The next day it was time to move on from Guango. I couldn't help but wonder what this place might be like when the weather is more cooperative. Certainly a nice introduction to Ecuador we had so far. Easily an area in which I'd have liked to spend more time.
Breakfast at 6.30, off back towards Quito by 7.00. The weather is once again wet with low visibility around Papallact, but once we get closer to Quito it improved dramatically.
Our next stop on the official two centre tour is Tandayapa Lodge. This is owned by the owner of Tropical Birding, and features in all their Ecuador tours. We're back in a foresty part of the country, with steep wooded mountains. The very final part of the drive to the front of the lodge turns out to be too much for our vehicle. This seems to be a very common occurrence, hence there is a place to park before the last very steep bit. We all get out, enjoying that we're out of the rain. It's only around 10.20.
This is a very nice lodge, with a much more generous sitting area than Guango. It's also warmer here, and we're not so high up, only around 1700m. Now we're on the eastern slopes of the Andes there's a quite different population of birds to be discovered.
Inspecing the hummingbird feeders gives a first idea of just how much of a real divide the central Andes are. Buff-tailed Coronet is the only species that we've seen before, everything else is new. The feeders are on a terrace that allows for views over the steeply dropping hillside.
Slowly we're beginning to sort out the new hummingbirds. Very common are Western (Andean) Emerald, Purple-throated Woodstars, reminiscent of giant bumblebees in the way they fly, and Booted-Racket=tails. But there are a lot of other species as well: Three Violetears in the form of Brown, Sparklingand Lesser (Green) which are reasonably common. Then there are Rufoust-tailed Hummingbirds quite distinctive with their stoutish red bills, and Fawn-breasted Brilliants, large and aggressive.
Pablo brings up the multpile flash setup, which lives in a large suitcase. We start to put it all together - there are, in fact, two such set-ups for two photographers to work in paralell. So, eight flashes, and an additional tripod to hold a hummingbird feeder where it suits us. Eventually everything is assembled and working, once some batteries have been replaced. In Guango we ended up only taking a few test shots with this rig, but this afternoon is to be mostly devoted to that pursuit.
We sit down for lunch at 1.00, but are soon interrupted since it starts to rain. We collect all the photo gear from the terrace before we resume eating. And then it rains, and rains, and rains. People wonder off, and I spend some time looking at various books that are here for people to pursue. Then I make myself a hot drink. Then it stops raining for a while and my spirits rise.
There's a fruit feeder on the opposite side of the lodge to the terrace with the hummingbird feeders, and at last it is possible to do some actual bird watching! A Red-headed Barbet comes to the feeder, as do Thick-billed and Orange-bellied Euphonias, staying long eonough to allow a thorough look. A troop or Russet-backed Oropendolas arrives,, their calls to each other alerting everybody to their presence quite some time before they decide that it's safe enough to descend to the feeding station.
There are is also the occasional Golden and Blue-winged Mountain-Tanager, as well as a Black-capped Tanager a bit further away. Other birds we find around the lodge during the course of the day are Zeledon's Antbird and Streak-capped Treehunter. It's a bit too dark for photography, with the clouds still looming overhead. And indeed, before too long it stars to rain again.
At 17.00 it finally stops, and we do get to have a short session with the flash photography set-up until it becomes too dark to continue. The idea is to use the flash in such a way that the bird is illuminated from all sides, and for some reason this does not give the artificial effect that one can easily get when trying to photograph hummingbirds with just one on-camera flash (I carried out some experiments with this at Guango because it was so dark under the trees near the lodge, and I can post an example if people would like to see that).
Pablo has even found me a tripod since I neglected to bring one. I'm a birder who likes to take pictures, and unlike those for whom photography is the main concern I want something that is portable, even if it means my pictures aren't quite in the same quality range.
The idea of this exercise is quite simple: The hummingbirds approach the feeder that is at the centre of the group of flashes. The camera is on manual focus because the idea is to only press the shutter when the bird is flying through a well-specified area just before it gets to the feeder. But, of course, one doesn't want the feeder in the picture, nor yet the hummingbird on the feeder - the idea is to capture flight shots, which is possilbe because while the hummingbirds don't have to approach our small feeders from the desired corridor, this is the side facing the only feeding station, and a fair number of the birds do what we would like them to do. The problem is hitting the shutter at the right time! Because the birds are small and fast ths is a bit harder than one might think, but thanks to the wonders of digital photography, taking umpteen shots doesn't cost us more than a bit of battery charge.
This is good fun, and we're starting to get the feel for it, but all too soon we have to stop because it is getting too dark. We come in to review what we've got so far, and at this point it becomes clear that there is a lot of scope in capturing hummingbirds in unuusal flight positions as they maneouvre to get to the feeder, or stop in the air because another bird got there first.
I'm afraid this report will now in part become a bit of a photo blog - I really did fall in love with the opportunities this offered, and on all three afternoons that we had left at Tandayapa we spent a significant amount of time on this. Sorry for those of you who would prefer just the stories of new birds seen.
Andrea
From that first afternoon:
Booted Racket-tail explaining its name
Purple-tipped Whitetip - my best shos of this species occurred on this first afternoon
Same again - this species rather less common here than many others
and once more - all the same individual
Briwb Violetears squaring off