The hummingbird feeders at the lodges and roadside cafés are the signature experience. A dozen or more species — booted racket-tail, violet-tailed sylph, empress brilliant, sparkling violetear — feed within a metre of you continuously, and this is the best hummingbird photography in the world for the effort involved.

The cock-of-the-rock leks at Paz de las Aves and other reserves are the dawn spectacle: bright orange males displaying and calling in the understorey. Paz de las Aves is also famous for its habituated antpittas, called in by name by the family who protect the forest — an unusual and much-discussed practice worth seeing.

The Mindo-Nambillo trails hold the forest interior species: toucan barbets, tanager flocks moving through the canopy, and the constant possibility of something new.

The higher reserves along the old Nono-Mindo road, and the lower ones towards Milpe and Río Silanche, extend the list at either end of the altitude range — the lower sites in particular add a different set of tanagers and manakins.

The butterfly farms and frog gardens in Mindo village are genuinely worthwhile and good in poor weather.

Birding is good year-round; the drier months of June to September and December to February give more reliable weather.

Practicalities

Mindo is around two hours from Quito on a good road. Accommodation ranges from budget hostels in the village to well-known birding lodges on the ridges.

Many of the best sites are private reserves charging a modest entry fee — that money is what keeps the forest standing on land that would otherwise be pasture. Hire a local guide for at least a day; the difference in what you find in dense cloud forest is enormous.