Various Oregon Birding Piks: THE BOTANICAL GARDEN

3/16/21

I’ve known there has been a botanical garden in Mindo ever since I read about coming here, at least 15 years ago. It has been recommended as a good place for birding. So this afternoon, after having gone to the Birderwatcher’s House, I thought I’d check it out. Tis about a 10 minute walk across town.

There was a sign at the entrance that gave prices for bird tours, $5 for one and $10 for the other. A large open air building served as a greeting place, and around the parameter were hummer and banana feeders. As no one was around I checked out the hummers, snapped a few pics. In about 5 minutes a guy came up from down near the river. His name was Alcivar, and he spoke no English but wore a big smile and was quite congenial. I tried to ask him about the tours but really did not succeed in finding out answers. I could tell he was happy to lead me around, and when he said something about a “Potoo” and we were off to the races.

We descended toward the flats along the river, and about half way down he pointed out some Scarlet-rumped Caciques. After they were gone a pair of Rufous Motmots showed up. After they were gone he nonchalantly pointed and said, “Oh....Potoo.” Right there in front of us perched stolidly on a snag was a Common Potoo.

Common Potoo

In hindsight I think he had us wait there to see if I’d spot it on my own. It was amazing how he blended in. Alcivar showed me pics of one of the parent Potoos with a few babies, which were whitish in color.

We walked around the property seeing birds everywhere. The river had few access points, and we checked them all. At one of the was a female Torrent Duck.

Female Torrent Duck

This was a nice find. Shortly after he showed me a hummingbird on a nest. It looked to be a female White-collared Jacobin. The next time I came birding there, he showed me the remains of the nest on the ground, and tried to explain how it happened, but I just could not understand what he was saying. Another bird I finally got to photograph here was a Yellow-throated Bush Tanager.

Yellow-throated Bush Tanager

And then I finally saw a bird I’ve been wanting to photograph, a Blue-necked Tanager. Here are poor pics of him.

Blue-necked Tanager

They are sooo beautiful! I hope I can get a better one while I’m here.

Along a trail were a pair of Riverside Warblers.

Riverside Warbler

There are a series of small ponds on the flat areas which are full of water lilies. Javiar had told me there were White-throated Crakes in those ponds, so I asked Alcivar about them. He said there were and went about putting out some fish food for them, and then played their song repeatedly. After 5 minutes one piped up a few times, but would not come to the food.

We went back up to the entry building and I asked him about payment, and he pointed to a donation box, to which I placed $10.00. He asked me about coming back for the crake, and I said Saturday. He told me about 07:00 wound be a good time.

Saturday came and I was over there a few minutes early. He rattled off something about the crake, so down we went to try to call it out. We played his song for about 10 minutes but got only 2 responses. He then said something about a “Sunbittern,” to which I said, “Vamenos (Let’s go!)”. (While Alcivar did not speak hardly any English, he did know the English names of the birds, if you could understand his accent.) When we neared the next set of ponds he motioned to keep quiet as we snuck through the opening in the hedgerow. I really thought the bird would be in the river, so was not expecting it to be there, but as he was looking around for something one way, I looked the other way and saw the bird. I asked him about moving closer to which he gave his approval so I gingerly walked toward the bird. He walked away, flew a couple times to a nearby perch, allowing me some decent shots.

Sunbittern

Other birds that I was able to photograph before leaving for breakfast were a Red-faced Spinetail, Bery-spangled Tanager and Orange-billed Sparrow.

Bery-spangled Tanager

Red-faced Spinetail

Orange-billed Sparrow

Back at Armonas Orchidias were a young couple eating who turned out to be budding birders, and I was happy to tell them what I knew. As I had told Alcivar that I’d be returning after breakfast, I invited the couple along and they accepted, and we walked across town. It turned out that Alcivar was not there, but his sister was, and she carried a pair of binoculars. As they all communicated in Spanish, I let her identify the hummers and chat with them while I waited for birds to show at the banana feeders. The couple could only stay for about 45 minutes due to other obligations but made arrangements to return later in the day.

I ended up staying there about 3 hours. Alcivar showed up and so did the birds. Many came to eat bananas but others were in close proximity so there was lots to see. Here are some of the shots during that time. I am a little hesitant to admit that I took about 1400 pics that day. At least 1/4 of them were of two situations: the first was of a parent Scarlet-rumped Cacique and her baby who came to the banana feeders, and the baby was begging for food. The second was when a flock of Maroon-tailed Parakeets landed in one of the trees next to the building, and I believed that if I took enough photos a few would turn out well. Well, I admit, I’m always hoping for the perfect photo.

Scarlet-rumped Cacique

Maroon-tailed Parakeet

And since we are long past the days of film and developing (with their costs) and one can record hundreds at a time on a flash card, the approach to bird photography has changed a lot. So enjoy my obsession of that day:

Red-headed Barbet - Male

Red-headed Barbet - Female

Thick-Billed Euphonia

Palm Tanager

Squirrel Cuckoo

I went back over the morning of 3/22/21 and stayed for 3 hours. Of the pics that follow I have lost track of which ones I took on what days, but at least they were all at the Botanical Gardens

Male Guira Tanager

Blue and Black Tanager

Orange-bellied Euphonia

Little Cuckoo

Slaty-capped Flycatcher

Olivaceous Piculet

Golden-olive Woodpecker

Female Pacific Antwren

Fawn-breasted Tanager

White-whiskered Hermit

As far as right in town it just may be the best place for birds within city limits. Next to the river with lots of variety in trees and shrubs, feeders. Plus Alcivar knows them pretty well, and certainly has a great set of ears. We saw a Rufous-tailed Hummer buzzing around with nesting material in her beak, and he seemed to know where to look for where it might be, and found it.

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird nest

So if you make it to Mindo and are birding, this is one place you should go. In 2-3 hours you could tally 50-60 species, and get good looks at most of them. Here's the rest from there.