Milpe

Still further downslope on the western slope of the Andes, Milpe sits at about 1000m a.s.l. Here, the forest is closer to being "full on" tropical rainforest, with proper big trees, dark understorey and (of course) lots of rain. The site is especially distinguished by its sequence of no fewer than 17 waterfalls in the spectacular gorge below the lodge. From here, we also visited Pedro Vicente Maldonado, a sadly somewhat degraded area of even lower-level forest and open country, which still supported a more than decent range of birds.

The San Jorge Lodge at Milpe is really awesome - well away from the quiet road, through a kilometre of lush primary forest, and then perched on the brink of a vast gorge cutting down into the west flank of the Andes - spectacular! And the birding here was trulyawesome too - the gardens around the "new lodge" were among the best spots for sheer diversity, with multifarious tanagers (Glistening-green, Silver-throated, Lemon-rumped, Ochre-breasted, Blue-necked, Flame-faced, Bay-headed and more!), Ecuadorean and Swainson's Thrush, Tooth-biled Hummingbird, Golden-winged and White-beareded Manakins and lots of flycatchers.

Around the lodge proper, forest birds were available - White-whiskered Puffbird, Rufous-fronted Wood-quail, Indigo-crowned Quail-dove, Orange-billed Sparrow, Spotted Nightingale-thrush, Chestnut-capped Brush-finch, Cinnamon and Unicoloured Becards, Spotted Woodcreeper and Buff-rumped Warbler, for example. New hummers here were headed by Velvet-purple Coronet, White-whiskered Hermit, Purple-crowned Fairy and Green Thorntail.

A lookout from the "top of the hill" on a couple of mornings turned up Choco and Chestnut-mandibled Toucans, Pale-mandibled Aracari, Bronze-winged and Rose-faced Parrots, Pacific Parrotlet, Maroon-tailed Parakeet and Olive-crowned Yellowthroat.

PVM was a bit of an anticlimax after the wonders of the virgin forest, but we did score with some nice birds, notably Purple-throated Fruitcrow, Black-chinned Woodpecker, Tiny Hawk, Yellow-tufted Dacnis, Band-backed Wren, Violet-bellied Hummingbird and Pacific Antwren. And we did also get quite lost here - but finally made it back to Milpe in darkness and rain....

From Milpe, we wound our way back upslope to Quito for a final night in the mountains, and added just one more bird at the Lodge - Rufous-banded Owl in the dying minutes of 2009, just as we were about to be picked up for our transfer to the airport!

350+ species, making a mega yearlist of 1204, and taking Simon to 3951 for hislifelist - Julia lags just 185 behind!

Full blow-by-blow
trip report

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