Birding Galapagos Islands

Birding Galapagos Islands
Birding for Conservation

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Forest Flacon at Lalo Loor Dry Forest Reserve

Forest Falcon at Lalo Loor Reserve

My wife and I visited Lalo Loor Reserve October 3rd 2012 and were greeted by a group of Army Ants that were being followed by Bicolor Antbird, Plain-brown Woodcreepers, Ecuadorian Thrush, White-wiskered Hermit, Gray-and-gold Warbler, and a group of Smooth-billed Anies. 

 Bicolor Antbird

 White-wiskered Puffbird

 Plain-brown Woodcreeper

Gray-and-gold Warbler

The feeding frenzy of the flock was suddenly disrupted by a Forest Falcon sp. that barely missed a plump Bicolor Antbird.  This was a very exiting moment for the birds and for us!  Our exitement grew even further  as we could not identify this species of Falcon.  I quickly took some videos of the bird and now we are still wondering about the bird I.D.


In the video you can see the bird tail with two white bands and  the white iris which are characteristics of a Lined Forest Falcon which are not present in the west.  In the west side is the Plumbeous Forest Falcon which has one white band on the tail and a dark iris.

Last but not least, a great surprise for us when we spotted a new bird that we had not seen before: Brownish Twistwing.  This long tailed bird looked at a distance like a female Collared Trogon but upon closer looks we got this rare new bird.

Brownish Twistwing

Lalo Loor Dry Forest Reserve is located near the town of Pedernales only five hours from Quito, it is managed by the Ceiba Fundation.  For more information go here: http://www.ceiba.org/loor.htm