In Mindo we stayed at a lodge called The Yellow House, which is renowned for its adjoining bird trails. From the balcony of our house I could spot a couple of dozen bird species. When it was not wet enough for the camera to come out, there was excellent lighting to shoot birds and the below shots are the result.
Tuesday, 1st May, 2018
Mindo,Ecuador - May-2018
Hummingbirds
Watching hummingbirds is a breathtaking experience. There are enough clues that they are birds, but so much else of what they do is so completely wacko. They come in psychedelic packaging. They fly backwards, and they can hover in one place. Their acceleration and deceleration are barely within the bounds of physical laws. They flap their wings so fast that all you can see of them are two blurs. And yes, you can hear the humming. All those adaptations are designed to capture the nectar market, but they are so energy intensive that the birds have to go into a state of torpor when they rest. In the remaining time they have to ingest twice their body weight's worth of food.
There can't be too many better place to see hummingbirds than the cloud forests of Mindo. Our lodge had a balcony at canopy level and our host had hung a few feeders out. The birds that came to feed had a convenient (for me) habit of perching back on the exact same twig between sorties to the feeder, making it relatively easy to photograph them.
Violet-purple Coronet Hummingbird (Boissonneaua jardini)
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird (Amazilia tzacatl)
Green-crowned Woodnymph Hummingbird (Thalurania colombica fannyi)
White-necked Jacobin Hummingbird (Florisuga mellivora)
Green-crowned Brilliant Hummingbird (Heliodoxa jacula)
Andean Emerald Hummingbird (Amazilia franciae)
Brown Violet-ear Hummingbird (Colibri delphinae)
Green and White Hummingbird (Amazilia viridicauda)
Long-tailed Sylph Hummingbird (Aglaiocercus kingii)
The long-tailed Sylph is fascinating to watch in flight. Unfortunately I couldn't get a picture with the full tail in the frame.
White-bellied Woodstar Hummingbird (Chaetocercus mulsant)
Lesser Violetear Hummingbird (Colibri cyanotus)
Purple-bibbed Whitetip Hummingbird (Urosticte benjamini)
Brown Inca Hummingbird (Coeligena wilsoni)
Fawn-breasted Brilliant Hummingbird (Heliodoxa rubinoides)
Tanagers
The forests of Mindo teem with Tanagers, members of the Thraupidae family.
Blue-winged Mountain Tanager (Anisognathus somptuosus)
Golden Tanager (Tangara arthus)
Golden-naped Tanager (Tangara ruficervix)
Lemon-rumped Tanager (Ramphocelus icteronotus)
Blue-Grey Tanager (Thraupis episcopus)
Palm Tanager (Thraupis palmarum)
White-lined Tanager (Tachyphonus rufus)
Lemon-rumped Tanager (Ramphocelus icteronotus)
Bay-headed Tanager (Tangara gyrola)
Bananaquit (Coereba flaveola)
Others...
Zeledon's Antbird (Hafferia zeledoni)
Red-headed Barbet (Eubucco bourcierii)
Common Squirrel Cuckoo (Piaya cayana)
Thick-billed Euphonia (Euphonia laniirostris)
Orange-bellied Euphonia (Euphonia xanthogaster)
Social Flycatcher (Myiozetetes similis)
Grey-capped Flycatcher (Myiozetetes granadensis)
Scaly-throated Foliage Gleaner (Anabacerthia variegaticeps)
Rufous Motmot (Baryphthengus martii)
Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans)
Olivaceous Piculet (Picumnus olivaceus)
Orange-billed Sparrow (Arremon aurantiirostris)
Blue-and-white Swallow (Notiochelidon cyanoleuca)
Choco Toucan (Ramphastos brevis)
Crimson-rumped Toucanet (Aulacorhynchus haematopygus)
Guayaquil Woodpecker (Campephilus gayaquilensis)
