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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ovenbird43" data-source="post: 2005398" data-attributes="member: 64478">3 Jan This was our last morning at Bellavista, and as usual I got up for some early birding while Tom slept in.  I hiked along a dirt road in search of the highly coveted Tanager Finch, although my directions were a little fuzzy and I was never certain if I made it to the right spot- at any rate, I certainly did not see the finch.  But there were plenty of other goodies.  I caught a look at a Chestnut-crowned Antpitta as it foraged in the compost pile near the main lodge.  I found a male Masked Trogon sitting in the road, perhaps it had been dust bathing or something, it flew off as I approached.  Lots of warblers in the flocks, including Slate-throated Redstart, Russet-crowned, Black-crested, and Three-striped Warblers.  Other nice additions were Spillman's Tapaculo, Glossy-black Thrush, and more looks at Plate-billed Mountain-Toucans.  A couple of skulkers in a patch of bamboo eventually revealed themselve, handsome Long-tailed Antbirds.  For all my efforts, when I returned to the room and found Tom awake I learned he had gripped me off on a good species- he described watching two large, black, white and red woodpeckers call and fly around just outside the porch.  Powerful Woodpeckers! We opted for the transport provided by Bellavista, and we were driven straight to the airport in Quito where we caught our afternoon flight to Loja in southern Ecuador.  It was a beautiful flight down the avenue of volcanoes, despite all the clouds we could still see the snowy peaks of all the main volcanoes lining the central valley.  After landing in Loja, we joined a shared taxi for the ride from the airport to Loja proper (~40 minutes), with Lesser Hornero and Long-tailed Mockingbird seen from the car. We got off at the main bus terminal in Loja to catch a bus to Zamora, further downslope on the eastern side of the Andes.  The 2-hour downhill ride, mostly in the dark at this point, made me pretty motion sick... and maybe a little nervous.  We got to Zamora late in the evening, grabbed a cheap ($2 apiece) but rather gross burger and fries at the only restaurant we found open, and hailed a taxi for the last leg of the trip- luckily a very short leg, a 10-minute ride to Cabanas Copalinga, a small reserve with cabins between Zamora and the entrance to Podocarpus National Park.</blockquote>

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