The Many Birds of Mindo

We left Quito on the 8th February to go to Mindo which is described as a bird-watcher’s paradise. We heard the best place to get a bus from Quito’s many and confusing bus stations was from La Ofelia terminal, and we didn’t have to wait long. The journey was fairly easy, although the road suffers from frequent landslides, and we thoroughly enjoyed the natural landscapes views over the cloud forests and mountains.

Like many tourist destinations in Ecuador and the region, the plaza of Mindo was in the middle of a huge construction project which involved digging up the muddy unpaved roads to get them asphalted and paved. We got off our bus and tramped our way through the mud to a bird watching lodge that we had made reservations at, called Hacienda San Vicente, or the Yellow House.

We arrived in the afternoon and hung out with one of the sisters who ran the place. There were Hummingbird feeders on the verandah and we saw Rufous Motmots on the banana feeders, along with lots of different Tanagers - especially Blue and Greys Tanagers and Lemon-rumped Tanagers. The accommodation was pretty good, and we had views over the property were we saw Chestnut-mandibled Toucans flying around right outside the window.

The next day we had a great breakfast and got to see a family of the Rufous Motmots, which are fairly timid birds, and a beautiful bright blue and black Swallow Tanager. We strapped on our stout walking legs and set off up the trails that the lodge maintain, which wind up through cattle pasture to the cloud forest high up in the mountains.

On the way up we saw some beautiful Squirrel Cuckoos flapping around in the trees. A large herd of cattle rushed past us on the way up, and we saw an Agouti snuffling around too. We made it up to the cloud forest after about an hour and set out on the first trail where we could swear we heard a Bear making some noise in the near distance.

We did see lots of caterpillars and some cool cloud forest, but the strangest thing we saw was an Ant-looking insect that had a metallic green body with a bright blue head. We took a little video of it, and it played dead and pretended it was a wasp. The colors were amazing – it looked like it had been dipped in metallic paint.

We saw shiny black beetles with long horns, translucent see-through butterflies with pink wingtips, and then, to top off a nice walk, we saw a red Cock of the Rock bird flying around.

We walked three trails at the top of the lodge’s property, and one of them had some pretty views of the town below. Pretty flowers, weird bugs and strange jungle noises – just another day in South America.

We had some lunch in town, and then contacted a local ex-pat English guy who ran night walks around his property. We did some bird watching at the lodge before he came to pick us up, and then we headed off out.

The night walk lasted about an hour and felt a little rushed, but we did see some pretty cool things. Leeches, fat hairy Spiders, and a sleeping Hummingbird were all in the entranceway. We also saw Frogs, Stick Insects and even a Wooly Opossum. We did see a Common Opossum and a Kinkajou, but they were a little too quick for the camera.

We saw a False Coral Snake too, which was cool after the venomous Coral Snake we saw in Misahualli. A Black and White Owl was sitting on the wires outside the property hunting for insects, so it was nice to see it almost waiting for us.

The next day, the 10th February, we had booked in on an all day tour (through the lodge), to go to meet the owners of the Angel Paz lodge for a day of bird watching. It was a very early start, so we were able to sneak up on a Cock of the Rock lek. The bright red male birds were all sitting around squawking loudly and trying to impress any prospective females – but none of those were around. The males bobbed and ducked their heads around, and it was cool to see the famous lek that we had heard so much about.

After this we headed off to find the area’s six Antpitta birds, and on the way we would see many of the colorful and interesting birds flying all around the place. We saw a very loud little bird called the Narinho Tapacullo which is very hard to see because it is so tiny and black.

We next saw a nocturnal bird asleep on it’s perch – a Rufous-bellied Night Hawk. It was difficult to see through the forest canopy, but we eventually found it in our binoculars. It must have been sleeping on it’s perch.

We then visited some Hummingbird feeders and saw a Booted Rackettail which had white tufted feathers on it’s feet, and a long tail with spatula feathers at the end. There were too many Hummingbirds for us to keep up with, but we got some nice snaps.

The guides then called some Dark-backed Wood Quails which are on the vulnerable list. These small fat little birds have a brown back and a beautiful russet chest. They were a little shy at first, but then got over their nervousness when they saw the bananas the guides had put down.

After walking back to the road, our guide, Angel, also pointed out another nocturnal bird’s perch – a Long-tailed Nightjar. I looked these up and they only live in Africa, so I am not sure what type of Nightjar it really was.

We walked down to a particular spot in the river where the guide called out to our first Antpitta. This tour has been described by birding purists as being a bit like a zoo, but we did not care – these birds are wild, very rare, and are endemic to the forests here, not to mention extremely difficult to see. The birds are lured with worms but they still normally hunt in the day and live in the forests. It took the guides 16 years or more to accustom the birds to their whistles and calls, and to get them used to taking the worms at specific locations.

A Yellow-breasted Antpitta emerged after hiding for some time. I had begun to think it wouldn’t show, but eventually it did and it looked great! Antpittas are small ground birds that specialize in eating ants or similar insects. Because they do not fly much, they have long sturdy legs to help them hop around and move quickly without flying – and they make them look distinctively stout. This one had a beautiful yellow on it’s chest (hence the name!), and it gave us quite a show with the worms!

We saw a White Capped Dipper fishing and hunting for flies by the river, and we also saw a Broadwinged Hawk and some Flycatchers.

We climbed up for about twenty minutes to a higher point away from the road to a little clearing on a trail where the guides called for some more Antpittas. Angel’s brother was the other guide, and he had already been at the clearing calling for the little fellas, so we immediately saw a Rufous-breasted Antthrush followed by a Giant Antpitta! These little guys were awesome, although the Giant Antpitta was about the size of a decent pigeon!

I thought the Antpittas were going to be a bit boring because their color’s are a little more drab than the Tanagers – but they were totally worth going to see. We even got to see a very timid Ochre-breasted Antpitta which jumped out of the bushes after much consideration. The worms were too good to pass up though, and this one stuffed it’s face full as it became more confident (and hungry)!

We then headed down to get into a truck and take a drive up to a different clearing where a Chestnut-crowned Antpitta was hanging out, but on the way down to the car we were even treated to seeing the bird I most wanted to see – a Crimson-rumped Toucanette. The Toucanette unfortunately did not hang around for long, but the Chestnut-crowned Antpitta did – our guide told us it was grabbing so many worms because it had to go feed its’ babies in some unseen nest.

Nearing the end of the tour, after seeing four of the six Antpittas from the area (the ones we missed were the Moustache Antpitta and the Scale Antpitta), we did some general birding, especially around the many fruit trees in the fields. We saw loads of flocks of really small birds that the guide identified for us. Orange-bellied Euphonias, Dusky Bush Tanagers, Orange-capped Tanagers, Blue Wing Mountain Tanagers, Flame-faced Tanagers, Black-chinned Mountain Tanagers, a Swallow-tailed Kite and few Roadside Hawks too. Our guides favorite bird was the Orange-breasted Fruiteaters, but we didn’t manage to see them. We did manage to get some nice breakfast though, including a cheese empanada and a local specialty, bolon de verde – a ball of green plantain stuffed with cheese.

When we got back to our lodge we even saw some Pale-mandibled Aracaris too. These birds are in the Toucan family with huge bills – they look similar to other Aracaris but the bird book that the lodge had helped us identify it correctly.

The next day and we had organized a taxi to take us to a different reserve, called Rio Silanche. This reserve had 200 acres of forest, with a few short and a few long trails to enjoy. The walking was very easy, but the real draw was a 50 foot canopy tower that we climbed to watch the birds from up high. We did not have that much luck, but not bad luck either – we did end up seeing quite a few birds. including Grey and Gold Tanagers, Rufous-winged Tanagers, a Purple-chested Hummingbird, an Orange-fronted Barbet, and I even saw a White-necked Puffbird, which was really cool!

A couple turned up with their guide and assistant guide, so we got to hear the guide point out all the birds to them. There was no point hiring a guide ourselves then, and we even got to look through their much more powerful binoculars and scope.

We saw some Woodpeckers, including a Golden Olive and a Choco Woodpecker. The best picture we got, I think, was a Blue-headed Parrot.

We had another early start the next day, because we took another taxi to go visit a village where they regularly see Long-wattled Umbrellabirds. These strange creatures belong to the same family as the Cock of the Rock birds. They have a long inflatable wattle hanging from their chest (the male only), and a large crest on their head like a mohawk. They are all black and about half a meter tall – and luckily we saw a few of them despite a huge herd of tourists turning up just before the birds arrived. Some Toucans and the tourists meant that the timid Umbrellabirds did not hang around for long, so we did not get any good pictures. It was funny to see the birds flying around though, they kind of looked like Black Vultures from a a distance.

You can often see the birds flying all around the village (called the 23 de junio), so if you had your own vehicle their would be no need to pay the ridiculous entrance fee that the villagers charge for access to the field where the birds sometimes land. Most of the tourist attractions around Mindo are surrounded by public space, but the privately owned fields, forests and trails necessitate paying a fee to the owners – which always seem to fluctuate wildly. However, if the villagers don’t get paid though, they would probably revert to hunting the birds as they often have in the past – so you are really paying the locals to not hunt the vulnerable and endangered animals in the region.

Upon leaving the field where we saw the Umbrellabird, we also saw a Broad-billed Motmot and a Laughing Falcon. We had another breakfast at the village (part of the justification for charging a fee), where we again saw another Umbrellabird flying in the distance. A guide is definitely not needed for this trip, just contact a guy called Ruiz Agila on 0981030948 to organize it.

We did some other nice walks that afternoon, where we saw some another Squirrel Cuckoo – overall Mindo definitely does not disappoint bird lovers!

The next day, the 13th February, and Francesca headed up to a place called Bellavista, which is a little higher than Mindo, and therefore has a different variety of birds. She visited a lodge and walked some of the trails there. She managed to see some remarkable birds including a Masked Trogon, a Blue-necked Tanager, a Turquoise Jay and a Crimson-mantled Woodpecker.

She even found time to visit a town called Tulipe, which was another taxi ride (there are no reliable buses in the Mindo area, and the locals all double as taxi drivers and so will always tell you that you have to take a taxi even if there are other alternatives). Tulipe has around 540 hectares of cloud forest, but Francesca really went to see the ruins of the Yumbo civilization. The Yumbo people lived from around 800 CE until the Spanish conquests, when they were mostly wiped out by diseases, and finished off by a huge volcanic explosion of Pichincha (the volcano above Quito) in 1660. Before seeing the actual ruins there was a display Francesca saw of a panela-making machine, and her guide explained how the rectangle molds were filled with liquid, which then hardened into sugarcane blocks.

The Yumbo people built what seem to be swimming pools, there were replicas of their artwork - and made strange spiral petroglyphs – on some rocks sitting nearby. The original rock art was in another area of town, near a still-sacred waterfall. There was a huge ceremonial mound that was found, along with several sunken structures along with various small aqueducts. The structures were various shapes, including rectangles, semi-circles and polygons – and these were probably ceremonial. They used trade routes called culuncos hidden in the dense vegetation to get from area to area.

After she came back, we saw a really beautiful bird called a Blue-headed Tanager – these little guys were so good, we decided to definitely come back and take pictures of them with a good camera. Earlier that day I had even seen a Sickle-winged Guan, but again, our Chinese Pentax camera was not up to the task.

After eventually finding the bus on the 14th we left Mindo, but certainly not for good, because we still had not seen a Quetzal yet!