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Published: April 9th 2006
Scarlet rumped cacique (Marcelo Arias)
All photos are from the super-duper telescope that Marcelo uses. Enjoy!So, for the first time, I have put an entry location as a location we are not actually at- we have regained the high ground, literally, of Quito and ´The Secret Garden´hostel. Though we have decide to head toward Latacunga to check out the Quilotoa loop and the Black Sheep Inn, one of the first places I checked out on the web when planning the trip. Also, if you are among the few loyal readers, there is a bit extra added onto the last entry, so feel free to go back and read about Quito.
After dinner and a late night talking with our fellow hostel mates (10pm!), we went packed and went to bed. We awoke early for our 8am bus to Mindo, taking a taxi to the Flor del Valle bus station. After purchasing tickets the day before, we soon realized that Mindo really only needs one bus per day, as only four others felt the need to take the early bus. No harm in being prepared, and we heard that the later bus was fairly full. Regardless, it seemed that the extra space was a good thing as many people got on along the way while others
Toucan Barbet (Marcelo Arias)
Marcelo knows where a barbet pair was making a nest and it was a treat to see them up close! got off. We reached Mindo before noon, a small village of far less than 1,000 people, looking somewhat confused. Unfortunately, everyone who tried to help, and there were many, spoke only Spanish. We decided to try and stay a bit outside town and as we began walking and following the signs, a man who spoke English ran after us to make suggestions. Mindo, as I will probably say many times in this entry, was a very friendly place. While walking out of town, we took a right and ran into a friendly looking man who asked first in Spanish, and then English, if we needed a place to stay. A most fortunate meeting.
We sooned learned that his hostel, Rubby Hostel, was only 100 feet away and like many of the lodging options, was small and family oriented. More importantly, we learned that our host´s name was Marcelo Arias, who is listed in Lonely Planet as a good person to know if you want to see birds. Since we had planned on looking him up anyway, it saved us a trip. Several in fact, as we went out all three days to see birds. Sara was overjoyed as we
finally had a real bird guide. He knew the English names of all the birds we saw- save one that he had only seen once- and was an excellent spotter. He has had many of the bird calls down and was able to draw the birds to us. Finally, and most importantly for those who enjoy our pictures, he had a spotting telescope that not only allowed us to see many birds up close but also allowed him to take excellent close-up photos of many of the species we saw. At the end of our birding, he burned a CD of many of these birds. Hopefully you enjoy the photos as much as we did.
Well, after settling into one of three comfortable room, we used the map provided by our hostess, Norma, to find one of the two safe places to eat in town. I got my first trout of the trip, which was also the first I can recall eating while it was staring back at me. After lunch Sara and I walked the three block back to our hostel using a circuitous route, spotting 9 new species in less than 20 minutes, including a new tanager.
Collared Trogon (Marcelo Arias)
This type of bird is a favorite for Matt. We have now seen 5 different species of trogons (4 on this trip and one in Costa Rica)! When we got back to our hostel, we arranged a trip out the following morning with Marcelo to see the area around Mindo. After a rest, we decided to take a hike and see if there were any birds out in the evening. Quite a few could be heard, but the encroaching darkness prevented us from seeing them through the jungle. We ran into a couple visiting from Columbus, Ohio (go Buckeyes!) who had a 10 year old guide. Fortunately, he knew where a difficult to see bird was perched, the common potoo. The difficult part is that it blends in perfectly with its surrounding, perching on the end of dead braches with its head pointed up. It looks like an extension of the branch. The easy part is that they do this for days at a time, so once you have spotted it you can come back and show others. We tried the second restaurant for dinner, though the options for vegetarian were slim, and went to bed early for our 5 am wake up. Birds don´t seem to sleep in.
Ugh. 5 am is way too early, and I was beginning to regret signing up. I was
soon to change my tune, once the birding began. The sun quickly rose and with it came all variety of seedeater, toucan, parrot, woodcreeper, spinetail, barbet, trogon, and especially tanager. The toucan barbet, in particular, was an amazing bird. But rather than list off the birds, I will let the pictures, which are soon to come, and the numbers, 51 species in 6 hours, speak for themselves. It was better than our wildest dreams, though I myself don´t dream much about birds. Sara, on the other hand, might and without work, birdwatching has filled the void. In the afternoon, we took an inner tube ride down the Mindo River. The entire 30 minute trip was on rapids, with Sara screaming the entire way. We both were soaked and chilled to the bone, but we loved every second. We decided to eat at our hostel for the night and had a new hostel mate, Melanie, whom we shared dinner with and several stories, as she had spent the last 4 months staring at one bird, the Wire Tailed Manakin, in the North Oriente of Ecuador. We had decided to go to a lamp post in the morning which does not sound
Common Potoo (Marcelo Arias)
The common potoo is our "spark bird" or the bird that got us interested in birding. We saw it for the first time in Costa Rica, and our guide who has been birding there for 2 years had never seen one. exciting, but its miles from any other light and attracts many bugs during the night, leading to many birds in the morning. Melanie was headed out with Marcelo to do the same hike we had the day before.
Well, occasionally in the rain forest it rains and this day was the rule, not the exception. Though we still saw a few birds, including another tanager, the lamp post was a bit of a disappointment. Marcelo, being aware of all things bird related, recommended that we visit Mindo Lindo, a hostel will several hummingbird feeders and an exponentially greater number of hummingbirds. An unfortunate incident occurred as we tried to get to the viewing platform, as Sara was bitten on the leg by a dog, an unprovoked attack by a dog wagging its tail. While we were both a bit shaken by the incident and Sara bruised to boot, the damage could have been alot worse as she was wearing waterproof pants and they were not broken, though her skin was. The remainder of the trip, the only encounter was with the 50 or more hummingbirds buzzing by our heads. The best part about Mindo was that we had all
Rufous tailed hummingbird (Marcelo Arias)
Of all the birds pictured, the only two we ID without the help of Marcelo were this bird and the potoo. of our birding as a solitary experience, with no people other than our guides. Sara began talking about learning Spanish, as I think that between Mindo and the Galapagos, Ecuador has become her favorite country.
We walked part of the way back to Mindo, catching a passing truck into town for the majority of the 3 miles. This seems to be the main form of transportion in these parts, though the driver refused to take any money. Such nice people! After lunch, Sara heard that Melanie had seen a Cock-of-the-Rock and a Quetzal and, here her competitive nature showed up. Marcelo knew of a nearby Cock-of-the-Rock lek, a gathering place for birds, so Sara of course had to do it. We left almost immediately, passing by the Common Potoo from day one and seeing our first antbird, the Great Antshrike. A few tanagers, parrots, and miles later we arrived at the farm where the lek was located. We had to wait until 5 pm, which is when the birds arrive, so we took advantage by sitting to look for birds on the farm. One aracari (a type of toucan), motmot, cacique, and guan later, we reached the lek and
Rufous Motmot (Marcelo Arias)
This beautiful bird was one of several we got to see on the way to the cock of the rock lek. Unfortunately, we did not have a clear view of its dramatic tail which is shown in this picture. were treated to a brilliant display of red. Five birds arrived at 5 pm as though their alarm clock had just gone off, jumping through the trees and fighting with each other while making the strangest bird call you have ever heard, kind of a mix between a crow, a whistle, and a kazoo. After 30 minutes it was time to go as the light was fading, so we hustled back to town. We were not quite fast enough, as the rain once again picked up and we arrived back drenched once again, though this time our rain coats took the brunt of the water. We headed to dinner with Melanie to discuss the birds and met a nice, though potentially crazy, South African who worked for the Red Cross and was headed to Columbia to work in FARC territory. Basically, this is the next worst thing to wearing a US Military uniform in Iraq, and makes our trip look quite safe. Since we had yet to see a Quetzal, Sara decided that we should make one last go of it and we were to get up, for the third day in a row, at 5 am. Yuk.
After
Choco Toucan (Marcelo Arias)
While these are incredibly common for Marcelo to see, we sure enjoyed the view! another early breakfast, we headed off to San Jorge, with a sign proclaiming it the ¨Magic Birding Circuit¨. We shall see. Our first spotting was a new parrot, though it was bronze rather than the usual green color. The remainder of the afternoon we spotted a couple more antbirds, hummingbirds, a dacnis, and two species of trogon. A manakin was heard, and this was probably as exciting as seeing one. Its voice sounding a bit like the zapping noise that one of those electric globe´s at a science musuem makes, repeated over and over. Though Sara´s grand total was not quite as high as previous days, we once again were satisfied with the quality of birds. Our quality of sleep, however, was lacking, and both of us were a bit tired. We headed back to our hostel and packed up to make the 2 pm bus back to Quito.
As usual, the bus was fairly empty. I wonder how they make money with these buses when the fares are usually less than I would have to pay for gas alone. As we leave Mindo, Sara has reached, exactly, the impressive total of 100 new species for 3 days of
Andean Cock of the Rock (Marcelo Arias)
Last but not least, the best bird of the bunch! birding, topping out at 290 birds for the trip to date. The trip back to Quito was a short two hours followed by a cab ride back to our favorite place, our hostel, ´The Secret Garden´. After a nice dinner, we attempted to make up for our early starts with an early bedtime. Tomorrow, we are headed to our next stop, ´The Black Sheep Inn´, in Chugchilan, Ecuador. A two hour bus ride, followed by a four hour bumpy bus ride. We´ll need all the sleep we can get.
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Laurie Timberlake
non-member comment
Birders Heaven
It sounds as though you have had wonderful luck in being able to identify so many species of birds. I'm sure they must display all the beautiful colors of the rainbow. Sorry to hear about the dog bite. What happened after it bit her? Any concerns? Love, Mom