Best Central/South American Country for Birding--Late May (1 Viewer)

[Mysticete]

Not sure I would recommend that, unless you have a guide with a vehicle some days. On my first trip to Ecuador, we stayed in Bellavista, Sashatamia and Yellow House, and I don't think there was a day when we did not use the car. One morning visiting Angel Paz at their place; one day with a guide in our rental car to Milpe and Rio Silanche, just to mention two things we did use the car for.

Niels

I would agree. If you are going to go to Northwest Ecuador, you almost have to go those places if you want the full experience. I mean, there is a reason almost every trip report visits those 3 locations not to mention Mashpi. If you just want to stay in a single local with a lot of trails that doesn't require much car travel, there are probably better options. I mean, do you really want to travel all the way there without seeing a Andean Cock of the Rock lek, or an antpitta feeder?

 

[THE_FERN]

I think you could do Panama without a car, certainly if only for a couple of weeks. You can get to pipeline road by public transport (with a fairly long walk), you can get to the metropolitan park easily... If prepared to travel further, it's easy to get to the San Fransisco reserve and hotel avicar. In the opposite direction, can get to various bits of Valle de Anton by taxi, the quetzal path out of boquete.

Alternatively, the North East of Colombia might still be good (although fewer/no migrants). The whole area from Santa Marta is easy by public transport. You could spend a week in and around Minca. There are plenty of independent guides there. A couple of weeks for the whole of the North coast (or longer if you like, of course)

 

[dandsblair]

Points taken
I think I have unconciously associated the number of species with the number of individual birds present and the quality of birding. In this case I guess I might just stick to my Ecuador-Mindo plan.
I don't know if anyone has been but if I just stay in the birding lodges in Mindo I suppose a car wouldn't be necessary?

We did a one week stay in Mindo without a car as part of a longer non birding trip and managed to do pretty well just using the same taxi driver who took us to birding spots. We didn't use a guide but they were available.
I attach the trip report which will give you an idea of birds you can see without a guide (see the Mindo section).

 

[Larry Sweetland]

If you're only going for 10 days and you haven't been to the Neotropics before, then Mindo has to be as good a place as any if your style is to bird without a guide and without your own vehicle. It was my first birding site in the Neotropics and it totally blew my mind. It was 30 years ago but I bet it's still as good. Even after a week I felt I'd barely touched the sides, and moved on to Papallacta knowing I'd relish coming back. It'll take a week just to work out vaguely what's going on!

 

[opisska]

Yellow House in Mindo is one of the few places in the world when I can imagine just sitting on the porch for a week and watching the birds as they come

I know that the requests is for the real tropical birds, but I would like to note that the Neotropics also include more southerly areas and late May should be a really good time for Misiones in Argentina (Atlantic forest) weather-wise. I only note that because I was planning to make a short trip there in late March and quickly noped out when I looked at the climate graphs, but the temperature goes down very quickly towards late May.

 

[ISeeMostBirds]

I know that the requests is for the real tropical birds, but I would like to note that the Neotropics also include more southerly areas and late May should be a really good time for Misiones in Argentina (Atlantic forest) weather-wise. I only note that because I was planning to make a short trip there in late March and quickly noped out when I looked at the climate graphs, but the temperature goes down very quickly towards late May.

Interesting idea. I think I will pass on Misiones this time just because of how long it takes to get there from the US given my limited time. But if you do end up going there let me know how the trip went.

I am contemplating between Ecuador and Costa Rica. I'm sure I can't go wrong with either but if anyone have been to either/both of these places I would love some insight.

 

[njlarsen]

I have been to both. You will need a return visit either way, because you cannot see everything either country has to offer in 10 days. Mindo might be the better option for such a short period because you will use relatively little time on transport. If you had three weeks the answer might be different. I might do 2-3 nights in Bellavista and the rest in Yellow house with the intent of doing trips further afield from Yellow house (or even one or two days at an elevation in between such as Sachatamia Lodge). Have guides whenever you feel like it: my experience is that when coming to a new place, second or third day at least should be with a guide, then you can better be without later. Make sure you have at least one morning to early afternoon at the Paz de las Aves place with their guiding (it is also possible to stay at their place, or was before the covid hit).
Niels

 

[pbjosh]

I know that the requests is for the real tropical birds, but I would like to note that the Neotropics also include more southerly areas and late May should be a really good time for Misiones in Argentina (Atlantic forest) weather-wise. I only note that because I was planning to make a short trip there in late March and quickly noped out when I looked at the climate graphs, but the temperature goes down very quickly towards late May.

I have spent a lot of time in Misiones and across the neotropics. I love Argentina and enjoy birding in Misiones quite a bit but it would never occur to me as a first trip to S America. It’s hard to move around without a car, birding the falls is a pain in the ass now with mandatory guiding, and (in my opinión) it is neither the best place to experience the Atlantic forest nor the best place to experience Argentina. That said, for independent birders who have seen a lot of the neotropics already, and who don’t mind renting a car and doing some driving and hiking it has some really rewarding birding, some Atlantic Forest birds are much easier than anywhere in Brazil, there is a great stakeout for Tapir, and the falls are of course lovely.

 

[opisska]

You have to go to the falls with a guide now?!

edit: the park website states explicitly that you don't have to have a guide, so what are you referencing?

edit2: they do, however, require people to wear masks while walking around, so no, I wouldn't go there either.

 

[pbjosh]

You have to go to the falls with a guide now?!

edit: the park website states explicitly that you don't have to have a guide, so what are you referencing?

edit2: they do, however, require people to wear masks while walking around, so no, I wouldn't go there either.

It could be that they have already changed it again. The mandatory guiding to visit the falls was extremely poorly received.

The problem was a mixture of:

-a lot of food concessions in the park
-a lot of poorly behaved visitors
-almost no ranger presence / control of anything

all yielding a situation with coatis and monkeys totally tame and shameless and being aggressive and robbing food all over the place, confrontations between animals and people, people leaving trash, etc.

So they instituted a system where you had to enter with a guide. Which no one wanted except the local guiding consortium.

But perhaps they have now scrapped it, I've not been since pre-pandemia, I'll have to ask around / look into it.

 

[ISeeMostBirds]

You have to go to the falls with a guide now?!

edit: the park website states explicitly that you don't have to have a guide, so what are you referencing?

edit2: they do, however, require people to wear masks while walking around, so no, I wouldn't go there either.

Could you send me the link to the website? thanks

 

[opisska]

Actividades

####Senderismo y trekking Las actividades se pueden realizar de manera **autónoma** o con **guía**. Por **consultas** escribinos a [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]).  #####Senderos amigables para familias ######Paseo Inferior Una...

www.argentina.gob.ar

I haven't found an English version, but this page clearly says "You can walk alone or with a guide".

 

[pbjosh]

Appears they have removed the mandatory guide, very welcome news. Here's a non-official webpage that states it a bit more clearly:

Recorrer Cataratas con un guía profesional.

Desde el día 7 de octubre del 2021 deja de ser obligatorio la reserva de un guia profesional de turismo para los visitantes que lleguen de forma particular al Parque Nacional Iguazú. Quienes visiten el parque por sus propios medios pueden optar por reservar o no un guia de turismo profesional. Quien

welcomecataratas.com

 

[LittleBrownCreeper]

Just don't go with the guide I had (more or less the only one)

Who was this suboptimal guide?

 

[AveryBartels]

Not sure I would recommend that, unless you have a guide with a vehicle some days. On my first trip to Ecuador, we stayed in Bellavista, Sashatamia and Yellow House, and I don't think there was a day when we did not use the car. One morning visiting Angel Paz at their place; one day with a guide in our rental car to Milpe and Rio Silanche, just to mention two things we did use the car for.

Niels

I would imagine it would be pretty straightforward to visit enough of the locations around Mindo via taxi/transport arranged through whichever lodge one was staying in at the time. Of course having ones own vehicle gives more flexibility but if one is not so concerned with getting all the specialties this may not be so important. One thing I have had success with in the past is renting taxis for the day, often they have a quite reasonable hourly rate. Note that some of the lodges around Mindo have transport to/from Quito/airport.

 

[Chris Pringle]

This is an older thread and hope the OP chose the right place to bird in late May 2022.

From my own experience, rain is really prevalent in all of Central America and South America that time of the year (late May). The issue is not so much birding out in the rain, but the violent electrical storms that commonly make a presence.

For a more enjoyable experience in May, I personally would head over to sub-tropical regions of Mexico like Puerto Vallarta and San Blas in Nayarit, which is just north of PV. Hawaii would also make a great destination in May. I was fascinated by the various different of interesting and colorful bird species the Hawaiian islands offer. If not wanting a guide, you’d need to rent a car to explore both PV or Hawaii, however.

Here’s a video of birding around San Blas, near Puerto Vallarta:

 

[Andy Hurley]

The time you are planning to go is good time for Austral migrants. They reach Panama. I never been further south than the Florida Keys. I can't help on birding down there, but this might be interesting; Migration - BirdForum Opus

• Panama. More than one million waders use the Upper Bay to refuel, or overwinter. This includes 165,000 Semipalmated Sandpipers and 30,000 Semipalmated Plovers. Austral migrants also visit Panama during the southern winter. These include Brown-chested Martin, Blue-and-white Swallow and Pearly-breasted Cuckoo. The need for protecting overwintering locations is therefore important during both the southern and northern winters. The pressure on land use for suitable conservation sites effectively doubles.
• Ecuador. Humedales de Pacoa, especially the area between Monteverde and San Pablo is visited by 20-30,000 Wilson's Phalarope that overwinter in the lagoons along the coast. Other neararctic migrants reaching Ecuador include Blackburnian Warbler, Canada Warbler and American Redstart.
• 
  
• Peru. The Laguna de Ite in southern Peru provides and important wintering site for Elegant Tern. Boreal Common Terns and Elegant Terns also overwinter further north near Mollendo. Peru has 79 boreal and 42 austral regular migrant bird species. In addition a further 20 species migrate regularly from the southern oceans and tropical islands, and 4 species from the Galapagos Archipelago. 7.8 % of all Peru's birds are migratory. Accidentals and rarities make up a further 49 species but these are not included in theses figures.

These places are written up with migration in mind, so don't include non-migratory species, or all the migratory ones either, but they are still good birding areas that may be worth a visit. Probably not the best for the birds mentioned up thread, but might be worth a look.

 

[THE_FERN]

There's almost no impact of austral migrants in Panama. Nearctic ones of course and in May there may still be some but broadly speaking it's too late and the majority have departed

 

[MiddleRiver]

I had no idea that Opus entry existed. VERY nice! Thanks ;-)

 

[Andy Hurley]

Thanks very much, MiddleRiver!

It's still a work in progress, but getting there.