Birding Ecuador 2011 4k, Part 2: The birding starts! Quito - Shrine Calacalí - Las Gralarias (Feb 6)

So, this is when the birding starts, after we've managed to get throgh immigration and collecting our luggage AND united with our guide, Jonas Nilsson. Our first few days will be spent in the NW, around Mindo, so we set course from the airport accordingly. First stop is at Shrine Calacalí, just to give us the opportunity to get some species we won't get the chance to see otherwise on this Mega Trip. The habitat here is dry scrub, altitude appr 2900 meter on the western slope of the Andes. We had some luck, we got Giant Hummingbird (not a Lifer, but first time on photo for me) and a lousy view of the Lifer Golden-rumped Euphonia and a few species more, not on presentable photos (even by my standard). After this short intermission we continued to our stay for the night: Reserva Las Gralarias. This is one of the few places that get the (for me) Target Hummer to sparingly visit the feeders: Hoary Puffleg. It took a while, but it made a short visit eventually. The photos aren't great, but one can see it's a Hoary Puffleg, which is the main goal. Other feeder visitors: White-booted Racket-tail, Violet-tailed Sylph, Gorgeted Sunangel (Thumbnail bird), Fawn-breasted Brilliant, Buff-tailed Coronet, Velvet-purple Coronet, Collared Inca, Brown Inca, White-sided Flowerpiercer and Masked Flowerpiercer. After the Hoary Puffleg appeared, close to sunset (the steady rain didn't make the evening any lighter, if you catch my drift) we decided to eat dinner and aim for getting to bed early. That decision got a little sidetracked when we saw all the moths around the porch light, but we took photos as fast we could, then directly to bed. It had been a loooooooooong day, since none of us were able to sleep during the 20 hour flight.