Angel Paz is a guy who has resisted the draw of quick money and kept his portion of the land he inherited from his father as intact forest. It is called Refugio Paz de las Aves , the "Paz Bird Refuge." A former logger and farmer, Angel now has a sustainable eco-tourism business emphasizing birds. He has spent long hours gaining the confidence of some of the native birds, and can now call some of them in to feeding stations for visitors to see.
We met up with our group just as Angel was calling in the elusive Dark-Backed Wood Quail, with a Toucan Barbet fluttering around for an appetizer.
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| Toucan Barbet | Dark-Backed Wood Quail | Dark-Backed Wood Quail |
Unfortunately, we were too late to see the Cock-of-the-Rock, one of the special birds to see at Refugio Paz. The rest of the group did get to see them.
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| Two Boys and a Burro
Life could be a lot worse! |
There were some hummingbird feeders set up at one spot and like everywhere else we went, there were bazillions of hummingbirds there.
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| Fawn-Breasted Brilliant | Xxx Hummingbird |
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| Xxx Hummingbird | Xxx Hummingbird | Xxx Hummingbird |
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| Xxx Hummingbird | Xxx Hummingbird | Xxx Hummingbird | Xxx Hummingbird |
When we were done looking at birds, we had lunch under an open air canopy.
When it came time to move on, our Toyota-Taxi guy made out like a bandit. It turned out a couple who had been in the van with our group had to return to Quito. Our Toyota-Taxi guy got the fare, and that probably made his month. We all piled in the van and headed to a national-park / reserve, whose name I can't remember.
This page last updated on 2013-10-23.
