Real blast from the past this one! This may just look like a deforested bend with a quarry in the background, but to me it's fond memories of pre-tour leading days in South America. We have pictures (in slides so I can't reproduce them here unfortunately) of two small blond boys skulking under big umbrella-sized leaves from 1998 (I think?). The two youngsters in question were our sons (Ben & Callum) on a family holiday in Ecuador! It's all changed a bit nowadays at Rio Silanche with a proper reserve, trails and even a small observation tower.
As usual we picked up plenty of good birds in this lowland patch of Choco Forest within easy reach of Quito. Plenty of
Choco Toucans around,
Guayaquil Woodpeckers tapping away on large trunks and
Chestnut-backed Antbirds whistling in the undergrowth.
Guayaquil Woodpecker, Rio Silanche January 2009.
Choco Trogon, Rio Silanche, January 2009.
Wandering around the reserve we finally picked up one of my favourite Neotropical species:
Lanceolated Monklet. Unfortunately the little critter remained quite high up in the trees and just out of digiscoping range. Better luck next time then.
Real blast from the past this one! This may just look like a deforested bend with a quarry in the background, but to me it's fond memories of pre-tour leading days in South America. We have pictures (in slides so I can't reproduce them here unfortunately) of two small blond boys skulking under big umbrella-sized leaves from 1998 (I think?). The two youngsters in question were our sons (Ben & Callum) on a family holiday in Ecuador! It's all changed a bit nowadays at Rio Silanche with a proper reserve, trails and even a small observation tower.
As usual we picked up plenty of good birds in this lowland patch of Choco Forest within easy reach of Quito. Plenty of Choco Toucans around, Guayaquil Woodpeckers tapping away on large trunks and Chestnut-backed Antbirds whistling in the undergrowth.
Guayaquil Woodpecker, Rio Silanche January 2009.
Choco Trogon, Rio Silanche, January 2009.
Wandering around the reserve we finally picked up one of my favourite Neotropical species: Lanceolated Monklet. Unfortunately the little critter remained quite high up in the trees and just out of digiscoping range. Better luck next time then.
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