Tag Archives: Cabanas San Isidro

Masked Trogon (Trogon personatus)

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It’s time to unmask the beauty of the elegant Masked Trogon (Trogon personatus) who is a species of bird in the family Trogonidae.  They have 8 different subspecies:

  • T. p. assimilis is found in the subtropics of the west Andean slope in Ecuador.
  • T. p. duidae is found on Mount Duida in the tepui region of southern Venezuela; males of this subspecies are reddish-bronze on the back.
  • T. p. personatus is found in the subtropical Andes of Venezuela, central and east Andean slopes in Colombia, and east Andean slopes in Ecuador and Peru; males of this subspecies are glossy green above.
  • T. p. ptaritepui is found in the tepui region of southern Venezuela; males of this subspecies are golden-green on the back.
  • T. p. roraimae is found on Auyantepui and Monte Roraima, on the border between Venezuela, Guyana and Brazil.
  • T. p. sanctamartae is found in the Santa Marta Mountains of northeastern Colombia.
  • T. p. submontanus is found in the Andean foothills in Bolivia.
  • T. p. temperatus, sometimes considered to be a separate species, the highland trogon, is found in the temperate Andes of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

I took the photos below from the verandah of the El Dorado Reserve Lodge.  This female  bird (T. p. sanctamartae) seemed to know how gorgeous she is and made sure I got her good side – both of them!

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Here’s a male bird from the Mindo area.

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Another male from Cabanas San Isidro

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They have a huge range throughout the mountainous areas of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru & Bolivia.  You may get lucky as I did at Mindo, San Isidro,  El Dorado and Rio Blanco.

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LEARN MORE ABOUT MASKED TROGONS

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This clip from the Mindo area has the male bird’s call.

A quiet but curious female.

 

 

Collared Inca (Coeligena torquata)

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The Collared Inca (Coeligena torquata) is a species of hummingbird found in humid Andean forests from western Venezuela, through Colombia and Ecuador, to Peru and Bolivia. It is very distinctive and unique in having a white chest-patch and white on the tail.

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They have quite a large range in in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.  I saw them in quite a few places – Cabanas San Isidro, Guango Lodge, a farm near Jardin, Colombia and Rio Blanco near Manizales, Colombia.

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LEARN MORE ABOUT COLLARED INCAS

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American Bird Conservancy

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Here you can see the beautiful iridescence of the Collared Inca.

Visiting a hummingbird feeder.

 

San Isidro Owl (Ciccaba sp)

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The San Isidro Owl was once thought to be a subspecies of the Black-banded Owl, but now is considered by many to be a species on its own.  There still isn’t a lot of information out there so I’ll share what I can find.

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Most people see them readily at Cabanas San Isidro in Ecuador.  I haven’t heard of them being found anywhere else.

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LEARN MORE ABOUT SAN ISIDRO OWLS

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A perplexed owl wonders why everyone is looking at him,

 

 

 

Birding The Grounds Of Cabanas San Isidro

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Although the weather wasn’t in our favour during our brief visit to Cabanas San Isidro, we did see some pretty cool birds.  We arrived in the afternoon to pouring rain and spent most of our time out on the balcony where we could shelter and hope some birds would fly by.

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My main target bird was the White-capped Parrot (Pionus seniloides) so after the rain stopped, I was hopeful when I finally heard some parrot squawks and a pair fly past us and disappear into the trees.  But unfortunately they stayed in the foliage and wouldn’t come out and pose for photos.  DSCN2301

After it started getting dark, we headed down to the restaurant to avoid walking in the dark and hung out on the deck watching a few hummingbirds who hadn’t turned in for the night.

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After dinner, we were escorted back to our cabin by the guide but we first stopped off to see the resident San Isidro Owl.  This is possibly a new species although some birding books lump it in with Balck-banded Owls.  They are easy to see as they frequent the trees near the footpath where the street lamps attract insects.  We saw 3 of them in different trees though I really struggled to get a shot in the dark!

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The next morning, our guide was right on time and we didn’t have far to go as birds were all over the trees just outside our cabin.  Here’s a pretty Masked Trogon.DSCN2357a

A dramatic looking Green (Inca) Jay

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Glossy-black Thrush DSCN2377 DSCN2388

There’s a small platform on top of a cabin that gives a nice view over the surrounding canopy.DSCN2394 DSCN2395 DSCN2401a

We then headed down a muddy path where sometimes you can see Antpittas.  While walking down, I slipped in the mud and fell pretty hard.  I instinctively tried to protect my camera (I was holding the Canon 60D and my husband was holding the Nikon which was not harmed) but the camera still hit the ground and the viewfinder cracked.  There was mud all over the camera.  Since we were already down there, we tried to call the antpitta in but he didn’t show up.  At this point, I wanted to clean the camera so we went back to the dining room and I did my best to clean it.

I was really glad I had two cameras for the trip as the Canon just didn’t focus well after the accident.  For example these photos were taken with the Nikon.DSCN2414a DSCN2420 DSCN2422 DSCN2425 DSCN2429 DSCN2433 DSCN2436a DSCN2438

The photos below were taken with the Canon after the accident.IMG_4811 IMG_4813 IMG_4822 IMG_4824 IMG_4826

I did the best I could under the circumstances.  They do have a very impressive bird list so I will share it here because odds are you will have better luck than I did!

Cabanas San Isidro Bird List

Birding in Ecuador

Lodge Review: Cabanas San Isidro

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Cabanas San Isidro is a beautiful eco-lodge set high in a cloud forest only 2 hours from the Quito Airport.  You can easily get there by bus from either Quito, Coca or Wildsumaco Lodge.  When booking, we were told to get off the bus in Cosanga, walk to a particular small roadside restaurant and call them and they would come and get us.  It was pouring rain as you can see!

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They assigned us to a beautiful cabin with a spectacular view over the cloud forest.  DSCN2292

I didn’t want to step on the macaw!DSCN2294

The cabin was gorgeous, spotlessly clean and very attractively furnished.DSCN2293 DSCN2295 DSCN2296 DSCN2298

And the view to die for……………..well bird for!  The rain wasn’t letting up so we hung out on the balcony looking for birds.  DSCN2297

It rained most of the afternoon but it finally did let up for awhile.  DSCN2299 DSCN2300

I was in “give up” mode and not really paying attention when I heard parrot squawks.  I barely had time to reach for my camera (which I had put down as it was heavy) but the two White-capped Parrots disappeared into the trees on the left.  I think they perched as I could still hear them but they must have taken off shortly afterwards.  I was hoping they would come back, or more would fly by but they didn’t.  DSCN2301 DSCN2302

The rain had let up enough to walk down to the main building and it was getting close to dinner time so we walked down.DSCN2303

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Map of the trails which we had planned on walking but not in the rain!DSCN2410 DSCN2409

The dining room is beautiful with some nice bird artwork on the walls.  They also have a nice selection of bird books.  Some people have posted on Trip Advisor that wifi is available but it wasn’t working they day we were there.  (This would later become very important).DSCN2317 DSCN2318 DSCN2319

We were there in time to see a few straggling hummingbirds before they turned in fo rthe night.  Then we sat down for dinner.  Alejandro, the very friendly manager joined us.DSCN2320

At this point, I should mention that the day we were there was 16 April, the day of the big earthquake.  I did a separate post about that as this post is meant to review the property.  The food was excellent!DSCN2321 DSCN2322

In spite of the outside influences (rain, earthquake) we really loved Cabanas San Isidro and wish we could have stayed longer.  The grounds are amazing and there are lots of birds (will do a separate post for birds), and the local guide is excellent!  He even found the rare San Isidro Owl for us!  The staff were “grace under pressure” while the earthquake was happening.  We felt it shake the buildings and everyone was nervous but not panicky and Alejandro got information as quickly as he could when he could get a signal.  You can book directly with the lodge.  The lodge gets rave reviews on Trip Advisor too!  We would definitely stay here again if we ever get back to Ecuador!

Bus Travel Through Eastern Ecuador

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When I was planning this trip, the one thing that worried me was that it was really hard to find information on bus transport along the road between Coca & Quito that would pass by Wildsumaco, Cosanga (Cabanas San Isidro) and Guango Lodge.  It turned out to be as easy as standing on the roadside (or sitting at a bus stop) and hailing the next bus to pass which never took longer than 20 minutes (that could have just been good luck).  None of them were full, in fact they were mostly empty enough that we could each claim a bank of 2 seats and stretch out.  The buses were also very cheap, between $3-8 for each leg.  In the next few photos you can see what the buses were like and see some of the scenery along the way.  It was cool to see signs promoting conservation!

WILDSUMACO TO COSANGA

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Since our bus was headed to Tena, we had to jump out at the crossroads and hail a Quito bound bus-which pulled up just as we were crossing the street!DSCN2279 DSCN2281 DSCN2280 DSCN2282 DSCN2284 DSCN2285 DSCN2286

It was pouring rain as we pulled over by the Cosanga bus stop.  We had been told to go to a small restaurant and call the lodge when we arrived, so braved the rain to walk along the road back towards the town to find the restaurant.DSCN2287 DSCN2288

COSANGA TO GUANGO LODGE

After leaving the lodge, they dropped us at the same bus stop and we hailed a bus after a few minutes.  This trip took place the day after the earthquake and since we had no internet, we were yet unaware of how much damage was done elsewhere in Ecuador.  As you can see, these roads were perfectly fine, you would never know the earthquake had been felt in the region.DSCN2445 DSCN2446

This bus was featuring a Bollywood film of all things!DSCN2447 DSCN2449

The weather was still rainy and glum as we took the hour long ride to Guango Lodge.  Coming from the Amazon, the lodge is on the right side so keep an eye out if the driver doesn’t seem familiar with it.DSCN2451 DSCN2452 DSCN2453 DSCN2454 DSCN2455

GUANGO LODGE TO QUITO AIRPORT

Since Guango Lodge is best known for hummingbirds, we only stayed there for a couple hours before heading back out to the main road to get another bus.  There was no shelter from the rain this time and we waited around 20 minutes before we were finally rescued by a bus.

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We gradually came out of the mountains and started descending into Quito.  The bus would go all the way into the city bus terminal but for people headed to the airport, you need to jump out at Pifo and take a taxi.  Tell the bus driver you are going to El Aeropuerto and you probably won’t be the only one going there.

I don’t remember exactly how much the taxi was, it was around $10-ish and we probably got ripped off but you are pretty much a captive audience and they know you probably have a flight to catch.  It’s less than 10 minutes from Pifo to the airport – easy!  The best thing is that you don’t need to schedule a day in Quito to make a flight the next morning.  In fact it’s probably easier to get to the airport from Guango or Cabanas San Isidro since there is only one road and no traffic!  So why not spend your last night in Ecuador in a beautiful eco-lodge?DSCN2593 DSCN2595 DSCN2596

Coca – Gateway To The Ecuadorian Amazon

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A trip to the Ecuadorian Amazon will be one of the highlights of any birder’s trip to Ecuador!  Since Ecuador is a relatively small country, it is especially easy to get to.  Most package tourists will have flights from Quito to Coca built in to their Amazon package but you can save a couple hundred dollars if you use miles for this route.  Avianca Lifemiles only charges 3000 Lifemiles each way which is a fantastic deal!  You can also reach Coca by bus, its about a 6 hour journey straight through but there are interesting stops along the way.  In the map below, Coca is in the middle, the purple line on the right indicates where the eco-lodges are in Yasuni National Park like Napo Wildlife Center.  You can also see my recommended stops for the journey back – Wawa Sumaco for Wildsumaco, Cosanga for Cabanas San Isidro and that purple dot indicating Guango Lodge which is on the highway but not near a town.

Ecuadorian Amazon

The Aerogal plane which is what you will be on if you use Lifemiles is a small one but it’s only a 35-40 minute flight.

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We didn’t have checked bags but if you do, they are brought to this window.DSCN1602

If you are being picked up by your tour operator, they will have a sign with your name on it.  Otherwise, just get a $3 taxi to the La Mision Hotel.DSCN1603

Driving through the town of Coca.  Not really much here to look at so we didn’t jump out anywhere.DSCN1604 DSCN2105 DSCN2104 DSCN2103 DSCN1605 DSCN1606

Some nice bird art on a building.DSCN1607 DSCN2102

This is the car park of La Mision Hotel and where you get the river boats that take you to your lodge.DSCN1609 DSCN1610 DSCN1611

If you are on the early flight, I suggest getting breakfast here and asking for the wifi password to kill time.  Some lodges do have wifi but it isn’t cheap so be prepared to be unplugged for your adventure!  Let the hotel staff know which lodge you are booked with, everyone knows everyone and they will tell your guide that you are waiting in the restaurant when he/she arrives.  They start arriving around 9:30ish.DSCN1612

Typical river boat that the lodges use.DSCN1613 DSCN1614

View of the La Mision Hotel as our boat pulled away from the pier.DSCN1615 DSCN1616

When you are ready to leave Coca, get a taxi to the bus station on the outskirts of town.  If you are going to Wildsumaco, you can use a bus that is headed to either Quito or Tena.

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For Wildsumaco Lodge, have the driver let you out at the road to Pacto Sumaco and call them so they know when to pick you up.  It’s a long walk up hill so you do need a ride.  Details will be in my report on Wildsumaco Lodge.  We didn’t have a phone but a kindly fellow passenger made the call for us to let them know which bus we were on.DSCN2111