Tidbits
Wildsumaco News, Links and Photos
A male Andean Laniisoma was observed, tape recorded and photographed (above) on 25 July, singing at various spots on his territory along one of our trails.
Since it was first recorded at Wildsumaco in March 2008, the very rare Andean Laniisoma continues to be observed here occasionally. Considered near-threatened by Ridgely and Greenfield, at Wildsumaco it usually seems to be loosely associated with a large mixed-species flock that moves through several locations on our reserve.
A young male Straw-backed Tanager was observed feeding on melastome berries from the lodge deck, numerous times over the period from 17 to 20 June, and was observed occasionally for several more months. This is a huge range extension for this very rare species, heretofore known in Ecuador only in the extreme southeast part of the country.
See the June 2008 issue of THIS IS ECUADOR for an article by Jonas about birding the Andes' eastern foothills.
The August 2008 issue of American Birding Association's bimonthly magazine, WINGING IT, contains an article about Rio Pucuno Foundation, by Bonnie.
Open just a few months, Wildsumaco Lodge has already received guests from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Kenya, Netherlands, Scotland, Sweden, New Zealand, United Kingdom and United States.
A number of our visitors have generously shared their bird photos with us. When you place your cursor over a photo, the name of the species and the photographer will come up. If no credit appears, one of the staff took the shot. We appreciate and thank our friends for letting us use their photographs of the birds they've seen in Wildsumaco.
A FIRST RECORD FOR ECUADOR was established when Jonas spotted the boreal migrant Yellow-throated Vireo from our Coopman's Trail in February 2008.
Boreal migrant Acadian Flycatcher was identified twice in the spring of 2008, also on the Coopman's Corner Trail. These sightings are the first records for this species on Ecuador's east slope.
Austral migrant Small-billed Elaenia has been observed 3 times this season at Wildsumaco.
Twenty-two species of hummingbird are known to have visited our feeders to date, and on one wonderful day in July 2008, 17 species were seen in a hour or so, including our first record of Lazuline Sabrewing, plus Napo Sabrewing, Ecuadorian Piedtail, Gould's Jewelfront, Violet-fronted and Black-throated Brilliant, Many-spotted Hummingbird, Rufous-vented Whitetip, Violet-headed Hummingbird and Gray-chinned Hermit.
Large mammals are always difficult and exciting to see, but at Wildsumaco we've seen some interesting ones in the past several months: Spectacled Bear has been seen twice, Southern Two-toed Sloth has been recorded in 2 locations, kinkajou was observed feeding on cecropia fruit behind Cabanas A, and a porcupine was spotted in a tree near the lodge. Napo Tamarin (formerly Black Mantle Tamarin) is fairly common throughout our reserve.
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