Final Leg: Quito!
Our final stop was Quito Lodge, a lodge that holds many special memories for us; several years ago we visited Ecuador during the riots, it was a tricky time but Quito lodge became our madness - so it is a place that we feel very at home at. The plan here was to do day trips out to target different species. On the way we stopped by a really lovely hummingbird garden and a new stop for us both. Here we were able to enjoy the large number of White Bellied Woodstars. These are super small hummingbirds that sound like giant bees when they fly around. It was really amazing to see them in such large numbers and to be surrounded by their happy buzzing! We were also able to get some really great flight shots from the sparkling violetears - a hummingbird species that has a lot of spirit and makes really great shapes in the air.
Sparkling violetear hummingbird - such an acrobatic flier!
The next morning it was back to one of our favourite stops in Ecuador - and home to the sword billed hummingbird. This almost comical looking bird is known for its dagger like beak that is easily as long as it’s body. The length of its beak means that it has monopoly over the deepest flowers; like the trumpet flower - natural adaptation at it’s finest. Unfortunately for us, as has been the case for a lot of this trip, it was bright sunshine, this meant that the active period for the sword bill was very short and we only got a couple of visits to the flower. However we were able to enjoy a really lovely Barred Fruiteater and some different kinds of hummingbird, like the Collared Inca. The afternoon was spent at Quito lodge, attempting to get some hummingbird fights, but even these feeders were quiet due to the heat, but still the downtime gave us both chance to catch up with editing and processing of the pictures so far.
Barred Fruiteater showing off his bars!
Swordbilled Hummingbird - and yep, that’s the tongue at the end of that bill - useful for trumpet flowers!
Our final full day was one that we had both been looking forward to for a while - a visit to Chimborazo Volcano - and home to the Chimborazo Hummingbird; it’s not an official species yet, but it will be! Anyway the site of the hummingbird was at 16,000 ft so we were looking forward to testing our bodies against the altitude. It turns out that we both seem to be able to cope with altitude pretty well - neither of us suffering anything as much as a headache; of course we were only at that elevation for a few hours, but it was certainly worth it for the views that we got of the volcano and the hummingbird!
Chimborazo Hillstar having a stretch!
Our last planned activity was due to be a visit to the condors, but in July the high altitude area that the condors live in was predicted to be very windy. The problem with a windy day is that it encourages the condors to fly early - before the winds get up, this would have meant photographing them in the less than ideal light - around 6 am, as well as another very early start. We decided therefore to go back to our hummingbird garden from before - but this time to arrive earlier to try to get some beautiful backlit hummingbirds.
Check out this beautiful female white bellied woodstar!
Once the light became too harsh for backlight we called it a day and headed back to Quito lodge, some intense packing and a few games of pool later and we were ready to head back to the airport…
In the end it turned out to be a very different trip to the one we planned - hardly anything that we did this trip we had never done before which meant that it was a trip full of brand new surprises and experiences for us both, it seems that once again Ecuador has worked it’s magic.
