The Birds of Ecuador

Full Itinerary

February 17: International arrivals and transfer to hotel near Quito. Flights typically arrive into Quito after dinner, and we’ll be waiting for you right at the airport to bring you to our accommodations in town, Hotel San Jose. For travelers wishing to arrive in town a day or two early, we can provide recommendations for activities in the Quito area.

February 18: Birding drive to Mindo area. Our first stop will be at Yanacocha reserve, where we will spend the morning birding mixed flocks along a wide and flat trail through beautiful temperate forest; think Andean Guan, Ocellated Tapaculo, Crowned Chat-Tyrant, Barred Fruiteater, and Rufous Wren. We will also want to spend some quality time at the fruit and hummingbird feeders, which attract some fabulous high-elevation species like Sapphire-vented Puffleg, Great Sapphirewing, Glossy and Masked Flowerpiercers, and Black-chested and Scarlet-bellied Mountain-Tanagers. After a picnic lunch at the reserve we will work our way downslope along the upper stretches of the old Nono-Mindo road, towards the small village of Tandayapa, passing through some gorgeous subtropical forest where we will hope for our first looks at Toucan Barbet, Golden-headed Quetzal, Andean Cock-of-the-Rock, or even Beautiful Jay. We’ll aim to arrive at our lodge (where we will be spending the next three nights) in time for first looks at the active hummingbird feeding stations. Overnight Guaycapi Lodge.

February 19: All-day birding Guaycapi and its surroundings with a visit to nearby feeding stations in the afternoon. We’ll play it by ear this day with a mix of trail and roadside birding right from the lodge, and just go where the birds lead us. Some of the bird targets include Wattled Guan, Black-and-chestnut Eagle, Crimson-rumped Toucanet, Crested Quetzal, Scaled Fruiteater, and multiple tanager species. Some of the mid-elevation hummingbirds that we are likely to see include Violet-tailed Sylph, Velvet-purple Cornet, Booted Racket-tail, Purple-bibbed Whitetip, and Brown Violetear, among many others. After the sun sets, we may head out in search of a night bird or two, such as Mottled Owl or Rufescent Screech-Owl right around the lodge, or even Lyre-tailed Nightjar slightly further afield. Night Guaycapi Lodge.

February 20: We will rise early today in order to get to the Mashpi area. This zone is a fascinating area of very wet cloud forest, home to a particular set of hard-to-find birds that are near the southern edge of their range here. We will pay particular attention to the feeders at Mashpi Amagusa Reserve that attract an impressive array of species, including the Moss-backed and Rufous-throated Tanagers. With a bag lunch in tow, we are free to orchestrate our activities according to the weather and sightings. We will probably spend most of our time birding the roadsides, since roadcuts create ample edge habitat attractive to many birds. Other special species that we will be keeping an eye out for include Buffy Tuftedcheek, Orange-breasted Fruiteater, Black Solitaire, Glistening-green Tanager, Indigo Flowerpiercer, and if we are very lucky, Choco Vireo. Night Guaycapi Lodge.

February 21: All-morning visit to Paz de Las Aves reserve. We will want to leave the lodge early to get to Paz de Las Aves in time to observe the active Andean Cock-of-the-Rock lek there. After some time with these marvelous birds, we will branch out and follow Angel Paz’s lead as he guides through the trails on his property for what we hope will be some very close encounters with some antpittas–Giant, Moustached, and Yellow-breasted—and other understory species that are hard to find in other contexts. In the afternoon we will bird our way back to Quito with birding stops along the way. Night Hotel San Jose.

February 22-25: We’ll have three full days to scratch the surface of the avifauna in western Amazonia and get a feel for the complexity of rich habitats and microhabitats within easy reach of the lodge. One or two mornings we’ll visit the amazing canopy tower—an observation deck in a giant tree that emerges above the rainforest canopy—which offers privileged access to a world apart from the dark understory below. Flocks of oropendolas, toucans, aracaris, tanagers, and euphonias roam the canopy in search of fruit, Spangled and Plum-throated Cotingas glow from the treetops, raptors perch on vantage points to dry off in the morning sun, White-browed Purpletufts and Crowned Slaty Flycatchers sally for insects, numerous parrots and macaws fly by or drop in if there is a fruiting tree nearby, and many other species wander through the tower tree and canopy walk.

A forest trail network offers access to another component of the avifauna, with woodcreepers, antbirds, and tinamous particularly well-represented, and we should also encounter Screaming Piha (a species as vocally striking as it sounds). A number of clay licks (or “saladeros”) nearby offer the spectacle of hundreds of parrots and parakeets coming in to nibble at the clay. We’ll also enjoy numerous canoe rides around the lagoons and creeks by the lodge, where the songs of Silvered and Plumbeous Antbirds reverberate through the flooded forest. Birds we’ll be seeking here include Orange-crested Manakin, and the striking Long-billed Woodcreeper, plus several species of monkeys and the impressive Giant River Otter.

The river-edge forest is home to numerous other species such as Masked Crimson and Magpie Tanagers, Rufous-headed Woodpecker, and Swallow-winged Puffbird. The oldest islands in the Napo River, only a few hundred yards away from the “mainland” even support their own distinct and varied avifauna! Island specialties we hope to see include Black-and-white Antbird, Olive-spotted Hummingbird, Oriole Blackbird and at least three species of spinetails, plus more “expected” river birds such as Capped Heron, Collared Plover, and Yellow-billed Tern. No two trips are ever the same here, but they are all always awe-inspiring. Nights at Sani Lodge.

February 26: Today we’ll head back to Coca and fly to Quito. Depending on our flight time, we may have some time to bird around the lodge, and our boat ride back to Coca could yield some farewell looks at macaws and more. We’ll have a leisurely afternoon around our hotel and can enjoy birding the grounds. Scrub Tanager, Rusty Flowerpiercer, Vermillion Flycatcher, Golden Grosbeak, Giant Hummingbird and Blue-and-Yellow Tanager are just a few species that frequent the hotel property. Night Hotel San Jose.

February 27: International flights are typically in the evening or later, so we’ll have one final big day to explore before heading home. Today we’ll head east out of Quito and ascend to the high and often windswept paramos of the Papallacta Pass. Among the many bird possibilities that we will be particularly on the lookout for include Andean Condor, Carunculated Caracara, Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe, Ecuadorian Hillstar, Tawny Antpitta, Many-striped Canastero, White-chinned Thistletail, Red-rumped Bush-Tyrant, Brown-backed Chat-Tyrant, some interesting seedeaters, and even Giant Conebill, with a bit of luck. If there were a day to have your camera ready, this would be it – on clear days the scenery is spectacular, with superb views of the snow-capped Volcán Antisana, and endless high Andean mountain scenes harboring a backdrop of textures that make for an unforgettable birding setting.

Before lunch we’ll start to work our way down the east slope into the Amazonian drainage and towards Guango Lodge. On the way we will pass through some beautiful high-elevation temperate forests where we may have time to stop and soak in this birdy zone; some of the possibilities include Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle, Viridian Metaltail, Buff-breasted Mountain-Tanager, just to name a few. We’ll have lunch at Guango Lodge and have our first crack at the hummingbird feeders that will be dripping with species such as Tourmaline Sunangel, Sword-billed Hummingbird and White-bellied Woodstar.

Guango Lodge sits up and over the continental divide, right in the heart of the high elevation temperate zone, and is surrounded by beautiful mossy forest, and fancy birds. The birding can be excellent at any time of the day, especially if you encounter an active mixed flock! Some of the more interesting glamour birds to keep an eye out for around the lodge include Torrent Duck, Gray-breasted Mountain-Toucan, Masked Trogon, Turquoise Jay, Hooded and Lacrimose Mountain-Tanagers, Slaty Brush-Finch, Gray-hooded Bush-Tanager, and Northern Mountain-Cacique. On the trails around Guango we frequently run into some of the best temperate forest flocks on any of our tours in Ecuador; in a matter of minutes it isn’t uncommon to see White-banded Tyrannulet, Black-capped and Black-eared Hemispingus, Pale-naped Brush-Finch, and even Plushcap. With some luck we could even run into Andean Guan, Dusky Piha, or even Red-hooded Tanager.

It will be hard to tear ourselves away, but by mid-afternoon we head back to Quito and the airport in time for our international departures.