Back over the Andes

After spending the morning at Guango in upper mid elevations of the eastern Andes we headed back towards Quito to spend the rest of the trip on the Andes' west slope.  But not before crossing back over the high elevations.  Needless to say, we found some birds.

Great Thrush is one of the most common birds in the brushy scrub right at the treeline.

We found some elevation specialties, like Black-backed Bush-tanager and worked hard for some brief looks at Masked Mountain-tanager.  A Pale-naped Brushfinch was a lot more cooperative while Tawny Antpittas continued to serenade us.

Viridian Metaltail is another specialty of the dry paramo in Ecaudor and Colombia

When a person thinks of cotingas they usually picture bright blue and purple birds.  Apparently Red-crested Cotinga fits into that tribe somehow. 

We again ascended to the 14,000 foot range of Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe.  After striking out on Giant Conebill on the way up we struck out on the seedsnipe for the second straight day despite covering a lot of rolling tundra on foot.  We were headed back to Quito when a bird flew directly in front of the bus.  There were definitely mixed emotions in Jose's voice as he called out Blue-mantled Thornbill, another very elevation limited Ecuadorian endemic.  There turned out to be two birds and they were quite cooperative chasing each other about the limited perches.

It was a really cool bird to end the day with.