Rio Silanche

October 14, 2021

The rain that began Wednesday afternoon continued all night and into this morning. Fortunately the plan for today was to drive to a lowland rain forest area and largely “bird from the car” (meaning we drive and stop frequently to look at birds). By the time we got back to the main road the rain had turned to fog and mist, and we actually had clear weather ( if cloudy) for most of our birding, but you might notice some rain in one of the attached photos.

During our morning at Rio Silanche, we saw many new birds as well as some old favorites. Among the new ones: chestnut-fronted macaws, white-tailed trogon, yellow-tufted dacnis, and several endemic species.  One of the birds was a “life lister” for our guide, a young (22 years old!) biologist from Quito.

 When we returned to the lodge for lunch (a bit late because of the excellent morning birding) the mist and rain welcomed us again. A little local birding and then we drove back to Quito for the night.  We have really enjoyed the lodges in Milpe.  We were the only ones there. Now back in Quito we have internet connectivity, so we can to catch up with family and blogging. To be fair, the small lodges in Milpe used to have internet but with tourist volume so low they need to economize where they can. Perhaps we should be grateful for being truly off the grid for several days.

Pictured: masked Tityra, white-tailed trogon, yellow-tufted Dacnis.