March 6th, 2009   Tags: ,

Ecuador 6: Yanacocha

It was time to leave Mindo and progress to the next exciting section of the trip. Today was going to be about travelling, with our first high elevation birding en route. We had an early breakfast, said our goodbyes to the lovely staff at Sachatamia Lodge, and headed back up the Old Mindo Road. [...]

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March 5th, 2009   Tags: , ,

Ecuador 5: Silanche is golden

Today couldn’t possibly live up to yesterday, could it?

No. But never mind, it was still good. We left the lodge early and drove to Rio Silanche, another great cloud forest reserve. We started at the tower, where our view of the canopy wasn’t interupted by much bird action, although we did see both Green and [...]

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March 4th, 2009   Tags: ,

Ecuador 4: Angel Paz

Mr. Schofield had promised us great things today. We would meet Angel Paz…

Refugio Paz de las Aves was created by Angel Paz and his brother Wilson Rodrigo. They planned to clear their plot of cloud forest for agriculture but then, somehow, discovered that antpittas loved disemboweled earthworms! Instead they set up the reserve – no mean feat, [...]

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March 3rd, 2009   Tags:

Ecuador 3: Cloud Forest

Today saw our first “proper” cloud forest birding, and it was impressive. We spent the morning birding around the Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve. It was often raining and usually misty – there’s a clue in the name, I guess. But, wow! What a place. The birding was great, with new species everywhere and one of the [...]

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March 2nd, 2009   Tags:

Ecuador 2: Quito to Mindo

I met the rest of the group – my brother Rob Fray, Micky Maher and our esteemed leader, Richard Schofield – at the airport and we collected our rental car. It was finally time for some birds! It was also my first chance to see Quito in daylight; it’s a very impressive city. We headed out of [...]

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