clouds Wednesday May 14, 2008

Quite a long day! We took a boat from Isabela to Santa Cruz, headed up to the airport and flew to Quito. From Quito, we boarded a bus and drove approximately 50 kilometers to BellaVista Lodge in the Mindo Cloud Forest.

For those that are interested, our flight from Galapagos to Quito was on an Embraer E 190 jet, built in Brazil (sorry...I'm interested in ANYTHING that flies).

Thursday May 15, 2008
We birded Bellavista. Species seen were:

Turkey Vulture**
Barred Hawk
Sickle Winged Guan
Red Billed Parrot
White Capped Parrot
Scaly Naped Amazon
White Collared Swift
Green Violetear
Speckled Hummingbird
Collared Inca
Buff Tailed Coronet
Gorgeted Sunangel
Booted Racket Tail
Purple Throated Woodstar
Masked Trogon
Toucan Barbet
Plate Billed Mountain Toucan
Azara's Spinetail
Spillman's Tapaculo
(Thursday, May 15, 2008 continued)

White Tailed Tyrannulet
Cinnamon Flycatcher
Golden Crowned Flycatcher
Turquoise Jay
Great Thrush
Glossy Backed Thrush
Blue and White Swallow
Russet Crowned Warbler
Masked Flowerpiecer
White Sided Flowerpiecer
Beryl Spangled Tanager
Blue Winged Mountain Tanager
Grass Green Tanager
Dusky Bush Tanager
White Winged Brush Finch
Rufous Collared Sparrow
Giant Cowbird
lodge
trogon A  masked trogon appears to the left.  Below,  Uli and Karen ponder the days activities.uli
hollyhummer horsey

Above: Holly and Joyce enjoy the horses
Left: a Booted Racket-tail (Ocreatus underwoodii). This is  one cool bird!
flycatcherin flight
Above: a Collared Inca (coeligena torquata) in flight.
jay
Above: a Turquoise Jay
Left: a Cinnamon Flycatcher
Below: our guide for the day, Gabriel.guide