The Birds of Southern Ecuador –  Jocotoco Foundation Reserves and Copalinga Lodge

Oct. 5 - 18, 2012 - in association with Bird Treks

With several new lodges providing access to excellent habitat and many species unique to the region, southern Ecuador has quickly become a destination almost as popular as the north.  A short one-hour flight from Quito brings you to the southern province of Loja from where several distinct avifaunal areas can be easily reached.  In addition to birding in the dry interior valley where we may find long-tailed mockingbird, Pacific parrotlet, croaking ground dove, Peruvian meadowlark, and chestnut-throated seedeater right around the airport, we'll travel to the south, east, west, and southwest to visit several superb lodges and find some great birds and wildlife.

Our first stop is the Jocotoco Foundation's (JF) Tapichalaca Reserve, home of the highly range-restricted Jocotoco antpitta (as well as others including chestnut-naped, rufous, slate-crowned, and undulated).  While at Tapichalaca we'll enjoy the rich cloud forest and hopefully find many hummers (rufous-capped thornbill, flame-throated and amethyst-throated sunangels, collared inca, speckled hummingbird, tyrian metaltail), flycatchers (orange-banded, smoky bush-tyrant, and black-throated tody-tyrant), chusquea tapaculo, barred fruiteater, bar-bellied woodpecker, gray-breasted mountain-toucan, and many more.  Passing through a nice elevational transect down to the town of Valladolid, we may find Maranon thrush, streaked saltator, speckle-breasted wren, Loja tyrannulet, rufous-fronted thornbird, and many colorful tanagers.  With luck we'll find the spectacular white-capped tanagers and maybe the rare golden-plumed parakeets.

From Tapichalaca, we'll head to the eastern slope and beautiful Copalinga Lodge.  Warmer temperatures and a rich assortment of species from both higher and lower elevations await us here.  Wire-crested thorntail and spangled coquette are hummer highlights while coppery-chested jacamar, white-crowned tapaculo, black-streaked puffbird, lanceolated monklet, golden-winged tody-flycatcher, and blue-rumped manakin are a few of the gems we've seen here.  We'll spend a morning at the Bombuscaro section of Podocarpus National Park and one along the old Loja-Zamora Road where gray-mantled wren, cerulean warbler, and scarlet-breasted fruiteater are a few of the many birds possible.  Occasionally we find a troop of white-fronted capuchins.

We then journey west to the JF's Buenaventura Lodge.  Buenaventura may be the birdiest place in the world's birdiest country.  Between the hummers swarming in huge numbers at the feeders, the many mixed flocks, the rare and local El Oro parakeet, and a lek of long-wattled umbrellabird, this is an unforgettable place.  We spend two full days here and hope to see many of the west slope and Tumbesian specialties.  Club-winged manakin, ochre-breasted tanager, crimson-breasted finch, barred puffbird, black-striped sparrow, brownish twistwing, and white-tipped sicklebill are among the many possibilities.

We finish our trip in the far southwest with two days at the JF's Jorupe Reserve where comfortable cabins set amidst spectacular tropical deciduous forest make for a perfect birding experience.  "At the lodge" birds include pale-browed tinamou, gray-backed hawk, west Peruvian screech-owl, gray-cheeked parakeet, Tumbes swift, whooping motmot, black-capped sparrow, Ecuadorian trogon, white-tailed jay, black-capped sparrow, Watkin's antpitta, saffron siskin, and white-edged oriole.  Deeper in the forest are blackish-headed spinetail, rufous-necked and henna-hooded foliage-gleaners, collared antshrike, gray-breasted, Baird's and sooty-crowned flycatchers, slaty becard, and lots more. 

Last updated: November 13, 2011.