February 18: Jon Feenstra on his recently completed tour, Ecuador: Mindo and the Northwest Andes
We're just back in Quito from a wonderful trip to the Mindo area of northwest Ecuador. We spent the week taking day trips from our forest lodge to the various elevations of cloud forest and totaled nearly 300 bird species (including 35 species of hummingbirds). The highlights were many, but here are a few that photographed well...
Moss-backed Tanager is a very local specialty of northwest Ecuador. We saw a few while birding the roadside in the Mashpi Conservation Area, then we saw a few more eating bananas at the Amagusa Reserve. A few of them were quite close!
A few Rose-faced Parrots were flying around us one day, and one confidingly perched in a tree right above our heads.
No visit to the Mindo area is complete with a visit to Reserva Paz de las Aves. This tiny Ochre-breasted Antpitta, nick-named "Shakira", was one of four species of antpitta we saw there that day.
The spectacular Proboscis Anole is only known from the Mindo valley and was a real treat on the grounds of our hotel.
Posted: February 18, 2019