Greetings from Ecuador!
I am sat here writing this whilst waiting for dinner to be served, I can hear toucans calling all around and as the sun starts to set I can here some of the frogs starting to call. This is our last night in our first lodge in the Mindo Valley, and the perfect time to reflect on our first few days in Ecuador. The target here was very much toucans - and preferably in the rain, but when we arrived our guide Luis had a counter offer for us - how did we fancy nesting sun bitterns? The sun bittern is a small heron type bird, it has slaty grey feathers when it’s wings are tucked away, but when it shows it wings they are adorned with beautiful circular rusty red patterns - like a rising sun. So when we were offered sun bitterns it wasn’t too hard a choice; we already have fantastic toucan images and footage but neither one of us had ever really experienced sun bitterns, other than passing encounters. So project Sun Bittern it was!
When we arrived at the location there was a fairly large single chick on a nest, not too high up a tree. Despite its large size the chick was still receiving food from the adults and we were told that the parent comes in to feed the chick on a fairly regular basis and it was a case of waiting for the adult to come in. We didn’t have too long to wait before one of the adult bitterns returned to the nest carrying an enormous tadpole - don’t think of something like the small tadpoles you get - this was the size of a large marble with an equally large tail!
Having seen the food being passed and watched as the youngster stretched its wings, we decided that some flight shots were what was needed - and a chance to capture the sun bitterns amazing plumage. We repositioned but it seemed like the sun bittern decided that that was the best time to spend an extended time away from the nest. So with the light getting harsh we decided to return back to the lodge via the local town and a much needed stop at a bakery! The rest of the afternoon was spent in the company of some tanagers and hummingbirds.
The next morning we decided to give the bitterns another go - this time we focussed purely on the flight shots into and out of the nest. The feeding was much more frequent and visits to the nest with food were made every 15-20 minutes. We saw a variety of food on the menu, but those oversized tadpoles were clearly a favourite! The shot on the left here shows the adult bird heading up to the nest carrying a large grasshopper.
Again around about late morning the bitterns took a break and we took that as our cue to head back to the lodge for a delicious lunch, the cooking in Ecuador is fantastic as always!
Every meal at the lodge is a highlight!
Again the afternoon was spent around the lodge - this time it was butterflies, aracaris, motmots and a really cool preying mantis!
Tomorrow it is the start of our next leg as we head slightly higher in elevation for some different bird species - including the beautiful plate billed mountain toucan… But here is one more of that stunning sun bittern!
