6 AM:

Rio Silanche. Photo by Lori Fujimoto

The day-trip to Pedro Vicente Maldonado (aka Rio Silanche) is our longest journey from Tandayapa. It is still night when we leave the lodge, and everyone falls rapidly back to sleep. After 45 minutes, we have worked our way out of the highlands, through the foothills, and down to the lowlands. A quick re-fueling stop gives us Masked Water-Tyrant sitting in the corner of the gas station, and (Southern) House Wren creeping along some shrubbery.

6:30 AM:

We arrive at the entrance road to the Rio Silanche reserve. We've already stopped several times on the way, first for a Laughing Falcon and then for a perched Bat Falcon. I ask Mark as we disembark whether we'll be out long and he says, "I hope not." At first I don't understand why, for as soon as I step outside I realize the place is dripping with birds. The sky is completely covered with low, ominous clouds and the precipitation can only be described as "spitting." In other words, the weather is ideal for large flock formation. I realize why Mark doesn't want to linger, however, as the first of many large dump-trucks careens down the road coating us with dust as it heads toward a nearby rock quarry operation.

Silver-throated Tanager. Photo by Mark Gurney

The trucks don't disturb the birds, fortunately, and we rally to cover all angles. A Buff-rumped Warbler hops playfully along a small stream, while tanagers – Palm, Lemon-rumped, Bay-headed, Silver-throated, and Golden-hooded – feed in the trees with Lesser Greenlets and a Bananaquit. Behind the bus, two Red-rumped Woodpeckers chase each other from tree to tree, stopping occasionally to probe for food. A Ringed Kingfisher passes low overhead and our first flock of Bronze-winged Parrots can be seen higher up. José Illánes, another Tropical Birding guide and a native Ecuadorian, proves his worth by getting a scope on a Streaked Flycatcher first, and then on a Yellow-bellied Siskin. We are stopped short, however, by Mark, who ushers us all back into the bus with the words, "We can see all of these and more at the next stop."

Noon:

Golden-crowned Flycatcher. Photo by Mark Gurney

The morning has been a blur of birds. Mark was right, of course, and all of us have "tanager-neck" from craning back to look at flock after flock. The weather has been cooperative and we've managed brief – but exhilarating – views at some "rarer" birds such as Scarlet-and-White Tanager and Scarlet-breasted Dacnis. These have been mixed together with other new tanagers like Grey-and-Gold, Blue-necked, Guira, and Rufous-winged, as well as Purple and Green Honeycreepers, and Yellow-tufted and Blue Dacnis. Not to be satisfied with passerines, however, we found two barbets, Red-headed and Orange-fronted, a flock of Pale-mandibled Araçaris, Chocó and Collared Trogons, Dusky Pigeon, Olivaceous Piculet, and Golden-olive and Lineated Woodpeckers. By a large patch of Heliconia a few people spot a feeding White-tipped Sicklebill. As we reluctantly trudge back to the bus for lunch, we find a lekking White-bearded Manakin and a flock containing Band-backed Wren and both Common and Black-headed Tody-Flycatchers.

98. Photo by Lauren Harter

Sitting down in the gravel car park with my lunch, I finally have time to take in our surroundings. The Rio Silanche preserve is a relatively tiny 200 acre parcel set in a mosaic of highly fragmented lowland rainforest on the west slope of the Andes. It was purchased in early 2005 by the Mindo Cloudforest Foundation, and hopefully will be joined together with another 300 acres soon if sufficient external funding is secured. Throughout the day we hear the not-so-distant buzz of chainsaws working tirelessly to whittle away at the edges. Combined with the constant rumble of quarry trucks, it is very clear that this particular site has only nearly been saved, and it may well soon be all that is left in the area.

The excitement of new birds breaks me from these thoughts – José has found a Lanceolated Monklet! We follow closely behind him as he winds back down the trails, side-steps down an abandoned trail heavy with leaf-litter, and finally stops and sets up his scope. Nearly impossible to find without his help, but sitting unobstructed on a branch above our heads, is the monklet. It serenely eyes us we scramble to set up scopes, take photos, and make sure everyone has a good view of our first puffbird for the trip.

4 PM:

Western White-tailed Trogon. Photo by Mark Gurney

Our afternoon experience at Rio Silanche is no less hectic and exhilarating as the morning. José's spotting of a Western White-tailed Trogon fulfills our sweep of the trogons likely to be found in the area. Both Little Cuckoo and Squirrel Cuckoo put in several appearances over the course of the afternoon. While we don't see as many large canopy flocks of tanagers, we do spend extensive time following understory flocks. Four species of woodcreeper (Wedge-billed, Black-striped, Spotted, and Streak-headed) test our identification skills, while Plain Xenops and a surprising find, a Double-banded Graytail, add to our growing list of Furnariids. The flocks also consist of a generous mix of tyrannids such as tyrannulets, flycatchers, elaenias, becards, and the occasional pygmy-tyrant (Scale-crested) or flatbill (Yellow-margined). At least one Slaty-capped Shrike-Vireo rounds out the assortment.

As we start on our long drive back home, José and Mark continue to try to find us new birds along the way. Blue-black Grassquit and Lesser Seed-Finch are discovered in some fields, not too far from a Scrub Blackbird. A Yellow-tailed Oriole perches cooperatively on top of a bush directly ahead of the bus, allowing everyone to get excellent looks. For one final stop, Mark brings us to a tree harboring a Purple-throated Fruitcrow nest. We can see one of the pair incubating at the top of the tree, eyeing us warily. Our final new bird of the day, however, is a Pacific Parrotlet found by José feeding quietly in a tree at least 100 meters from the fruitcrow tree. After setting the scopes up on the tiny parrot, we're finally convinced of his identification.

The official number of species we saw over the course of the day is 120, with an additional 11 species heard-only. The thing that really amazes me is that we saw at least 100 species all within about a 15-minute walking-distance of one spot. What more evidence does one need that Ecuador has one of the highest concentrations of bird diversity in the world?

Prologue – Day One – Day Two – Day Three – Day Four – Day Five – Day Six – Epilogue