Despite being very jetlagged, we struggled out of bed early again and went birding, this time in North Wales.  We met up with our friends Steve Culley and Ken Croft at RSPB Conwy and headed east along the North Wales coast.  Our first stop was in the unlikely surroundings of a trading estate at Kinmel Bay, where we quickly secured our target, Short-eared Owl, floating majestically over the rough grassland.  Just down the road, we collected that locally scarce species, Tree Sparrow.  On to Bodelwyddan Castle woods, where in the morning sunshine (what no rain??) we enjoyed a selection of woodland birds, including drumming Great Spotted Woodpecker, Nuthatch, Treecreeper and Jay, all year ticks of course as this is the first time we have birded in the UK this year.  A quick dash west along the A55 had us back at RSPB Conwy in the midst of this month’s Farmer’s Market.  Progress was slow here as so many people were keen to hear our news of The Biggest Twitch.  Great to see so many familiar faces.  Having added a good selection of new birds to the list, we pushed on again to the NWWT reserve at Aber-Ogwen.  As always, great numbers of birds were busy feeding on the estuary including wheeling flocks of Knot and Dunlin.  On the adjacent pool a Spotted Redshank was roosting amongst a gang of Greenshank while Little Egrets fed close by in the shallow water.  Just a few minutes up the road, we scored Dipper on the Ogwen river near Penrhyn Castle.  Across the bridge onto Anglesey at Red Wharf Bay, we were very fortunate in seeing three Jack Snipe in the salt marsh.  We headed northwest to Holy Island and as always this area produced great birds.  Pale-bellied Brent Geese and Bar-tailed Godwit, and Slavonian Grebes were scoped from the edge of the bay.  Holyhead Harbour quickly produced its now reliable Black Guillemots and we were fortunate to see both Great Northern and Red-throated Divers here.  Next stop RSPB South Stack and despite the biting cold gale force winds, Hooded Crow, Chough and Peregrine all joined our day list.  Happy with our 98 species recorded (58 of which were new for the year), we called it a day in the fading light and headed for home.  Many thanks to Ken and Steve for their enthusiastic company and chauffeuring today.  New species total: 1122
Posted 7.30pm Llandudno 30.1.08

Sorry we’ve been unable to update the blog for a number of days but we’ve been unable to get internet access in the remote areas of Ecuador that we’ve been birding.    However we’ve been birding hard every day in a variety of habitats and altitudes and racking up some great birds.

Our last birding day in Ecuador started predictably at 5am and we hit the road.  Several roadside stops added new birds such as Stub-tailed Antbird.  We then went exploring a new trail that Nick and Sam had heard about which promised good birds.  Luckily the information also stated that Wellington Boots were essential, so we splashed out the 7 dollars a pair to kit ourselves out.  Just as well we did!  The trail was almost impassable, with almost knee deep glutinous mud that tried its hardest to steal our new boots from us.  Birding was unfortunately much slower than we hoped, mainly because all of our attention was focused on negotiating the terribly difficult terrain.  If we looked up on the move, we fell over!  It then began to rain (again) and we figured enough was enough and we struggled back to the road.  But we still managed to add new birds including Tiny Hawk and Red-rumped Cacique.

 Lunch was taken on the go beside a fruiting tree which held the most amazing array of great birds, such as Scaled Fruiteater and Scarlet-crowned Barbet, We then began the long drive back to Quito.  The journey was unexpectedly interrupted by the sighting of a juvenile Andean Condor well outside its normal range soaring with a bunch of Black Vultures right next to the road.

 We said goodbye to Nick Athanas and Sam Woods and our faithful driver Nestor and sorted out our luggage one last time for the flights home.

We’d like to say a huge thank you to Tropical Birding for all their support and companionship in January – Moez, Michael, Iain, Nick, Scott and Sam – it was a blast and you really helped us get those birds!  When we get back to the UK we’ll be doing a full review of our first month on the road with much more detail of the birds, people and places so far.  If we’ve inspired you to get birding in Ecuador and beyond, then visit www.tropicalbirding.com for more info on the places we visited.  Our total bird list on leaving Ecuador stands at 1050.

Written 6.15am Quito Airport, Ecuador 28th January

We arrived in Ecuador at 11pm and having finally cleared all the official stuff, we were met by our good (and mad) friend Iain Campbell, who was kind enough to let us crash at his humble pad.  Jetlag notwithstanding, Iain promptly insisted we started our Ecuador bird list by cruising the dark side roads of Quito for Band-winged Nightjar.  A totally futile exercise and one that we don’t recommend at all!  To complete our evening, we arrived at Iain’s place only to find he had forgotten his doorkeys.  Physically breaking down the door looked like a very strong probability until at last we (and the door) were saved as it was opened from inside. 

All too soon, it was a 5am start this morning and we headed out of Quito for Yanacocha. This is familiar ground for us as we guided here during the ABA conference in Quito in September 2007. The forest was cloaked in cloud and quite eerie and very damp as we set off along the trail. We soon hit birds with Rufous Wrens at close quarters and brief looks at Scarlet-bellied Mountain-Tanager. We moved further along still shrouded in thick mist and collected two hummingbirds – Rainbow-bearded Thornbill and Swordbilled hummer! The first flock we hit held stunning birds including Hooded Mountain Tanager and Blue-backed Conebill. At the feeders at the far end of the trail we were treated to close-up views of Golden-breasted Puffleg and Buff-winged Starfrontlet, birds that are just as juicy as their names suggest.  Plunging off the main trail, we followed the Spectacled Bear Trail (sadly no bears) as it climbed down and up the side of the mountainside, with the occasional landslide and mud underfoot making walking treacherous in places. OK, so we’re not superfit but boy was that hard work in the high altitude of the mountains around the Pichincha volcano.  But all our hard work was rewarded by amazingly confiding views of Blackish Tapaculo, a particularly skulking and hard-to-see bird and even more special, Rufous Antpitta, possibly even harder to score.  Our final bird here was Striped-headed Brushfinch, which is usually hard to see but today put on quite a performance.  Sadly the rain by now prevented any digiscoping to prove the point.  Bird species total 487.
13.1.08 Posted 6pm local time Quito

We are now in Texas with a brief stopover in Houston.  At last we have internet access again so have gone back and posted a few photos on our previous blogs. Hopefully we will have time later today to do even more and a blog for our last day’s birding in Mexico.  The score so far is 413, ahead of our planned schedule!!
11.1.08

Today we birded at Yaxchilan Mayan ruins.  To reach this site, we took a boat trip along the river that forms the border between Mexico and Guatemala.  Our craft was a narrow hulled painted motorized canoe with a palm frond canopy, steered by our eagle-eyed skipper who took us in for close up views of an enormous crocodile basking on the river bank, the same bank from which locals were happily washing their clothes and bathing, sooner them than us! 
Yaxchilan proved to be a fantastic birding venue and the few hours we had there were nowhere near long enough, we could easily have spent the whole day here, there were so many birds to see.  After walking through a pitch black tunnel which gave no hint of what was to come, we emerged into a sunlit forest glade which had grown up around amazing Mayan ruins, some of which still bearing incredible carvings, which we admired after birding!  One fruiting tree held us captivated for two hours alone.  The undoubted highlight here was Lovely Cotinga, not one bird but at least four of these gorgeous birds including adult males in striking turquoise blue and purple plumage.  Add to the mix Keel-billed Toucan and Yellow-winged Tanager and Black-headed Trogon, and you can see why we were so absorbed by just one tree!  On the return boat trip, not only were we treated to a wonderful rosy sunset but also scored Lesser Nighthawk over the river.
8.1.08

A nasty bout of diarrhoea and sickness delayed our start on day seven but we soon hit the road if feeling a bit sensitive! We drove to the Mayan ruins at Calakmul. Given our late arrival, we had planned to be here at dawn, we were not very optimistic about the birding and decided to just enjoy the ruins. How wrong we were! The jungle around the ruins was jumping with birds. It was difficult to move along the path as soon as we left one bird we hit another. A Black headed Trogon was the star of the walk in posing on a sun lit bough, a stunner.
We climbed to the top of the spectacular pyramid and wow what a view from the top. Unbroken forest stretched as far as you could see. It was here we saw Keel billed Toucan! What a perfect setting to see a most bizarre and beautiful bird. Noise of crashing branches drew attention to feeding monkeys, both Black Howlers and Spider Monkeys.
The walk was again slow due to great birds and we have to mention four Great Cassowary close to the path and of course the Ocellated Turkeys. These colourful and weird birds are used to seeing people here and incredible views were enjoyed and video and photos taken.
Our visit to Calakmul was wonderful but had run way over time and we now had a long drive ahead of us it was gone ten pm when we finally found a hotel at Palenque.
Posted 08.01.08

We drove to south of Coba stopping to bird dry scrub where highlights included great views of Lesser Roadrunner and Yucatan Wren.
A short drive from here and we hit the coast at Coba. We quickly hire a boat complete with binocular totting captain and sped off into the shallow and lagoon fringed with mangroves. What a place heaving with birds! Waders, gulls, terns, herons, egrets, raptors you really did not know where to look first! The year list took a huge boost and we soaked up point blank views of such delights as Boat billed Heron, American Flamingoes, Laughing Falcon and a tiny Pygmy Kingfisher a lifer for us all. Our skipper really knew his birds and more importantly just where to find them. All to soon we were heading back and couldn’t believe that we had been out over two hours.
6.01.08

Having left Cozumel Island we drove to Coba and visited some Mayan ruins which provided great birding.  The temples themselves made great canopy towers – is this what the Mayans had in mind all those centuries ago?  From our elevated vantage point we could scan the canopy and get eyelevel views of birds that would have otherwise been real neck-breakers (and were able to absorb some culture at the same time!)  Gaudy American warblers and vireos provided plenty of colour and local birds included Masked Tityra, Olivaceous Woodcreeper, Golden-olive Woodpecker, Grey-collared Becard and Black-headed Trogon.  We then headed to Valladolid where we spent the night.
5.1.08

Day four of The Biggest Twitch and sadly we can only report one new species for the list – Brown Pelican. Today we left Tucson pre-dawn and flew to Houston, Texas and then from there on to Mexico. Michael Retter met up with us in Houston and he is coming with us on this leg. We have known Michael a good while and he is an experienced birder in Mexico so once we get out in the field we should really boost the list.
We arrived in Cancun late pm and by the time we had sorted the hire car and driven to Playa del Carmen it was dark, the Brown Pelicans flew along the coast earlier. Internet access becoming patchy down here so do bear with us.  But we’ve since nailed the Cozumel endemics: Vireo and Wren