Discovering the World Sans Valise: Mindo Cloud Forest in Ecuador, a bird watching paradise

We left Quito to go to Mindo, a small town about 2 hours by bus northwest of Quito. It was recommended to us as a nice birding area. Although we have done very little bird watching in our life, we were enthusiastic about trying it. It was a great success. We saw several toucans and many, many other small colorful birds (difficult to capture with a camera due to their constant movement). We also spotted multiple Andean "cock of the rock" birds, early one morning. The butterfly farm that we visited was definitively the best we had ever visited before, with no less than fourteen different species of butterflies in a beautiful enclosure. Some of the butterflies raised in this farm are released in the wild.

In the bus going to Mindo

Not surprisingly, lots of clouds in Mindo

Our hotel, slightly out of town with a beautiful view on the forest

Alex was so skilled at spotting the birds and setting his telescope within seconds, so we could admire the birds! He was whisteling to attract the birds He could recognize the birds from the sound they made. It was truly impressive - the art of bird watching. We really enjoyed this experience with Alex.

The next day, we went with another bird watching guide to try to spot the cock of the rock in the forest. We left at 5 am. These birds are large birds native to South America. They are difficult to see in the wild. As you can judge below, the cock of the rock has a very odd shaped head. Since my pictures are not capturing the bird always very clearly, I am first showing you how they look like.....in books.