Wildlife in a Suburban Garden

Barred Puffbird - Nystalus radiatus from Ecuador.

A female?

My guide Javier got very excited when we discovered this pair of birds by the side of the road as we made our way to the river at a little place called Pedro Vicente in Ecuador. The nice lady at her roadside shop where I bought beer and cakes told us about the river nearby so it was only by accident that we arrived there. I can honestly say that this day was one of my best of the trip. A beer, a nice chat with the shop owner and then a visit to an area that other people don't normally visit. On that afternoon, I found a Green Kingfisher at a nest, I managed some record shots of a species that I have always wanted to add to my galleries as well, so it was doubly special. I sat there watching the Kingfisher and Javier kindly went off and bought me even more beer which I sat and drank as we waited for the Kingfishers, a magical afternoon.

This is a male I think.

The roadside shop where the lady proprietor told us about the river nearby. 

Silvery Grebe, Lake Mica, Antisana Ecological Reserve, Ecuador.

The silvery grebe (Podiceps occipitalis) is a species in the family Podicipedidae. It is found in the western and southern part of South America at altitudes of up to 4,000 metres (13,000 ft). Its natural habitat is freshwater lakes and this is where I saw them on my Ecuador trip in September. I particularly enjoyed seeing this grebe because in the British Isles, apart from the Great Crested, grebe are hard to see. We have 4 species in this family and also the Little Grebe which is in a family of its own, so five species in total. These birds were nesting in a colony on Lake Mica which is in the Antisana Ecological Reserve, a massive area that is described as a region where the climatic conditions are very extreme with low temperatures, low precipitation, high blowing winds and low oxygen levels. I have to confess that this area was my least favourite to visit when I was in Ecuador. It had been hyped up quite a lot but to me, it lived up to its reputation as a desolate and cold environment. There was a great deal of birdlife but most was hard to photograph. There was also some over-zealous park staff, one even came after us on an off-road bike to tell us to keep away from the nesting grebe. But this was eclipsed by a surly bearded young man at a checkpoint reminiscent of a border post where you were asked for Passport details and locals had to show their ID cards. When you consider that in Europe you travel between France and Belgium without any checks, this seemed ridiculously out of context! Javier, my guide was cross with me for being equally surly back to the "guard" if you get my meaning, (I can do surly quite well). I suddenly realised how free we are in the UK. It is interesting to travel because you then learn how different things can be in other countries.