バードウォッチング ツアー、グアラセオ経由、クエンカから東斜面へ

After a trip to Cajas, we went to East slope in a day trip. This is is long day because of the distance. It is still great, we stopped on the way to Buglas, looked for birds at different stops. We also saw a number of targets with excitement. Great tour.

I wanted to find a good birding experience off the beaten track. I am happy to report that Edison and Luis of Polylepis Tours of Cuenca provided a wonderful adventure on the eastern slope of the Andes. We spent a whole day exploring fascinating backroads and trails and locating beautiful and interesting birds. As an intermediate birder they were very patient and kind in helping me find the smallest birds in the dense bushes and trees of the selva. It felt like magic to me how many and how gorgeous the birds of this area were.

Amazing tour to various places with Edison the perfect guide. Particularly liked hike to Laguna Mallas and seeing the Striped Owl in Cuenca’s Parque El Paraíso as a bonus at the end of the day.

I did two tours with Edison and found him to be very helpful, informative and pleasant--not just on birds but also on Spanish usage and cultural issues. THe first trip was to Buglas House in Limon Indanza which we did in search of Eastern Slope species. Edison helped me find White Crowned and Striolated Manakins at Buglas House. And on the nearby Via San Antonio we found Paradise Tanagers and Lanceolated Monklet which Edison took special pains at pointing out (my eyes are bad and this was a challenge for both of us--but Edsion persisted and we succeeded. THe second trip was to have been to Cajas national park in search of Giant Conebill and Plushcap; however, we discovered at the last minute that the raod was closed due to untimely repainrs; Edison immediately found an alternate location that would give us an chance for the Plushcap, which has long been a dream bird of mine. This took some resourcefulness on Edison's part, but he quickly found the right habitat (bamboo) for the Plushcap and we enjoyed very close of two Plushcaps that answered Edison's recordings. Also foudn were Black Chested Mt Tanagers and Pearled Tree Runners. I would recommend Edison heartily to birders with special target birds. He is resourceful, patient, knowledgable and helpful. My only comment to Polulepis tours is that since they have a special working relationship with Buglas House, they use their leverage to get the owners of Buglas House to develop their feeder stations more adequately. When we were there there were just two hummer feeders and not much fruit in the feeding stations. As a result the feeders were almost empty. This is an important issue especially for disabled visitors who cannot hike much in the forest. This is not a comment on Edison's abilities, but on the administration of Buglas House, where Polylepis tours takes visitors longing to see eastern slope birds.