RAC

Hmm, I may take you up on that, artiejay!

I'm considering substituting Maquipucuna (maybe with Santa Lucia lodge as well) as a substitute for the Rio Silanche visit--the one complaint my wife had from our recent trip to El Salvador was long car rides and Rio Silanche seems pretty far away.

Supposedly they have the same species as the lower Tandayapa valley (we have the upper valley covered at Bellavista).

Has anyone been there?

RAC

By the way, thanks to mlgb and artiejay for not only their help here, but also inspiring me to go to Ecuador in the first place.

What did you do for transportation from the airport to your first night hotel?

We're spending our first two nights at El Crater and our last night at Hacienda La Jimenita.

artiejay

Just let me know about the book -I would rather see it get some use other than just sitting on my shelf. We arranged all our transfers through our first and last nights hotel, Su Merced. Our driver, Washington, was a hoot - very friendly and eager to practice his English with us. He was quick with a smile, always on time and was quite amused with me wearing short pants all the time - just like Costa Rica you rarely see the men wearing shorts.

mlgb

I had Marcelo come pick me up at the airport and we made a few quick stops on the way. He charged about the same as a regular taxi would have. I think most of the Mindo guides can do that.

He did however get pulled over by the coppers on the way in. And got some kind of ticket. So I'm not sure if he is still up for that service.

Sorry I don't know Maquipucuna. For airport lodgings this time I stayed at Posada Mirolindo which is a bit less expensive than Su Merced and quite nice.

Re the nonbirding or less enthusiastic spouse, would it make sense to leave her solo for a day? There are things to do in Mindo itself, or she could hang out with the feeders at Sachatamia, or a combination of both, it's a fairly inexpensive taxi ride between those two places.

Then you could do some of the more arduous or far away sites, if she doesn't want to get up so early to go to Paz de Aves, or tromp thru cow pastures to see the umbrellabirds, LOL. At Paz de Aves, I don't recommend getting up too early to see the Cock of the Rock lek, as I'm sure you have already seen that and I didn't think the viewing was that great. But the antpittas are worthwhile.
There is also a house nearby that had a great hummingbird feeder, I think Angel has a connection to it, but I don't know the name.

I don't think it would be terrible to drop Rio Silanche considering your other experience.

RAC

We haven't seen a Cock of the Rock lek--we're planning to do Angel Paz's reserve on the day we drive back to Quito. So if we've seen one by then we can budget our time accordingly.


I was planning to give my wife the morning off when we do the Umbrellabird + Milpe.

Artie--I'll let you know after Christmas is over--my wife always gets on my case for getting stuff when she or her parents were planning to give me as a gift.

mlgb

Stay a bit flexible on Paz de Aves if it looks like rains have started in the area. The trails can get a bit difficult and the road isn't paved.

As with all things Ecuador, it is good to stay a bit flexible. And worth rearranging things to go up there.

RAC

So, we're getting geared up for the trip next week.

How much money should we budget for Lunch+dinner+cab round trip cab rides between town and Sachatamia--$50, $100?

We have Marcelo as our guide. Plan is:

Day 1--El Crater to Mindo, stopping at Yanacocha and the ecoroute
Day 2: 23 de junio (umbrellabird) and Milpe
Day 3: Mindo area birding and quetzal chocolate tour
Day 4: Rio Silanche (wife gets the morning off) plus orchid reserve in the afternoon
Day 5: Bellavista
Day 6: Refugio de Paz in the morning, ecoroute, and then a couple of ponds/reservoirs near La Jimenita before checking in there.

Any further suggestions (looks like it's going to be really wet, oh well).

mlgb

Hi RAC.. you can have dinner at Sachatamia, any lodge meal is $$ while Mindo is a third of that. $50 should be enough unless you are eating at the lodges.. I mean lunch can be had for $5-10 per person elsewhere! Sanitation is pretty good.

Confused re taxi, no car for Marcelo? Wouldn't he come pick you up?

When I asked Luis @ Biohostal a cab to Sachatamia was not much at all. I think less than $10. Maybe less than $5.

Sorry I cant be more specific...

I would think its early for too much rain. Maybe mornings will be good. I hope not too much!

I would suggest trying for Angel Paz earlier in your trip if its still possible..in case you get rain you could have a few tries at it? As I said before skip the Cock of the Rock and go for the antpitta show, Those umbrellabirds are amazing, hope you get good looks..think it depends on which trees are fruiting,

My tip, tell him not to be late! Hope he works out, he has a good eye, good English and is funny.

Ask about San Lorenzo Rd for Cloud Forest Pygmy Owl and Clubwinged Manakin.

On a different trip w Julia we had one lunch at Mirador Rio Blanco which has feeders, not the best cuisine but picked up 2 tanagers not seen elsewhere.

RAC

Thanks for the tips. Marcelo is driving us around, but want to budget for taxi from lodge to Mindo for dinner during the evening.

I think we're planning to do the Mirador on our Milpe/23 de Junio day.

I get the point about moving Paz up, but realistically my wife isn't going to make it up every morning for bird trips, so we're trying to space out the ones she really wants to see--Paz and 23 de Junio being the top 2, Silanche being her hooky day.

RAC

Got back a little over 48 hours ago--trip exceeded expectations (260+ species), and expectations were big. Will do full trip report later, but in a nutshell

Only place that underwhelmed was Yanacocha (still got those views).

Highlight birds:

El Crater--Variable Hawk

Yanacocha--Sword-billed Hummingbird, Black-chested Buzzard Eagle, Rufous Antpitta)

Sachatamia--Wattled Guan (at the feeders) Black and White Owl (by the parking lot before dawn), hummingbirds, tanager

Silanche--Black Hawk-Eagle, great look at Choco Trogon, both Puffbirds, boatload of tanagers and barbets and toucans, semiplumbeous hawk

Bellavista: Green/Black Fruiteater, Grass-Green tanager, Chestnut-Crowned Antpitta, Sickle-Winged Antpitta, Grass-Green tanager, Plate-billed Mountain toucan, toucan barbet, great look at the resident strong-billed woodcreeper (which is huge)

23 de Junio (umbrellabird reserve) great (really great) looks at Umbrellabirds, plumbeous and bicolored hawks, yellow-collared chlorophonia

Milpe--club-winged manakin lek, good woodcreepers and tanagers

Mindo waterfall trail and areas around Mindo--cloud-forest pygmy owl, tons of tanagers, barbets, toucanets and woodcreepers, olive finch,

Paz de Aves: antpittas, Cock of the rocks, wood quail, plus lyre-tailed nightjar, tons of feeder birds at lodge (including sw guan and t. barbet at the same time), torrent tyrannulet

Hacienda La Jimenita: giant hummingbird, a couple of tough tanagers, golden-rumped euphonia, vermillion flycatcher

Various road birds: white-capped dipper, red-crested cotinga, plushcap, streak-headed antbird, masked water tyrant,

good birds seen multiple places: gh quetzal, masked trogon, Guayaquil woodpecker

mlgb

Great list! Sounds like weather held up ok.

Did you see the sunbittern? That was one I couldn't remember to mention.

I am back in Lima from N. Peru. That should be your next trip ..Marvelous Spatuletail, Long whiskered owl..Royal Sunangel...

RAC

No Sunbittern, we really spent a minimum of time by water. (Sunbittern is one of the first birds I ever recorded--we saw it our first full day in Costa Rica on the Pacuare.

Forgot to mention the Barred Forest Falcon we saw from our lunch table at Sachatamia.

I've had to promise my wife no more cloud forest birding for a while--she's not a morning person and she really prefers warm/hot weather.

Our next trip is a return to Panama.

Hopefully I will have gone through all of these photos by the time that trip comes up in February.

artiejay

So far sounds like an awesome trip - keep posting those pics!