MILPE

 3/15/21

At 06:00 we were on our way to the Milpe Reserve.  We drove back up to the main highway and then continued the descent downslope on the Andes west flank.  I noticed that road was not as steep as it had been from Quito to Mindo, little by little leveling out.  Milpe was another 3300 feet lower in elevation.

The gravel road we turned off on had been affected by the rains and we could not drive very fast for the ruts.  But today the road would be spared as it was not raining.  It was not sunny either, just cloudy.  We got out at the reserve entrance but walked on the road for about a half mile.  

The birds were waking up and the forest was alive with their sound.  Before we reached the trail into the forest we saw the following: Ochre-breasted Tanager, Gray and Gold Tanager, Guira Tanager, Blue-tailed Trogon, Collared Trogon, Choco Toucan, Collared Aracari, Purple-crowned Fairy, Esmeraldes Antbird, Blue-gray Tanager, Blackburnian Warbler, Buff-fronted Foliage Gleaner and a few others I’m certainly forgetting.

We would loop back to the reserve entrance on a trail system.  Good thing it had stopped raining recently or the trail would have been slick and muddy.  Two lifers quick to come were Spotted Nightingale-Thrush and Chestnut-backed Antibird, neither of which I got great looks at but both were vocal.  Birding was more difficult within the cloud forest as the growth is thick both at ground level and above in the trees.  But the birds appeared consistently.  Riverbank Warblers, Buff-throated Foliage Gleaner, Yellow-throated and Dusky Bush-Tanagers, Broad-billed Motmots, Scaled Fruiteater, Chivi Vireo.

Riverbank Warbler

When we were close to the end of the loop we heard the bird for which Milpe is somewhat known for: The Club-winged Manakin. He makes a vibrating sound with his wings which results in a medium range pitched buzz.  We kept walking toward it.  After waiting for about 5 minutes he appeared above us.  I have some poor pictures, and we even saw him do his wing vibrating which was just fascinating.  

Club-winged Manakin

We made it back to the entrance which was also a large feeding station for the birds.  Three hummingbird feeders attracted about 50 birds of 8 species while we were there.  The White-necked Jacobins were the bullies as their numbers tripled any other hummer species and they often chased the others off, hogging the feeders.  Here’s a shot with 3 of them feeding at one well of a feeder!

White-necked Jacobins.  Can you see
there are 3 of them at one feeding well!

Others in attendance were White-whiskered, Green Thorntail, Green-crowned Brilliant, Crowned Woodnymph, Andean Emerald and Rufous-tailed Hummingbird.  These all could be watched from the comfort for a large shelter that also served as a small eatery with tables and chairs.

Green-crowned Brilliant

White-whiskered Hermit

Female Green Thorntail

Fork-tailed Woodnymph

About 40 feet out from the shelter was a feeding station for other birds.  A large stalk of bamboo was placed horizontally in which had been sawed out square spaces about every 2 feet in which bananas were placed.  Above that was a long limb which made a great stopping perch for birds coming in to feed, and was also the better place for the photographers preferring to shoot pictures not on the feeder.

Female Green Honeycreeper

Choco Toucan

It was quite the show to watch them come to eat.  Usually the bamboo had birds on it, and sometimes a little crowded.  The usual ones were Collared Aracari, Choco Toucan, Golden, Silver-throated, Golden-naped and Dusky-faced Tanagers, Green Honeycreepers and an Orange-crowned Sparrow.  One of the local squirrels came twice, and an agouti made a short appearance below the feeder one.

Collared Aracari

It came time to leave, and I really wanted a T-shirt from the gift shop, but they were ones with the ironed on designs rather than part of the fabric, so I passed on such.  I did by a cap as I needed one after losing my other one on a trip to dentist a few weeks earlier.