ECUADOR: MINDO, PART 3 - THE MEN'S BIRDING TRIPS TO MASHPI AMAGUSA RESERVE AND MILPI BIRD SANCTUARY

 March 18, 2022

As mentioned previously, my friend and I slept in to recover from our long flights and the hot, meal-less tour of Panama City. At about 9:00 AM, we ate a gourmet breakfast, then visited butterflies and a chocolate factory. Meanwhile, Bob and Terry got up at 5:30 AM to meet a bird guide, drove two hours to Mashpi Amagusa Reserve, ate plain bread with thin slices of meat, and stared into trees.

I thought we had the much better deal.

Then I saw Bob's photos.

I have to keep reminding myself that HE has the long, telephoto lens that gives him these views, and that I would have been looking mostly at specks among the leaves. Still.

The Mashpi Amagusa Reserve, according to their website, is "Privately owned 130 hectares [321 acres] of recovering forest . . . . [T]his area is the last foothill-forest that directly connects to the lower subtropical western forest of Ecuador. Its unique location makes it particularly attractive for birders looking for the highest biodiversity regions with chocó endemic birds." 

So what is "Chocó endemic"? "Chocó" refers to a region extending from southeast Panama, along the western sections of Columbia and Ecuador, and including northwestern Peru. This region is recognized as one of the most biologically and culturally diverse regions in the world.  "Endemic" refers to a species found only in a specific part of the world. The Chocó region has the largest number of endemic birds in the Americas--over 50 species.

As noted in a previous post, Bob has photos of 60-70 birds from this day trip, and many of them are Chocó endemic. 

Bob gave me a flash drive loaded with his bird photos from the trip. Here are some of my favorites from his bird-watching day. Click on any picture to enlarge.

Flame-rumped tanager

Golden tanager

Glistening green tanager

Rose-faced parrot

Bronze-winged parrot

The area is known for its many species of hummingbirds. Here are just a few of the many pictures Bob took of them:

Empress brilliant hummingbird

Empress brilliant hummingbirds
perched on Terry's hand

Velvet-purple coronet hummingbird, front view

Velvet-purple coronet hummingbird, side view

Long-tailed sylph hummingbird

Green thorntail hummingbird

Green crowned brilliant hummingbird

Green-fronted lancebill hummingbird

Moving on to some other types of birds:

Orange-billed sparrow

Orange-bellied euphoria

Moss-backed tanager

Black-chinned mountain tanager

Green and black fruiteater

Golden-collared honeycreeper

Flame-faced tanager

Golden-naped tanager

Toucan barbet

Crimson-rumped toucanet

Blue-gray tanager

Rufous-throated tanager, back view

Rufous-throated tanager, front view

Ornate flycatcher

Barred becard (eating a bug)

Broad-billed motmot (I had to blow this one up just so you could see that crazy tail.)

Lyre-tailed nightingale (Same thing about the tail)

After Bob, Terry, and the guide spent three or four hours at Mashpi, they drove an hour and a half to Milpi Bird Sanctuary, which was at least relatively close to Mindo. (I was happy not to be doing all that driving.)

The Milpe Bird Sanctuary was created in 2004 and covers about 250 acres. Bob and Terry liked it so much that we all went to it together the following day.

Chestnut-billed toucan

Collared aracari

Palm tanager

Green honeycreeper

Bananaquit

Crowned woodnymph hummingbirds, male (left) and female (right)

Male white-necked Jacobin hummingbird

Female white-necked Jacobin hummingbird

Green thorntail hummingbirds, male (left) and female (right)

Green-crowned brilliant hummingbird

Velvet purple coronet hummingbird

Crested guan

I want to point out that our hotel, Las Terrazas de Mindo, has its own birding spot, complete with some hummingbird feeders and a horizontal branch where the management places plantain slices to attract birds.

Bob took the following pictures at that spot right in front of our hotel.

Female white-lined tanager 

Scrub blackbird

Female thick-billed euphonia

Male thick-billed euphonia

READING

I had the book The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson in my Audible queue for a few months leading up to this trip to Ecuador, unaware how relevant it would be to our trip. The book begins with the tale of the theft of 300 bird "skins" worth at least a million dollars from the British Natural History Museum. It turns out the 20-year-old professional-musician-turned-thief wanted the feathers for his obsession with fly-tying for salmon fishing.

Who knew feathers were so valuable? Johnson delves into the history of the bird-and-feather trade to give context for the theft. He begins by reviewing the  discovery of exotic birds by explorers and naturalists and the fascination these birds held for Americans and Europeans, as well as the role some of the same birds played in Darwin's and others' theories about the origin of species. 

Johnson also examines various industries/customs that preyed on the beautiful birds of the world for their feathers, including the ladies' fashion industry in the 1700s and 1800s, when feathers used for hats and clothing ornamentation cost  much more per pound than gold. He also discusses the evolution of the fly-fishing industry of the last 100+ years, which was and is much more about the art of the fly-tie rather than the functionality. 

I was stunned by the number of birds that were killed just to get a few feathers, and I wonder what Ecuador's cloud forests and other tropical places would be like today if those birds had not been killed.

If you are a nature lover, a bird lover, and/or an environmentalist, I highly recommend this fascinating book.