Mindo

As we eat our complimentary breakfast at the Dragonfly Inn there were swarms of hummingbirds fighting for space at the feeders. We saw thirteen species before finishing our meal!

Rufous-tailed hummingbird
Black Vulture
Blue-gray Tanager
Bananaquit
Purple-throated Woodstar
Green Thorntail
Green-crowned Brilliant

Green-crowned Brilliant

Andean Emerald
Great Saphirewing
Lemon-rumped Tanager
Blue and White Swallows
Tropical Kingbird
Black Phoebe

Black Phoebe

A walk through the outskirts of town had a lot more new birds. Right in someones yard we saw a Masked Water Tyrant. Scrub Blackbirds and House Wrens were quite common.Searching in the mud along the road was a Pacific Horneo.

Pacific Horneo

 My favorite bird of that morning was a Fawn-breasted Tanager. Just at the side of the road I saw this bird catch and eat a caterpillar which looked unappealing by my standards. It seamed to enjoy the thing which by the colouration looked poisonous.  I was lucky enough to watch it sit and gobble down the full meal.

Fawn-breasted Tanager

Lunch at the Dragonfly Inn was rewarded with another bright coloured bird the Green-crowned Woodnymph. This tiny hummingbird wasn't as common as the other species frequenting the feeders but he did rest for a while after taking a drink which was a nice opportunity for photos.

Green-crowned Wood nymph

Another treat was a medium sized lizard with a green body, pinkish stripes and an orange head. This Fraser's Anole was sitting at the top of a tree basking in the afternoon sunlight. Barely moving at all it was shocking that I even spotted this lizard at all but he was in the background of a hummingbird photo I took which led to his discovery in the trees.

Fraser's Anole

Fraser's Anole

The afternoon was cloudy and misty. We walked to the Rio Mindo. It was a quiet walk but certain places seamed to be quite busy with bird activity. There were more Fawn-breasted Tanagers, Swainsons Thrush, Blue-gray Tanagers, Lemon-rumped Tanagers and one Squirrel Cuckoo.

Nearby the river there were Pastures Rain Frogs and a small red and black frog (c.f. Anomaglossus confusus). A 2ft long snake with brown spots was dead on the road. A Labiated Frog was also found along the road down to the river.

Labiated Frog

The frog tour advertized for Mindo is about 10 minutes from the Dragonfly Inn at Mindo Lago. Although the location has a lot of potential being set up so well for frogs and one of the few places I saw with standing water nearby the town. We got to see 6 species of amphibians. However certain things about the tour were disappointing. We were quickly told not to take pictures making it very hard to identify anything other than Pastures Rain Frogs and Marine Toads.