Phil Chaon's Ecuador Update, November 3, 2008

Many of you know this already, but for those who don’t, Phil is in Ecuador working as a birding guide at a lodge called the Bella Vista. It’s located on the west slope of the Andes Mountains in cloud forest habitat. He’ll come home in March.

Phil is having a great time, but every time he calls to give me an update on the latest cool stuff he’s seen, he mentions home and that he misses the OYBC field trips. We miss him too!

The following is an update from Phil about his experiences so far. He’s pretty busy, so it’s in list form. But it still gives you and idea of what it’s like to be a young birder in Ecuador!

Phil writes:

Hey this is a late message of how things are going . Been here about 2 1/2 months. Seen about 550 or so species of birds, about 500 being new all west side of Andes. Lifelist is at about 1100, 1000 was a Dark-backed Woodquail.I will put pictures up probably in February. Miss the club.

Highlights:
Birds

• Rufescent Screech-Owl
• Long-wattled Umbrellabird
• Swallow and Lyre-tailed Nightjars
• Red-capped Manakin Lek
• Oilbird caves
• 55/78 Tumbesian Endemics
• 51/75 Choco Endemics
• Sword-billed Hummer
• 55 species of Hummingbird
• El Oro Parakeet and Tapaculo
• Plumbeous Forest-Falcon
• White-tailed Jay
• Collared Antshrike
• Things with Ant in the name
• Grass-green Tanager
• TANAGER FINCH
• all 7 West-slope Mountain Tanagers umm yeah pretty much everything

Other Good Stuff

• Good 1 dollar meals, 5 dollar hotel rooms, and 40 cent soda.
• Working with nice people.
• Wasi Pichai!!
• The view every morning and the Andes mountains in general...
• Cheap Travel.
• Orange Fanta everywhere.
• Fritada (oh god I´m going to die of a massive heart attack)
• Andean Agouti
• Spectacled Bear
• 4 foot long Worms and 6 inch long grasshoppers.
• 8 consecutive days of vacation every month.
• Being Taller than everyone...
• Birding for 2 days with Robert Ridgely
• Life in general.

Lowlights:

• Walking 46 km each way to Yanacocha, getting lost, sleeping in my clothes above treeline, it was cold and wet and lame.
• The ladder at the oilbird caves (over 150 ft, handmade, bamboo, wet).
• Guiding for 3 hours with a ridiculous Ecuadorian Flu.
• Guiding for a 5 year old and 7 year old while their parents took a nap.
• 15 Hour busrides.
• Eating Rice until you want to not eat anything ever again.
• Telling people 6 times a day " That´s Spillmann´s Tapaculo calling"
• 22 consecutive days of work.
• Travelling alone.
• Missing Friends and Family.
• Lack of Pizza, Wings and Dr. Enuf.
• Watching good movies (except terribly dubbed in Spanish).
• Sticking out like a big gringo sore thumb everywhere you go.

Anyway .... that´s all for now.

Adios