June 7, 2019
Today was all about the birds. We decided to hire a bird guide to see some of the 600+ birds that inhabit the Mindo area. To do this we got up before 5 am so we could meet our guide at 5:30 am.
From the center of town, we drove about 30 minutes to the bird reserve of Paz de las Aves. Paz de las Aves is one of the best locations to see the Cock of the Rock. We positioned ourselves behind a bird blind and started watching. We could hear their cries and soon their red, black and white bodies started to appear and dance about on the branches trying to attract the females.
From the blind, we went further into the cloud forest and saw many more species. We had a break in the middle of the day and the kids wanted to go zip lining. During the zip lining, we saw a group of Aracari Toucan and Toucanets. We had already had a full day of birding but it wasn’t over. Our guide met up with us and we did more birding until sunset. The day still wasn’t over yet, when we got back to the hotel it was time for a night jungle walk.