Ecuador Part 2: Mindo

Sorry for the delay on this. I know you, dear reader, were sitting on pins and needles waiting on this. I took my last CFA exam and then went on another birding trip so I am catching up!

It was time for my pilgrimage. Mindo is a birding Mecca. It is often the circle with the highest Christmas bird count total, well into the 400s. There is a ridiculous amount of diversity in a such a small area, and pretty much every bird has heard of this town in western Ecuador. The town itself is pretty big hub for tourists and there is a large selection of accommodations to choose from. I settled on the legendary Yellow House. It was located near the center of town and within walking distance of many restaurants, it is legendary for its trails, and it is dirt cheap. I paid $30/night for a good-sized room and my own bathroom. The drive was an easy hour and 45 minutes from Amagusa, and it was a breeze once I got back on paved roads.

Golden-naped Tanager

I had the perfect amount of time to stay in Mindo, 2 nights. A lot of people spend over a week there, but it was a great call to not spend more time there. Outside of one thing I needed to do (we'll get to that in a second), there were not many critical targets. That was pretty nice, I could see some new birds, but also just enjoy birding for birding. 

I arrived in the afternoon, and after eating Guatita, cow's stomach with a type of peanut sauce, I decided to check out these mythical trails. Unfortunately, it started raining and rained for most of my walk. The map threw me off, too, and it was farther than I expected to get to the main trails. By that point it was dark and rainy, so there wasn't much to see. I still had cool looks at Crested Guan and Pale-mandibled Aracaris. After my morning with the White-tipped Sicklebill, I didn't care and was pretty tired. I had to get to bed for the main event.

Rufous Motmot

I woke up at 3:45. I didn't need my 4:00 alarm, I was too jazzed. It was time to visit one of the most legendary birding sites in the world: Paz de las Aves.

Paz de las Aves is 25 ha reserve that is run by Angel Paz, a birding celebrity and pioneer, and his family. He earned this well-deserved status by training antpittas to respond to his call and come in for worms. Antpittas are the new world version of pittas. They look like a child's drawing with 2 skinny legs and a circular body. They're also pretty much impossible to see. Shy and elusive, few people ever saw them until Don Angel learned to bring them in. He didn't stop there, though. Other lodges, like in Jocotoco, have learned from him and are bringing other species, which is bringing in tons of conservation money. 

There are a whopping 5 species of antpittas at the reserve, although serious luck is needed to get all of them. I didn't think this would be my kind of birding. The birds are amazing, but it's a lot of waiting around for a guide to call them in. I'd heard someone refer to it as anticlimactic, and it is pretty expensive by Ecuador standards. 

Before I get into it, let me just say that those complaints are a load of crap, my overall experience was absurdly incredible (2nd only to the Ushuaia penguin cruise), and it could have been double the price and still be worth it.

We got there early and were waiting on the couple who was joining. Daniel and Caroline, a really fun Swiss couple, joined us as I was able to get good looks at White-tailed Tyrannulet while we waited.

The first stop was not for antpittas, but a blind overlooking the lek of another fantastically funky bird: Andean Cock-of-the-Rock. It sounded like an alien spaceship landed and aliens were getting out. Their loud squawks echoed through the forest, but it was so dense that we couldn't see anything in the early light. It was kind of spooky. At first, we only saw flashes of red darting between the trees. They were moving so quickly that it was hard to get on them, but finally we did! Not only do they sound like aliens, but they look like them too with the red half circle above their bills. I tried really hard to get a photo, but after a few minutes gave up to soak in the spectacle. It's a shame the Cock-of-the-Rock shares the forest with the antpittas, because for as much love as they get, the are a low priority relative to the other species.

Bad pictures of cool birds ft. Andean Cock-of-the-Rock, one of the best birds on the planet

After the Cock-of-the-Rocks moved on, Angel arrived. I was, predictably, starstruck. He brought good news, just up the trail was a Giant Antpitta. This was my top antpitta to see. It was a female that had a baby it was feeding, and they located it by hearing them call to each other. Our first view was of the juvenile, and wow, was it big. It was so big I thought we saw an adult. Mom wasn't far away, and we got her scooping up worms right on the trail! It was huge! One of the ultimate grail birds was right in front of me. I was spellbound. I've spent 10 minutes trying to describe this feeling and I just can't. I'll say it again, you're insane if you think seeing Giant Antpitta is anticlimactic. Top 5 bird I've ever seen.

Giant Antpitta

The party had merely started.

We stopped for a little bit to get some woodcreepers that Daniel and Caroline hadn't seen yet, as well as a Golden-headed Quetzal. You know it's good when I'm casually mentioning a freaking quetzal. Then we heard Cloud-Forest Pygmy-Owl calling. It would be a lifer for all of us, and after about 30 minutes of waiting, we had one zip past and into the canopy. It was right in front of us, but we couldn't see it. I wasn't even worried, that view was more than enough for me. Unless they are a crazy sort of owl, I never really target them, so any view of them ends up being exhilarating. The night birds were still poppin, though. While looking for Moustached Antpitta, we were able to see a Common Potoo roosting.

Common Potoo

At this point things started to slow down a bit. The sun was up and the next antpitta target, Yellow-bellied, was not making itself known. We took a breakfast break and hung out at some hummingbird feeders. I got motion sickness from all the hummingbirds buzzing around. It was truly incredible. White-necked Jacobins defended their perches and easily fought off the smaller Purple-bibbed Whitetip and Purple-throated Woodstar, who had real Chihuahua energy at the feeders. It was lifer city, I also had Fawn-breasted Brilliant, Speckled Hummingbird, Andean Emerald, and Booted Racket-tail. It was nice to catch up with old friends like Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, too. It was also here that I got to try Bolon, a staple Ecuadorian breakfast. It was a fried cheese ball, and it rocked my world. For a country that is pretty unknown for food, Ecuador was crushing it.

Andean Emerald

It was a little late, and I honestly started to get nervous. Of the 3 main antpittas, we only had 1. It was time to play the waiting game. It took at least an hour before we picked up any other species. But finally, while we were waiting for Yellow-bellied, someone found Ochre-breasted Antpitta! We raced to the site, gasping in the thin air. They dubbed this one Shakira, because it moves its whole body side to side. Shakira didn't stick around too long, but it was more than I could have dreamed of. Another mega bird and the views of it hopping around were perfect. 2 down, 1 to go, and on our way back to the car I got lifer Blue-winged Mountain-Tanager. The birds had caught their second wind.

Ochre-breasted Antpitta

We had one target left, and Angel had a perfect spot for it. A small waterfall covered our steps perfectly as we inched to the stakeout for Yellow-bellied Antpitta. Angel had the whistle down, and wayyyyy in the distance we heard one call back. It took an hour of whistling back and forth, and you had to be SILENT, even with the waterfall. It actually approached us a few times but always stayed hidden. With shy birds like this, this might be the closest we would get. Angel set up a log with grubs on it and everything. Come on. Without warning, it swooped out of the brush and onto the rocks. Por fin. It made a beeline to the log, and started cramming its mouth grubs. I got a few terrible pictures and soaked it in. We got the main targets and had some insane looks. The antpitta sensei had pulled it off. 

Yellow-breasted Antpitta

With his work done, Angel told us his son would show us Ocellated Tapaculo for $20. Shut up and take my money. Tapaculos, which I had never seen, are generally pretty boring and skulking birds. Not Ocellated. I'm convinced the tapaculos put all their flair in this one species. They aren't easy to see, either, and you better not turn down an opportunity to see it.

 

Blue-winged Mountain-Tanager

We whipped up the hill on a lone dirt track high up on the property. It was much colder and cloudier. We were l i v i n g. We got to the site, huddled up on a log, and waited. I wish I had some tense story about waiting, but it came out after about 15 minutes. We tried to contain our gasps and not scare it off. It was a brief view, and then it hurried off once it realized its audience. We also had a much plainer Spillmann's Tapaculo come in, but the movement was so quick I had no time for photos. I'll happily take that, and it was perfect timing, as my birding tank was empty. It was time to go back and recharge.

Ocellated Tapaculo

Don Angel deserves every bit of his birding celebrity status and then some. They put in massive amounts of work both to see birds and to conserve them. This was one of the best birding days I had ever had, and maybe the only thing I would have done differently was actually staying there.

Dusky-capped Flycatcher

My last morning in Mindo would be spent searching for another target, Sunbittern, a monotypic family and an icon of the neotropics. Punto Ornitologico Mindo was the place to get it. I arrived and met the owner, who was a really fun guy. The entrance is at the top of a hill and has a small tower to get even better views of the canopy, and it was crawling with birds. My favorite was Blue-necked Tanager. They are pretty common, but I had not seen one yet. Everyone knows South American Tanagers are great, but I almost fell out of the tower seeing this one. The field guide does not do it justice. It looks AI-generated and oversaturated. It's what someone thinks a colorful bird should look like and overdoes it with their imagination. The major targets are always fun to see, but these common, expected birds that blow you away give you a feeling that hits different.

Blue-necked Tanager

The bird I came to see had no shot of being bird of the day after Blue-necked Tanager, but it put up a valiant effort. I walked the short trail down to the river and found Sunbittern fairly easily. An adult and juvenile were feeding along the stream, and although it didn't do the crazy display, I got to see the eyes on the wings are they fluttered around. Sunbitterns are normally pretty secretive, so getting one this confiding and not having to work hard for it was definitely a highlight.

Sunbittern

After a great morning, it was time to start making my way higher into the Andes, but there was one last stop I had to make. I was originally supposed to stay higher up in Mindo, but my lodging fell through at the last second. I wanted to be able to chase the star of Mindo, Plate-billed Mountain-Toucan, endemic to Ecuador and confined to the west slope of the Andes. There were a lot of places to choose from, but I settled on Guaycapi Lodge, which supposedly had a great feeder setup and recent sightings.

Golden-olive Woodpecker

I ascended up into the clouds, and once again I was enveloped by the clouds and could not see into the valley on either side of me. The people at the lodge told me to hang out by the feeders for the toucan, which I did for a few hours, much longer than intended. I waited. And waited. And finally, it was time to leave without a Plate-billed Mountain-Toucan. As it came time to go, I was able to do a lot reflecting. This was the one bird I had dipped on that I thought I would be able to get. First miss in DAYS. I still got 2 great lifers, Blue-capped Tanager and Black-capped Tanager out of it. And let me tell you, Black-capped was worth the time I spent up there. Despite the miss, I wish I could have spent more time at Guaycapi. The lodge looked pretty cool, and from my memory it was not very expensive at all. 

Black-capped Tanager

Blue-capped and Flame-faced Tanager

My final note on Mindo may be a bit of a hot take, but I am really glad that I spent little time there. If anything, Punto Ornitologico Mindo was a really dope spot and some of the restaurants were good (shoutout to the Venezuelan place on the edge of town) but I don't think you really need to focus on it if you go somewhere like Mashpi Amagusa beforehand, where you'll see most of the same birds. Yellow House was a good set up with a great location and price, but it would have been more strategic to stay at Guaycapi or even Paz de las Aves.

Encebollado was a must-try food and it lived up to the hype

Ecuador Part 1

I am shocked this trip happened. When Sydney was born, I expected about 2 years of not doing a birding focused trip, but I have a very supportive and amazing wife who encouraged me to take a solo trip. After making sure she was sure, I started making some spreadsheets and zeroed in on Ecuador. Ecuador has always been a dream destination, and is frequently argued as the single best country in the world to go birding in. Ranked #5 in total species, it is much more compact and about 1/4 the size of the next biggest country in the top 5. It also has a reputation for having good tourism infrastructure. While places like Peru or Colombia can require 8+ hours of transport between sites, you can go from Quito to the high Andes to the Amazon in around 4 hours! This was going to be a great place for me to plan my first ever solo road trip in a foreign country.

Golden Tanager

The hardest part was deciding where to go. 8 days of birding is tough to narrow down because there is limitless opportunity. I had to go to the town of Mindo, a birding Mecca on the west slope of the Andes. Being a hoe for high elevation, Paramo is one of the habitats I was most interested in birding so getting up in the Andes was a must. However, the east slope of the Andes has some incredible places, there's interesting birds in both the extreme north and south, like in Jorupe and Jocotoco. I was only able to knock off Galapagos (Christina wants to go there) and the Amazon (I didn't want to sweat that much). It took months of reading trip reports, but I finally was able to pare my list down to an 8-day itinerary.                                    

The travel to Ecuador was pretty easy, which would mostly be a theme for the whole trip. The least convenient thing about traveling there is the timing of flights. Pretty much every flight landed after midnight (and left at around 1 AM). I got through customs by about 12:30 and was in bed at the Quito Airport Suites by about 1:30.

The hotel was cheap with a free and amazing breakfast, and there were even llamas on the ground! Eared Doves flew around the trees, but I was fueled up and on a mission. I had to leave for Reserva Mashpi Amagusa.

I chose Mashpi Amagusa because it had the perfect combo of a lot of birds, range-restricted birds, and my favorite birding habitat, cloud forest. The expectations were sky-high. Besides the insanely swanky Mashpi Lodge, this is the place to see Moss-backed Tanager. Besides northwest Ecuador, there is one place in far southern Colombia to find them, but I didn't see that many birding companies visit that area. Is it because it requires a ton of effort or because Mashpi is that easy? I'd guess a combo of both off the top of my head. There's also the stunning Glistening-green Tanager. It isn't as rare, but still pretty restricted to the west slope of the Andes. Lastly, we have the Indigo Flowerpiercer, another bird that is uncommon in its Colombia range but is easy to find at Mashpi Amagusa but not as common at bougie Mashpi. I gave myself 3 days and 2 nights, just in case some weather came in.

My drive was paved for most of the time, but then the road got rough. I could only go 15-20 MPH for the last hour. I was glad I got my car upgraded at the airport to a high clearance. The little towns were really quaint, and at times visibility would plummet due to a cloud passing. I felt really alive, I was roadtripping in South America!

Brown Violetear

                                

I arrived at Mashpi Amagusa in a light rain that would turn into a downpour. I fumbled my bags as I walked up to my room overlooking the feeders. There was a Glistening-green Tanager feeding right below me! I thought this downpour would kill the birding, but Sergio, the owner, told me that the birds actually disappear when the sun comes out and that the rain increased activity. 

Glistening-green Tanager

Golden-naped Tanager

Shortly after putting my stuff down I walked down to see a packed feeder. You could not have prepared me for what was in front of me. An array of colors was in front of me. My brain was short circuiting as I tried to decide which bird needed to be admired first. My binoculars settled on a Golden Tanager. I spent a few minutes thinking about a way to describe it and I just can't do it.

But that was just the beginning. Flame-faced Tanager, whose face does look like it's on fire, was next. The Glistening-green was back. I couldn't believe it. The show was stolen by one of the least colorful birds. A Moss-backed Tanager appeared. I got a view, quickly snapped a photo (not realizing how common this bird is) and stepped back in awe. Within 15 minutes I had 2/3 of my targets. Even though there was one big target to go, I felt so relaxed. I don't really like having target birds because they add pressure and take away from the birding, so it was nice to get most of what I needed.

Moss-backed Tanager

                            

By now the rain was steady, and I arrived just in time for lunch. There were feeders and a pond just below the dining area, and I could hardly eat because I was constantly checking on a new bird and snapping photos. Flame-rumped Tanagers hung out in the trees high above while Blue-and-White Swallows patrolled the skies above the pond. Rufous-throated and Golden-naped Tanagers joined the mix on the logs with the ever-present Golden Tanagers. Was I in Ecuador, or did my plane crash and I was in heaven?

Flame-faced Tanager

                                

After a quick lunch I popped by the hummingbird feeders, not expecting much in the increasing rain. It was here that I met a common, but enthralling hummingbird for the first time, the Velvet-purple Coronet. You better be a good-looking bird with a name like that, and it was. Neotropical hummingbirds have a habit of looking vastly different in varying degrees of like, but the Velvet-purple Coronet took this to a completely different level. Even in the weak lighting, a small shift brought out a different shade of purple and green. They were relatively large as well, and their colors were accompanied by a loud buzz as they took off to defend their perch.

Velver-purple Coronet

                          

They weren't the only hummingbirds there. Violet-tailed Sylph, another hummingbird that embodies the craziness of South American birds, was silently hanging around the feeders. The small but fearless Purple-bibbed Whitetip tried its best to get some food and a lone Brown Inca popped in and out of view occasionally. I tried to bounce around between feeders, but it always felt so wrong to leave one setup to the other.

It was a good thing I left, though. As I walked to other feeder I saw my last major target: Indigo Flowerpiercer. The Indigo Flowerpiercer is less range-restricted than Moss-backed Tanager, but it is still a tough bird to pin down globally, except here. Mashpi Amagusa is probably the best place in the world to see it and I was determined to get it. While it was supposedly easy to see, I had a fleeting glimpse and did not get nearly the enough time that I wanted to admire it. I didn't think it would be a big deal due to the eBird bar charts making it seem automatic, but I wouldn't see it again. 

Smoke-colored Peweee

Crimson-rumped Toucanet

That's 3/3 of my targets on day 1, which was an unexpected, but welcome feeling. I got the important birds that will be hard to find again, and now I could focus on some other targets that may be harder to find but more accessible around the world. The pressure that I put on myself was off. I tend to hype up where I'm going before leaving to people, and so I feel like I have to see the big stuff. Now that the  (unnecessary) pressure was off, and I could just enjoy the birds for the birds.

This freedom coincided with me immediately noticing other birds on the periphery. Some of the more skulking birds, like White-throated Quail-Dove, were more visible now. The under-rated bird of the day was Pacific Tuftedcheek. This funky furnariid looks pretty mid in the field guide. I knew what it looked like and didn't see it as much more than a tick, but the Pacific Tuftedcheek in real life will knock your socks off. The tufts on the cheek, combined with the crisp looks of the back and breast were magnified by the larger than expected size of the bird. There was a nest on the property, so fortunately I would get to see this breeding pair often.

Red-headed Barbet

                                

New birds trickled in, but there was one more surprise. I heard a shout that ever birder knows. It's the "I saw a good bird and want to get your attention without scaring it off" type of shout. I silently but quickly walked over to the other feeder and had to stop myself from passing out. TOUCAN BARBET!

Toucan Barbet was one of my gateway drugs to neotropical birding. When I loaded up on bird books on that fateful first Princeton Press sale, Birds of Peru was one of the books that I got. In there I saw Mountain-toucans, Scarlet-bellied Mountain-tanager, and Toucan Barbet, and I told myself I had to get down there.

Toucans and barbets are adjacent to each other in the field guide and are in the same order, although they are different families. I won't even try to describe Toucan Barbet, just look at it. How could not see this bird in a book and not get hyped about being alive? What a kickass animal. This was a target of mine, but I wasn't expecting to get it here. After a few photos, I sat back and enjoyed it. As great as it looks in pictures, trust me, you have to see it in person. It was also snapping its bill, which you can't replicate with a field guide description.

Toucan Barbet

                              

As the sun went down and dinner approached, I just couldn't pry myself away from birds in the failing light. I sat on the patio while a flock of 10 or so Rose-faced Parrots ate bananas out of a tree. I couldn't believe this was my life. Rain was at this point pouring, thunder was clapping, and here I was just chilling with some amazing parrots and I patiently got to study all of their incredible detail.

Rose-faced Parrot

                                

After 10 hours of sleep, I woke up before the sun. Sergio sets up a moth sheet at night, and at dawn the birds feast on lingering moths. The usual suspects were out, but they were joined by an array of species. A highlight was a group of 3 Dark-backed Wood-Quail that were eating. Barred Becards flitted around the trees, and some Collared Trogons came down to eat. I have never seen a feeder setup like this. 

Collared Trogon

Black-chinned Mountain-Tanager

I have to pause here to shout out the food. The breakfast I had here was the breakfast of the trip. In general, I found the food in Ecuador to be pretty simple but fresh and prepared fantastically. My breakfast that morning was sliced ham, an Ecuadorian version of pepperoni, eggs, and something like a biscuit. All the juices served were from freshly picked fruit. That wasn't just Mashpi Amagusa, it was all of Ecuador. The food rocked.

After breakfast I went down to the tower with Sergio. We had both Orange-breasted and Scaled Fruiteater on our way down, and it was hard to make downhill progress because of all the birds we were seeing. We had Swallow Tanagers on our way down, and the tower suddenly rose up out of nowhere. The 90-foot tower was really well concealed in the forest. I then realized just how high 90 feet was. 

Swallow Tanager

                            

The tower loomed above us and swayed ever so slightly as we climbed the stairs. My stomach turned. I HATE heights. But getting up in the canopy was worth it. A new world opened up. And the view. My goodness. Once we got above the treetops I could see for miles down the valley. The rush from the fear mixed with the rush from the beauty created a feeling that I chase when I travel. I was intensely satisfied.

The birding was pretty good, too. It was mostly the usual suspects, but we got our major target: Choco Vireo. Choco Vireo is another range range-restricted bird found in Colombia (where it is very rare) and then at Mashpi-Amagusa. It wasn't something I really expected to get, so I was thrilled. 

Black Solitaire

We walked all the way back to the road to look for solitaires. I was really hoping for Black Solitaire. Although we heard it, it remained very elusive as we looked for some other targets. We ended up finding it by luck. There were a pair of Andean Solitaires, a lifer, that I was admiring, when a Black Solitaire flew up behind it. Again, better than the field guide.

In the afternoon I ventured down the road to Sacha Guatusa. At a lower elevation and closer to the coast, it has a few species that are very hard to find globally. This would be my best chance to see them. The reserve is very small with a short trail and feeder, but it packs a punch. I sat down at the feeders and once again had no idea where to look.

Green Honeycreeper

Pale-manibled Aracari

The tanagers once again stole the show. My eyes were immediately drawn to Bay-headed Tanager, another one of those birds I first noticed years ago when the neotropics came on my radar. The large Palm Tanager was next. Emerald Tanager, another secondary target, mixed with Golden Tanager and Green Honeycreeper to create a kaleidoscope on the main log. Yellow-throated Toucan and Pale-mandibled Aracari watched from above. It's always a good day when I mention an Aracari in passing!

Emerald Tanager

Bay-headed Tanager

It took my first target a few minutes to arrive, but Gray-and-Gold Tanager eventually showed up! They have a large range, extending up into the Darien Gap in Panama, but they are sparse in that range. It's a big deal to find this. I was so focused on what was in front of me that I didn't even look to the periphery, where Orange-fronted Barbet was camping out. BOOM! 2 targets down! The barbet is a near-endemic, and this is the only reliable place in the world to see it. It never got old seeing something that you pretty much could not find anywhere else on our vast planet besides that one patch of forest.

Orange-fronted Barbet

Gray-and-Gold Tanager

My last target took a little longer. Purple-chested Hummingbird is hard to get to. You can get it outside of Cali, Colombia, but if I didn't get it today, it would feel like chasing an endemic when I ultimately get to Colombia. But I could not find it. Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds were everywhere and were getting my hopes every time I saw one. Clouds were rolling in. Time was running out. I rounded a corner and saw a hummingbird perching. My brain didn't even think. I got the binoculars on it and...PURPLE-CHESTED HUMMINGBIRD! What. A. Relief. Perfect timing, I got caught up in a storm that would rage all night as I went but the mountain. I went 6/6 on all the major targets for the area. We'll take that.    

Purple-chested Hummingbird

                            

For my last morning, I got up before the sun was up and headed up the tower. Somehow, Sergio has rigged up a moth trap in the canopy (there is nothing this man can't do!). Birds were everywhere. At this point most of them were birds I'd already seen, but there a few new ones like Black-billed Peppershrike and Streak-capped Treehunter. It's not always about the new birds, though. I got fantastic looks with White-winged Tanager, and at least 6 Golden-headed Quetzals hung out just below me. Let me tell you, looking down at a quetzal is way more fun than looking up at one, and you could not peel me away from that tower while they were still there.

Golden-headed Quetzal

White-winged Tanager

There was also a great moment with a Bronze-winged Parrot at the top of the tower that was special. The sun was up, and here I was gawking at a purple parrot. The only sound was the wind rushing by, occasionally broken by a flock of Maroon-tailed Parakeets screeching across the valley. I wanted to bird in the tropics, and I got as good of an experience as I could get. As my last day in the cloud forest, I felt a strong sense of gratitude. I did not deserve to have such an amazing experience, and I was so lucky to get to be down there. 

Bronze-winged Parrot

                            

Before leaving we made one last stop on the road to look for White-tipped Sicklebill, a hummingbird that has a funky bill because its food source is the heliconia flower. We'd looked for it in the past and missed it, and honestly I'd had such a good few days that I didn't even care if I missed it. The cloud forest continued to surprise me, even as the time ticked down. A female Long-wattled Umbrellabird flew down the mountain and gave us very cooperative views. The males have a crazy long wattle that gives them their name, but I was so gobsmacked that I didn't notice. There is a lek of them 90 minutes outside of Mindo which is the real place to see them, so I pretty much wrote off seeing one. Now I got to see a super cool bird and the logistics of future trips got a lot easier!

Long-wattled Umbrellabird

                            

We had to run to the sicklebill site. It pretty much never shows up after noon, and the umbrellabird and a globally rare Rufous-brown Solitaire held up the group. I think they were just giving it time to show up, because we got to see it after a short wait. A strange looking bird feeding on a strange looking flower was the perfect way to wrap my time up here. I had over 100 birds in the area, and I missed only one secondary target, Olive Finch, while securing dozens of others.

White-tipped Sicklebill

                            

Mashpi Amagusa is the best birding lodge I've ever been to, and I can't imagine any lodge topping it. It is a must visit for a first time in Ecuador. Time to go to Mindo!

2025 Year In Review

2025 was the least successful birding year of my short birding career. The lack of blog posts would give you a clue of that, but just to quantify it, I only got 2 lifers this year. 2. Eurasian Crag Martin and Italian Sparrow. Am I even a birder anymore?

Yes, I still am. Not only that, but I think I will look back on 2025 as one of the most successful birding years yet. That might sound insane, but this year has built the foundation of some amazing future birding. That's because of two people, Christina and Sydney.

I only had 2 lifers, but we added 2 new countries in Italy and San Marino

Big plans were made in May 2024. Christina and I were going to go to Turkey and Romania. We were thinking about going to Madagascar in 2025. We were shocked to put those plans on hold when we found out Christina was pregnant. That led to some recalibrations not just for travels but for our life. Obviously, having a baby means that for a least a few years, life was going to slow down. That includes weekend trips, nights out, etc. Honestly, it was really hard to come to terms with, but I didn't know how fruitful it would be, even at the expense of birding for a year.

February 27 was the best day of the year

                                          

The most important thing that this led to was a deepening of my faith. I had this insane plan of making a bunch of money fast so that I could retire young and just go birding. Previously, Christina and I were always traveling over the weekends, and slowing down meant that we spent more time going to church and more time pondering the Bible. It was extremely fulfilling, and I realized that the way I was pursuing birding was making it a false idol, as I was focused on making more money but also by being selfish with my time. I've dealt with some guilt, too, in my pursuit of birding this year that I am making progress on. It's been a lot, but it's progress that I needed to make, and I am grateful for Sydney forcing me to slow down. Previous birding trips involved a lot of anxiety about maximizing my time and species seen, but that has really eased. My limited birding this year has been focused on enjoying the birds and it's way healthier. I wrote about this years ago, but I had a very profound spiritual moment at the top of Eielson Visitor Center in Denali. I missed Northern Wheatear and Gyrfalcon on that day, but I left feeling so incredible. Those are the moments I want to chase now. 

Lincoln's Sparrow at Harry Moss Park

A big prayer of mine has been to balance birding with my faith, especially for some conservation services opportunities to open up. Through talking with people at our church, as well as this deepening of my faith, I feel a lot more at peace with God's plan, and I think I am much more balanced now. After a lot of reflection and prayer, Christina and I have come up with an outline where I could become a birding guide down the line. I still don't know how my birding will evolve and if those bird guide dreams will come to fruition, but God forcing me to slow down has put me more at peace, and some insanely cool opportunities that otherwise would not have been there without Sydney have come up.

A bad pic of Prothonotary Warbler at Mineola Nature Preserve

Life slowing down meant that this was a good time to start studying for the CFA exams. No, not Chick-Fil-A, Chartered Financial Analyst. For my job, it is the gold standard and is more valuable than an MBA or CPA. It's 3 exams that require at least 300 hours per exam, and I read somewhere that like 10% of people that sign up for level 1 will get their charter. The exams are taken in windows, and you can take each at most twice a year if the timing works out. So, the pressure is really high, but success can mean a lot for my career and these aforementioned dreams of a balanced early retirement. Studying for that, especially with a baby, is very time consuming and has also kept me off the trails. The CFA, not Sydney, has been the source of at least 90% of my stress, probably more. It's HARD, and I am only doing it because of Sydney. Before Christina got pregnant, I said I would never do it because of horror stories. But since I knew I had some extended time where I would not be as busy, this was a good time to do it.

Blue Grosbeak at Trinity River Audubon Center

In January of this year, I got news that I passed level 1. Immediately, I started studying for level 2, which is by far the hardest level. Sydney was born in February, so I prepped for and took my August exam with a 6-month-old, which makes me even more proud of my passing. While my last exam is not until August 2026, there is light at the end of the tunnel. For something that felt so impossible, I am so thankful to be where I am. There is no way I am at this point with the support of Christina. Once again, her support is doing things to get me on more birds.

Black-and-white Warbler at Dogwood Canyon Audubon Center

In early March, just as I was able to get out of the house, my dad I participated in a Golden-cheeked Warbler survey at Dogwood Canyon Audubon Center, a place where I occasionally lead walks. We found some, and on top of really good views, I parlayed it into leading dedicated walks to see the warblers throughout the Spring. I got some conservation-oriented volunteering, and I also got really valuable experience for potential guiding dreams. The funny thing is, my friends were in Houston for the rodeo, something I would have done with them in the alternate universe where we didn't have Sydney. I would not have had this opportunity without her.

Golden-cheeked Warbler at Dogwood Canyon Audubon Center

Sydney was very helpful with the GCWA walk prep

Sydney and I have flipped through a ton of bird books together, and she is nearly at the age where zoo trips are going to start happening. Obviously, her entire family is smitten with her. I am hoping to turn her into a built-in birding buddy, and hopefully she will want to spend a week birding a national park instead of a Disney cruise when she is 6 (a man can dream). How can her mom or grandparents say no to that? Her grandparents probably have no desire to go birding in Kazakhstan, but maybe they would go if Sydney told them she was dying to see an Altai Snowcock?

                                          

Mom even got in on the action!

                                        

Also, at the end of September and in early October, I went to Italy and San Marino with Sydney, Christina, and my in-laws. There was a minimal amount of birding done, but I got two new countries in Italy and San Marino (a major addition on my side quest to visit every country in the world), had a lot of fun, and still got to enjoy great views of Eurasian Blue Tit. I still felt very at peace walking through the hills above Florence. And 2 lifers are 2 lifers, even if you get them at the Ponte Vecchio. While I always try to make my travel work around the birds, I enjoyed not having it be the focus, and it showed me how much fun a non-birding trip can be. I still got a lot of fulfillment out of it, and it is reshaping the way I look at 2026.

Squid in San Marino

There was a really cool opportunity that I got in October of this year, when I got to guide an Australian woman for the day who was on a layover. My first real guiding opportunity! It was a lot of fun, and we covered a lot of ground, as well as getting her some lifers. I was far from perfect and was operating on a stomach bug, but I got some great experience. It's not always about the birds, but the connection with people from all over the world that makes me love travel as much as I do. 

Gray Catbird at Mineola Nature Preserve

As 2025 ends, I think I have built the foundation of something that is going to be fruitful. My spiritual and mental health have seen major improvements, and I feel like my birding dreams have more purpose. There are a lot of options as 2026 begins. In May I will be going on another birding trip. I don't know where yet, but Armenia/Azerbaijan/eastern Turkey or Mindo, Ecuador are the frontrunners. My dad wants to visit every state park in Texas, so we will work on that. Christina and I are deciding whether we want to try to do Taiwan or Easter Island. There is also some time for a few long weekends, so some domestic places like SE Arizona, Great Basin, or a Half Moon Bay pelagic are all being considered.

Easter Island prep?

The above dreams may come to fruition, they may not. I may change directions and go or do something else. All I know is that I can't wait to go birding with the people that I love most in the world, and after a year of being on the sidelines, I am really pumped to get back to some blog posts and some more writing. 2025 was slow, but it will mean that 2026 and beyond is going to be even better than expected. 

Ended the year on a high note with a Dallas County Burrowing Owl

Consider this your open invitation to go birding with me!