Mindo Cloud Forest birds beyond the lodges

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As my tour came to an end at Refugio Paz de Las Aves, I started to make plans for more adventures and to see more Mindo Cloud Forest birds. I met a fellow named Enzo that joined some of our birding at Refugio Paz. In fact, I happened to look on ebird and saw there was an entry on the same day at Refugio Paz as mine and it had almost identical birds that we saw, so I figured it had to be him, and it was.

Plans made for further Mindo Cloud Forest birds

On the last day, he joined us to see the giant antpitta and also to see the chestnut-crowned antpitta. He approached me at lunch to ask if I was interested in doing some further birding once the Refugio Paz tour ended at lunch. Birding is either a social activity or a solo activity. I enjoy both the social aspect and the solitude aspect, but I usually do more alone birding than with others, so I am always happy to join a group. Birding can also be an expensive hobby, so when you find another person to share costs, it is a win-win situation.

Rio Salinche Bird Sanctuary

The best part of the continuation of the birding with Enzo is we were also taking our bird guide from Refugio Paz, Andy, with us. We had a driver, so there were four of us, and we headed out of town for a one plus hour drive to Rio Salinche Bird Sanctuary. We got off the highway  on to some dirt roads and eventually came to a parking lot that accessed a trail to a birding tower.

The short trail brought us to a bird tower, which we promptly climbed to the top of the forest canopy. It was pretty quiet when we first got there, but things heated up after 15-30 minutes. A streaked flycatcher got the party started. This is a bird I had seen earlier in the year in Panama, so it was not a lifer, but a really cool bird, and I was glad to see for a second time. The action picked up soon after with purple-throated fruitcrows, masked tityra, two pale-mandibled aracaris. The aracaris were my first lifers, but more would follow.

More lifers and other birds at Rio Salinche

I looked down and a barbet was staring me in the face. Andy informed us it was an orange-fronted barbet, so another new species. A blue-tailed trogon landed not too far away, so another new species. I looked up to see a long slender brown bird crawling through the tree tops, and it was the somewhat familiar common squirrel cuckoo. This was my second sighting of this cool bird.

More birds on the drive out

We decided to make a move, and head back to Mindo. On the way out, we made several stops to see birds along the rural stretch of road. We saw a couple of choco toucans, a saffron finch, and several tanagers including a scarlet-browed tanager. On the way back to Mindo, we stopped at Sendero Frutti Tour and birdwatching, which was basically a lush backyard with hummingbird and fruit feeders on the outskirts of a village.

Sendero Frutti Tour and birdwatching

The highlight for me at the Sendero Frutti Tour and birdwatching area was close up views of woodpeckers. We saw both black-cheeked woodpeckers and a golden-olive woodpecker at close up range. Several new species were seen here including buff-rumped warbler, orange-billed sparrow, and two great antshrikes.

Refugio Paz de Las Aves bird guiding extended for another day

I booked three nights at a hostel/hotel in Mindo, so I was prepared to start to do some hiking on my own. Enzo informed me that he was planning on doing some more targeted birdwatching the next day in the area, and he asked if I was interested. I told him that I was, and we also were able to secure Andy as our guide for one more day. They drove me back to my hotel at the Hacienda Yellow House as darkness fell. I was afraid the hotel would not be open, but I was greeted when they drove me through the gates and shown to my room. I told them I was leaving for an early bird tour the next day, and they graciously offered to pack a to go breakfast for me the next day.

In search of the Long-wattled umbrellabird

Early the next morning, Andy and Enzo picked me up at the entrance to the Yellow House at 5:30 a.m. The goal of the morning was to see a long-wattled umbrellabird. A crazy looking large black bird with a crest and a long hanging pouch of skin that protrudes from its neck, which is called a wattle, hence its name. The wattle is made up of scale-like feathers. We drove to a private reserve area near Reserva Pachijal and Choco Zona De Vida, but the actual place we were at did not seem to have a name.

Once we parked, we walked up a short trail to an overlook. We could hear yellow-throated toucans in the distance. Soon, we began to hear the coveted umbrella bird. It is a quirky looking bird, so it was no surprise that it had a very odd call. Andy said that with luck, it would perch on one of those trees and pointed in the distance. Sure enough, about 15 minutes later, the bird appeared and settled at the top of a branch. It was a little far away, but we were able to get good photos and the view was completely unobstructed. Seeing the umbrellabird is no sure thing, so we were psyched that we were able to add this to our list.

In search of the club-winged manakin

Most of the morning was spent looking for target species. The next species on the list was a club-winged manakin. These species are usually pretty easy to spot, but not always easy to photograph. This one was no exception. We saw and heard them as soon as we got to the area, but due to being a small, fast moving bird in low light, photographs were not easy.

Andean pygmy owl

The next species was an Andean pygmy owl. Andy had a birding friend who recently saw one, so he was gracious enough to stop by and show us his spot. We parked closer to town near a cemetery and walked into the forest. There was a black phoebe feeding along the river, which was another new species for me.

We hiked for about 30 minutes when Andy noticed a group of birds high in the treetops that were agitated. He said when an owl is around, other birds start acting that way. Sure enough, about five minutes later, Andy spotted the little owl way up in the treetops near where the other birds were acting out. This is why it pays to have a guide as this is a bird I would have never seen on my own.

Alambi hummingbird reserve

This was my third hummingbird feeder area and although hummingbirds are cool, at this point I was getting a little hummingbirded out. We went through the same bells and whistles where the hummingbirds can land on your hand and even your head here, which was neat, but I really did not need to see or do this anymore. I do not really feel the need to physically touch nature or have them touch me. I would rather observe from a distance and enjoy and take pictures.

On the positive side, there were a few new hummingbird species seen here I think. Another problem I was having with hummingbirds was just the sheer overwhelmingness of the species. In the Midwest, we have one hummingbird species, the ruby-throated, so it is easy to keep track. In Ecuador, there are over 120 species and in the Mindo Cloud Forest alone there are over 40. I think at the hummingbird feeder area at Refugio Paz de Las Aves, there were 12 that we saw, so it was really confusing knowing all the species or even some of them.

I tried to focus on learning one or two each time out. At Refugio, I learned the violet-tailed sylph and the white-booted racket-tail as they had obvious physical attributes that were easy to identify. Unfortunately, we did not see any new species here. We did see red-headed barbets, orange-crowned euphorias, and black-capped tanagers, but they were already seen earlier at Refugio.

Bella Vista Cloud Forest

Our last stop was the Bella Vista Cloud Forest. We had to drive for an hour up a dirt road as this place was even higher up the forest than Refugio. I had booked two nights here later in the week, so this turned out to be a fruitful visit since we ended up seeing a decent amount of birds, and I did not feel like I needed to stay here for two nights, so I saved myself a hundred dollars a night as this place was $167 a night while Yellow House was $55.00.

The birding here was incredible, so it would have been worth it to stay, but since I was planning on five weeks in South America, I needed to save some money somewhere. Again, there was a hummingbird feeder and a fruit feeder. We saw a gorgeted sunangel, which was a new hummingbird. There was also a couple of turqoise jays around the feeder area. In fact, one was devouring a hummingbird.

We started to walk the trails and saw several new species like the cinnamon flycatchers, a gray-breasted wood-wren, a striped treehunter, and a streaked tuftedcheek. These were mostly near the lodge. When we entered the woods, we saw a powerful woodpecker. It was one new bird after the other.

Plate-billed mountain toucans

We had tried to see mountain toucans at Refugio, but we were not successful. We hoped we might see some here. Sure enough, we heard their distinctive call not too far away on the trails, and headed over to where we heard them. We saw two in a tree, and we were overjoyed to see them as this was the last opportunity. Now I was for sure canceling my reservation here because I had mainly seen the species up here that I was looking for.

After enjoying the mountain toucans for a few minutes, we headed back to the lodge and the car. We drove down the mountain back to Mindo, and I was dropped off by Andy and Enzo. I was sad that another part of my trip was coming to an end, but I was excited to explore the Yellow House area. Yellow House has four miles of trails leading into the Mindo Cloud Forest and was at a lower elevation than where I was before, so this meant I would be seeing different species of birds.

Read Part I from Refugio Paz de Las Avez

Read Part II day 2 and 3 at Refugio Pas de Las Avez

Ebird checklists:

Rio Salinche Bird Sanctuary

Alambi Reserve

Bellavista Cloud Forest

Umbrellabird birding area

Adventure on!