How long to stay in Mindo, Ecuador (3 Viewers)

[Christopher K]

Hi everyone. We are two enthusiastic but casual biders, more in it to see many coloured species than tracking down grey endemics, though we'll still get excited if we stumble across a rarity. We intend to divide our two weeks in August between the Amazon near Coca and Mindo. How much time should we spend in each?

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

I visited Mindo a few years ago and stayed for five nights (at the excellent Yellow House Lodge). I was able to visit most of the places in the area and saw a lot of good birds. I don't think you would 'clean up' in that number of days, but that doesn't sound like your objective.

 

[lgonz1008]

This all depends if you are driving a car/using a local guide or driver, but for East slope, I'd plan something like this:

• Quito to Mindo via Zuro Loma and Yanacocha Reserves, both are in similar elevation but they give different target species. Night in Mindo
• Day in Paz de las Aves and Tandayapa Valley
• Day in Amagusa Reserve and Guayabillas Road
• Day in Rio Silanche and Milpe Bird Sanctuary

With 4 days, you have the minimum time you can spend and see around 300 species from lowlands all the way up to high montane forest and some Choco endemics. If you have more time, then add two more days for these:

• Day in Bellavista Cloud Forest Lodge and nearby area (you can pay a small day trip fee and see many cloud forest species that don't go down as easily to Tandayapa)
• Day in Recinto 23 de Junio (Long-wattled Umbrellabird) and Via a Las Cascadas (better chance to get good views of many species that you might get small glimpses of elsewhere if your luck is bad such as the Toucans)
• Morning in Punto Ornitologico Mindo (Sunbittern and White-throated Crake) and departure

If you go 7 days, I wouldn't be surprised if you left the Mindo area with somewhere between 350-400 species and many of them don't carry over to the Amazonian side, so you can still get 100-200 new species there too.

 

[Mysticete]

Another plus to Bellavista: If you like animals of the furry variety, it's considered one of the more reliable sites for Olinguito and Kinkajou, which visit the feeders at night.

Although I have no experience with visiting the Amazon, Ecuador or otherwise, do note that many of the well known lodges are pretty expensive here. I think there are cheaper options of course, but they might be a little less information on them.

 

[Christopher K]

I visited Mindo a few years ago and stayed for five nights (at the excellent Yellow House Lodge). I was able to visit most of the places in the area and saw a lot of good birds. I don't think you would 'clean up' in that number of days, but that doesn't sound like your objective.

Hi Andrew, thanks for your comment; I think you've assessed our objective correctly!

 

[Christopher K]

This all depends if you are driving a car/using a local guide or driver, but for East slope, I'd plan something like this:

• Quito to Mindo via Zuro Loma and Yanacocha Reserves, both are in similar elevation but they give different target species. Night in Mindo
• Day in Paz de las Aves and Tandayapa Valley
• Day in Amagusa Reserve and Guayabillas Road
• Day in Rio Silanche and Milpe Bird Sanctuary

With 4 days, you have the minimum time you can spend and see around 300 species from lowlands all the way up to high montane forest and some Choco endemics. If you have more time, then add two more days for these:

• Day in Bellavista Cloud Forest Lodge and nearby area (you can pay a small day trip fee and see many cloud forest species that don't go down as easily to Tandayapa)
• Day in Recinto 23 de Junio (Long-wattled Umbrellabird) and Via a Las Cascadas (better chance to get good views of many species that you might get small glimpses of elsewhere if your luck is bad such as the Toucans)
• Morning in Punto Ornitologico Mindo (Sunbittern and White-throated Crake) and departure

If you go 7 days, I wouldn't be surprised if you left the Mindo area with somewhere between 350-400 species and many of them don't carry over to the Amazonian side, so you can still get 100-200 new species there too.

Wow Igonz, that's a detailed program. I'll spend tomorrow looking at your suggestions. Many thanks!

 

[Christopher K]

Another plus to Bellavista: If you like animals of the furry variety, it's considered one of the more reliable sites for Olinguito and Kinkajou, which visit the feeders at night.

Although I have no experience with visiting the Amazon, Ecuador or otherwise, do note that many of the well known lodges are pretty expensive here. I think there are cheaper options of course, but they might be a little less information on them.

Thanks Mysticete. The Amazon will be expensive, but hey, life is to be enjoyed, and what better way than looking at beautiful birds?

 

[DMW]

Just be aware that forest birding in Amazonia can be pretty challenging once you've seen the low-hanging fruit. You can go long periods without seeing anything, then have a mixed species canopy flock go through with 30 species, none of which you can identify! I loved birding in the Amazon, but it's definitely somewhere that rewards longer stays. The cloud forest around Mindo is easier in general, with brighter and showier birds, at least in my experience. Whether that means spending more time in the Amazon, or more time in Mindo is a difficult call.

 

[lgonz1008]

Just be aware that forest birding in Amazonia can be pretty challenging once you've seen the low-hanging fruit. You can go long periods without seeing anything, then have a mixed species canopy flock go through with 30 species, none of which you can identify! I loved birding in the Amazon, but it's definitely somewhere that rewards longer stays. The cloud forest around Mindo is easier in general, with brighter and showier birds, at least in my experience. Whether that means spending more time in the Amazon, or more time in Mindo is a difficult call.

As someone who spent a 5 days in Amazonian Guyana, I can confirm DMW's comment of the long periods, mixed flocks were few and far between and I was unlucky enough that the few flocks I had were 10 species or less.

However, Mindo's cloud forest and the area around Amagusa and Guayabillas road did give me some amazing mixed flocks, think 40 species mixed flock while birding Paz de las Aves (literally 40% of my species that day were in this flock), but the mixed flocks in Amagusa and Guayabillas had less in numbers variety but more in the species quality, think Choco Vireo next to Rufous-throated Tanager in the same branch or Brown-billed Scythebill alongside Yellow-green and Scarlet-and-white Tanagers.

 

[lgonz1008]

Wow Igonz, that's a detailed program. I'll spend tomorrow looking at your suggestions. Many thanks!

Enjoy it, based on how you try to do your birding, the species variety is likely lower, but places like Paz de las Aves you might be lucky to get a free local guide just because someone else booked a tour there while you did your day visit (I know that happened with some birders when I visited there).

 

[Dortmundbirder]

There are actually 2 recent trip reports in the Trip report Section by lgonz1008 and myself covering the area you are trying to visit. Id recommend having a look at those, as both trips are covering similiar places but with a different approach to them. So maybe you find the best way for yourself there by our experiences
If you want to do a little bit more budget variation of the Ecuadorian Amazon you might want to have a look at the Misuahali / Tena area. Easier reachable, easier logistics but not on the same level as the areas only reachable by canoe regarding Macaws for example.
If you have any questions iam happy to help.

 

[Christopher K]

There are actually 2 recent trip reports in the Trip report Section by lgonz1008 and myself covering the area you are trying to visit. Id recommend having a look at those, as both trips are covering similiar places but with a different approach to them. So maybe you find the best way for yourself there by our experiences
If you want to do a little bit more budget variation of the Ecuadorian Amazon you might want to have a look at the Misuahali / Tena area. Easier reachable, easier logistics but not on the same level as the areas only reachable by canoe regarding Macaws for example.
If you have any questions iam happy to help.

Thanks Dortmund we've just booked at Sani Lodge for 4 nights in August...only 6 months to go!!

 

[opisska]

Forever, if possible.

 

[LittleBrownCreeper]

There are actually 2 recent trip reports in the Trip report Section by lgonz1008 and myself covering the area you are trying to visit. Id recommend having a look at those, as both trips are covering similiar places but with a different approach to them. So maybe you find the best way for yourself there by our experiences
If you want to do a little bit more budget variation of the Ecuadorian Amazon you might want to have a look at the Misuahali / Tena area. Easier reachable, easier logistics but not on the same level as the areas only reachable by canoe regarding Macaws for example.
If you have any questions iam happy to help.

Dortmundbirder: I'm traveling solo Sept. or Oct. and will study your itineraries in detail. I'm an avid longtime but NOT a "power birder." Meaning I want to spend almost all my time birding, but I won't stick a fork in my eye if I don't check off every species or bag 40 spp./day.

I don't have lots of experience birding in the tropics, though. Last time, in the Philippines, I was surprised how hard it was seeing into the canopy. Is it a skill you gain, or would I still benefit from a birding guide?

If you recommend a guide, do you recommend trying to schedule an entire trip with a birding guide or just picking up guides at the lodges? And how experienced are they?

Many thanks to you (and to Igonz1008, who has also been generous with information).

 

[opisska]

While I fully agree that birding is often not easy in tropical rainforest, this was not really the case in and around Mindo. The mountain forests are much easier to see birds in. Around Mindo, there is a lot of gardens, forest edges, clearings etc. where the view is good and the steep slopes of some areas make it easy to see into trees below you. It's really a different experience than in more lowland areas where a lot of birds hide high above you in the canopy.

 

[Larry Sweetland]

From my experience there is an enormous difference between Mindo and (many of the) forests in the Philippines when it comes to finding lots of birds. I found it much harder finding birds in the Philippines, but around Mindo the variety on show was constantly overwhelming.

Dortmundbirder: I'm traveling solo Sept. or Oct. and will study your itineraries in detail. I'm an avid longtime but NOT a "power birder." Meaning I want to spend almost all my time birding, but I won't stick a fork in my eye if I don't check off every species or bag 40 spp./day.

I don't have lots of experience birding in the tropics, though. Last time, in the Philippines, I was surprised how hard it was seeing into the canopy. Is it a skill you gain, or would I still benefit from a birding guide?

If you recommend a guide, do you recommend trying to schedule an entire trip with a birding guide or just picking up guides at the lodges? And how experienced are they?

Many thanks to you (and to Igonz1008, who has also been generous with information).

 

[Dortmundbirder]

Dortmundbirder: I'm traveling solo Sept. or Oct. and will study your itineraries in detail. I'm an avid longtime but NOT a "power birder." Meaning I want to spend almost all my time birding, but I won't stick a fork in my eye if I don't check off every species or bag 40 spp./day.

I don't have lots of experience birding in the tropics, though. Last time, in the Philippines, I was surprised how hard it was seeing into the canopy. Is it a skill you gain, or would I still benefit from a birding guide?

If you recommend a guide, do you recommend trying to schedule an entire trip with a birding guide or just picking up guides at the lodges? And how experienced are they?

Many thanks to you (and to Igonz1008, who has also been generous with information).

I find it difficult to give an optimal advice here. As Everyone tends to bird different and has different approaches of getting onto species.
Finding and seeing birds around Mindo is as already mentioned above not a big problem. If you have fun in Iding birds on your own and are not too unhappy with letting some birds get away without ID i can recommend the area without a full time guide without hesitation. Maybe you pick up a guide if you want to go for a different place or area.

All guides we used or even just met in the field were very experienced and there are a lot of them available in Ecuador.

 

[LittleBrownCreeper]

From my experience there is an enormous difference between Mindo and (many of the) forests in the Philippines when it comes to finding lots of birds. I found it much harder finding birds in the Philippines, but around Mindo the variety on show was constantly overwhelming.

Ah, good to know! I was thinking the jungle would be too dense to actually see much except at feeders. I'd like to get into the bosque not watch feeders the whole time.

 

[LittleBrownCreeper]

I find it difficult to give an optimal advice here. As Everyone tends to bird different and has different approaches of getting onto species.
Finding and seeing birds around Mindo is as already mentioned above not a big problem. If you have fun in Iding birds on your own and are not too unhappy with letting some birds get away without ID i can recommend the area without a full time guide without hesitation. Maybe you pick up a guide if you want to go for a different place or area.

All guides we used or even just met in the field were very experienced and there are a lot of them available in Ecuador.

I find it difficult to give an optimal advice here. As Everyone tends to bird different and has different approaches of getting onto species.
Finding and seeing birds around Mindo is as already mentioned above not a big problem. If you have fun in Iding birds on your own and are not too unhappy with letting some birds get away without ID i can recommend the area without a full time guide without hesitation. Maybe you pick up a guide if you want to go for a different place or area.

All guides we used or even just met in the field were very experienced and there are a lot of them available in Ecuador.

Usually, I like to ID birds on my own. But after taking a gander at Ridgely and Greenfield, I'm thinking a guide would be helpful. Especially because I don't want to drive and I'm traveling solo. Maybe I'll try a few places on my own, though.

 

[Dortmundbirder]

Usually, I like to ID birds on my own. But after taking a gander at Ridgely and Greenfield, I'm thinking a guide would be helpful. Especially because I don't want to drive and I'm traveling solo. Maybe I'll try a few places on my own, though.

The places in Mindo itself are pretty easy. And doable by walking, or you can get a quick taxi e.g. to the top of the waterfall trail and then slowly bird down the trail yourself back to the town.