10 November 2010

Magical Milpe (NW Ecuador): 9 Nov 2010



Another day trip from Tandayapa Lodge, this time to the Mindo Cloudforest Foundation reserve of Milpe, in the western foothills of the Andes, near the town of San Miguel de los Bancos. What a day. We opened with Rufous-throated Tanagers feeding in a low fruiting tree, then were dazzled by the antics of displaying Club-winged Manakins (voted the bird of the trip in our four days by the way-good choice), and followed on chasing down flocks filled with foliage-gleaners, and even trogons (including Choco Trogon), and finished off watching Black-tipped Cotinga and Choco Toucans along the road. It's all good. When you've not been birding in Ecuador for 8 months you soon forget how easy it is to rack up more than two hundred species in just a couple of (well four) days! The photos are of the oh so cute and friendly Ornate Flycatcher, very well-named (photo)

1 comment:

john said...

Thanks for posting photos of an Ornate Flycatcher. It just so happens that I just finished a painting of a pair of Ornate Flycatchers inspired by my sighting of them in Milpe. If you have the interest, you can see a photo of the painting on my little blog,
The Life of a Painter , http://johnlofgreen.blogspot.com. The painting is in the post entitled, Guayaquil and a New Painting. One of the flycatchers in the painting looks nearly identicle to your top photo.