King Fishers

 Our last morning in the Amazon brought a wealth of fish hunters.  Ringed Kingfisher was the most widely distributed bird of this group, but one that I don't have a ton of pictures of.  They're the biggest kingfisher I've encountered, I'm not sure if there are bigger ones in the Old World, but to my knowledge they're the biggest in the New World.

We entered a shady area and came across one of the rarer birds of the trip, one that's in most of the Central American books, but is rare enough I'd never seen one before, Green-and-Rufous Kingfisher

Next up is the opposite end of the size spectrum, American Pygmy Kingfisher!  This thing seemed like a junco who'd swallowed a flicker and then dabbed on some Mardi Gras paint.

We also found a couple of really interesting herons, probably my best pics of each, first Capped Heron

and finally Rufescent Tiger-Heron

one year ago today

 was the last full day in Ecuador, and the morning paddle quickly turned up one of the birds of the trip for me, Long-billed Woodcreeper!  It was definitely the best bird I spotted on the trip.

I don't know if it always forages on palms just covered with thorns (that might dissuade many other birds), but it seemed to favor them for us.

I think it's snagged a cricket here.

I honestly shudder to think about the creepy-crawlies it probes out of the dark recesses of the Amazon

Desert in the rainforest

 With the heat of the late afternoon scorching we spent a bit of time on a river island in the wide Sani River.  There was a lot of sand and little shade.  It felt like a desert.

But we had a few target birds, and one of them is in this pic

With some maneuvering I got a clearer view of a Ladder-tailed Nightjar roosting on the fallen log.  Sadly the tail wasn't visible.

An Oriole Blackbird teed up.  We were wilted enough that I had trouble getting people on this bird.

Our guide got pretty excited about a Willow Flycatcher fitz-bew-ing; I think most of us were as excited to see the boat, as a Pale-vented Pigeon bid us good night.

White eared jacamar ... and Owl???

 Our last afternoon of Ecuador birding saw us upstream of the claylicks birding around a Sani village (can you say Roasted Palm Grubs for lunch?  Ok, plural is an exaggeration.  But I did eat one.  It tasted like a really rubbery shrimp).  Anyway, we walked a trail among widely dispersed houses and came upon a White-eared Jacamar.

I don't know of any other burgandy jacamars, it looks like an Asian bird!

Our real goal on this hike was a roost spot for Crested Owl, an owl that's fairly widely distributed in the tropics, but a species I'd only seen once before.

Finally a view of one of the white-throated toucan species which came a lot closer than any had previously just to continue the white-eared theme of the walk...

Last of the clay-lickers

 Can you get tired of Scarlet Macaws?  The answer should be no, but as long as the macaws were about there wouldn't be any other birds.  And since after a while you either have the pic or you don't, I honestly didn't mind when they started filtering away.  Now the problem was that they had to go ALL the way away for the smaller species to appear and it felt like we stared at the muddy rocks for about an hour after they departed before activity recommenced.

Cobalt-winged Parakeets are on the opposite side of the size spectrum, probably smaller than the macaws' heads.

But what they lacked in size they attempted to make up in volume...

A few Orange-cheeked Parrots appeared as well

I tried hard to get the Red-winged Blackbird like wingflash of the Orange cheeks in flight without a ton of success

One last pic of a macaw returning to scatter its smaller cousins

scarlet macaws

 The parrot licks along the river were just the beginning of gorgeous birds eating dirt.  After the amazons departed for the forest we continued upriver a little farther to where a large blind had been built at another site that parrots used to lick clay, this one fairly deep in the forest.

It was dark, which added another layer of incredulity that we were going to see one of the gaudiest birds in the Western Hemisphere, Scarlet Macaws.  It took at least an hour for the birds to start filtering in, but filter in they did.

For the most part they would come and go in pairs; clearly the birds weren't on eggs right now.

I spent a lot of time trying to get a decent flight pic of the birds.  It was challenging, but this frame is one of the better ones that I think I've taken.

Finally a backed off view to give a better sense of the place.

Sani River morning

 Parrots weren't the only thing we saw from the river, the Amazon river basin has interesting water birds too!

Pied Plovers were new for about half the group, myself among them.

The sun hadn't risen yet so it was hard to get much detail around the eye

I'll always associate Cocoi Heron with the river we traveled in Panama several years ago for Harpy Eagle, so it was fun to see it again here.  The spoonbill's not ugly either!

Finally a little group of Southern Lapwings, a fairly widespread bird from southern Costa Rica and south.

Green on green

Or green on orange, either one.

Our second to last morning in Ecuador found us initially jockeying for position amidst a flotilla of tourist boats along the Sani River.  The target?  A bare stretch of clay along the river that would attract parrots from probably miles around as they attempted to detoxify some of the chemicals from the pits or seeds of jungle fruit.

They're mostly Mealy Parrots, a large Amazon that's spread pretty widely through the tropics.

The smaller birds are Blue-headed Parrots.

Close study produced another Amazon, this one a Yellow-crowned.

As the Sun started to rise (presumably at least.  it was overcast) the birds started to take off and stage in the forest.

Mealies again.

and the Blue-headeds

Before at last a screeching cloud of green birds flew off into the green forest.

I think there's somewhere between 75 and 100 parrots in this pic, but I haven't gotten up the courage to count them.

 

Blackwater paddle

 A lot of times on birding trips the evenings can be somewhat of a struggle.  A person is hot, tired, likely borderline dehydrated, and quite possibly a bit overwhelmed by all the sights and sounds of the day.  That being said, the Sani Lodge evenings were some of the most enjoyable evenings of any of the birding trips I've been on.  

Because all we did was paddle!  And by we, I mean our guides.  The rest of us just sat in dugout style canoes and watched exotic birds appear along the edges of the blackwater lagoons. 

Who wouldn't enjoy some (not so aptly named) Red-bellied Macaws screeching about their day?

Waterbirds were of course plentiful.  These are Capped Herons. 

The book says they're in the same family (though a different genus) from our Green Heron, but I don't really appreciate much structural resemblance.

There was a Rufescent Tiger-heron nesting right next to the boat dock, this is probably one of the adults from the dock pair

Amazon Kingfisher.  Who wouldn't want pics of a green bird with a green background (more of those coming soon!)

This is White-chinned Jacamar, now a green bird against a white background!

Finally a Red-capped Cardinal

And since there really isn't an actual difference between cardinals and tanagers we won't worry that its name might be a lot better off as Red-capped Tanager