2nd January we were back on the road again with Iain Campbell and Nick Athanas to Tandayapa Bird Lodge, one of our very favourite places to bird in the whole world. Only an hour or so from the city of Quito, it’s a different world there: nestling in the cloudforest, the superbly appointed lodge has to be THE place to watch hummingbirds. An incredible spectacle plays out all day every day around the feeders on the terrace: the noise of beating wings makes the air reverberate, the flash of iridescence on these diminutive birds constantly changing as the light plays on them, the zap of the birds as they skim past you just inches from your face aggressively chasing each other off the prime spots on the feeder ports.
With time to relax in 2009, we sat and sipped coffee before moving onto cold beers and enjoyed watching Red-headed Barbet and a male Rose-breasted Grosbeak in the trees overhead. We also saw a species that we failed to see in 2008: Little Woodstar which came to the hummingbird feeders and was a lifer for us both!
2nd January 2009, Tandayapa