Ecuador Bird Tours:

Ecuador offers some of the best birding in the world. Not only are there 1600 bird species to see, but the abundance of birds will take your breath away. The wide range of habitats in this small country is impressive in itself from the towering Andes to the Amazon Basin. We offer top quality Ecuadorian guides who are experienced in their local areas.

Ecuador Northern and Southern Andes Tour:

This is a birding tour that covers the cloudforest of the northern regions of the Andes and the southern Andes in Podocarpus National Park.

Mindo is a small Ecuadorian town just 84 kilometers north of Quito. Some 430 species including 370 around Mindo alone are found in the area. Mindo lies in the Choco Endemic Bird Area and Choco Biogeographic Region which is one of the world's richest Biogeographic regions. The town has an admirable recycling program and birders from all over the world visit here and hike the many local trails and private ecological reserves. Many local lodges, hostels, and cabins cater to birdwatchers.

We will stay at Orchid Gardens cabins nestled among trees and gardens with hundreds of native orchids. Hummingbirds fill the garden feeding on the feeders put out for them. Last year a Potoo roosted outside my window, and a Forest Falcon frequented the trees waiting for the baby Horneros to hatch. The rare Rufescent Screech Owl was spotted hawking for insects in a porch light. At night the Paraque call and the Lyre-tailed Nightjar can be seen roosting on clay banks. The Maroon-chested Ground Dove was seen in local gardens and Bronze -winged Parrots roost in trees by the main street in town.

We will hike trails in old growth forest where Scaly Fruiteater and Golden-headed Quetzals and Choco Toucans, greet the dawn. Along the fast flowing creeks we will look for Sunbitterns and Torrent Duck. The Scarlet Rumped Cacique and the Torrent Tyrannulet feed streamside. The aggressive White tailed Hillstar hummingbird hunts for insects in the water spray above the rivers and even was seen preventing the White-capped Dipper from feeding her young at her nest. We will visit a lek of Andean Cock of the Rock. Huddled in the darkness we wait for the first males to slip in at first light. They sneak in quietly at first but soon brightly colored males call loudly and jump around on branches spreading their wings in incredible display. The Mindo forests give us Immaculate Antbirds, Uniform Antshrikes, Ochre-breasted Antpitta, Scaly-throated Foilage Gleaners, Club winged Manakins. and Dark-backed Wood Quail.

We will bird private reserves outside of Mindo looking for Long wattled Umbrellabird, and Tawny-throated Leaftosser, where Olivaceous Phia call and Sickle-winged Guan lumber through the tree tops. At Pedro Vicente Maldonaldo we will bird open farm land and a private reserve of old growth forest in an increasingly threatened lower elevation forest at 500m. Here the Barred and White-whiskered Puffbird hunt the forest and Collared Trogons nest in round holes in old trees. The Purple-chested Hummingbird and Stripe-throated Hermit flit from forest flowers and flocks of Red billed Parrots screech as they pass over.

Bellevista Lodge in the Tandayapa valley is located in a private forest reserve of humid cloud forest from 1400 to 2600 meters. A central lodge with hummingbird feeders around the restaurant and bar attracts many birds and a system of trails and roads offer a variety of walks. The Tandayapa valley has 320 species recorded with many specialty endemic species. In this higher cloud forest the Andean Guan, Scaly-naped Amazon, and aptly named Beautiful Jay are found among flocks of brightly colored Grass-Green Tanagers, Golden-naped Tanagers, and Blue-winged Mountain Tanagers. The Crimson-mantled Woodpecker taps away quietly and Spillmann's Tapaculo calls loudly while the elusive rare Tanager Finch, which was seen last year, sneaks through the undergrowth. We will visit a lower elevation private reserve in the Tandayapa Valley, where 39 species of hummingbirds have been recorded at the over 50 feeders that are filled 3 times a day! There are so many hummingbirds feeding at once that there is a constant sound of whirring wings and squeaking voices. This is one of the best spots for hummingbirds in the world. The magnificent Collared Inca, the Brown Inca, the White-bellied and Purple-throated Woodstar, Wedge-tailed Hummingbird, Velvet-purple Coronet, Western Emerald, Andean Emerald, Green-crowned Brilliant, the Long-tailed and Violet-tailed Sylph, all feeding together within 15 meters of us, this spectacle will be one of your most vivid memories of Ecuador.

Our flight from Quito to Loja takes us to Podacarpus National Park, established as a protected transition zone between the Andes and the Amazon.

We visit the premontane damp forests of the biological station of San Francisco. This area is famous for an important population of the rare tree Romerillos or Podacarpus. The park is named after this tree.
Trails lead down to these giants in a forest inhabited by tapir, deer, puma and Spectacled Bear. More than 600 species of birds have been recorded here. The Sickle-winged and Bearded Guan skulk in the bushes, and Slaty-backed Chat Tyrant hunts the open landslide areas, called "aranazas de tigre" or scratches of the tiger. These natural openings in the forest cover offer ideal areas for spotting flocks of Bluish Flowerpiercers, Saffron-crowned Tanagers and Rufous-crowned Tanagers. Feeding on flowers the Amethyst-throated Sun-Angel, Green Hermit, and Rufous-capped Thornbill Hummingbirds whirl by us while flocks of White-capped Parrots call from overhead.

The ranger station accommodation has a kitchen where we cook, fridge, flush toilet and hot shower. The spectacular view from the deck is a great spot for spotting Chestnut-collared and White-collared Swift.

Leaving the high mountain pass of San Francisco, we descend to the low mountain forest of Bombuscaro outside the small town of Zamora. Here we stay at a comfortable lodge just 3-km from the Bombuscaro entrance to Podacarpus National Park. This section of the park has some of the best walking trails in Ecuador. A staggering 25 species of hummingbirds have been recorded here alone. Some we can expect to see include the Fork-tailed Woodnymph, Ecuadorian Piedtail, Black-eared Fairy, Violet-fronted Brilliant, Black-throated Brilliant, Glittering-throated Emerald, and the Wire-crested Thorntail. Flocks of tanagers including Masked Tanagers, Orange-eared Tanager. Golden-eared Tanager, Magpie Tanager, Yellow-throated Bush Tanager, Spotted Tanager, White-lined Tanager, Paradise Tanager and Blue-Grey Tanager, make up mind boggling flocks of tanagers that seem to last forever as they pass. On a high perch overlooking the river the Amazonian Umbrellabird greets the dawn and Wooly Monkeys swing over to inspect us. Don't miss this undiscovered corner of southern Ecuador!

Our prices and schedules for 2007 are not yet complete, but this overview should give you an idea of a tour not to be missed. We don't do the same tour every year and this one of Northern and Southern Ecuador will cover cloud forest to low montane forest in the transition zone from the Andes to the Amazon.

Itinerary and prices

All of our South American tours are custom tours and do not follow a
standard fixed itinerary. Consequently prices will vary according to
the number of days you want and what birds/and or ruins you might want
to see or visit. We will also vary the standard of accomodations that
you might want according to your budget. One that will not change is
our committment to security and your safety which is paramount in both
Canada and foreign countries. Consequently some things will not be
possible because they are too dangerous. For example the Tingo Maria
area in Peru has traditionally been a dangerous area for reasons of
terrorism and as of this date (May 2007) is a no-go area.
Just as we reserve the right to cancel Pelagic tours in Canada due to high
seas, we refuse to operate in particular areas in South America.

Figure out which birds you want to see, give us an idea of your
comfortability level (are you an outdoor camper or do you prefer rooms and
hot showers?) and your budget, and we will work from there.

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