Ecuador 8: Jocotoco

Mr. Schofield seemed excited this morning – something special must be on the cards…

The reserve at Tapichalaca, like Yanacocha and several other world class birding sites in Ecuador, is managed by the excellent Fundación de Conservación Jocotoco, a relatively new environmental organization. We’d seen the word Jocotoco all over the place, and even stuffed toys in the shape of an intriguing bird, the one we were primarily here to see – Jocotoco Antpitta. Discovered by Birds of Ecuador author and Fundación Jocotoco founder, Bob Ridgely, as recently as 1998, this is the rarest and perhaps the most stunning of the antpittas. It is known only from three locations, and Tapichalaca is the only one you have a realistic chance of seeing it.

We had arranged to join Franko, former security guard of Casa Simpson, who, after being trained by none other than Angel Paz, was now the Joocotoco Antpitta guru. It was feeding time…

We left at dawn and hiked into the forest to the special place, the spot where the antpittas lived. Franko had collected a worm – a big worm – and we settled into position. For some reason, it seems most antpittas are called Maria! Franko called out her name and after a few anxious seconds she jumped out onto the path for one of the most exciting birding moments I’m ever likely to experience.

A minute or two later a younger bird, still with a few juvenile feathers in her crown, joined Maria for a slice of the worm feast. This was Conchita.

Wow! But the antpitta action wasn’t over. Franko first called in a female Glossy-black Thrush for a close view, and then changed tunes and tempted a stunning Chestnut-naped Antpitta to join us from the other direction. Phenomenal!

It had been another incredible morning, one I’ll hopefully never forget. There was still time as we looped back around to the lodge to pick up several new bird species before the heavens opened once more and had us running for cover, and, of course, lunch.

Afternoons at Tapichalaca seem to be very quiet. We walked a way down the road into the Valladolid Valley but virtually nothing was moving.

I finally got a photo of a Band-tailed Pigeon – I’d been somewhat surprised at how much darker they are than the usual ones I see in Arizona.

And despite being generally bird free, life can’t be too bad when you’re walking around amongst this:

A memroable day. As far as I’m aware, this is the first time I’ve seen a bird that has been discovered as new to science during my lifetime. So, something of a landmark, I think. We only added 12 new species but it was definitely quality over quantity.