Bellavista to Quito

I like the way this guy is kinda backlit by the clouds:

I entered this picture in our employee calendar contest at work and won!

Gorgeted Sunangel coming in for a landing!

a little raggedy in the rain:

White-booted racket tail (female):

White-booted racket tail (male):

Speckled hummer:

Cinnamon flycatcher:

Masked trogon:

Female and male:

the female was much more willing to sit and pose for me:

Found this cool moth at breakfast!

look at his antenna!

and his colorful underside!

Slate-throated red/whitestart:

This Flame-faced tanager visited my window as I was packing up:

Farewell, beautiful birds!

Despite the constant wetness, this was a stellar place and I could have stayed here much longer- there were so many birds I didn’t get pictures of!

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After breakfast, we headed down to Mindo Park:

Where we went on a short hike:

and found some pretty flowers:

not a flower:

All suited and ready to zipline!!!

Patti:

Steve:

Mark:

A much appreciated water break:

My turn!

I’m Superman!

Look at me go!

weeeeeeeeeee!!!

Mariposa-style- Skip is crazy!

This was probably the most fun line:

Almost all of us tried out some fun positions:

One last line:

which came with a warning sign:

Fast but fun!

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After zip-lining, we drove back to the hummingbird cafe for lunch- I spotted this caterpillar trolley along the way:

Turner protecting Steve’s camera:

It was a bit drizzly, but that didn’t see to stop the birds, like this Rufus-tailed hummer, from coming out:

or making silly faces, like this Violet-tailed sylph:

Slightly more normal looking guy:

Andean emerald:

Green-crowned brilliant:

Velvet-purple coronet:

I don’t remember seeing this guy the last time I was here!

He’s pretty!

Crowned woodnymph:

There were also a few banana stations set up that were attracting bigger birds, like this Flame-faced tanager:

Black-capped tanager (foreground):

Flame-rumped tanager (background):

Golden tanager:

and another:

and some more (plus a Flame-faced tanager):

This station proved to be quite popular- here’s a Blue-gray tanager:

and some more:

a Rufus-collared sparrow joined the party:

The 2nd-from-the-ends guys are female Flame-rumped tanagers:

And a Palm tanager on the left:

Red-headed barbet (female- the males have the red heads):

There is about an hour between this last picture and the first one I took- they absolutely demolished these bananas!

The banana tree was in full bloom:

Plenty of food for everyone, but fights still broke out:

One last Orange-bellied euphonia:

Then it was time to hit the road and head back toward Quito:

(landslide clean-up in progress- that happens fairly frequently in the mountains here)

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But not before making one last stop at the Museo Solar Intiñan:

There were lots of recreated totem statues:

And some pretty plants and flowers:

We (tried to) balance an egg on a nail:

Success!

Well, kinda…

Neither Turner nor I could get our eggs to stand on end- this was as good as we could manage.

We also tried (and mostly failed) to walk in a straight line with our eyes closed:

I know they say it’s because of opposing gravitational or Coriolis forces or something, but I’m pretty sure I can’t walk a straight line regardless of where I am ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Farewell, equator; home is that way:

I liked the name of this candy shop at the airport:

even if I am sad to be leaving Ecuador again.  Until next time!