That's why I bird alone...

My uncle Paul came up with the idea we could go to the old Nono-Mindo-Road together, because he had driven this day only a few days before and was overwhelmed by the animals he saw. So we made up a plan and he, my cousin Sharon and I were going to go at 5:00 AM.
My alarm didn't ring for some reason I don't understand and at 6:00 Paul stood in my window and was knocking at it to wake me up. Soon i was ready to start, but Paul brought also his wife and 3 of his children...
I realized that wouldn't be the best birding and i got even more sure, when we made a stop to eat our breakfast. Another 30minutes later...
In the end we finally arrived, but I was confused when Paul drove even farer. Hadn't he said we would walk and watch wildlife?
I asked and soon he stopped, let me, Sharon and Andy down and we started walking. I tried to get a little space between them and me, because music out of the cellphone in the middle of nature isn't what i had thought of. The mist very rather thick and when I found birds they appeared mostly greyish. After 300m of walking we encountered Paul and the others who were waiting near some waterfall with the car... they were watching spider-nets, not the most interesting thing for me, I've already seen soo many of them. Somehow for coincidence my little girl cousin Paulette discovered some stickbugs. You might have already asked yourself, why my blog is named Stickbug-diver. Well that was a spontane idea. My favourite hobby was and still is diving. I'm always overwhelmed by this shear number of species in the red sea and this combined with being in the water is for me like heaven. So when I came to Ecuadors Oriente, the Amazonian Lowlands I soon found my first stickbug. I discovered I had some special talent in finding them and found them everywhere I went. So I mixed these both words and now I have almost 40 of those difficult insects.
My first really interesting bird was a female Green Thorntail high up in a tree, but easy to identifie... Hummingbirds were everywhere around and seemed to be the only birds to "sing". I took a long time until I finally found another interesting bird. Then we went another time with our car, Paul and the others already wanted to go home, Sharon had to do homework^^ We made a short stop for some Turquoise Jays and then moved on. What a bad joke. We made one last halt and I somehow got onto a trail of Bellavista Lodge, where I caught some glimpse of a movement. I got near to it and could see it was green and only had two ideas what it could be. The beautiful Green-and-black Fruiteater or the terrific Grass-green tanager. I soon could ID it as the first one. I'd liked more if it had been the Grass-green Tanager but I think I cannot be unhappy with such a beautiful bird. Walking a little bit further I encountered the incredibly beautiful Plate-billed Mountain-Toucan feeding in a nearby tree. I had already seen it before, but Paul wanted to see this one so I ran back telling him about the toucan and soon we went together hoping it was still there. I arrived a little faster than him, but the Toucan was already gone. But over my head in the canopy a group of four more or less big birds caught my attention. Eventhough light-conditions were very far from good I knew I was seeing the Toucan Barbet, which I had been searching for so long. When Paul arrived they were already gone and we didn't see anything but we could hear some strange noise above our heads. Now I know how Toucan Barbets call and I doubt I will forget that sound! It's only topped by Wattled Guan, which i heard at Tandayapa.
So then we drove on and were already arriving back to the main road, when in a small mixed flock we found birds like Masked Flowerpiercer and Rusty-winged Barbtail. Apart from that a Collared inca got my attention, I had wanted this one so badly but never seen before... Finally I saw it...
Then at 12 o'clock we were done and I had seen some cool birds, eventhough I couldn't enjoy this trip due to cellphone-music and not at all suffcient time. I sometimes to run and was only birding like 1 hour in total.
When you go birding alone you notice how independent you are from others and I loved that feeling... I feel free and can do what I want, to the time I want. Only negative thing is that I can't get to many places and nead other people to bring me there...
But let's see how it is to bird with other birders. Tomorrow I will go to Papallacta with Dusan Brinkhuizen a bird guide and webmaster of the site [url=http://www.avesecuador.com/]Aves Ecuador[/url]...
I'm sure this will be great...
The stickbug was missing two legs...
A waterfall near the road... This time I did not get many good pictures of birds

The Teleferico

The Teleferico is a big lift that brings you from 2950m to 4100m in 10 minutes. It is very close to my house and a girl from Xplorer wanted to go there today and invited us to come with her...
I was there at 11:15, eventhough we had said to meet at 11:00. Only one other girl was there and we waited 1 hour, before we went up still only the 2 of us. Half an hour later another girl of Xplorer came with her boyfriend and finally at 2PM the girl that had invited us came with her boyfriend and two more friends. We soon started and I tried to have a good time with them, and not only to bird, but when they realized there weren't anymore horses the group of us split up, I didn't know with who to stay and just walked on and in the end was alone. The idea had been to take some horses and go to the Pichincha, a volcan...
So soon I began birding, I had at least brought my equipment with me, because I was determined to go to the Pichincha, but also rather sure, my little friends wouldn't go with me. Before I had gone much it began to rain lightly, no problem for me, but as I heard thunder behind me I wasn't sure anymore to walk to the Pichincha all alone. I soon went back looking everywhere for animals. In the end I had seen many Plumbeous Sierra-Finches, but nothing more. Beforehand there had also been two Caranculated Caracaras and an American Kestrel, but the rain seemed to keep them from flying. I stumbled a rabbit, at least I think, because I just saw the high Paramo-grass move as something was running through it.
I was getting wet but it didn't matter to me. I was already back to the lift-station, only going to try getting near that pair of finches when another rabbit crossed the road. Trying to find something more I only wetted myself and was alreadey heading back to the place, where the lift was when a short view of a head of some bird got all my attention. I knew instantly there was a Tinamou and at this heights there are (I think) only two species: The Highland and the Curve-billed Tinamou. I soon got near to it, watched it through my binoculars to see it better, as I was already rather near and took some pictures of it. I had soon seen enough to identifie it. But this was to be done at home, because it looked to me like an Undulated Tinamou. Does this exist at these heights? No, it's just that the Curve-billed has a similar pattern on its back that made me doubt a bit. Looking at the pictures you can also clearly see the curved bill.
Soon after it had disappeared I also crossed the way with a huge Stout-billed Cinclodes and already on my way to the lift I flushed an Antpitta. In my opinion there were two possibilities: the Tawny or the Yellow-breasted Antpitta. I had already seen Tawny Antpitta and didn't remember a breast so brightly yellow. But does Yellow-breasted Antpitta exist at these altitudes? Consulting this at home I saw I hadn't had luck this time. Another Tawny Antpitta. My twelth already because on another trip I had seen 11 different individuals in just one day and heard about 4 times more... Doesn't matter an Antpitta is an Antpitta and they are just fascinating for me...
So I concluded this day with not very many species, but at least some very interesting ones...
That was one of the 11 Antpittas I saw at Sucus, not the one I saw this time.
The Curve-billed Tinamou, the best picture I got eventhough you only see its head...

Geobotanical Reserve Pululahua

This monday was independence day in Ecuador and this meant nobody had to work. So my family organized a trip to Pululahua a volcan crater, in which people are living. We arrived there about 12 o'clock and went to a place where we would eat our lunch. It was very, very cloudy sometimes you couldn't even see more than 15m. But this still was enough to see some birds. Even before most of my family had arrived at this place I had already spotted some Band-tailed Pigeons sitting in a tree. I went to investigate a little movement but was soon distracted by a Ecuadorian Hillstar.
The next bird was a bird I really wanted to see, the Scarlet-bellied Mountain-Tanager. Soon some more birds appeared, especially hummingbirds called everywhere, so I got also Mountain Velvetbreast, Black-tailed Trainbearer, Sparkling Violetear, Sapphire-vented Puffleg and I think also the green-tailed Trainbearer. A few Speckle-faced Parrots flew over, which I hadn't thought to exist at such heights. Later I heard some strange noise that showed to be a pair of Andean Guans, so I got my 3rd species of Guans in 2 days. Some ground-dwelling birds didn't show well enough to identify them and apart from Azara's Spinetail and some very beautiful Yellow-breasted Brush-Finches there wasn't too much more.
But this was enough for the short time I went birding, because I also spent some time with my family...
An Andean Guan through the very thick fog
A beautiful flower in the crater
The typical plants/trees

Mindo in the morning

I went to Mindo, as I had been hoping, but not lonely, like the last time. My host-brother and his girlfriend brought me there and we were there one night.
We arrived in Mindo very late and there was a big party in the central parc. I don't know why, but all the hostels were full and it seemed like we had to head back to Quito, when we finally found, what seemed to be the last two rooms in all of Mindo.
Considering we had arrived that late and there was so much noise, I knew it wasn't worth the effort to go birding. But the next day, I wanted to start at 4 in the morning.
Somehow this night I couldn't sleep at all lay there all the time until 4AM when I got up and tried to go outside as noiseless as possible. Nobody noticed me slip out, but I had informed my brother before about, what I was going to do.
My hope of owls or any mammals wouldn't come true, but I began the day with a huge moth with incredible glowing eyes (at least in the light of my flashlight). I caught the wrong way as I realized soon and had to return. Only a pair of fiery red eyes in a little river caught my attention for a while. I still ask myself what I saw, but I think it must have been some reptile, probably a Western Basilisk...
Finally I found the right way, crossing Irman Arias, a local bird guide who was going to go birding with two other persons...
Soon I arrived near a field, where some bird was calling. I'm not very good in identifying bird songs, so it was just some bird. I finally found an eye in the grass and now at home have identified it because of its song as a Pauraque. Anotherone was calling nearby.
Then I had to cross a river, where I could also spot such an eye, but when it flew up, it didn' t fly like any bird I've seen before. No idea if it was another Pauraque or something completely different.
It soon began to dawn and I could finally see a little more. the first birds began to sing also some, I would think were Potoos. And then finally the bird I had been searching for all the time. An owl sitting on a stick against the fog. This would have been such a beautiful picture, if it hadn't noted me aswell. The Mottled Owl, as i ID'd it soon flew away and I was already happy about the day. Later I got to the Canopy ropes that had been my goal...
It was still dawning and the fog made everything appear rather grey. I found some small birds, but they were at such neckbreaking angles over me, that I couldn't really concentrate, while trying to watch them. The only birds I finally ID'd were 4 far away Crested Guans, a rather rare bird so I had very much luck today, like the last time... After this I watched a little bit the hummingbirds, around the feeders and then found a big flock of many new birds to me. Especially tanagers were abundant, but also some furnariids (woodcreepers, spinetails and similar stuff) and flycatchers showed up. New to me were the Golden-naped, Swallow and Bay-headed Tanagers, all very cool birds. The furnariids were good visible but somehow they didn't look like in my field guide:-( i will never be able to know which I saw...
I walked back to the feeders, were now a male Sickle-winged Guan got my attention and then a group af Red-billed Parrots flew by.
I had promised my brother to be at the hostel at 8:00 but it was already 8:20, so I decided to walk "home" and if possible take some taxi down. On the way down I came across a group of 2 Crimson-rumped Emeralds and 4 Pale-mandibled Aracaris, but just in this moment a taxi came and picked me up...
The only 2 birds that are worth to be named after this were another White-capped Dipper, flying along the river Mindo and some bird i flushed but couldn't identify. It was either some rail or some quail-dove of that I'm sure and it makes me feel even worse, not having been able to ID it...
Another nice day was over, when I went with my brother to the Mariposario and tubing which was funny enough to recompensate the birds I didn't see in this time...

New bird for me...

So today was my last day at ecuadorian school and from now on I will have freetime and can do what I want until my parents come. They will come in July and we'll go to very interesting places, like Cuyabeno and La Isla de la Plata, where I hope apart from many birds, to see Amazon River Dolphins, monkeys sloths and Humpback Whales.
The birds I want to see most in these places are macaws, more toucans and also Albatrosses and the Boobies (especially Red-footed, which i missed on Galapagos).
In these 1 1/2 months I will go very much birding I think and hope and so today I began in Quito.
So I went on the nearby little field, just a few steps for my house, where there are always some birds. The weather was rather good for birdwatching, it was very cloudy and it would rain now and then. The birds were very active and I had as much birds as never before. There were big flocks of Brown-bellied Swallows over my head. Some Rufous-collared Sparrows hopped around and then also a Black-tailed Trainbearer allowed me stunning views! When i arrived at the field a pair of Blue-and-yellow Tanagers flew away and many Great Thrushes were searching for food. I saw about ten Yellow-bellied Chat-Tyrants and realized soon I had identified a bird wrongly before... This meant I had to erase a species from my list. But soon I could replace it with another new species. It was there for a short time, but sufficient to see its yellow beak, through my new bought binoculars. This bird was a Band-tailed Seedeater... Soon after i also saw some Tufted Tit-Tyrants, Sparkling Violetears and a single American Kestrel, of which I got yesterday very close to a pair...

And tomorrow I hope to get birding in another site... Maybe Mindo again? It is the easiest place to get to.

Common Pheasant at Papallacta

So this weekend my exchange organisation went to Papallacta, where we would go bath in some hot water springs. But the papllacta Pass and Papallacta are well-known birding-spots, so I just couldn't resist to look for new species...
I did nothing like hike around, but just kept my eyes open and so found some special birds.
The day began with a Southern Yellow Grosbeak, which meant a new yardbird and a very good start. Then on the way out of Quito, some flycatchers got my attention and later were identified as Streak-throated Bush-Tyrants, the first new species for me...
On the Papallacta Pass I saw something flying very, very high and soon identified it as 2 Variable Hawks, so that my first hope of an Andean Condor was wrong.
Then at some restaurant, we made a short halt and I saw, without searching a Streak-breasted Antpitta. But I won't add this one to my species list, as it was captured and hopping around in a glass box... So when I walked out, back to the bus, a big, long-tailed bird flew in, sat down like 20 seconds near the road and then flew away again...
I was a little bit confused to see a beautiful male Common Pheasant in Ecuador. This one lives in Asia and has been brought to Europe, where I have already seen it many times. But here in Ecuador? it must have escaped from somewhere... Strange!

Then later at Papallacta it began with another new species for me, the Tyrian Metaltail, feeding in a bush and allowing me very good views.
We went to the hot springs I saw some Thrushes and other common birds, like the Black Flowerpiercer. But when I went to the Papallacta river, just on the side I got my 3rd new species this day, a Shining Sunbeam. However I didn't have as good views, like on the Tyrian Metaltail and I'd have liked to see his shining back, which it is named after...
My second ever White-capped Dipper hopped from rock to rock and I finally got some pictures and I startled a Viridian Metaltail out of its nest, well-hidden under a big rock in the river. It came back soon and I also got some nice pics of this one...
So I ended up with a new yardbird, four new species, some good pictures and a bird that doesn't live here...
WOW, that is beautiful indeed.
The White-capped Dipper of which I got very good views this day
The Viridian Metaltail in its nest

Birding in Quito

i haven't gone birding this weekend, so I'll write about Quito's birds. Today I have just added a new county bird, the White-collared Swift. But as I had already seen in in other places it wasn't that special for me...
Quito is the capital of Ecuador, a South American country, and since September it is also my home-city. At least until August...
Like in every capital there isn't very much wildlife, but some birds are still possible to encounter...
Most aren't very interesting, but for example the very common Blue-and-yellow Tanager is beautiful and my first hummingbird ever was the Sparkling Violetear, the most common hummingbird in all this area.
So sometimes I go outside and look if something new appears...
Until now I have seen 23 species in Quito, of which 20 came actually near my house or even into our backyard...
The only time I tried to count the birds I had seen in one day (rather in some hours...) I got up to 12 species... Not bad, but in Hamburg this is much easier.
Some of the more interesting birds that came here, were the Band-winged Nightjar, that I found two times in a near field. Also the Barn Owl that flew over me, when I wanted to try my new flashlight caught my attention. (There was also another owl, month and month before, but I wasn’t into birding, so I wasn’t this interested in it. But it seems to me, like I had a Short-eared Owl…)
Once I saw a Harris's Hawk harassed by two American Kestrels, which was interesting... Apart from these, there were also 2 hummingbirds, that seem to be rare. 2 times came the White-bellied Woodstar into our garden and once a Violet-tailed Sylph surprised me as I entered our property... That was a big surprise for me, because I still didn't know very much about the birds and only seen the Sparkling Violetear and the Black-tailed Trainbearer, whose tail always seems incredible to me, when I see it.

But there are also other animals... For example I had read in the blog of exchange student, who lived with my family the year before, there were some tarantulas here. So I went on search for them and really encountered 4 holes, with tarantulas inside... Many month later did I also learn there were scorpions here. First I found a dead one in our bath, then 2 others appeared some weeks later, which I brought outside...
I have also found some small frogs, even though there is no water in this area, so it seems, these frogs are Strabomantidaes, which don't need water for their eggs...
When I made a walk in the Metropolitano, a big park I also found, somewhat luckily, there are even reptiles in Quito, in this case a snake. But it wouldn't pose for a picture, but disappeared in some hole...

So there seems to be practically everything in this city, but fish... In my region there is only water when it rains and the other flows in the south are very rapid and I think, they seem very dirty...

One of only 2 White-bellied Woodstars, that have visited our garden until now...
I still don't understand this hummer... Our dog crossed its way and it flew off into a bush, were it was hanging like this, like 5 minutes...
The Black Flowerpiercer, piercing some flowers...
That tail is just INCREDIBLE!!!
I recently found a nest in our garden. The Sparkling Violetears have already laid 2 eggs in it...

Mindo

Today I had planned to go to Yanacocha, a reserve famous for its hummingbirds. Everything was planned, I had only to see how I would get there. So I called a taxi-service and asked them. After explaining where Yanacocha was located and trying to make her understand it wasn't Tandayapa, I got a price and soon changed my mind. 50$ was the price just for getting there!!!
So after thinking a little bit, I thought of going to Mindo, which would be much easier and cheaper, because I could take one of the buses to get there. It is a small city, known for its high diversity of birds.
Starting at 7:40 in Quito, arriving at 9:50 in Mindo and beginning to bird at the same moment, I soon found a mixed flock, including some new flycatchers, but which wouldn't show up well enough to be identified. So the first new bird I had was a Scrub Blackbird, soon followed by the cute Yellow-faced Grassquit.
I decided to walk to the Mariposario, where there are some hummingbird-feeders. After walking like 2km I arrived there, to find that there was not a single hummer around! I couldn't believe it, since it was really well frequented the last times I came. But probably the roof they are building on the way to the Mariposario just disturbes them. So I walked on, hoping to find a lake, I remembered from another time I came. But I only found some artificial pond, that obviously wasn't what I searched for. But on the way you had to walk on some wooden bars and by luck I found a Western Basilisk, that allowed, to get great pictures. Also did I see my first Squirrel in Ecuador.
the heat was getting unsupportable, so I went to some restaurant, to drink a Sprite and eat my breakfast. There were some birds out there and soon a great bird came in, that made me some problems to identifie it. Now I'm sure it must be a Guira Tanager.
I headed back to bird another area and was picked up by a pick-up to go to the canopy ropes, where also some hummingbird-feeders and some fruits attract birds. I went there and soon was circled by Golden Tanagers, Orange-bellied Euphonias and some Seedeaters, even before I arrived there. These feeders are somewhat hidden and nobody seems to find them, so I was alone there, for 2 hours. First some hummers flew in, including the white-wiskered Hermit and the White-necked Jacobin. Soon a Rufous Motmot, came to feed on the bananas and so did also some Tanagers. A few Chestnut-capped Finches and some Chat-tyrants got my attention, aswell as a Squirrel Cuckoo. Some more hummingbirds came in, this time also the Purple-bibbed Whitetip, a single Purple-throated Woodstar male and also a Booted Rackettail. Following some sounds I found Three-striped Warblers and a Chat-Tyrant. Going back to the feeders I flushed a White-tipped Dove. Then I waited a little bit more and the Rufous Motmot came in another time and made a bird fly away, I couldn't identifie but it somehow reminded me of a Antpitta. Maybe a Plain-backed Antpitta? My photo doesn't show it very good... Would have been to cool.
Then a Crimson-rumped Toucanet got my attention and after filming it a little bit I tried to get nearer, when a big, round, brown bird tried to escape my view. it almost did, but the time was sufficient, to see form and color and for me there is o doubt I saw one of the hardest birds in Ecuador. At least to see it, seems to me, to be almost impossible. There was a Dark-backed Wood-Quail for almost 2 seconds, just enough to recognize it. What a luck!
I waited a little more but didn't find too much, so I headed back to Mindo-"city"
I don't wanted to loose my bus at 5PM eventhough it was only 3PM.
On the way back I found also 2 Pale-mandibled Aracaris, high in a leafless tree and got very nice views on the Torrent Tyrannulet. What a nice day, in my opinion even topping the wonderful experience at Tandayapa Lodge.
Only the bus drive back, wasn't too funny, as I head to stand the 2 hours, because I didn't get a seat, I was too late...
I got so near to the Western basilisk and it wouldn't even move. That was far more difficult near a stream at Los Bancos, where they would run across the water!!
The White-necked Jacobin shows its beautiful colors
This Red-tailed Squirrel didn't like the presence of some other animal. It was very angry with somebody...
A Torrent Tyrannulet. Not very colorful but I still like it
A Pale-mandibled Aracari in a tree

Interesting birds:
Dark-backed Wood-quail, White-tailed kite, Swallow-tailed Kite, White-tipped Dove, Squirrel Cuckoo, 11 hummerspecies (White-necked Jacobin, White-whiskered Hermit, Brown Violetear, Booted Rackettail, Purple-bibbed Whitetip, Fawn-breasted and Green-crowned Brilliant, Purple-throated Woodstar, Green-crowned Woodnymph, Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, Andean Emerald), Rufous Motmot, Red-headed Barbet, Crimson-rumped Toucanet, Pale-mandibled Aracari, Torrent Tyrannulet, Masked Tityra, Swainson's Thrush, Blue-necked Tanager, Guira Tanager, Chestnut-capped Brush-Finch, Three-striped Warbler, Scrub Blackbird
What a list!!!

Other animals:
Red-tailed Squirrel, Western Basilisk