These pics are from a night walk we took about 2/3 of the way through our January Ecuador trip, in the Amazon basin around Sani Lodge. We had a lot of success at Shiripuno (see Nocturnal Curassow!) so we were excited to try here as well. The jungle was pretty active.
I tried googling this frog without a lot of success, but it looks cool.
I assume this is an anole of some sort.
Hopefully it hasn't been Peregrine vs Purple Sandpiper; I've never had Purple Sand on a CBC and there's been one (or more) around. Unfortunately, possibly my first December Peregrine also showed up at Tiscornia yesterday and was actively hunting along the pier. It forced a few RB Mergs under water, played merry hell with the gull flock, and made a long tail chase after some buffleheads, one of which was forced to bail into the water from about 3 feet up. A scaup repeated the same Drop-Like-A-Rock evasive maneuver.
I don't know if the Peregrine succeeded in capturing breakfast or lunch, but it wasn't playing favorites. If it flew, it was chased. Even if it was a Bald Eagle.
We'll see if the CBC's have anything to say about that!
Earlier in the week both Purple Sandpiper and Snowy Owl (along with a continuing kittiwake) were at Tiscornia. The morning I was there the Purple was walking along the edge of the pier. The owl flew out from where it was probably hunkered down from behind the lighthouse and flushed it.
The owl eventually grew bored of the pier and flew in to the shoreline. It might be the first Snowy I've had flying low over the lake so I figured a montage was in order
I honestly hoped that we would see more antbirds in Amazonian Ecuador. Dot-backed Antbird was a nice exception. We heard it making an alien little buzz and I asked the guide what it was...
The bird popped up with a little bit of playback. It was SUPER dark (and backlit), so these pics are lightened a bunch, but turned out well all things considered. The bird's a mouse, super tiny, no tail, and really like just about nothing else I've ever encountered.
