Wednesday, March 14

Today was a meeting day, but rather than getting lunch between UEES and ESPOL, I grabbed a cab to spend an hour at the botanical gardens on the north side of Guayaquil. The cab driver agreed to meet me at the entrance after he ate lunch, so I left most of my stuff in the taxi. I changed into a t-shirt and tried to move slowly so as not to completely drench myself. Not much time and one could only hope for so much in the mid-day heat, but I nevertheless added Fascinated Wren and One-colored Becard to my list. Considering I had not expected much good birding in the city, I managed 6 new birds over the two days. 

Fasciated Wren

Tuesday, March 13

The flight to Guayaquil was uneventful, but the traffic in town and humidity are anything but. My room was not ready for check-in, so I grabbed my camera and walked along the Malecon, hoping to find something interesting along the Guayas. I was particularly hopeful about the Botanical Gardens, but I did not recognize them as I strolled right through them. Regardless, I quickly found a Pacific Hornero.

Pacific Hornero

A small pond contained three juvenile Black-crowned Night-heron, a Scrub Blackbird, and a Social Flycatcher. There was a restaurant on the other side, so I wandered over for lunch. While sitting there, I saw a Striated Heron capture a fish and a pair of Ecuadorian Ground-Dove. An adult Black-crowned Night-Heron started to hunt and managed to nab a large fish. As he struggled with how to swallow its catch, I impatiently waited for the check not wanting to miss the show. Eventually, my waiter came back with the change and I sprinted around to the area where the Night-heron battled its prey, arriving just in time to see the beast swallowed in a swift gulp. Incredibly impressive sight. Walking back to the hotel, I found a jaunty Southern Beardless Tyrannulet in a tree.

Scrub Blackbird

I returned to the hotel, turned the A/C on full blast and took a long nap. I only reluctantly woke up and strolled to a sushi restaurant. Walking the streets of Guayaquil is not recommended and I understand why. Very desolate. I moved fast, didn’t slow down and didn’t look around. It was an unnerving 6 blocks.