Chestnut-Breasted Coronet
I’ve been home in body for almost three weeks, but my soul remains in Ecuador.
Cotopaxi Volcano
Coming back to a busy work schedule, holiday pressures, choir commitments has made it challenging to get through the photographs. I still have to ferret out most of the bird pictures, although I have been reviewing them every chance I get to put up on Field Guides’ webpage, since I feel an obligation to the group as I was the primary picture-taker. On top of that pressure is the reality that it takes twice as long to process the pictures on my newer MacBook Pro, designated the “travel laptop,” which is where the bulk of the pictures reside. We’ll be visiting those pictures soon, I hope. In the meantime, here is a sampling of what I downloaded to my older laptop after I got home.
The irresistible landscape is part of Cayambe-Coca National Park, which we visited on our way from Quito to our first night’s stay at Guango Lodge in Papallacta. Guango was the magical place I stayed at for one night last year on the way down to the Amazon.
I could easily return to this part of the world just to explore the plant life.
In this quick post I am adding a few bird photos of species we saw practically every day. Below on the left is a Speckled Hummingbird.
Not a hummingbird, but an irresistible flycatcher, the Cinnamon Flycatcher was also on the list almost every day.
Below is a tiny leaf-colored insect on a large leaf to give you an idea of scale, and a closer crop of the creature itself.
More amazing plant life from the paramo and montane cloud forest. According to Wikipedia there are over 100 species of endemic plants here.
A couple more hummer photos…
Chestnut-Breasted Coronet
Fawn-Breasted Brilliant
Bronzy Inca
Below, a Chestnut-Breasted Coronet emerging from the flowers.
And a Fawn-Breasted Brilliant, Chestnut-Breasted Coronet and a mystery bird with its back to us at the feeder.
I will be back soon, the three-day weekend will offer more time to get caught up here and try to visit everyone else’s blogs I have not managed to see. I wish you all a joyous and peaceful holiday.
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Thank you, Lisa. Ecuador is our favorite lifetime vacation. From our bike ride down Cotopaxi to the 7 waterfalls to our stay in the Galapagos. Beautiful country, beautiful people.
Thanks, Jim, and greetings! I know all I want to do is go back to Ecuador if I get the chance. 🙂
I hope that you can get a few peaceful days in. I can quite see from your picture why your heart is still in Ecuador.
Thank you. I am looking forward to having time to properly explore and share the trip memory. I realized the first day how much I really needed to get away, that far away, from all that distracts me daily.
There you are! I thought you had quit WordPress and maybe moved to South America to discover the Royal Bird of the Incas! I see the beauties you’ve captured. Fantastic species! Welcome back and get a little time to tell us about your trip and show many more pictures. 🙂
Thanks so much and I’m so sorry about the late post, but it’s been hectic ever since I got back! I feel bad about not even having the time to read anybody else’s posts. But I will start catching up now, I promise. 🙂
This collection so far is awesome, Lisa! Gorgeous close-ups of the hummers. Happy Holidays!
Thanks, Donna. Funny the hummers were practically the only birds we saw up close, but I’m thankful for feeders and large lenses. 🙂
Can’t wait to see more!… take care and Merry Holidays and New Year!! 🙂
Thanks! Merry Happy Holidays to you as well and Hope for the New Year!!
Such marvelous photos! I especially love that one with the coronet (is that a type of hummer?) emerging from the flower. I may have mentioned that our son lived in Quito for six months, and Judy visited him there. They visited the cloud forest together. Sadly I have never been.
Thanks! I don’t think I knew about the Quito connection. We visited the Quito Botanical Garden too, which was nice, but the cloud forest, amazing. Oh you must go! The plant life is absolutely astounding. The Coronet is a hummingbird. There are a lot of different hummer names/subspecies. More hummingbird species to come!
Hi Lisa, So glad you got some amazing shots and if not for you we would be pictureless. I always assumed Field Guides leaders would take pictures as the other tours I’ve been on have. I’ve been able to relay my experiences with my wife through you photos. We both love the flora photos as well as the bird pix as my wife is the gardener in the family. Some of the birds I’d forgotten but your photos brought them back as I guess we will get a triplist with some details of when and where we saw them. Thanks again as whenever I want to return to Ecuador I just go to your blog! Fantastic! Take care and maybe I’ll see you on the trail again. Bruce
Hi Bruce! Thanks so much for visiting blog and for your first-hand comment! I hope to see you on the trail again. It was a great trip made even more so by the group of which you were an integral part. I’m trying to put extra pictures up on Flickr too, there’s a link on my page to some I added last night.
We should get a trip list eventually. Happy New Year!