Ecuador - Hummingirds

Ecuador is located in South America and as the name suggests is on the equator. Our gang just returned from a 10 day trip to explore the birds and nature of the country. We signed up for the trip last November so it was a long wait. The trip itinerary included a few days in the Andes mountains where we spent time in various locations and then ended with 4 days in the "Choco" region at a remote lodge.

The itinerary indicated that we could see as many as 600 bird species on the trip. We ended up seeing 360 species. 232 of those were life birds for me. There were so many birds that I have decided to break them up into multiple posts. This post concentrates on just the hummingbirds. The field guide lists 134 species possible - 134! We have exactly 1 specie here in Pennsylvania.

Our trip started on Sat Nov 2nd in Quito which is the capital of Ecuador and located at 9,340 feet elevation and  -0.20562° N latitude, -78.5088° E longitude. Our first stop was to a preserve called Yanacocha which is at 12,000 feet elevation. Joco Toco Conservation Fund helps to protect the area. It was pretty cool at this elevation. We needed jackets for sure. 

Who knew that we could find such cool birds and hummingbirds at such high elevation! 

The first hummer that I saw was this cinnamon colored bird called Shining Sunbeam. 

Shining Sunbeam

Its a cute bird but I didn't understand why it was called Shining Sunbeam until it turned around.

Shining Sunbeam

It should really be called "Rainbow Butt". Look at how it shines in the sunlight!

Next up, a little hummer called Golden-breasted Puffleg. Check out the white puffs on the legs. This dude was itching for a fight with any other hummer that flew past him. 

Golden-breasted Puffleg - ready for action

The most common hummer at Yanacocha was the Buff-winged Starfrontlet. What a name. 

Buff-winged Starfrontlet

And then my eyes almost popped out of my head when this bird arrived at the feeders. This is Sword-billed Hummingbird. Look at the size of that bill! It is designed to get nectar from really big flowers. He must have really good aim to get his bill in the feeder hole at that distance

Sword-billed Hummingbird

There were many other birds at this site but for now, just hummers. On Sunday, we headed out to a remote farm in the Andes located at lower elevation to see some amazing birds which I will tell you about in another post. The farmer has hummingbird feeders hanging around the pavilion where we had coffee and a delicious snack that his wife prepared. Here are some of the hummers from this site.

Andean Emerald isn't stunning but still really cute. This guy ruled the roost.

Andean Emerald

This Purple-bibbed Whitetip is aptly named. You can see both the bib and the white tips.

Purple-bibbed Whitetip

In the diminutive category, nothing beats this tiny Purple-throated Woodstar. She flies like a bumblebee!

Purple-throated Woodstar

Hermits are category of hummingbirds that have long curved bills. Here is White-whiskered Hermit coming in for some sugar water.

White-whiskered Hermit

In the afternoon, we headed to our 3rd hotel in 3 days. The hotel reminded me of an out-of-date Pocono lodge filled with dark wood paneling and smelling moldy. Our rooms were decorated in a Victorian theme with lacy pillow cases and valences around the bed posts. Not what I expected in Ecuador. Luckily, the hotel had some hummingbird feeders that attracted some amazing birds.

Of all of the hummers that I wanted to see, this Booted Racket-tail topped the list. I can't even!

Booted Racket-tail

Look at those "boots"!

Booted Racket-tail

This Violet-purple Coronet was a handsome devil - and I think he knows it too.

Violet-purple Coronet

The coup-de-gras of all hummers at this location had to be Violet-tailed Sylth. The bird has a really long tail which you may be able to see in this photo. He also has brilliant turquoise stripe on his head and purple throat patch that shines when the light hits it.

Violet-tailed Sylth

That's all great but it is nothing like the full Monty! Here he is showing off the crazy shining long tail. It was truly something to behold.

Violet-tailed Sylth

I'll stop there for now. We saw other hummingbirds throughout the 10 day excursion but it gets overwhelming after a while.

Back to Birds

Let's start this post out with a Ruby-throated Hummingbird nest. Harvey found this nest in Belleplain State Park while looking for another bird. Here is the female sitting in the nest.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird Nest

The bird that Harvey was looking for was this Kentucky Warbler. We heard the bird singing along Pine Swamp Road a few times. I went back to the spot to see if I could get a photo and was really pleased to get a few. 

Kentucky Warbler

Kentucky Warbler

Another bird that we often here singing in Belleplain is Prothonotary Warbler. There is a place in the woods that has a post in the middle of the creek. I've waited and waited for the bird to perch on that post for years. It happened last week for about 3 seconds. I managed to get this photo.

Prothonotary Warbler

Another bird that usually doesn't pose is the Brown Thrasher. Drew and I scared up a couple who were nesting in a shrub near the visitor center in Virginia. They both popped out of the bush squawking at us.

Brown Thrasher

Back on the beach, I was doing my volunteer duty watching the shorebirds and snapped this photo of a Common Grackle walking along in the wind. The wind was blowing so hard, the bird couldn't keep his tail down.

Common Grackle

Overhead, this Osprey came back ashore with a fish. He flew right over my head with his catch of Menhaden.

Osprey with Menhaden

I was just happy to have a few birds to photograph recently.

Little Feathers Jewels

Missing from my earlier reports on Arizona are some of Connie's favorite birds - hummingbirds. In our area, we have one type of hummingbird which is Ruby-throated. Don't get me wrong, they are splendid little gems that make us all smile all summer long. We have a pair that nest in our yard every year and drink from our feeder before heading south for the winter. I hang the feeder on tax day every year and wait with anticipation for the first sign that our man is back. This year, I didn't see him until after our return from Arizona which was fine because we had plenty of hummers to look at there.

Arizona is in the west and for some reason, they get many species of hummingbirds there. Many people, restaurants, hotels and gift shops hang feeders to entertain their visitors. We sat at a few of the famous hummingbird stations including Madera Canyon, Paton's Yard and Beatty's Guest Ranch and were treated to some awesome birds. The most common hummer at all feeders was Broad-billed Hummingbird. You can tell this bird by the overall dark body and bright red bill.

Broad-billed Hummingbird

Not to be confused with the Broad-tailed Hummingbirds which have a red throat like our hummers but also have a rufous or green "vest".

Broad-tailed Hummingbird - male

 Like most hummers, the Broad-tailed female is pretty plain. This allows her to hide in the nest better.

Broad-tailed Hummingbird - female

It's no secret that hummingbirds are the smallest bird species but when you see many species mixing it up at feeders, you can see that even within this group, some are tiny. The Black-chinned Hummingbird is pretty small but very mighty. This guy chased much larger birds away from "his" feeder at Beatty's Ranch all day long. You can see from this photo that if the sun catches his chin just right, it is actually purple, not black.

Black-chinned Hummingbird

Here is is in mid flight chasing off another bird.

Black-chinned Hummer

If Black-chinned is one of the smallest hummers, then Magnificent is one of the largest and, well, magnificent. I'll let you decide for yourself.

Magnificent Hummingbird

Even with all of the hummingbird diversity, Southeast Arizona also hosts some rare hummers. We spent an evening at Ash Canyon Bed and Breakfast with host Mary Jo to get a glimpse of Lucifer hummingbird. This is one of 3 different males that came to the feeder just before dark to tank up on sugar water before finding a roost for the night.

Lucifer Hummingbird

It's funny to see other types of birds at the hummingbird feeders. This Acorn Woodpecker figured out how to get his tongue into one of the holes.

Acorn Woodpecker

And this Painted Redstart which is a warbler also tried his luck with the sugar water. Here he is getting ready to jump on the feeder.

Painted Redstart

Other birds came in to grab some seed from the other feeders. This very rare Streak-backed Oriole was reported at a famous yard that I love the name of - "Bob Rodriquez's Yard (formerly Dave Jaspers yard)" I guess Dave moved to another house with an awesome yard. We visited in the middle of the day and sweated our asses off but didn't see the bird so we went to lunch and returned later. We got to see the bird a few times. He loved the oranges that Bob had speared around the yard.

Streak-backed Oriole

This is Lazuli's Bunting which is really cool to see.

Lazuli's Bunting

And Green-tailed Towhee pecked around on the ground.

Green-tailed Towhee

Most of the feeder stations also had water features which attracted this Gambel's Quail. These quail have crazy feather plume sticking out of their heads.

Gambel's Quail

And this Scaled Quail which was a life bird for us was hanging around another feeder. Not as gaudy but still a nice looking bird.

Scaled Quail

Many people go to Arizona and forego the rigorous hikes up the canyons. They simply spend time at the feeders and get to see all of these cool birds.

Harvey's Hummer

Sometimes, hard work pays off. Harvey has spent a few years making his garden hospitable for butterflies and hummingbirds. He has Ruby-throated hummingbirds in his yard all summer. Sometimes a dozen or more are flying around until the end of September. Then, they all leave for the winter not to return until April. The yard seems empty after all of that activity. Until November 1st when a hummer flew around the yard. Harvey was elated to have a procrastinator for a few more days.

Hummers that show up on the east coast in November are generally not Ruby-throated. They are often western species that made a wrong turn and headed east rather than south. This is the case with Harvey's hummer. Problem is, nobody knows what species it is. Harvey has his ideas. He has invited experts to the house for their opinion. He has sent photos to expert hummingbird banders. Nobody can ID the bird. I finally had time to visit the yard on November 27th. Here is the hummer sitting in the butterfly bush.

It is now Christmas Eve and the little hummer is still in the yard. Harvey has a whole feeder thing erected on the porch. The feeders are hung on a ladder with a light bulb shining to keep the sugar water from freezing.

The hummer is having a ball. He/she sits on the ladder and has it's own food, shelter and adoring fans right there. We hope that he/she survives the winter so that we can see if the bird gets shiny feathers that may give us a clue to the identity.  He/she is in good hands.

Last Day in Vegas

My last day in Vegas was all mine to go to the hottest local birding spot called Henderson Bird Viewing Area (pretty explicit huh). This is a waste water treatment plant which has big open water impoundments which attract lots of birds. I never imagined that I would see so many waterbirds in a desert but there they were. Ruddy Ducks

Ruddy Duck

 And Northern Shovelers

Northern Shoveler

And lots of grebes of all types including Eared Grebe

Eared Grebe

And Horned Grebes. There were 3 albinos in the group. This one is partially albino

Leucistic Horned Grebe

 And this one is almost all white when it is supposed to be black and white.

Leucistic Horned Grebe

And then there were the waders. American Avocets were kind of expected. I've seen them in water oasis in the desert before.

American Avocet

But I've never seen them swimming around in a flock and going butt to the air dunking for food.

Swimming Avocets

There was also one lone Black-necked Stilt in the park.

Black-necked Stilt

And one White-faced Ibis.

White-faced Ibis

Shorebirds found refuge here too including this Killdeer who wouldn't shut up the whole time I was there.

Killdeer

And this Greater Yellowlegs. Check out the cracked earth in the background.

Greater Yellowlegs

I was pleasantly surprised to find this Pectoral Sandpiper.

Pectoral Sandpiper

The bird that was most expected was Western Sandpiper. I saw a few but this one really caught my eye. He has something around his bill which he struggled to get off. He finally did.

Western Sandpiper

And then, there was the Life Bird. I stumbled on finding the Crissal Thrasher. They are so shy and stay hidden in the desert scrub. I heard something on the edge of the park and turned to see the Thrasher's iconic curved bill and red butt before it disappeared into the desert again.

More Costa's Hummingbirds were at this park so I took the opportunity to photograph this male. He mostly sat on a branch in the shade of the trees so you couldn't really see his bright purple gorget feathers.

Costa's Hummingbird

But occasionally, the light would catch him just right to reveal the iridescent feathers.

Iridescent Purple

This guy was molting. You can see where he is missing feathers under his chin and around his eye.

Molting Costa's

I love this shot. He stretched out just before giving his iconic call again.

Costa's Hummingbird

Alas, I has to leave to catch my flight home. An exhausting trip overall but ended on an up note.