March 13th, 2009 
Tags: The morning after the night before. Wine bottles and cigarette ends everywhere. The disturbing feeling that anything – anything - might make you vomit at any moment. There’s only one cure, when in Ecuador, for these symptoms. And it’s simple – all you need is a big, fat breakfast, a new antpitta (White-bellied – that’s nine), and then back to bed! The photos were definitely “soft focus” this morning…
We just about got ourselves together and hit the road once more. Our next destination, Wildsumaco Lodge, was one of the lowest elevations of the trip at around 4,500 feet, and the closest to the Amazon basin. So, more new birds were expected.
It was a long, bumpy journey through some terrifying roadworks which consisted of one lane, lots of large trucks heading at high speed in our direction, and thick fog. Every man for himself! We finally arrived, in one piece thanks to Rob’s excellent driving, and took in some late afternoon birding on the veranda. Several new birds were spotted, including the impressive Magpie Tanager, the rare Channel-billed Toucan, my first ever macaws in the wild (Chestnut-fronted) and even though it was a crappy view, my first ever Cerulean Warbler, a bird I’ve long wanted to see.
Even though we spent the day incredibly hungover and largely in the car, we still added 21 species:
| 314. Bat Falcon 315. Plumbeous Pigeon 316. Chestnut-fronted Macaw 317. White-eyed Parakeet 318. Fork-tailed Woodnymph 319. Golden-tailed Sapphire 320. Gilded Barbet |
321. White-bellied Antpitta 322. Rufous-breasted Flycatcher 323. Pale-edged Flycatcher 324. Cerulean Warbler 325. Canada Warbler 326. Scarlet Tanager 327. Magpie Tanager |
328. Grayish Saltator 329. Yellow-browed Sparrow 330. Subtropical Cacique 331. Orange-winged Parrot 332. Short-tailed Swift 333. Channel-billed Toucan 334. Crested Oropendola |
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