A colorful aracari critiques my work!
(Mindo Ecuador)
Let’s start with a few birds that highlight every day I am on Jim and Julie’s property!
Quetzals often laugh over my shoulder!
A male and female quetzal perch on a tall tree on a hill near the house.
About a 30-minute drive from Mindo is the hub of “Los Bancos.” I was there last week to pay the car tag fee for Jim and Julie. After an hour’s wait in line at the bank, I was told, “The system is down,” and was dismissed.
I stood there with mouth agape, pondered my choices, and quickly decided, “I’ll go to the Mirador Restaurant and not let this bother me!”
Patricio, the owner of the Mirador Restaurant and Cabanas, has great hospitality skills and always has time for his guests. Not only is the food exceptional, there are stunning views to the valley below as well as an ever-changing cast of birds that visit the feeders near the tables.
(Aracaris) These stars often make an appearance at the Mirador Restaurant.
Patricio’s nephew greeted me and said, “I saw you in the bank. That was a long line!” He could not help with suggestions for paying the tag fee, but Patricio came along and assured me that I had all month to pay it.
“I’ll try again in another week,” I smiled, then sat at a table near one of the bird feeding stations.
Flamed-faced tanager
How do you like those trousers?
Coordinating attire!
Food Fight!
I once asked Patricio where one could buy hummingbird feeders. They are expensive and scarce in this country! He smiled and replied, “We use chicken feeders – what they use to water the baby chickens…”
Again my jaw dropped while my eyes opened! Eureka – chicken feeders!
Mirador Restaurant – Los Bancos,Ecuador
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Bananaquits enjoy this watering hole, too!
After enjoying a shrimp crepe (delicious!) and cafe con leche and a small jar of fresh ‘arasha’ juice, I was recharged. Before leaving town, I spotted two policemen in a patrol car. I politely showed them the paperwork, told them what happened, and they also said that I had all month to pay the tag renewal fee. Whew.
Meanwhile, back at the property, I’ve enjoyed experimenting with the inexpensive feeders. Here are my last two attempts to make them more attractive. These two are waiting a protective finish, so they can be easily washed. What do you think – do you like the way they turned out?
Upgrade from chicken feeders to hummingbird feeders!
Yes, there’s another ongoing project (table) as well. Hopefully next week it will be finished!
A tour group will be reaching Mindo any minute now, so it’s time to switch hats and share a few stories about my life in Ecuador!
Z
I love all the colorful bird photos and what a great idea for hummingbird/chicken feeders, they look great!
si.. why buy the expensive feeders ever again? it’s also nice that the birds can perch and drink at the same time, so there’s a greater variety of birds at the feeder throughout the day.
thanks, barbara, for your tireless support! lisa/z
Absolutely gorgeous – the feeders AND your feathered friends 🙂
yes, and that stop in los bancos is always worth the ‘effort..’ it’s always peaceful, and the food is great, and the birds never get tired of showing up!
Beautiful birds! Wonderful what you’ve done to the chicken feeders.
you would enjoy painting those feeders! thanks amiga – how are you feeling? hope all’s going ok in your life. z
Thanks for the bird pictures; they are very pretty. Please keep up your good work.
thanks.. there were some very special people in this tour group, though they are now on their way to the coast, and i’m heading back to my friends’ property. as always, thanks for your support and for your compassion for those at el matal where the ocean is way too close to their doorsteps. z
You can not imagine how proud of you, and all that you do to serve God’s people. Please keep up your good work.
Z, great photos of the birds. You have been offline for awhile and were missed. Take care, Keith
thanks! as i told hugh, i sometimes load many pages and read them offline… you and hugh help keep me informed on what’s happening ‘out there’ as i wander the property and stay immersed in the blissful solitude of nature. thanks for noticing that i’ve been silent – few opportunites lately aside from helping friends! lisa/z
Helping friends is much more important, so you have your priorities in order.
Lovely!
hi hugh!
i’ve enjoyed your posts and am a bit more up to date on what’s happening – though i’m almost relieved that i’m tucked away and isolated from most of this news! have about six pages loaded to read offline when i get back to the property! thanks for all that you share! lisa/z
Every time I see photos of riotously colored South American birds I think there must be a conspiracy to create this fiction–so much color couldn’t possibly exist in the real world!
ha.. there’s one lovely tanager that has a bright cobalt blue head and almost bue-black body as if a scientist transplanted the head of one bird onto the body of another..
wouldn’t it be fun to work in a workshop where one dreamed up all of the color and pattern combinations of the birds and animals?
I am continually amazed by the extraordinary beauty of our winged friends. Brilliant captures..
Hey amiga, how are things on your side of the continent? I miss those late-night swaps when the only time I could work online was when the rest of Ecuador was sleeping! Now there’s no op at the property, but wow, what a gift it is to be immersed in the wildness of the property. one day i’ll be elsewhere and can catch up on all i’ve missed on cyberland!
Excellent photos. I am really getting into watching tropical birds. Our mango tree was packed full of green parrots the other day chattering up a storm. I looked and looked for them, but they blended into the mango trees so well it was difficult to see them.
As soon as I saw the picture of the bees in the chicken/hummingbird feeder, I knew that idea wouldn’t work for me.
I bought two inexpensive plastic hummingbird feeders in the states and brought them back to Nicaragua and hung them on our porch. Like Ecuador, they are impossible to find here. One of the feeders had large holes in the flowers that enabled bees to get the sugar water. The other one had smaller holes and the bees couldn’t get into it. I had a swarm of African bees on my porch around one of the feeders. So, I took that feeder down because I am allergic to bee stings. And those African bees are aggressive!! But, your feeders are beautiful. 🙂
oooh, Debbie – to be allergic to bees and have those African ones around is not very comforting! I’ve been stung once by an African-bee, and it not only hurt but also became very hot and inflamed for the next few days… Si, stay away from those bees!
When I went to renew my car tags on October 31 (yes, I know — it was the last day and I should have done it earlier) the computer system was down, all over the state. So, I too had to go back, although it was only a couple of hours before things were back to normal, and it wasn’t nearly so much of a trip.
On the other hand, I didn’t have a lovely restaurant with beautiful birds to make my wait more enjoyable. The birds are gorgeous, and the chicken waterers is a fantastic idea. No exotics in my neighborhood except for the monk parakeets, but they do lend a bit of a tropical flair.
Ha! Oct 31 or Friday the 13th – I pondered driving in today and remembered the date and decided, ‘I’d best wait for a better date to drive that crazy highway!”
Wow the feeders look great!! I just knew you would never allow those to be just plane ole feeders!!! I was just talking to my sister about all the birds you have around you….either at the Mindo place or in Los Bancos and how fun it was to see all of the wildlife! Hugs to you my friend!
Thanks, Barb! I’m glad you’ve been here and know where all of these places are located! I forgot to mention in the blog that the wifi speed there is very good!
Love your painted bird feeders! Beautiful.
Alison
thanks! they work well without the art, but with the ‘bottle brush’ tree flowers, i hope they work even better!
How very beautiful and exotic it all is Lisa! All there is for feeding around where I live are grey squirrels, pigeons and a few seagulls. Mind you, if I took my camera down to the river nearby and got wet and freezing for a while, I might get lucky and see the kingfisher, the heron, the gooseander….
Gorgeous photos as ever. I do hope you are feeling better and that your friend in the USA is recovering.
hi anne – i’ve been trying to get a page to properly open on your site/sites to leave a comment.. i had just been sharing w/new friends that we – as a species – have sort of traded our connection to the earth in exchange for high tech/lots of concrete/ the ease of travel, etc etc — but at a cost and disconnect from our planet and its needs. sometimes back to the quieter life is much more rewarding. the birds definitely bridge that connection!
Many thanks for persevering, , Lisa! What seems to be the problem? Is it my end, or yours?
hey amiga
the problem is with this ‘burro’ of a minilaptop computer that carries a heavy load when i tune into the wifi about once a week while in town. it tries to update all programs first, and almost always it will need a restart of two before it behaves…. sometimes emails won’t open or send (and are not saved) ditto for composing new posts and uploading photos or saving the new changes….
the tradeoff is, of course, the total immersion in nature, pure air, clean water from a natural spring – toucans and quetzals supervise my work, hummingbirds peer into the windows as if to ask, ‘why are you inside when you could be out here with us?’
i usually load many pages on the screen before logging off, and i read offfline at night… b ut then when i am back in town, the same demons await – updating programs….
i do miss swapping thoughts with you and a few others!
I think I would also think that immersion in the beauties of nature was a fair trade-off for dodgy internet connections! And we DO manage to swap thoughts, Lisa. We just have!!
How gorgeous are your feeders! The birds will find them irresistible.
Great to see your posts again Z – miss seeing them. You seem very relaxed and enjoying Jim and Julie’s property. Beautiful photographs of the birds and I can see that you have a few painted pieces no doubt you’ll be leaving behind when you set off.
Wow, you never stop, do you! 😉
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I would definitely trade cyberconvenience for such beauty!!!!!! Stunning photos – no birds around here that are that gorgeous. Enjoy!