Ecuador - The West Slope (Part 3)

Toucan Barbet

Day 5

This was moving day as we had to say goodbye to Mindo and the Septimo Paraiso Lodge. Our next destination was the Tandayapa Lodge. Before leaving Mindo we birded for the morning at Milpe Bird Sancuary, run by the Mindo Cloudforest Foundation. The montane evergreen forest contains a number of trails and is one of the more famous birding spots in the area. The bird photography wasn't great for me, but the birding and flowers were outstanding. 

eBird list Milpe Sanctuary

Green Thorntail (male)

Green Thorntail (female)

Crowned Woodnymph

Day 6

Our first morning at Tandayapa was also the day we had to get our Covid test for entering the Galapagos. While our vaccine cards were all that was necessary to get into Ecuador, traveling to the islands required a recent negative test. Our ground agent, Bird Ecuador, scheduled a lab person to drive to the lodge from Quito to do the test on us. 2.5 hours driving each way for the lab person, and we didn't have to leave the lodge. How cool was that! Before our tests, we went out to the blind near the lodge at dawn. This blind has a bug sheet with UV and white lights to attract insects at night. The birds come in at dawn for the free breakfast.

eBird list Tandayapa blind and grounds

Streak-capped Treehunter

Getting a brain probe isn't a lot of fun...

In the afternoon we drove up to the ridge above the lodge for some great birding and views. Lots of terrific birds there but we missed one specialty - Plate-billed Mountain-Toucan. But our guide Andres had a plan...

eBird list Bellavista

Silver Cecropia

Day 7

Our final day of the west slope tour. When we were at the umbrellabird lek a few days before, the landowner had told Andres about a new location for feeders near Mindo. And Plate-billed Mountain-Toucan was a regular there in the early morning. So Andres made arrangements and off we went before dawn. The place was amazing, with many hummer and banana feeders. We saw many great birds, especially tanagers, but the mountain-toucans were the stars of the show. This was pretty special, in all of Andres' years of birding and guiding, this was a first for him to see this species at a feeder.

eBird list Balcon Tumpiki

Banana Feeders with 2 Plate-billed Mountain-Toucan

Toucan Barbet pair, mate feeding a beetle

Sickle-winged Guan

Plate-billed Mountain-Toucan

Plate-billed Mountain-Toucan

Orange-bellied Euphonia

Montane Woodcreeper

Golden Tanager

Flame-faced Tanager

Crimson-rumped Toucanet

Crimson-rumped Toucanet

Blue-winged Mountain-Tanager

Black-capped Tanager

After a lovely morning at this property, Andres had one more surprise left for our return trip to Quito. We stopped at a small roadside reserve called El Pahuma Orchid Reserve. This small property contains many species of orchids and a great waterfall we could hike to. Best of all was the possibility of spotting the Rufous-gaped Hillstar, a streamside specialist hummingbird. We hiked to the waterfall on a steep, muddy trail without seeing the hummer and enjoyed the walk. Returning to the car, Andres stopped and turned around to check if Susan wanted a hand getting down a particularly slippery section of trail. Above Susan's head and over the stream was the hummer! We got a great look but no photos. Oh well...

eBird list El Pahuma Reserve

And oh yes, the flowers!

And then it was time to return to Quito and meet up with our group for the Galapagos. Our time on the west slope was a delight and we'd love to visit there again. A special thanks to Bird Ecuador, Carmen and Irene, for the wonderful tour. And of course, our guide Andres de la Torre was fantastic, an excellent bird guide and terrific person to spend a week with. Thank you Andres so much! Can't wait to go on another trip with you!