Ayampe Adventure

We decided to get in to Ecuador a couple days before the tour and try to get a few Pacific coast specialties before joining up.  Also a little insurance against air delays. Which amazingly did not happen, although American Airlines did its best to try. And arrival was refreshingly efficient, zoomed through health screening, passport, and customs in about the amount of time it takes in Miami to be directed to the right desk. 

Off in a too small car (see below) to Ayampe on the Pacific coast, where surf is king and birds are friendly.

Curtis Smith, another Arizona friend, drove and engineered the luggage 

Hoped for ONE OF THE RAREST BIRDS IN THE WORLD - the Esmeralda’s Woodstar hummingbird, but doinked on that one. Compensation was a few roadside bonus birds including Pearl Kite and Chilean Flamingo species, spotted by sharp-eyed Jay Hand, a one-time Connecticut birder now in Arizona.  An afternoon and morning yielded around 70 species, many of which were new to one or another of us or offered stunning views previously unseen.  

Like this female Hook-billed Kite.

And this Masked Water-Tyrant.

A walk along a famous surfer beach didn’t yield much in the way of birds, but a first communion with the Pacific Ocean south of the Equator was one opportunity to ponder the wonder of nature at her macro level.

I was disabused of my speculation that these rocks were the Galapagos Islands.

A nice pizza dinner over looking the Ayampe estuary.

Back in Guayaquil in time to avoid the overtime penalty on the rental and get ready for 5:30 departure tomorrow.