Exploring Mindo with Mark

Late on November 4, Laura and I returned to Quito following our two-week scouting trip to southern Colombia. Waiting to greet us at the airport was Laura’s dad Mark who had one week scheduled with us in Ecuador. It was his first trip to South America and we were excited to show him what Ecuador had to offer! 

For the first couple of days and last few days of the trip we were based in Quito. We went on some great walks, explored museums and the Basilica, sampled the local food (including our favorite 1$ empanada shop), enjoyed wandering the narrow streets and getting a "feel" for the city, thwarted pickpocketing attempts (twice!) and had a fantastic evening out at La Ronda. But the middle part of the week was what I was looking forward to the most – two nights in Mindo.

Chocó Toucan - Yellow House trails, Mindo, Ecuador

As I have mentioned on this blog before, Laura and I love staying in Mindo and particularly at the Yellow House property. Mark had never been to the rainforest before and so we wanted to show him the sights, sounds and smells of this diverse environment. Where better to do it than at Yellow House, where a network of trails snake up into the hills, and where Swallow Tanagers and a medley of other tanagers flit in the gardens.

Swallow Tanager - Yellow House, Mindo, Ecuador

Rusty-margined Flycatcher - Yellow House, Mindo, Ecuador

We maximized every minute of our time here at Yellow House. Several hikes during daylight hours produced many memorable sightings, from clearwing butterflies to Guayaquil Woodpeckers, leafcutter ants to army ant swarms, toucans perched on trees to mixed flocks of foliage-gleaners, tanagers, flycatchers and warblers. Mark really seemed to enjoy the birding here which was great to see!

Rusted Clearwing-Satyr (Cithaerias pireta) - Yellow House trails, Mindo, Ecuador

Fawn-breasted Tanager - Yellow House trails, Mindo, Ecuador

Buff-fronted Foliage-gleaner - Yellow House trails, Mindo, Ecuador

One afternoon, Laura and Mark went into the town of Mindo to do some shopping and exploring and so I headed back up the trails on my own. This ended up being a very productive walk since I finally encountered the elusive White-fronted Capuchin group and also found a few life birds - some Pale-eyed Thrushes feeding on a fruiting tree, and a Giant Antpitta singing from on Trail 3. The antpitta remained out of sight, unfortunately. I also found a baby owl that I believe to be a Rufescent Screech-Owl - also a "lifer"!

Bran-colored Flycatcher - Yellow House trails, Mindo, Ecuador

Flame-faced Tanager - Yellow House trails, Mindo, Ecuador

White-fronted Capuchin - Yellow House trails, Mindo, Ecuador

Rufescent Screech-Owl - Yellow House trails, Mindo, Ecuador

During our second night at Yellow House we went on a nice long hike up into the hills. We were quite eager to show Mark how exciting the forest can be once the sun goes down! Fortunately the weather cooperated and we had a slew of great sightings. Near the top of the list were several Oilbirds that were foraging among the palms lining the trail. This was a life bird for me and it was fun to share the moment with Mark and Laura. We even had some good looks at a few of the birds as they hovered to pick off the palm fruits. It was hard to know how many individual were present but probably at least four or five. Oilbirds are the only avian nocturnal frugivore (like a bat!), and they also use a primitive form of echolocation. Very fascinating birds to say the least.

Below are a few photos of some of our other night-hike finds.

Pamphobeteus tarantula - Yellow House trails, Mindo, Ecuador

Palmer's Treefrog (Hyloscirtus palmeri) - Yellow House trails, Mindo, Ecuador

Harvestman sp. (Cranaidae family) - Yellow House trails, Mindo, Ecuador

Paratriarius sp. - Yellow House trails, Mindo, Ecuador

Stick insect sp. (Phasmida) - Yellow House trails, Mindo, Ecuador

Round-backed Millipede sp. (Juliformia) - Yellow House trails, Mindo, Ecuador

Acanthoclonia sp. - Yellow House trails, Mindo, Ecuador

Pristimantis sp. - Yellow House trails, Mindo, Ecuador

This next one is a type of giant cockroach in the genus Megaloblatta. This genus contains the largest species of cockroach in the world.

Megaloblatta sp. - Yellow House trails, Mindo, Ecuador

On first glance this may look like a moth, but it is actually a derbid planthopper, making it more closely related to cicadas and treehoppers.

Unidentified derbid planthopper (subtribe Mysidiina) - Yellow House trails, Mindo, Ecuador

The Oilbirds were amazing but little did we know that it would not even be the avian highlight of the night. We heard a Rufescent Screech Owl singing and kept walking up the trail, following the sound. Laura spotted it first - about 10 feet above the ground, right above the trail! But it got better. A few hours later as we passed by the same area, Laura spotted the owl again - except this time it was perched on a twig a foot off the ground, literally at the side of the trail.

Rufescent Screech-Owl - Yellow House trails, Mindo, Ecuador

I did not even need a long lens since the bird was unusually tolerant of us, allowing me to take full-frame photos with my macro lens. It just kind of sat there, perhaps in a bit of a "food coma" after a successful evening hunting?

Rufescent Screech-Owl - Yellow House trails, Mindo, Ecuador

An incredible experience with a new species of bird for all of us. If only all "lifers" were that accommodating!

Rufescent Screech-Owl - Yellow House trails, Mindo, Ecuador

We also set up the moth sheet on both nights, and it came through as well.

Phrygionis polita - Yellow House, Mindo, Ecuador

Hylesia aeneides - Yellow House, Mindo, Ecuador

Unidentified leopard moth (family Cossidae) - Yellow House, Mindo, Ecuador

Cosmosoma sectinota - Yellow House, Mindo, Ecuador

Arta sp. - Yellow House, Mindo, Ecuador

Clemensia sp. - Yellow House, Mindo, Ecuador

Taeniotes sp - Yellow House, Mindo, Ecuador

Unidentified - Yellow House, Mindo, Ecuador

Unidentified katydid - Yellow House, Mindo, Ecuador

Unidentified achilid planthopper (family Achilidae) - Yellow House, Mindo, Ecuador

We had two nice surprises in store for our final morning in Mindo. First, a Sunbittern appeared beside a small pond that was immediately across from our balcony. Even better - it showed off its famous "eye-spots" in its wings a minute later as it foraged.

Sunbittern - Yellow House, Mindo, Ecuador

Sunbittern - Yellow House, Mindo, Ecuador

 The second surprise were two male Guayaquil Woodpeckers that appeared while we were birding a mixed flock on the trails. They both came in quite close, providing much better views than the distant individual we had seen previously.

Guayaquil Woodpecker - Yellow House, Mindo, Ecuador

We enjoyed one last breakfast, overlooking the busy hummingbird feeders. It had been an awesome couple of days in Mindo!

Green-crowned Brilliant - Yellow House, Mindo, Ecuador

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird - Yellow House, Mindo, Ecuador

Laura and Mark - Yellow House trails, Mindo, Ecuador