We were up at 04:30 and headed from the hotel Mirador Bianco in Los Bancos to 23 de Junio. After picking up our guide, Louis, from the town we headed up the slippery mud road to as high as we could before walking the final few hundred metres to the view point. Here we scanned and listened and occasionally heard the rather bizarre mooing of our target bird. Eventually Louis amazingly picked-up a very distant male
Long-wattled Umbrellabird in a moss and epiphyte glad canopy tree. The bird soon flew and disappeared into the forest. It was not the single bird we were here for but we wanted to see the lekking of this species, Louis had told us that at peak times there were up to 15 males here. Next, Louis remarkably found an
Ornate Hawk-eagle perched within a distant tree, the bird was partially obscured and quite difficult to see even through a scope. Eventually though we positioned ourselves so that we had good views of this stunning eagle as it preened in the canopy. The Hummingbird feeders here attracted a small number of species including
Velvet-purple Coronet,
Green-crowned Brilliant and
Andean Emerald. Louis then decided that the Umbrellabird's were not lekking today and so we headed a short distance up the road with Louis imitating the mooing of the Umbrellabird. It was not long before he picked up a very close male
Long-wattled Umbrellabird and we had fantastic view of this bizarre species as it fed and eventually displayed in the roadside trees. When displaying the bird made a bizarre mooing sound while inflating its neck feathers and extending its impossible wattle beyond its usual size to form a ridiculous distended dangling phallus – how does the bird not stumble over this thing even when in relaxed mode? Not bright in plumage but surely one of the most bizarre of bird species.
Long-wattled Umbrellabird in relaxed mode - 23 de Junio, Ecuador
Long-wattled Umbrellabird in display mode - 23 de Junio, Ecuador
Guayaquil Woodpecker - 23 de Junio, Ecuador
Green-crowned Brilliant - 23 de Junio, Ecuador
Velvet-purple Coronet - 23 de Junio, Ecuador
Fawn-breasted Tanager - 23 de Junio, Ecuador
Crested Guan - 23 de Junio, Ecuador
After coffee at Louis’s house we headed back to Los Bancos with Louis. After dropping him off we then headed to Milpe Gardens until lunchtime. As seemed to be the pattern for late morning, birding was very slow going. We wandered the first few hundred metres of the trail seeing little but for a juvenile
Spotted Nightingale-thrush but eventually we
we encountered an antswarm where things got a little more lively and we encountered
Bicoloured Antbird and
Short-tailed Antbird fairly quickly and and we had hopes for Banded Ground-cuckoo but despite playing recordings we had no luck – unsurprisingly. We walked the rest of the trails trying for Pacific Flatbill and Western White-throated Spadebill but had no luck and saw little else of significance but for
Choco Warbler and
Scale-crested Pygmy-tyrant. After a much welcome lunch in a roadside café we headed back to the Mindo Reserve and birded the forest, despite very busy Hummingbird feeders there was not much to be seen in the forest.
Roadside Hawk - Milpe Gardens, Ecuador
Choco Warbler - Milpe Gardens, Ecuador
Western Ornate Flycatcher - Milpe Gardens, Ecuador
Scale-crested Pygmy-tyrant - Milpe Gardens, Ecuador
Long-tailed Skipper Urbanus proteus - Milpe Gardens, Ecuador
Scaly-throated Foliage-gleaner - Milpe Gardens, Ecuador
Andean Emerald - Milpe Gardens, Ecuador
White-necked Jacobin - Milpe Gardens, Ecuador
Spotted Barbtail - Milpe Gardens, Ecuador
Crested Guan - Milpe Gardens, Ecuador
At around 15:00 heavy rain began to fall and so we headed up the Old Nono Mindo Road and turned down the Las Gralarias Road where we stopped at Birdwatchers House. The gates of the house were locked but as Gabo knew the owner he removed the gates and entered the property and after appeasing the barking dog we took shelter beneath a rain cover and watched the Hummingbird feeders. Here Buff-tailed Coronet, Velvet-purple Brilliant, Green Violetear, Violet-tailed Sylph, Empress Brilliant and Masked Flower-piercer provided great photographic opportunities but the star was the rare Hoary Puffleg, a subtly beautiful Hummingbird and the only tick of the day. As the light began to fade, and we had had enough of the rain, we descended and into brighter weather and enjoyed a spectacular sunset over a misty Milpe forest.
Buff-tailed Coronet - Birdwatchers Garden, Milpe, Ecuador
Velvet-purple Coronet - Birdwatchers Garden, Milpe, Ecuador
Buff-tailed Coronet - Birdwatchers Garden, Milpe, Ecuador
Empress Brilliant - Birdwatchers Garden, Milpe, Ecuador
Flame-faced Tanager - Birdwatchers Garden, Milpe, Ecuador
Hoary Puffleg - Birdwatchers Garden, Milpe, Ecuador
Hoary Puffleg - Birdwatchers Garden, Milpe, Ecuador
Velvet-purple Puffleg - Birdwatchers Garden, Milpe, Ecuador
Buff-tailed Coronet being buzzed by a Green Violet-ear - Birdwatchers Garden, Milpe, Ecuador
Violet-tailed Sylph - Birdwatchers Garden, Milpe, Ecuador
Green Violetear - Birdwatchers Garden, Milpe, Ecuador
Milpe Sunset
Milpe Sunset
Links to Other Days of the Trip (Click to View)
