An Afternoon At Rio Silanche Bird Sanctuary

We left the Mirador Restaurant around 2pm-ish and decided to keep heading down the same road to Rio Silanche Bird Sanctuary as we were still targeting Rose-faced Parrots and Blue-fronted Parrotlets.  Some Maroon-tailed Parakeets would be nice too!

As we left the main road to the access road for the reserve we saw some Bronze-winged Parrots in a tree.

DSCN1417 DSCN1424

Continuing on, the road is pretty well marked if you are self-driving.  Of course Alex, our guide has been here many times and knows it well.DSCN1425 DSCN1426 DSCN1427

We were there pretty late and the staff had closed up.  We were still able to get inside but there was no one there to charge the fees.DSCN1442 DSCN1428 DSCN1441 DSCN1440

We walked down a short trail to the canopy tower.DSCN1439 DSCN1438

There are beautiful views over the rainforest but not too many birds around. Maybe the weather was still causing trouble.DSCN1431

A pair of Choco Toucans showed up.DSCN1430 DSCN1435

I’m having trouble with some of these as they may be female tanagers which look completely different from the males!DSCN1436 DSCN1437

Grey-and-gold Tanager DSCN1432 DSCN1433 DSCN1433a DSCN1434

It was looking like rain again so we left after less than an hour at the canopy tower.  DSCN1443

Female Black-cheeked Woodpecker

DSCN1445

Guayaquil WoodpeckerDSCN1446

Complete Bird List

We later found out that another guide had been here in the morning and seen a huge flock of Maroon-tailed Parakeets!

If you would like to visit this reserve along with other reserves around Mindo, I can highly recommend Alex Luna who can be reached by email.  ayalu_82@hotmail.com