Pouring rain bird

That would be White-capped Dipper (Cinclus leucocephalus) - the only one of the trip - seen in the pouring rain.  I missed it on the first rock and then it flew downstream.  I ran downstream to find it again and got the following photos.  

Not knowing if the others had had a good enough look, I waved everyone else down to join me for a really nice view.  No one joined me. Unbeknownst to me they had all piled back into the van to get out of the rain.  Smart.  I got soaked.

This 23 second video made getting wet worth it.

Mixed bag of hummingbirds

Below:  Illustrative sign at Yanacocha Reserve.

Photos from a variety of locations and in no particular order.  I hope I have them all identified properly.

Above and below: Shining Sunbeam (Aglaeactis cupripennis)

White-whiskered Hermit (Phaethornis yaruqui)

Speckled Hummingbird (Adelomyia melanogenys) not seen at a feeder station but found in the woods and in the pouring rain.  Relatively speaking it was also perched distantly.  This photo was digiscoped for me by Rhoda using my iPhone.  

Above and two below:  Sword-billed Hummingbird (Ensifera ensifera)

Silhouetted

Above male and below female Green Thorntail (Discosura conversii)

White-necked Jacobin (Florisuga mellivora)

Green-crowned Woodnymph (Thalurania colombica)

Female Green-crowned Brilliant (Heliodoxa jacula)

Above and below:  male Andean Emerald (Amazilia franciae).  I think this may be my favorite hummingbird of the trip.  Just a little guy.  

Velvet-purple Coronet (Boissonneaua jardini)

Buff-winged Starfrontlet (Coeligena lutetiae)

Above:  Booted Racket-tail (Ocreatus underwoodii) was the most numerous hummer at Tandayapa Lodge.  I finally got a couple of decent photos of one perched away from the feeders.  I really liked this bird with its puffy white boots.      

I plan to add a couple of videos after I get them downloaded.

Two non-Ecuador things

The first thing is that two of my friends, Artemis and her brother Harold, have started on on-line field journal with their sketches called Field Notes.  Definitely worth having a look.

The second thing is to alert everyone to a New Yorker article by Jill Lepore titled, The Shorebird:  The right way to remember Rachel Carson starting on page 64 of the Mar 26, 2018 issue.  This New Yorker issue is also notable for its "the emperor has no clothes" cover of you-know-who.

The link above should work.  Many may not subscribe to the New Yorker, but this issue may be able to be found on a good newsstand (e.g. Barnes & Noble carries the New Yorker) for a couple more days.  If not there, then your local public library may be the next best resource.

Jill Lepore is a professor of American History at Harvard and her New Yorker articles are always spectacularly written.  The Shorebird ... is no exception.

Special bird on nest

Seeing this bird was a great surprise.  Two or three days earlier some in the group had seen a male Lyre-tailed Nightjar fly from one tree to another in the deep dusk of evening.  I blinked and missed seeing that bird, but we also got to hear it.  Here, near Mashpi and right at the gated entrance of the Nat Geo lodge, was a female sitting on her nest.  I must have taken 20 photos, basically all the same.  Here are a few of those.   

Female Lyre-tailed Nightjar (Uropsalis lyra)

I admit the noisy diesel truck engine is an unpleasant distraction, but the bird does not seem to mind during this 41 second video, so I try to not to let it bother me either.

This was near Masphi at the gates of the National Geographic lodge that is so expensive and exclusive.  The nest was actually perfectly placed on one of the stone structures supporting the gate into the Nat Geo lodge and was covered from the rain as well.

Finally, some hummingbirds

When you visit Ecuador, you will see a lot of hummingbirds.  It was hard for me to keep track of them all.

Chestnut-breasted Coronet (Boissonneaua matthewsii)

Collared Inca (Coeligena torquata)

Female Collared Inca?

Collared Inca 

Buff-tailed Coronet (Boissonneaua flavescens)

White-bellied Woodstar (Chaetocercus mulsant)

The above photos were taken on the grounds of Guango Lodge.

A few more hummers will be added in a later post including this beautiful guy.