Our flight back to Madrid was due to leave at 21:15 from Guayaquil. It was a long drive back to Guayaquil but it did leave us time to do some birding in the Cajas National Parque before we left the area. As our guide had left us the previous evening our driver José, also very knowledgeable on birds, took over the guide role.
We drove from the Hosteria Dos Chorreras along the 582 road retracing some of the places we had been to the previous day in the Cajas National Park. We spent some time by a roadside pool that had produced several good birds the day before. Here we saw Ecuadorian Hillstar, Blue-mantled Thornbill, Many-striped Canestero, Chestnut-winged Cinclodes, Tawny Antpitta, Brown-backed Chat-Tyrant, Plain-capped Ground-Tyrant and Black Flowerpiercer. Time was limited as we had to get on the road, so there are few photos.
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| Plain-capped Ground-Tyrant - The main concentration of this species is in Ecuador but with a significant presence in Colombia. |
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| Ecuadorian Hillstar - Sadly not a stunning male. This species is a near Ecuadorian Endemic with a tiny population just over the border in Colombia. |
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| Brown-backed Chat-Tyrant - Found near or above treeline from the Venezuelan border down the Andes to Bolivia. |
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| Many-striped Canestero - A Fairly common bird found in shrubby grasslands and páramo in the high Andes from northern Colombia to central Peru. |
We then drove further along the 582 to an area of Polylepsis trees where we hoped to see Giant Conebill. We searched for some time and briefly heard one calling but no positive sighting.
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| Polylepsis Forest - Typical habitat of the elusive Giant Conebill. |
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We then started the long drive to Guayaquil stopping for lunch in a restaurant along the way. We were then driving along the flat stretches of road that lead to Guayaquil, which we had travelled along on the first day of our trip. Again there were large numbers of birds to be seen, especially the larger species such as Horned Screamer, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Cattle Egret, Cocoi Heron, White Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill, Wood Stork, Snail Kite, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, etc. There were few opportunities for photos. We did manage to add Chilean Flamingo to our trip list. Then we reached Guayaquil and managed to add our final species, a Tricoloured Heron to the trip list, while crossing the Rio Guayas.
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| Great and Snowy Egrets plus Roseate Spoonbills Several flocks seen from our vehicle on the way back to Guayaquil |
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