Birding Ecuador {Gareno Lodge}

Rodolfo Aguinda from Misahaualli Wildlife Center and his brother Sandro offered to guide Nicole and I on a trip to Gareno Lodge. We hired a driver and while it was still dark, squeezed six people into a 5-seater truck. The sixth person was brought along to cook lunch for us. Nearly all of the two hour drive was along an extremely bumpy, dirt road. We came to a security checkpoint run by an oil company, where we were given permission to continue.

Finally we arrived and began hiking down to the remnants of a structure along the river where the Fiery Topaz normally appears during a one hour window in the early morning. Unfortunately our driver was late picking us up, so we missed the bird. Argh!

Amazonian Trogon (below)

Interesting fungus to be found here.

 Spangled Cotinga (above)      Great Jacamar (below)

We hiked a little more before being driven to the lodge for breakfast, and I use the term lodge loosely. This lodge is not in operation any longer and appears to have only consisted of two small, very basic rooms and a communal covered platform with a small area for cooking. This is where they prepared and served our breakfast of scrambled eggs and tea.

We had been told Gareno was the only location near Misahuallí that has feeders. It turns out they only have one. It's a hummingbird feeder. They fill when you arrive, so birds are not accustomed to coming to it. We saw one bird come to it. Sandro brought a large cluster of green plantains to set out for the birds, but when we asked why no birds were coming to eat them, he explained it will take a few days for the plantains to ripen and the birds to find them. So, I guess we were feeding them just in case someone else wanted to venture all the way out here later. Very disappointing!

Insufficient sleep affects me just like a bad hangover. Five consecutive late nights and early mornings had finally caught up to me. I was exhausted and nauseous and could suddenly go no more. I laid in a hammock for 20 minutes to rest and then was informed that lunch was ready. What?! Half an hour after breakfast? Clearly they did not plan this out well.

On a sheet-less stained mattress I laid in one of the rooms desperate for sleep. If only I could turn off my brain. Half an hour later, I was again awake when Nicole came to get me. I was determined to see the Rufous Potoo, the other bird we came all this way for. We decided to see it and head home.

By the time we saw the bird, I somehow found new energy to continue on for a bit longer. We birded along the road for a couple more hours, racking up 85 species before calling it a day. We saw quite a few interesting critters, clusters of butterflies feeding from the puddles along the road, and this well-camoflauged frog with so many angles who played dead when Sandro picked him up.

Nicole and I spent the next day birding around my house in Shell and the following day we caught a bus to Baños where we said goodbye and parted ways. Another grand birding adventure for the two of us complete!