We left the Wasi Indi Hotel after an early breakfast and started the 2-3 hour drive up to the paramo in the Cerro de Arcos National Park, which is the site for Blue-headed Hillstar. The journey was largely on un-made roads. We did not want to spend time with frequent stops on the way but we did see American Kestrel and Carunculated Caracara from the vehicle.
Having reached an altitude of about 3,600 metres we stopped and walked a short distance to an area where the flowers that the Hillstar feeds on were growing. It was not too long before our target bird showed up. A stunning male! We stayed in the area some time in order to take some photographs of the bird. Other birds seen in this area included Many-striped Canastero, Azara's Spinetail, Mouse-coloured Thistletail, Chestnut-winged Cinclodes, Paramo Pipit and Brown-backed Chat-Tyrant.
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| Blue-throated Hillstar - unfortunately the sun was not catching it's stunning blue throat. |
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| Blue-headed Hillstar - This spectacular hummingbird was only discovered in 2017 and is only found on the Cerro de Arcos reserve. It feeds on orange Chuquiraga flowers as below. |
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| Mouse-coloured Thistletail - This small bird was difficult to see for a time. It is a near Ecuadorian endemic, found only at high altitude in Southern Ecuador and NW Peru |
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We then moved a short distance to the Refugio Cerro de Arcos where we had an excellent lunch. In and around the grounds of the Refugio we saw Shining Sunbeam, Black-tailed Trainbearer, Glowing Puffleg, Great Sapphirewing, Peregrine and Black-billed Shrike-Tyrant.
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| Glowing Puffleg - Found mainly in Ecuador and Colombia but with small populations just into Venezuela and Peru. |
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| Shining Sunbeam - Also on the feeders at the Refugio. |
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| Chestnut-winged Cinclodes - The main centre of population is in Ecuador but extending into Colombia and with very small populations in Venezuela and Peru. |
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| Black-billed Shrike-Tyrant - Distributed from just into Colombia all the way down the Andes to Southern Argentina and Chile. |
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From the Cerro de Arcos we headed towards our accommodation which was NW of Cuenca and about a 6 hour drive! The journey took us through very remote and arid areas of the Andes. At one stop our sightings included Band-tailed Sierra-finch, Plumbeous Sierra-finch, Ash-breasted Sierra-finch.
Some time later and at a much lower altitude Miguel spotted a Burrowing Owl. We stopped and saw a pair of Owl right next to their burrow.
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| Burrowing Owl - Seen from the vehicle on a fairly busy road. |
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| The species has an extremely large range and is found from Southern Canada right down to southern Argentina! |
We arrived at the Hosteria Dos Chorreras after dark and had a very pleasant final group meal, as our bird guide Miguel had to leave us later the following day.
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| A splendid last meal of the whole group among the Christmas decorations at the Hosteria Dos Chorreras. From left to right - Dave P, Dick, Jose, Miguel, Jim, Dave F and Neil |
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