Today you’ll visit a reserve located at an altitude of 1,800 meters of elevation, just off the world-renowned Nono-Mindo Road in the outskirts of the Tandayapa and Mindo Valleys.  This site is a bird photographer’s paradise!  Each and every element of this small reserve is designed to delight both birders and photographers, who can chalk up a hard drive’s worth of photos of hummers, tanagers, and even the fancy, multicolored Plate-billed Mountain-Toucan. This site also has light traps that attract moths during the night, and in the early morning, insectivorous birds flock to this amazing breakfast buffet. Blinds located close to these light traps are well situated for great photo ops.

The garden here features a wide variety of flowering plants and also feeders, all of which attract a dizzying diversity of hummingbirds. While the hummer feeders are a big draw, the large selection of flowers makes for even more natural photo ops.  Typically, you see as many as 14 different types of hummingbirds here. The “hummer highlight” for many visitors is the Hoary Puffleg, a species that generally does not visit feeders but that for months now has been a fairly regular visitor.   Other hummingbirds present in this area are the endemics Violet-tailed Sylph, as well as the Empress Brilliant, Gorgeted Sunangel; and the simply stunning Velvet-purple Coronet.