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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Black-capped Tanager |
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| 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.
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| Encebollado was a must-try food and it lived up to the hype |
