Sparrow King Traverses Ecuador

At last signal, Sparrow King had flown 155 km (96 miles) across Ecuador, following the central lowland valley south to Guayaquil and then beyond. Several of our birds have now followed this particular route.

On Thursday, he skirted the eastern edge of the Gulf of Guayaquil and had nearly crossed Ecuador.

He roosted SW of Machala, about 22 km (13 miles) north of the Peruvian border.

Several of our satellite-tagged birds have also paused in this area before. It is still typical tropical forest habitat with mangroves near the coast. But, like much of coastal Ecuador, this region has been converted to small artificial impoundments used for raising shrimp. It appears the Sparky slept on the edge of one of these ponds, perhaps on a power pole.

By the time you read this, he should be flying over the beginning of the Atacama Desert in Peru. The change comes fairly abruptly, transitioning from the humid coastal forest to the world's driest desert.