Gary and Dona's, and Ram and Dawn's, and Joe and Esther's
Amazing Birding Trip to Ecuador
March, 2011
Part 3: Los Bancos
We stayed two nights at the Restaurante Mirador Rio Blanco,
in San Miguel de Los Bancos.
It's perched on a cliff overlooking the Mindo Valley,
and has some fruit feeding stations as well as hummingbird feeders.
They're all right outside the restaurant windows,
so you can watch birds while you eat.
It does make conversation kind of difficult sometimes --
especially when your back is to the feeders and the person you're talking to is facing them.
We had a great local guide, Jorge,
who started with the group in Bella Vista before we arrived.
He was with us every day,
so we got to know him better and he got to know us and our individual strengths and weaknesses.
He soon learned that Ram, Dawn, and Joe were very proficient birders --
he could say a bird name and point or describe where it was and
bingo, they would have it in their binoculars.
He also learned that Esther, Dona and I were best described as toddlers,
and he was kind enough to help us struggle along.
Sometimes we just could not see the damn things.
Other times there were so many all at once
we would still be looking for the first one when he was on to the fourth or fifth for the others.
That was frustrating,
but we did improve.
Like many of the guides,
he had a great little green laser pointer
which he would shine on a leaf or trunk near a bird
to help guide you to it.
He was very conscientous about not shining it right on a bird
so he wouldn't disturb it or harm its eyesight.
Jorge was 26, I think, and almost entirely self-taught.
Is that right??? What's the story, I can't remember...
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| Black-Chinned Mountain Tanager |
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| Thick-Billed Euphonia (Female) |
Orange-Bellied Euphonia |
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| Flame-Faced Tanager |
Xxx |
Blue-Grey Tanager |
Since the restaurant where we stayed was located on the edge of a cliff,
there was a steady flight of birds past the deck.
They had a path that went down the cliff
to a short suspension bridge over to a small platform
that was a great observation platform.
Vultures seemed to be on the prowl constantly.
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| Black Vulture |
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| Bugs |
While wandering around town,
Dawn saw someone with a baby Squirrel Cuckoo.
It's illegal to have the birds captive,
and the bird was probably going to die.
She told our guide, Jorge, about it,
and they went back and rescued the bird.
It seemed to perk up with proper care,
but we don't know if it made it or not.
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| Squirrel Cuckoo (Juvenile) |
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| Xxx Yellow Flower |
Xxx Blue Flower |
Xxx Yellow-Red Flower |
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| Xxx Flower |
Xxx Flower |
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| Xxx Flower |
Flower Petals on Ground |
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| Flower |
Blossom |
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| Spider |
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| Xxx Bug |
Xxx Bug |
After Los Bancos, we headed back up to the higher country,
returning to
Bella Vista,
where Ram, Dawn, Joe and Esther had spent the first couple of days
while we were stuck in Houston playing with passports and airplanes.
On our way back to Bella Vista we stopped at a place by a bridge where there were supposed to be some good birds.
I didn't see much.
But I did see a wayward soccer ball hung up in an eddy.
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| Cascade |
Wayward Soccer Ball |
