More on Ecuador

A name like Purple-bibbed Whitetip says it all

Thanks to all the readers who sent notes and made comments about the colorful bird pix in my latest blog. It’s true, the birds of Ecuador are fabulous. It’s also true that many of the more than 400 species we saw were rather nondescript. Here are some more birds and observations from birding two weeks within a few kilometers of the middle of the Earth.

Tawny Antpitta

Rufous Antpitta

In our experience, we saw every shade of brown known to the art world. Most of these species had the word rufous in their name to describe the head, wing, breast, tail or some other body part. As one of our non-birder participants said as we labored over our daily sightings, “Why are you bird people so fascinated with bird rumps?”

Just another day in the cloud forest

It’s hard to describe some birds as pretty. Birds such as the One-colored Becard, Drab Water Tyrant, or Dull-colored Grassquit are not as beautiful as their names might imply. If you’re a “lister,” however, they all count as another checkmark on the scorecard.

At this reserve, to prevent bird-window strikes, the folks tied rocks to ribbons. So, the bird flys toward the window, hits the ribbon and the rock goes ...