The Birds of
Northern Ecuador
–
Andes, the
Northwest Lowlands,
and a touch of Amazonia
Sept.
20 - Oct. 4, 2012 - in association with Bird
Treks
A July, 2012 trip will be added
if the September trip fills.
With
roughly 1600 species of birds, over 16,000 known plants, and almost 400 species
of mammals,
Ecuador
is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world.
Considering its relatively small size, it may harbor more species per
square mile than any other country. 
Ocean
currents, an equatorial latitude, and the rugged
Andes
combine to create climate variations that support great biogeographic diversity
as well as a high regional endemism. Coastal
beaches and mangrove lagoons, lowland tropical forests, tropical deciduous
forest, Amazonian rain forest, Andean foothill and cloudforests, high elevation
paramo, and peaks over 20,000 feet all contribute to the beauty and richness of
the country.
We’ll
begin our trip in the northwestern lowlands, foothills, and cloudforest where
we’ll spend two nights each at the lodges of Tinalandia, Septimo Paraiso, and
Tandayapa. In addition to birding at
the lodges, we’ll also visit the Mindo
Cloudforest Foundation's Milpe Reserve and make a
visit to the must-see “antpittas and more” show at the home of Angel Paz.
In the northwest, we’ll find a great variety of species, including
several regional endemics. Possibilities
include pallid dove, bronze-winged and red-billed parrots, red-rumped woodpecker, Choco warbler and toucan, Pacific
parotlet and antwren, dusky-faced and rufous-throated tanagers, yellow-tufted dacnis, red-faced
spinetail, toucan barbet, plate-billed mountain toucan, possibly four to six
species of antpittas, and perhaps two dozen species of
hummingbirds.
From
Tandayapa, we’ll travel to the eastern slope of the
Andes
to the temperate forests of Guango Lodge. At
almost 9000 ft., Guango is a great spot for torrent duck, white-capped dipper,
various mountain-tanagers, gray-breasted mountain-toucan, powerful woodpecker,
dusky piha, rufous antpitta, several species of
chat-tyrants and brush-finches, and many hummers,
including the improbable sword-billed.
From Guango we'll make a trip
to nearby Papallacta
Pass where we’ll look for several high Andean specialists such as Ecuadorian
hillstar,
plumbeous Sierra-finch, black-chested buzzard eagle, variable hawk, tawny
antpitta, stout-billed and bar-winged cinclodes, Andean tit-spinetail,
many-striped canastero, and the local prize, rufous-bellied seedsnipe.
We’ll
next visit Cabanas San Isidro, which, at about 6500 feet, is the transition zone
between temperate and subtropical
habitats. From the comfortable
lodge, which has great rooms and food, we’ll search for species that occur
only on
the eastern slope as well as more widespread species.
These include speckle-faced (white-capped) parrot, powerful woodpecker, rufous-crowned
tody-flycatcher, pale-edged flycatcher, green-and-black fruiteater, inca jay,
black-billed peppershrike, barred becard, Andean solitaire, bluish flowerpiercer,
saffron-crowned and many other tanagers, crested and golden-headed quetzals, and
as many as 10 species of hummingbirds. We’ll
also make a day trip to lower elevations
at Guacamayos Ridge where we’ll
have chances to see species like greater scythebill, golden-eyed flowerpiercer,
grass-green tanager, rufous-headed pygmy-tyrant, fruiteaters, and more. In
addition to white-bellied antpittas that come to worm feeders at San
Isidro, in 2011, they had a rare Peruvian antpitta coming in.
We’ll
conclude our journey with a day trip to the high elevation paramo of the
Antisana Reserve. In this wild
area of shrubs, vast grasslands, and a high altitude lake, Laguna Micacocha,
we’ll have good chances to see many species that we won’t find elsewhere
such as giant hummingbird, Andean condor, cinereous harrier, aplomado falcon,
red-crested cotinga, black-winged ground-dove, paramo pipit, black-faced ibis, and a suite of
other high elevation birds.
