Day 4: Antisana (páramo) - Thursday January 25th 2018
Naturetrek had given us an option for today of birding in the Andes around the Antisana volcano or a trip to Otovala (2 hours drive each way) to go shopping. There is no way that I was coming to Ecuador to go shopping, so needless to say I made an executive decision that we would do the former. Convening in the hotel lobby, we met 4 of the people who would be our travelling companions for the next 3 weeks - Peter, Valerie, David and Tony; the other 10 had opted for the shopping. Despite (or perhaps because of) staying in a luxury hotel, a 6am departure meant we left without breakfast - though they did provide us with a cup of coffee and a stale piece of bread.
Quito is in an inter-Andean valley at an altitude of 2850m. We set off across the valley and soon started ascending the western flank of the eastern Andean mountain range. The summit of Antisana is at 5704m, the road that passes it rises to ~4000m and we spent our time birding between 3000 and 4000m. Andean montane grassland between the tree-line and the snow-line is referred to as "páramo" (from Peru north, and as "puna" from Peru south) and this is the habitat with its own special mix of birds that we explored.
The weather in the lower section was fine, mostly sunny but cool and quite breezy. We soon found the first of today's two species new to me: Black-winged Ground-dove. By the time we reached lake Mikakucha (labelled on the satellite image above) it was distinctly cold, the wind had become strong and it rained moderately heavily. Fortunately Alison and I had come prepared for these conditions and we were able to find Silvery Grebe - my second new species. During the morning we also saw a good variety of other highland birds, including Andean Condor and some deer.
The lodge was also visited by a variety of hummingbirds - perhaps you would like to see some of them? Make the most of them - it will be some time before you see any more..... |
By 1pm, having had nothing to eat all day, we were fairly hungry. We stopped for an Ecuadorian highlands meal at a restaurant/lodge near a lagoon part way back towards Quito (marked in blue on the satellite image above). Although the plate presented (see image below) was disappointing at first sight, it was actually quite tasty and was the first of 5 delicious courses. We all left feeling well fed and satisfied.
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We returned to the Dann Carlton hotel, had a single course evening meal and prepared our bags for departure to the Galapagos Islands.....