We arrived at Tandayapa Lodge, a lovely site located within the verdant cloudforest on the western slope of the Andes. In spite of a long day of birding already, we spotted the wonderful balcony with many feeders and dozens of hummingbirds. We were slow to check into our rooms with all the action underway.

Many of us had not seen Pufflegs before.

Throughout our stay, hummers came for hand-feeding. These found Sally’s Iphone and finger  intriguing. Photo credit: Kate Thompson

As would be our habit, we were up for breakfast and on the bus before light. It was cool and foggy but just after we got to our hiking spot and had started to walk, our guide heard and then spotted the bird of the day, a Plate-billed Mountain-Toucan.

The yellow rectangular plate on the upper bill helps differentiate this toucan from most others.

Plate-billed Mountain-Toucans inhabit a restricted range and are listed as near threatened. They are threatened both by deforestation and subsequent habitat loss, and by illegal capture for the pet trade.

After birding a couple of hours, we boarded the bus and were descending this winding dirt road when the guide yelled “stop”, we bailed out to seeing him holding an earthworm.

This worm was docile on a chilly morning, just trying to cross the road.

That’s my size 15 boot for comparison. We left him in the bushes unharmed.

We no sooner had loaded back up and driven a kilometer when the bus stopped and off we trooped to see a big, bad tarantula crossing the road. We watched her – she was almost the size of my hand.

A purple tarantula

One of the things we did on this foggy day, since the birds were relatively quiet, is to delight in the flowers we encountered. I’ll share them with you in the next post. Adios, amigos.