiac, and settled in, before a later lunch – 1500!

We still had time to get off the boat again – via Lava Gull (distantly), Lava Heron and lots of Elliott's Storm-petrels and Brown Pelicans – and headed uphill into the Santa Cruz uplands. Our main target here was wild Santa Cruz Giant Tortoises – and we saw maybe 30 of them! Massive and truly impressive – especially their deep, resonant hisses.... And the lave tube we visited was cool as well.

On the bird front, we did well – Small and Medium Ground-finches, Woodpecker Finch, Vegetarian Finch, Mangrove (Yellow) Warbler, Vermilion Flycatcher, Galapagos (Large-billed) Flycatcher, Hudsonian Whimbrel, Moorhen (yes!), White-cheeked Pintail, Smooth-billed Ani, Cattle Egret....and that's all – the classic impoverished island avifauna!

Back to the boat for dinner, and collapse into (for Simon!) a good sleep.

Monday 21st

Up at 0600, for an  hour enjoying the dawn and the early morning wildlife – Franklin's Gull, American Oystercatcher, Blue-footed Booby, Magnificent Frigatebird and even a pair of Galapagos Hawks!

Post-breakfast, we landed on the lava field at Sullivan Bay – a truly awesome expanse of glassy pahoehoe lava. An incredible experience, enlivened by Galapagos Penguins, Sea Lions and Marine Iguanas! We are really here! We followed this with a snorkel along the shoreline – lots of great fish, plus swimming WITH penguins (mega-tick) and Julia even saw a Sea Snake.

Lunch – siesta – plus a fly-by Galapagos Storm-petrel. Great! We started the afternoon session with another snorkel – even better, with Puffer Fish, more penguins, and best of all at least three White-tipped Reef Sharks dozing under the cliff edge! One (c.2m long) swam out and cruised about directly under the scared but thrilled snorkellers....gulp! And did we mention the penguins? And also, there were penguins swimming with us!

Back to dry land next – Santa Bartolomeo island – a pure volcanic cone with all kinds of wacky lavas and pumice fields – almost nothing living (but an endemic Lava Lizard species) on the island itself, but Galapagos (Audubon's) Shearwaters flew past, as did a Nazca Booby – and a distant melée of fish and seabirds revealed a blowing (probably Humpback) whale! And there was even a Pacific Ridley Turtle distantly offshore as well! How much more do you want? Well, how about a further close approach to a bunch of penguins, pelicans and Sally Lightfoot crabs before a delicious dinner? Done! What an amazing day.

Tuesday 22nd – the winter solstice

A wet landing this morning, onto Mosqueta Beach, a sort of sandy bar between Baltra and North Seymour. Stacks of sealions with pups on here, plus a couple of hefty beachmaster bulls to avoid! Also some good birds – Lava Gull, Wandering Tattler, Semipalmated Plover and the “usual” (!) seabirds like Brown Noddy and Swallow-tailed Gull. After a dinghy ride along the cliffs of North Seymour (great views of all kinds of breeding seabirds, including Galapagos Shearwater), we snorkelled the drop-off there – another White-tipped Reef Shark cruised the sandy bottom below us, and we also had a stingray and (for some) another seasnake, plus loads of parrotfish, puffer fish and so on.

After lunch and siesta, it was time to land on North Seymour – and we had an absolutely brilliant three hours among the colonies of Blue-footed Boobies, Magnificent and a few Great Frigatebirds – a truly awesome afternoon. We took over 800 photos in just this session!

The Galapagos islands are turning out to be even better than we had thought – but not for numbers or variety of species – just sheer weirdness, iconic importance, uniqueness and the sense that's it's just a huge ecological experiment – and you really do get so close to everything.

Wednesday 23rd

Another day in paradise! An early morning wet landing attended by Red-footed Boobies at Punta Pitt on San Cristobal, and then a fantastic walk up and over eroded tuff cones to a gorgeous stretch of sea cliffs covered with strange yellow and red succulent plants. Two new birds, as well – Chatham Island Mockingbird and Common Cactus-finch. Hot and very, very dry!

This morning's snorkel was a bit rougher than those of previous days – back and forth along the rocky shore of a tiny islet. As much fun as ever, with a great variety of fish – plus Uri demonstrating his pearl-diving credentials by rescuing Vladimir's snorkel from the bottom at a depth of maybe 5m.....

We had lunch at 12 as usual, and then siesta-ed on the move for a change – lots of shearwaters and petrels to see between and after snoozes. The afternoon stop-off was on the tiny Isla del Lobos (Sealion Island), which is made of coral sand and stacks of pumice “bombs” piled up like sea defences. More sealions (no shock there), plus more boobies, more frigatebirds, more Marine Iguanas – it's such a great place.

On returning to the boat, Alex took Natasha off to the hospital to get her eye checked – she has burst a blood vessel – and while the cat was away, the boys played. Much testosterone-laden boat leaping and diving was done, all of it very competitive in front of the girls. In fact, it was an interesting example of sexual selection driven male performance and risk-taking to retain chosen females. Very Charles Darwin.

Thursday 24th – Christmas Eve

Our last day in the Galapagos. We started the day (everyone!) at 0600 with a few circuits of Kicker(or Sleeping Lion) Rock, a massive split rock pinnacle just off San Cristobal. The dominant seabird here was Nazca Booby, breeding high on the bare rock, but there were plenty of frigatebirds, shearwaters and even a Wandering Tattler. We also saw large flocks of Red-necked Phalaropes milling offshore, and found all three kinds of storm-petrel (Elliott's, Galapagos and Wedge-rumped) before port. But the undoubted seabird highlight awaited us. A dark, large, looping shape among the Audobon's Shearwaters – yes! A Dark-rumped (or Galapagos) Petrel (split from Hawaiian), the much-desired and endangered local Pterodroma species. Fantastic views were followed by close passes by at least two (maybe three) more birds – clinching photographs were secured.... A subadult Laughing Gull in the harbour at ???????????? (San Cristobal and Gal. capital) was yet another new species for the trip.

It was now time to say farewell to the captain and crew – they'd done a good job. We finished off our tour with a look at the interpretation centre (well set out, but not enough on the biodiversity for our liking!), and had good views of Chatham Island Mockingbird, Galapagos Flycatcher, Mangrove Warbler and Woodpecker and Large/Medium (check from photos....) Ground-finch.

Finally, we spent an hour doing a bit of shopping and having a second breakfast on the sea front, before Alex delivered us safely to the airport, and we said goodbye to him as well. Several coffees, card-tricks and bored, hot hours later, the plane finally arrived, and we left some 90 minutes late, first for Guayaquil, where Loren, Ruthy, Daniella, Yael, Michael and Uri disembarked for their proposed overnight bus to Baños....wonder how they got on?

The rest of us continued back to Quito, and at a busy domestic terminal, our bags finally came through, and we said our farewells to our other new friends – Nadja and Christoph from Germany, Mehmet and Synem from NYC, and Natasha and Vladimir from Utah. José was there to meet us, and by 1900 (Galapagos time +1) we were back “home” at our hosteria, with good old Vicente on hand to serve up a superb Christmas Eve dinner. And we're out of breath again!

In summary – awesome. But we have “missed” a good few things on the Galapagos – notably the Tree-finches, the Waved Albatross colony, and above all the Flightless Cormorant. So we'll be back one day – maybe diving with those Hammerhead and Whale Sharks? (But see Jan 1st....)

Friday 25th – Christmas Day

A wonderfully late start for our non-birding day in Quito – a leisurely breakfast, and then José very kindly ran us down to the historic centre of town, where we enjoyed three hours of cafes, shops, colonial architecture and peeks inside cathedrals. Our purchases included a new umbrella for Simon, and a rather natty “Panama” hat – made in Ecuador, of course.

Back for lunch, where we two new (English) guests – Joyce and Babs – and once again overate....the food is just too good. Siesta completed, it was time for a steam bath and sauna by the pool once more – a day of indulgence, enjoyment and lazy, non-birding pleasure – the hard work begins again in earnest tomorrow!

Saturday 26th – Boxing Day

And good though today was, the work was made even harder by neither of us having more than half an hour's sleep all night – one of those nightmarish nights which you want to forget but never will! Quite how we got through today with no more than a few snatched minutes on the road, we will never know.....perhaps we hallucinated all that follows?

0500 breakfast, and then away onto the old Nono-Mindo Road at 0530 – feeling like death! Julia was very nearly unable to leave the van! (Is there something about this particular altitude range which curses her birding? Cf. Péru 2003....)But sunrise and good birds soon got us somewhere near human again, starting with a surprising pair of Burrowing Owls in an old abandoned pasture on a steep Andean hillside. We dropped smoothly down from 3000m to just 1700m today, with lots of stops, slow walks, meanders and even a rather good picnic stop just 6km from Tandayapa. Some of the bird highlights were beauties such as Plate-billed Mountain-toucan, Beuatiful Jay, Red-crested Cotinga, several Mountain-tanagers and numerous “ordinary” Tanagers (and less ordinary, like the amazing Grass-green), White-tailed Hillstar, White-capped Dipper, White-sided Flowerpiercer, Cinnamon and Golden-crowned Flycatchers, Crimson-mantled Woodpecker, Scale-throated Foliage-gleaner and White-winged Brush-finch. Some great birds!

The rain started again, alas, shortly after our lunch break, so our chances at the Cock-of-the-Rock lek were thwarted, although we did see a brief female nonetheless. It was raining quite hard by the time we reached San Jorge de Tandayapa Lodge  – and we were not forewarned about the lengthy, steep climb up to the lodge! But we got there OK – and the reward, even in heavy rain, was outstanding – Crimson-rumped Toucanet, Red-billed Parrots, and a stack of hummers: Violet-tailed Sylph, Booted Racket-tail, Buff-tailed Coronet and more. Something to sort out tomorrow!

Our hand luggage finally arrived by mule up the muddiest of slopes – and now a meal and an early night are within sight. How did we do it?!?

Sunday 27th

We made up for it with nine hours straight sleep – excellent! A couple of hours from 0600 around the lodge produced lots of great birds – highlights included Flame-faced Tanager, Barred Becard, Red-eyed Vireo, Black-and-white Warbler, Red-headed Barbet, Thick-billed and Golden-rumped Euphonias, and hordes of tanagers and hummers – species not mentioned for yesterday were Brown Inca, Empress Brilliant, Western and Andean Emeralds, Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, Purple-throated and White-bellied Woodstars, Purple-bibbed Whitetip, Green-crowned and Fawn-breasted Brilliants. All a bit much, really – not.

After a hearty breakfast, we birded around the lodge and checked out a couple of trails – new birds in and over the steep, damp forests were a soaring Black-and-chestnut Eagle, Tawny-bellied Hermit, and Three-striped Warbler.

After an (unusual) morning siesta, yet another four-course meal was downed, and then just the two of us headed off with Jorges Snr. and Jr., plus Estalin, for a loop of the Quetzal Trail. But, again, we were thwarted by heavy, persistent rain – is this perhaps El Niño finally biting? Mind you, it is a rain forest...... About the only significant bird we saw was Powerful Woodpecker, unfortunately! And still it rains – and we're trying to dry clothes under the balcony outside our room....

Monday 28th

An obscene 0500 breakfast, and then trekking down the hill to the van with Babs and Joyce in the dark. We checked the total non-site of “Mindo tower” (what's that all about?) with no results, and quickly opted for the much better option of Milpe Road, a 3km stretch through forest edge and pasture – stacks of birds! Lots of new things to see down at c.1000m, such as Lemon-rumped Tanager, One-coloured and Cinnamon Becards, Rufous Motmot, Golden-winged Manakin, Pale-mandibled Aracari, Rufous-winged Tyrannulet and much more.

We reached the “New Hotel” part of Jorge's Milpe de San Jorge Lodge, at around 1100, and had a very, very productive hour there, where a fruiting tree was attracting all sorts – Ochre-breasted, Rufous-throated, Guira, Silver-throated and a stunning Glistening-green Tanager. An added bonus was a point-blank range female Red-headed Barbet.

With temperatures rising and our energy levels flagging, we walked a little further to a good set of hummingbird feeders, adding Green Thorntail, Green-crowned Woodnymph and White-whiskered Hermit before entering the forest proper, and dropping down the hill to the superbly located lodge, perched on the rim of a fantastic forested canyon, filled with mist and clouds. The rivers roars away incessantly 100m (actually 105m, according to Julia's clever watch....) below – a fantastic spot.

Post-lunch, the rain started pretty early, but we persisted and made two extremely wet ventures outside, first down to the mighty waterfalls in the valley floor (there is a chain of at least 17 on the property!), where we saw Slaty Antbird, Tawny-breasted Flycatcher and Chestnut-capped Brush-finch (behaving like a leaftosser,flicking leaves off the path!), and secondly up towards the car park, where in heavy, heavy rain we managed to eke out not only Buff-tailed Warbler, but also a crippling Spotted Nightingale-thrush.

Drenched, it was now time to retreat – and eat yet another four courses of Irina's superb food!

Tuesday 29th

A couple of hours pre-breakfast saw us exploring the Hilltop Trail – not a great deal actually in the forest, but the lookout at the top produced plenty – Bronze-winged and Rose-faced Parrots, Maroon-tailed Parakeet, Pacific Parrotlet, Chestnut-mandibled and Choco Toucans, Pale-mandibled Aracari, Pacific Hornero and Black-and-white Becard. Post Scale-crested Pygmy-tyrant (a former Péruvian bogey bird), Smoky-brown Woodpecker and more Rufous Motmots on the way back down the hill, breakfast was munched (great coffee – based on the now familiar and absurdly strong liquid concentrate).

A late morning excursion down the hill and back via the “new hotel” was mostly quiet – the highlights being a White-whiskered Puffbird, a Slate-coloured Grosbeak and a very showy (and extremely endemic) Velvet-purple Coronet back at the feeders. Amazingly, the rain hardly appeared all afternoon, although it was very gloomy and misty all the time – we made a foray on our own today, turning up a few bits and pieces, the best being a Black-throated Trogon.

A night walk was by turns frustrating and rather good – we heard both Crested and Mottled Owls (the latter very close), but couldn't get views – the consolation came in the form of good views of a Kinkajou emerging for the night.

Wednesday 30th

Urgh! One last 0445 start, this time prior to the longish drive to an area near Pedro Vicente Maldonado. To be honest, the morning was pretty poor. The only decent birds were Tiny Hawk and Yellow-tufted Dacnis, and by and large the habitat was rubbish – severely deforested land covered in cows, and just a few patches of big trees. Has this area simply got more smashed up and less birdy in recent years? We suspect so....living on past glories and in need of a rethink. To add insult to injury, we then drove along bumpy roads for 90 minutes, only to stop for what was scheduled as a 2.5 hour break! Great!

Pretty cheesed off, we yomped off down the road in searing heat (the first day of really sunny, hot weather on the mainland since our arrival!), and found a quiet, shady spot by the river for a grumble and a paddle – we soon feltmuch better, especially as we saw Ecuadorian Thrush and Green Kingfisher here. After a filling packed lunch, it was back into the “field” - at least the habitat improved (a bit), and in fact the birding got a lot better as the afternoon cooled down. There was plenty to see by the roadside – Laughing Falcon, more Yellow-tufted Dacnises, Dusky-faced Tanager, an excellent Purple-throated Fruitcrow, Pacific Antwren, Long-tailed tyrant, Yellow-crowned Tyrannulet, Black-winged Saltator, Band-backed Wren, White-throated (???) Swift (a real cryptic number, that!), Snowy-throated Kingbird, and most frustrating of all, a “heard only” Ecuadorian Trogon....grrr....this was our first ever “heard-only” trogon.

Utterly shattered and uncharacteristically bathed in sweat, we finally loaded up and headed off for the long, bumpy ride back to the main road – which was made unnecessarily longer by our driver getting lost....not wholly happy bunnies today. FINALLY – after a distinctly mixed day, we got back at about 1930, and shattered, stuffed our faces one last time.

Thursday 31st – New Year's Eve

A pretty civilized last morning, really, unfortunately on a rather misty and murky day. We again ascended the hill, and scanned for birds distant and close. Again, we saw various toucanids and parrots, and againwere entertained by a good selection of tanagers, warblers and so on. New species were White-winged Becard and Tricoloured Brush-finch.

We decided to do our own thing after breakfast, and essentially enjoyed the birds from our fantastic balcony overlooking the canyon – and they were quite good, including Dusky-faced Tanager, a couple of Foliage-gleaners, Spotted Woodcreeper and Bay Wren. Finally for Milpe, a Golden-winged Tanager and a White-whiskered Puffbird showed in the woods, and the superb male Velvet-purple Coronet aggressively defended his chosen feeders against all-comers – including us, it seemed!

We set off with Andrew, Mike and Joan in the van with José Mk.2 (Jos-B, perhaps?), and essentially gunned it to Quito, arriving shortly after 1300. Back in the familiar surroundings of San Jorge de Quito, we enjoyed an afternoon of sleep, rest, food, a few birds and swapping of emails. Finally, after a final (!) four-course meal, it was goodbye to our co-conspirators (including the only briefly (but multiply) met Terry and Brenda from Montreal), and at 2100, Jorge appeared one last time to drive us to the airport – he in a Carlos Valderrama wig, Irina in a most extraordinary green one! They were, of course, off to a New Year's Eve party! We negotiated various cavorting transvestites and alarmingly masked “muppets” (strange Ecuadorian traditions, these....) and reached the airport, where we said our farewells, and trooped into a completely deserted departures lounge – no coffee or anything else here! Celebrating New Year on the plane, albeit on the tarmac, we watched the fireworks in the distance, and the burning bonfires in the streets as the muppets met their doom – and away into the night.

Friday 1st January 2010

A neat postscript! Thanks to Delta's obnoxious schedule changes, we were stuck with a whole day in Atlanta today – so we made the best of it. having put up with the interminable US immigration process (appalling), we sped into town on the MARTA metro system, and got out at Peachtree Centre, a short walk from Coca-Cola World (pass) and the famous Atlanta Aquarium. Beating most the crowds, we had a great few hours there, thoroughly enjoying a truly awesome set-up – the undoubted highlights were four enormous Whale Sharks (especially when they were being fed from inflatable boats – apparently they have brains the size of walnuts....), Hammerhead, Black-tipped and various other sharks (some in the “petting tank”....!), Groupers, Manta Rays, Sawfish, Electric Eels, Lion Fish, Horseshoe Crabs (again pettable – along with shrimps, sea anenomes, sea urchins and stingrays.....ooer), and some unbelievable corals, cichlids, jellies and much more – plus African Penguins and Asian Short-clawed Otters. But the best bit really was the walk-through tunnel under the massive pelagic tank, with the Whale Sharks and Mantas wheeling overhead, and the vast picture window looking on to one end of the exhibit – a truly amazing morning!

Too much junk food and coffee later, we trudged back to the airport, ironically ate some pizza, and settled in for a longish wait, for our 1730 Delta flight back to London. Argh….but actually quite easy – landed early morning, home by 1100 – cats all fine!

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