Sunday 30th November: Quito

 I woke to the melodic notes of a Rufous Collared Sparrow singing outside our bedroom window, and peeping through the curtains, found it perched on a post at the edge of the garden. Tim then spotted an Eared Dove roosting in the middle of a tree across the road. Merlin picked up a Sparkling Violetear, and eventually I managed to spot it foraging at the top of the same tree, twitching its tail rhythmically as it called. Then a pair of Great Thrush came into view and perched on the telephone wire - tall, leggy birds with orange legs, bill and eye ring making them quite distinctive. Next, Tim spotted a Shiny Cowbird as it alighted on the top of the same tree, a fairly large black bird, with glossy purplish hues highlighted by the early morning sun. And finally, to complete our pre-breakfast tally, Tim also found a Tropical Mockingbird perched between the telegraph poles. Not  a bad start to our Ecuador birding.

Shining Cowbird

Quito is located at a high elevation, so to help acclimatise to the altitude, we had planned a relaxed day in the city. After breakfast, we took a leisurely walk to the Quito Botanical Gardens, lured by an impressive list of birds on ebird, but in reality, finding the birding rather hard work and somewhat limited. Probably our best birds, which gave great views, were a male One-coloured Becard, with a distinctive, flattish head, and a pair of Vermilion Flycatchers, all foraging in the trees within the garden.

Vermilion Flycatcher, m

It took us a while to get decent views of a Swainson’s Thrush, broadly similar to our own Song Thrush, but subsequently we found several scattered around the garden. An immature Purple Gallinule, just beginning to gain it’s shining purple plumage, was stood on the vegetation of a small pool, posing for a photo, but had to compete for Tim’s attention with a rather more alluring Sparkling Violetear, its colours dazzling in the sunshine.This hummingbird is very common around Quito, and it’s distinctive high pitched call was heard incessantly around the gardens and park.

Finally a distant flycatcher caused considerable debate, and required consultation with Roberto on our return, before we were able to confirm the identification of a Western Wood Pewee. The bird is almost identical to Eastern Pewee, but by good fortune Tim had videoed the bird singing, and the voice turned out to be the clincher!

Western Wood Pewee

Returning home through the park, we had superb close up views of Eared Doves, very common in this urban locality, but a new species for us.

Eared Doves

Post Script: on our return to the UK, as Tim started to go through his photos, he discovered this picture of a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, found deep in a tree beside a busy urban highway in Quito. It would appear this bird is an uncommon visitor to Ecuador at this time of year, so an unexpected addition to our holiday list.

Yellow-billed Cuckoo