Ecuador June 2005 - mtns2molhilz's Photos

These shots were from an 8-day trip to Ecuador's West Slope in mid June of 2005. June is the start of the dry season on Ecuador's west slope, so planning a trip from say the 15th, one would be more likely to encounter less rain and clouds. The trip was organized by San Jorge lodge (SJL), which in itself is a nice place to spend a day or two. This is especially true for travelers who are arriving late, as the old hacienda is only about 30 minutes drive from the airport. An excellent place for Black-tailed Trainbearer, but the birding overall can be a bit slow. Other accomodations were in Mindo or Los Bancos, traditional stops on the West Slope birding circuit. Most of these photos are marginal in quality, as they were shot by a Panasonic DM-20Z, a fair step below a DSLR, but quite portable and overall not a bad choice for those who do not wish to burden themselves with a lot of heavy equipment. The newer models probably produce snappier results. Additional comments will be found as captions along with the individual photos.

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mtns2molhilz > San Jorge Lodge. Resturant is to the right. Garden plantings and a fine overlook toward Quito is to the left. The building in the right background is one of the room pods, with 4 or 5 rooms all facing a long, enclosed hallway.

mtns2molhilz > Here are part of the numerous plantings, and rest benches behind the uppermost room complexes. San Jorge Lodge.

mtns2molhilz > The property encompasses numerous trails and open areas; here along one of the paths behind the main hacienda is a nice turnout, and a fine view of parts of Quito. San Jorge Lodge.

mtns2molhilz > Black-tailed Trainbearer, San Jorge Lodge. This was taken through a large glass window at the resturant, where the staff had set up a number of hummingbird feeders along a strip of garden outside. This bird is apparently quite common in and around Quito, and SJL is one of the better places, I suspect, to get great looks and pictures of this fascinating bird. This is either a female or a young male, both of whom outnumbered the adult males by a fair margin. On my trip back in '06, our group had only distant views of this bird the entire 8 or so days we were in Ecuador.

mtns2molhilz > Rufous-crowned Sparrow, SJL. The colorful Rufous-crowned, closely related to the familiar White-crowned and White-throated Sparrows of N. America, is widely distributed and fairly common throughout the American Tropics.

mtns2molhilz > As is evident from this picture, SJL is built on a steep hillside overlook Quito. At several points, nice vistas toward the city itself and the massive, snow-capped volcanoes on the other side of the valley come into view. A nice row of conifers lies above the Lodge proper, as seen here.

mtns2molhilz > Sparkling Violetear, SJL. This is a facility with many decks, one of which has several spreading, small trees with hummer feeders. There is a low, stone fence that forms the deck's border, and one can sit quietly there waiting for the birds to come in and feed. Excellent, close-in photo ops even for point and shooters!

mtns2molhilz > Sparkling Violetear, SJL.

mtns2molhilz > Sparkling Violetear, SJL. This shot was also taken through the glass picture window of the resturant.

San Jorge Lodge. Resturant is to the right. Garden plantings and a fine overlook toward Quito is to the left. The building in the right background is one of the room pods, with 4 or 5 rooms all facing a long, enclosed hallway.