A survey of the avifauna of the Santa Lucía cloud forests

In the autumn of 2000 and again in late 2001 surveys were conducted to document the richness of the bird life in Santa Lucía. Robert Planqué did field work in both years, and and Ronald van den Berg joined for another three weeks in 2001.

The Santa Lucía Reserve is a small-scale conservation project run by the local community in the upper foothills in North-West Ecuador. It comprises some 700 ha of mostly pristine cloud forest and borders the larger Maquipucuna Reserve. The topography is rugged,with altitudes ranging between 1400 meters and 2600 meters. Some of the land has been cleared for cattle during the last 30 years (about 20 %), and these lands are currently being reforested. The remainder 80 % is undisturbed cloud forest. These forests are characterized by the abundance of epiphytes such as orchids, bromelias and ferns. Santa Lucía forms the northern border of the corridor of tropical montane forests stretching from the Mindo area (Tandayapa) via the El Pahuma Orchid Reserve to Maquipucuna. This corridor is part of the Chocó and Andean Pacific-slope Andes Endemic Bird Area (Wege and Long, 1995).

The surveys

The area had been studied before by Shannon Parsons, an ornithologist and former Peace Corps volunteer, who set up a first list of species on the basis of mostly sound recordings. The bird list comprises a larger area than merely Santa Lucía, but also includes Maquipucuna (which is situated between 1300 and 2800 meters) and the surrounding villages Marianitas and Nanegal. Here we focus on the Santa Lucia Reserve. During both stays we have conducted rather loosely structured field work, identifying all birds by sight and sound. We hope to be able to visit the area again soon to conduct more carefully planned surveys. Our objectives were to get a more detailed picture of the bird species constitution at this reserve, and also obtain more knowledge about their relative abundance. Especially on this latter point much remains unknown, and long-term studies to the relative presence of bird species during the year are needed.

An overview of the Santa Lucía avifauna.

The current bird list has some 320 species recorded in and around the reserve. At least five species are included in the IUCN Red List of endangered and vulnerable species (Collar et al., 1994); these are the Plate-billed Mountain Toucan, Crested Eagle, Long-wattled Umbrellabird, Crested Guan and Wattled Guan.

Some main features of the reserve are an active Andean Cock-of-the-Rock lek, about 50 different kinds of Tanagers which roam the forest canopies in ever different feeding flocks, and leks of the common (though often hard to see) Golden-winged Manakins and Club-winged Manakins. A stunning 35 species of hummingbirds have been recorded, with Chocó endemics like Violet-tailed Sylph and Brown Inca. Only recently hummingbird feeders have been placed around the lodge, and by the time we left only the occasional Wedge-billed Hummingbird or Violet-tailed Sylph had noticed them. This of course should be greatly improved by the time of writing.

Directly around the lodge there's already a horde of birds to be found. In the morning, the dawn chorus is gravely disturbed by the abundant Dusky Bush-Tanagers, which sometimes make listening to some of the other species difficult with their loud voice. Some of the six species of Antpittas may be heard calling (usually Scaled Antpitta), and Wattled Guans can often be heard too. Brown-billed Scythebills, Rufous-breasted Antthrush can sometimes be heard as well.

There are a number of accessible paths through the forest, that provide quite easy birding, and on an average day you should certainly encounter common species such as Russet-crowned Warbler, Golden, Flame-faced and Beryl-spangled Tanagers, Blue-winged Mountain-Tanager, Lineated Foliage-gleaner, Yellow-vented Woodpecker, Masked Flowerpiercer, Orange-bellied Euphonia, the Toucan Barbet or Yumbo, Golden-headed Quetzal and Green-and-black Fruiteater. Some other spectacular species might be Glistening-green Tanager, Rufous-chested Tanager, Streaked Tuftedcheek, Barred Puffbird, Scaled Fruiteater or perhaps even a White-faced Nunbird.

We here give a summary of some of the more interesting observations during our stays.

Plumbeous Hawk (Leucopternis plumbea)
One individual was seen high up in the canopy at dawn on 26/9/01, after a visit to the lek of the Cock-of-the-Rock (see photo at top of us looking up through the tangles to get a glimpse). The 'weeuw' sounds drew our attention.

Barred Hawk (Leucopternis princeps)
A pair was seen soaring past the lodge (16-10-00), displaying a series of marked dives, accompanied by loud 'weep-weep' calls. For the European birder, this resembles the display by Wood Pigeons.

Dark-backed Wood-Quail (Odontophorus melanonotus)
Heard mostly from Nanegal, in the early morning. Also occasionally in Santa Lucía (2001 only).

White-throated Quail-Dove (Geotrygon frenata)
One seen 27/10/00 on the main path from the lodge.

Bronze-winged Parrot (Pionus chalcopterus)
Probably the most common parrot, though declining according to the local community. This species is also seen at lower elevations. The Red-billed and Speckled-faced Parrots only inhabit the primary forests of the reserve and are more often heard while they fly by through the mist.

Barred Parakeet (Bolborhynchus lineola)
When you know the call, this species can be observed quite regularly, though always flying.

Oilbird (Steatornis caripensis)
Heard at night, 9/10/00, during a party in Nanegal. This migrant is reported quite frequently during migration/seasonal movements.

Pauraque (Nyctidromus albicollis)
One seen at the lodge, right next to the veranda, 20/11/00. We also flushed one at early dawn from a roost at one of the little rivers flowing into the Alambi. It flew a few rounds among the Grey-rumped Swifts catching insects above the water and then disappeared.

Common Potoo (Nyctibius griseus)
We spotted one bird on a pole (photo, left) a few steps from the lodge at night while attracting moths. It tried to make itself bigger to adjust for the size of the pole. It was actively looking for insects while we were observing from a few meters distance, seemingly not hindered by our presence.

White-tipped Swift (Aeronautes montivagus)
This Andean swift was recorded for the first time for the reserve as three individuals flew past the lodge.

Brown Violetear (Colibri delphinae)
This uncommon species was seen on 12/9/01 at the bridge to enter Maquipucuna, hovering above the Alambi River.

Wedge-billed Hummingbird (Schistes geoffroyi)
This species is more often encountered at Maquipucuna, but one individual visited the flowers around the lodge for a number of weeks in 2001, and it took some effort to identify it as such. See photo, right.

Masked Trogon (Trogon personatus)
Seen quite regularly in the reserve, also very close to the lodge sometimes. One individual had very fine tail-barring, barely visible from a few meters distance through our binoculars. This is apparently not unusual (Hilty & Brown 1986).

Barred Puffbird (Nystalus radiatus)
Heard and seen on 11/11/00 at somewhat lower elevations (1600 m), and right next to the lodge through the telescope on 10/10/01. The second bird was heared calling from further away for two days more. This species apparently always sits in dead branches, and is thus easily observable from long distances.

Plate-billed Mountain-Toucan (Andigena laminirostris)
This is a common bird at Santa Lucía, though it's more often heard than seen. Some twenty-five minutes walking from the lodge over the principal path there is another cabin, from which you have an excellent view over both the north and south valleys. Especially on the north side you will have a good chance of seeing these magnificent toucans.

Pale-mandibled Araçari (Pteroglossus erythropygius)
This Ecuadorian endemic can be found in Maquipucuna, and sometimes small groups are seen flying across the road from Nanegal to the reserves.

Toucan Barbet (Semnornis ramphastinus)
This clownesque bird can usually be easily seen at Santa Lucía. There are some nest cavities known to the local community, and we observed a nest during our 2001 stay. The nest is a hollow cavity in a dead tree trunk, some five to seven meters above the ground, ten minutes away from the lodge.

Powerful Woodpecker (Campephilus pollens)
The sound of the drumming of this woodpecker can be heard at great distances. It unregularly visits the lodge, though despite its great size it's usually first noticed by its strange call.

Crimson-mantled Woodpecker (Piculus rivolii)
Sometimes accompanies feeding-flocks, as on 2/11/00 and 17/9/01. Usually found at higher altitudes.

Yellow-vented Woodpecker (Veniliornis dignus)
This seemed to be the most common woodpecker in the area, which seems to contradict its status as scarce in north-west Ecaudor (Ridgely & Greenfield 2001). The supposedly more common Golden-olive Woodpecker was sighted only a few times, and then usually heard in the distance. Yellow-vented is a common member of species flocks, seen nearly daily during the 2001 trip.

Olivaceous Piculet (Picumnus olivaceus)
One on 11/11/00 next to the lodge at Maquipucuna.

Streaked Tuftedcheek (Pseudocolaptes boissonneautii)
Occasionally right at the lodge, but more often found at higher elevations (>2000 m). This striking species was mostly observed at the forest edge.

Uniform Treehunter (Thripadectes ignobilis)
A loud calling bird was seen at dawn inside dense undergrowth of primary forest on 16/10/00. Also recorded. It was calling at the lek of the Cock-of-the-Rocks.

Uniform Antshrike (Thamnophilus unicolor)
One individual singing on 15/10/00 at dusk, as an entire hill was flooded in the light of fire flies. Recorded (and much later identified :-) ). You can sometimes hear this species singing at dawn to from the lodge.

Scaled Antpitta (Grallaria guatimalensis)
The most common antpitta heard whenever you go a bit higher up. Heard also on very misty days when nothing else (other than another antpitta species) was heard, as on 28/10/01.

Undulated Antpitta (Grallaria squamigera)
This antpitta is sometimes heared at about 2400, where you can occasionally hear multiple individuals singing at the same time.

Andean Cock-of-the-Rock (Rupicola peruviana)
There is an active lek of this species, which is at about an hour's walking distance from the lodge. Quite an adventurous hike if you want to visit it before dawn, by the way. At the leck there are about twenty individuals. They can also be seen roaming the forests everywhere in the reserve. Their wings make a distinctive rattling sound that often gives them away. An old nest, attached against the rock along a river, was photographed (after Robert had fallen twice down the waterfall).

Scaled Fruiteater (Ampelioides tschudii)
A pair was observed on 11/11/00 at about 1700 m in the forest. They were calling very softly, probably some form of contact call. A pair with young was seen and photographed on 14/9/01 01 (see female in the photo left). The male was observed feeding the chick some red berries.

Barred Becard (Pachyramphus versicolor)
An uncommon species, seen once on 17/9/01, in a huge species flock close to the lodge.

Streak-necked Flycatcher (Mionectes striaticollis)
A not uncommon flycatcher in secondary growth at higher elevations, replacing Olive-striped Flycatcher (see below) which is found at lower elevations. A poor bird flew against the window of the lodge on 21/9/01, and was photographed. Most notable were the yellow fringes on the median and greater coverts, instead of olive-yellow as described for instance in Hilty & Brown (1986).

Olive-striped Flycatcher (Mionectes olivaceus)
Precisely a day after the Streak-necked Flycatcher had flown against the lodge, an Olive-striped, its close relative, flew against a window of the house of one of the locals in Nanegal (or, more precisely, the little establishment before Nanegal, called La Delicia). The owner, Vicente, quite an accomplished birder himself, had never seen this species in his garden. It was photographed, and sat around on Robert's hand for about half an hour (see photo right and at top of page) before it flew off.

Orange-crowned Euphonia (Euphonia saturata)
Seen once along the road from Nanegal to the reserve, on 11/11/00.

Glistening-green Tanager (Chlorochrysa phoenicotis)
Although this tanager species was irregular in 2000, it seemed to be common in 2001. It could be found nearly every day in the tanager flocks around the lodge. Just a few other species that can be found in such flocks are Golden, Flame-faced, Beryl-spangled, Metallic-green, Golden-naped, Lemon-rumped, Summer, Ochre-breasted Tanagers and Blue-winged and Black-chinned Mountain-Tanagers (see below)

Black-chinned Mountain-Tanager (Anisognathus notabilis)
This not so common species sometimes accompanies larger flocks of Blue-wingeds, which is something to remember when encountering a big group of these yellow-and-blue birds. Contrary to Ridgely & Greenfield (2001), at this locality they are more common at higher elevations (rather than lower) where they are found singly or in small groups. Occasionally one is also found among a larger group of Blue-wingeds, and then it ventures to lower altitudes, down to about 1900m..

Southern Yellow Grosbeak (Pheucticus chrysogaster)
Only once in 2000, on 12/10/00, but note so uncommon in 2001, when probably the same individual stayed around the lodge for a number of days. Photographed.

Tricolored Brush-finch (Atlapetes tricolor)
Not uncommon in secondary and primary forest, also venturing close to the lodge at times.

White-winged Brush-finch (Atlapetes leucopterus)
Not uncommon in secondary and primary forest, even seen in groups of about five individuals (2001) along a forest edge.

Olive Finch (Lysurus castaneiceps)
Seen once in riverine thickets at dawn on 11/10/00.

References

Wege, D.C. and A.J. Long 1995. Key Areas for threatened birds in the Neotropics. Cambridge, UK: Birdlife International, Conservation Series 5.

Collar, N.J., M.J. Crosby and A.J. Stattersfield 1994. Birds to watch 2: the world list of threatened birds. Cambridge, UK: Birdlife International, Conservation Series 4.

Hilty, S.L. and W.L. Brown 1986. A Guide to the Birds of Columbia. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. 836pp.

Ridgely, R.S. and P.J. Greenfield, 2001. The Birds of Ecuador. Cornell University Press, New York.