Ecuador Specialities
(Pause
your cursor on the photo to see the species name.....)
Photo
copyright Martin Reid
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Photo
copyright Marcus Martin
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Photo copyright Martin
Kramer
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Photo copyright Jeff
Blincow
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Photo copyright Allen
Chartier
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Photo copyright Ruth
Traynor
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Photo
copyright Martin Reid
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Photo copyright Allen
Chartier
Photo
copyright Marcus Martin
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Photo copyright Tandayapa
Lodge
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Photo copyright Ruth
Traynor
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Photo
copyright James Ownby
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Photo
copyright Jeff Blincow
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Photo copyright Jeremy
Barker
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Photo copyright Allen
Chartier
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Photo
copyright Marcus Martin
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Photo copyright Allen
Chartier
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Photo
copyright Martin Reid
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Photo
copyright Tropical Birding.
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Photo
copyright Jeff Blincow
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Photo copyright Allen
Chartier
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Photo copyright Neotropical
Journeys
Photo copyright Jean
Coronel
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Photo copyright Centro
de Estudos Ornitológicos
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Photo copyright Tropical
Birding
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Photo copyright John
Parr
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Photo copyright Allen
Chartier
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Photo copyright Jeremy
Barker
Photo copyright Marcus
Martin
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Photo copyright Allen
Chartier
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Photo
copyright Martin Reid
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....La
Selva Lodge - "Quite simply, one of the world's top birding sites"
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....An
Ecuadorian Birding Page - by Mark Mulhollam - this site provides
trip
checklists, maps, and 11 trip reports from Ecuador.
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....Adventure
in Ecuador and the Galapagos - this site provides
a brief
description of a number
of key ecological areas in Ecuador, including:
-
The Coastal Lowlands
-
Guayaquil
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The Central Highlands
-
Cotopaxi National Park
-
Chimborazo National Park
-
The Oriente Rainforest
-
Cayamba-Coco Ecological Reserve
-
Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve
-
The Galapagos Islands
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....Birding
the Tandayapa Valley - The Tandayapa Valley is a prime
example
of an insufficiently documented, yet often birded site 1 ½ hours
northwest of Quito, on the well-known Old Nono-Mindo Road.For the new birder
to the Neotropics, this is an excellent place to first experience the marvel
of the Andean mixed species feeding flocks. For the more experienced birder
who wants to see rare and range restricted species, the valley holds huge
potential for locating Chocó endemics. To date, 21 Chocó
endemics have been seen in the valley, six of which should be seen almost
daily. See also the excellent information contained in the Reports
and Birdlists for the Tandayapa Valley.
....
....Ecuador
- A Little Gem - by Jeff Blincow. A month in Ecuador would
give any birdwatcher a real
flavour of the ornithology of the whole of the Neotropics. The variety
of habitats is amazing if you only consider travelling in a straight line
from the west coast to the eastern border with Peru.
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....Birding
Ecuador - by Lou Jost, illustrator of Common Birds
of
Amazonian Ecuador, 1997.
This site provides information on the major ecological zones and their
birds. For birding purposes, Ecuador can be divided into eight faunal zones:
-
Amazonian Lowlands
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Northwestern (Choco)
-
Lowlands Southwestern
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(Tumbesián) Lowlands
-
Subtropics
-
Eastern Subtropics
-
Temperate
-
Paramo
-
Galapagos Islands
See also Giant
Raptors in Ecuador, also by Lou Jost.
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....Earthwatch
in the Cloud Forest, 1977 - Banding Birds in the
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....Condor
Bioreserve - Preserve Profile - Composed of three adjoining
protected areas (Cayambe-Coca
Ecological Reserve, Antisana Ecological Reserve, and Cotopaxi National
Park), the 1.6 million-acre Condor Bioreserve offers sanctuary for the
largest remaining population of Andean condor, the majestic national symbol
of Ecuador.
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....The
Nondo-Mindo Road and Mindo - "This road and the area
around the town of Mindo,
just 84 km. northwest of Quito, is one of the best birding sites in South
America. Some 430 species have been recorded, including 370 around Mindo
alone. The best time to visit is July, although any time of year can be
good. Although accomodation in the town is quite basic, the trails
are conveniently close and varied, making Mindo a very pleasant place to
'stay a while'.... Also, the quiet old road southwest from Quito to Santo
Domingo traverses the west Andean slope, passing through some large tracts
of temperate and subtropical forests which support similar birds to the
Mindo area. Torrent Duck and Andean Cock-of-the-Rock occur at the bridge
where this road meets the new road to Santo Domingo." - from Where
to Watch Birds in South America - by Nigel Wheatley.
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....An
Update to the Ecuadorean Experience - Scott Connop
from Birding Around the
World. Published originally in Birder's Journal, Vol. 4, #2, April/95
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....Cotopaxi
National Park - The Cotopaxi volcano, located in the
Eastern Range of the Andes
at 5,900 meters of altitude (19,500 feet) is the world's highest active
volcano. Limpiopungo lake has a large reed formation where Andean Gulls
nest. Here you will be able to watch ducks, coots, sandpipers, plovers,
the Andean Lapwing and a wide variety of other birds..
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....Podocarpus
National Park - by Julian Smith - May 1998
Ecuador's southernmost national
park is a hidden gem. Large tracts of virgin forest shelter a bewildering
array of climates and residents; some of the most spectacular scenery lies
within easy access of Loja and Vilcabamba. Even as poaching, illegal colonizing,
and especially mining take their toll on Podocarpus, the relative few tourists
that visit come away knowing they've seen something special - whether it's
the fairy-tale high-altitude forest or one of the flashier of the park's
hundreds of bird species. "This huge park is one of the richest in the
world for birds. Some 540 species have been recorded so far, but many areas
have yet to be fully explored, and the potential list could be as high
as 800, which could make it second only to Manu NP in Peru." from Where
to Watch Birds in South America - by Nigel Wheatley.
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....Reserva
Rio Alambi - Alambi is a new Irish-run forest eco-reserve
just
one hour, 35 miles or 55 km, from Quito, right on the main road to the
port of Esmeraldas. Accomodation includes a comfortable guesthouse, dorm-style
building and camping area, all situated at about 5000 feet above sea level
and enjoying a pleasant year-round climate of 60-80ºF (16-25ºC).
There is no malaria or yellow fever in the area. The forest, most of it
primary, ranges from 4785 to 7000 feet (1450-2200m) in altitude. The Mindo-Tandayapa-Nono
area is one of the most bio-diverse regions of the world, regularly taking
the world record in birdcounts. The area is also famous for its orchids
and bromelaids. Alambi complies with the ideals of eco-tourism - low impact
tourism that brings real benefit to local communities. For example, although
the reserve is Irish run, the landowners are rural Ecuadorians, all born
within five miles of the reserve. There are also both research and reforestation
programmes at the reserve. Both English-speakers and Spanish-speakers are
present at the reserve at all times.
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....Galapagos
Birding - by Jeff Blincow - The Galapagos Islands straddle
the equator 600 miles west
of Ecuador.My strongest memories of Galapagos will undoubtedly be the effortless
Frigatebirds that were always on patrol and seemingly over see everything
that goes on. I have recorded 55 species of bird in a week, including most,
but not all of the endemics. Perhaps I might go back some day to see the
Flightless Cormorant that unfortunately only frequents the most western
islands.
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....Galapagos
Islands - The native avifauna includes 57 residents, of
which 26 (46%) are endemic
and 31 are regular migrants
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....Sangay
National Park - Some 400-500 bird species
may be present, although
comprehensive inventories have not been compiled. The park contains two
Endemic Bird Areas, the Central Andean páramo, home to ten bird
species of restricted range, and the Eastern Andes of Ecuador and northern
Peru, home to 15 restricted-range species.
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....Birding
in Ecuador - This commercial site has organized its
information on birding locations
in Ecuador by the target bird you wish to see, but it is certainly worth
perusing the entire list to identify the many key birding areas (and the
birds they contain).
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....Ecuador
Birder's Resource Centre - visit this location to obtain
full
trip reports, site guides and a huge range of logistical information for
birdwatching in Ecuador.
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....Ecuador
- Directory of Wetlands of International Importance -
includes information on
all Ecuador's Ramsar designated sites, including:
-
Manglares Churute
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Machalilla
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....Ecuador
Trip Reports: from a series of Tropical
Birding tours,
including:
-
Southern
Ecuador (with 2 days in the Tandayapa Valley), 15 - 28 February 2003.
This was one of the most enjoyable and interesting tours that I have ever
done. Between the spectacular and varied scenery, the camaraderie with
the participants,
the
great birds, and the flawless arrangements by our office staff, we had
a superb overall trip. Jim and Hardy were great fun and always willing
to tackle the next mountain and chase the next antpitta.
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Western
Ecuador:
Quality, not Quantity in the Tumbesian and Choco. 21 - 29 November 2002.
Most of the participants in this tour had already made numerous trips to
South America and Ecuador with other companies. They were searching for
species they had missed on previous tours, rather than trying to see as
many species as possible. This is certainly a hard-core target species
tour and should not be used as an
indication
of a more general birding trip.
-
Northwest
Ecuador: In Search of Choco Endemics, 24 May - 6 June 2002. What can
I say; doing trips like this one hardly feels like work at all. The tour
was a small one with two English guests and an old birding friend. The
mood for the trip was set at dinner on the 24th when Ann suggested that
we just go after the hard endemics, and the easy stuff will look after
itself.
-
Northern
Ecuador: 13 February - 01 March 2002. Another fun trip to Northern
Ecuador with Tropical Birding. Three good friends from Norfolk joined us
for a fortnight of great birds, the best lodges, and lots of good food.
Even though it rained part of every day of the trip, the birding was generally
excellent, with some nice highlights!
-
Ecuadorian
Amazon: 16 January - 26 January 2002. This was Tropical Birding's inaugural
Ecuadorian Amazon tour.
-
Northern
Ecuador: 16 November - 7 December 2001. This was Tropical Birding's
most successful tour yet! Four adventurous lads left behind a dreary English
November and came to a
birder's
paradise for three unforgettable weeks. They saw a combined 640 species,
a Tropical Birding record,
but its not just the numbers that will be remembered! Lots of photos!
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....Ecuador
Trip Report: Sani Lodge, Ecuador, August 2004, by
Mark
Gurney. I spent six days at Sani Lodge ( www.sanilodge.com), birding with
Domingo, one of the local guides. As I have seen a lot of Ecuador's Amazonian
birds before, we concentrated on those species that are not easy to find,
especially at the other lodges closer to Coca, but we still saw 222 species,
including four Napo endemics.
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....Ecuador
Travel Diary - April 1 - 21, 2002, by James Ownby.
Somewhere
in the world there may be an easier place than Tandayapa Bird Lodge to
photograph birds, but I've yet to see it. Located at 5700 ft in the
cloud forests of northwestern Ecuador, it's a cool contrast to the hot
dry Pacific coast of Mexico. One of the nice things about Tandayapa is
that you don't have to plod up the mountain for the birds - here they come
to you. A remarkable 30 species of hummers have been recorded at the feeders.
If you don't see 20 species in a day or two, you just aren't trying.
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....Trip
Report: Northern Ecuador: Dec 29, 2001 to Jan 13, 2002
-
Todd Pepper & Geoff Post. Our trip to Ecuador was to last 18 days.
Our goal was to see 400 species by visiting 4 areas: west slope, east slope,
high Andes and Amazonia. Our final tally: far exceeding our goal,
we had seen 472 species. We shared a bottle of good Chilean wine to celebrate.
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....Trip
Report: Galapagos - June 25 - July 5, 1999. By Allen & Nancy
Chartier.
This trip was offered by Field Guides, Inc. and was led by Mitch Lysinger,
whom we had birded with in 1996 so we were expecting a fun, and excellent
trip. We weren't disappointed, and the tameness of most of the birds, and
their abundance, offset the low number of species seen on the trip.
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....Trip
Report: Ecuador and the Galapagos, 3rd October – 18th October
2002
by Steve Bird. Great company, excellent bird sightings with everything
seen well by everyone and all backed up by very good weather and fantastic
scenery. A Birdseekers Tour
Report.
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....Trip
Report: Northern Ecuador - November 2001. By Rob and Evelien
Goldbach.
Despite its relative small size (for a South American country) Ecuador
hosts more than 1200 bird species, and this great biodiversity is due to
the country’s location right at the Equator and its variation in habitats.
It encompasses both high elevation areas (the Andes) as well as a vast
area of Amazonia ("the Oriente"). Due to time limits we focused to the
northern part of Ecuador, making visits to both the western (Tandayapa
lodge) and the eastern slope (San Isidro lodge) of the Andes, combined
with a stay in Amazonia (Yarina lodge, west of Coca).
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....Ecuador
Trip Report (incl. a few sites in coastal Peru) - by Frank E.
Rheindt. From May through
August 2001, I spent 2 ½ incredible months in Ecuador, seeing many
unique birds in a vast array of different habitats. I started from Lima,
working my way north along a handful of Peruvian coastal sites and got
to Ecuador within 10 days. From the adjacent (southwestern) part of Ecuador
(El Oro), I pursued a circular counterclockwise route, birding the Loja-Zamora
area and from there visiting Andean and Eastern foothill sites on my way
north to the lowland rainforests along the Napo River. By the time I had
reached the northern Andes and their western foothills, I ran into some
serious time problems, so that there was not as much time left for the
Chocó Region and the Mindo area as I would have liked to have. Indeed,
the last couple of weeks I was basically just running from site to site
trying to see as much as possible within such a short period.
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....Ecuador
Trip Report - October 2001. By Ian and Ruth Traynor.
This
is not a website about birdwatching in Ecuador! It is a personal account
of two English birdwatcher's birding trip to this delightful and bird-rich
South American country in October 2001. This site contains information
on the itinerary, the diary (the heart of this site,with information sorted
by habitat), trip lists and a wonderful section on advice.
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....Trip
Report: Ecuador and the Galapagos, November 28, 2000 to
January
13, 2001. By Michael Mills. This trip was fairly complex, regarding the
participants and their enthusiasm for birds. I birded in Ecuador from the
28th Nov 2000 to 13th Jan 2001. Peter Osborn, a friend from England, joined
me between 28 Nov and 16 Dec 2000. My family, of which my father is the
only "real" birder, joined me from 6 to 28 Dec 2000. Birding plans over
this period had to accommodate non-birders.
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....Ecuador
Trip Report - January 29 - March 4, 2000 - by
Greg Roberts.
We have previously done
numerous trips unguided, but opted for a guide this time. The difficulty
was deciding who to go with. You pay a lot for the better known expatriate
guides, but if you’ve done your homework, it may not be worth it.
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....Ecuador
2000 and Ecuador
2001 - These pdf format trip reports
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....Trip
Report: Bilsa, Northwest Ecuador - 30 September to 5 October
1999.
By Niels Poul Dreyer. I went to Bilsa Biological Reserve at the end of
September 1999. The 3000 hectares large reserve is found in the Mache-Chindul
mountains 20 km from the Pacific in the province of Esmeraldas. Although
Bilsa is located between the Tumbesian and the Chocó Endemic Birding
Areas, its habitat consists mainly of Chocó forest.
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....Birding
trip report Southern Ecuador: Aug./Sep. 1998 - by John van
der
Woude. This extensive trip report with maps and sound files (among other
things) relates the experiences of a private birding trip to Southern Ecuador,
as a follow-up of our trip to Northern Ecuador in 1995. Southern Ecuador
has an outstanding diversity of habitats. Cajas and Podocarpus National
Parks are famous mountain destinationsThe humid to dry hills and plains
in the Southwest have the Tumbesian endemics and many other species. See
also John's 1995 Northern
Ecuador Trip Report.
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....Birdwatching
in Ecuador & Galapagos Islands Aug.-Sep. 1992,
Erik Mølgaard, Niels
Krabbe, Jesper Meedom & Ulrik Andersen. (NOTE: this is a downloadable
report in WORD format from the Danish
Ornithological Society´s website). In August-September 1992,
the excursions committee of the Copenhagen department of the Danish Ornithological
Society (DOF) carried out its first tour to South America. The destination
was Ecuador and the Galapagos islands. The tour was designed to give the
participants a thorough coverage of the Galapagos islands and a good impression
of the enormous biodiversity of the South American continent. The tour
was organised in 3 parts: part 1 (10 days) covering the Galapagos islands,
part 2 (13 days) covering Southern Ecuador plus Quito and part 3 (14 days)
covering the Amazon as well as the upper tropical zone on both slopes of
the Andes. Parts 1 and 2 constituted the base package with part 3 offering
an optional extension. Most participants were with us on the entire tour,
lasting 5½ weeks. The number of bird species recorded was very impressive.
The base tour total ended at 498 species. With an additional 393 species
on the extension trip, the grand total was 891 species, an unofficial
world record for an organised tour. See also Erik Mølgaard's
1994
Ecuador Trip Report.
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....Trip
Report for Ecuador July 13-29, 2000. The trip was arranged by
Roger
L. Boyd through Mercedes Revadeneira at Neblina Forest. There was a total
of 8 of us from Kansas and one from Colorado in our group. We were very
pleased with our experience, accommodations, food, driver, and most of
all, our guide Lelis Navarrete. We also had a very knowledgeable
local guide at Sacha: Oscar Tapuy. This was, by far, our best trip
(out of 5) ever to South America. We highly recommend Neblina Forest
to you. We located 568 species of which 66 were only heard.
Included in this list were 76 tanagers and allies, 70 flycatcher and 48
hummingbird species.
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....Ecuador
Trip Report - 28 January - 28 April 2000 - by Patrick O'Donnell.
I
worked as a volunteer at Bellavista for a little more than 1 month from
February until March, and then visited a variety of places up until my
departure date. In all, I ended up recording 718 sp., 671 of which were
seen, 133 of which were lifers.
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....Trip
Report - Ecuador, September 1999 - by Larry Gardella. From
September
12 to September 25, Milton Levy, Andrea Menyhert and I went on an Ecuador
tour with Neblina Forest, an Ecuadorian bird tour company. Most days we
began birding at dawn and continued until dusk, with a break for lunch
either at a hotel or lodge or in the field. We found most species
the old fashioned way: by looking for them, including amongst the birds
of mixed species flocks. In thirteen days of birding, we saw more than
465 birds and heard another 50. We had 42 hummingbirds, 6 barbets,
32 furnarids, 63 flycatchers and 73 tanagers.
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....Ecuador
Trip Report - Mostly Podocarpus National Park - September
25
– October 19, 1999 - by Ottavio Janni. I had about a month off in late
September. – October 1999 and decided to spend it in Ecuador where I had
done quite a bit of birding on previous trips. As I was on my own and the
trip was a little last-minute with not much time for planning, I decided
to spend most of my time in Loja where I have friends, and where I had
previously helped local NGO Fundación Arcoiris with bird surveys
in Podocarpus National Park.
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....Birding
in Northern Ecuador - July 21 - August 17, 1998 - by Barry
Wright.
In 1998 as part of a five-month trip to South America, Keith Turner, Neil
Bostock and myself visited a few sites in northern Ecuador in search of
very specific birds. Overall the trip was successful, though we did miss
a few hoped for key species.
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....Ecuador
Trip Report: Big Day and Big Week in Birdland - Ecuador.
Robert
Jonsson and Charlie Vogt of Avestravel decided to undertake a Big Week
in Ecuador during the first week of May 2001. The object was to see as
many birds as possible over a seven day period starting in the Amazon,
working our way over the Eastern and Western Cordilleras of the Andes and
finishing in the western lowlands.
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....Birding
report from Ecuador, October 2001 - by Rick Waldrop.
I
thought that some of you might enjoy a birding report from me, since I
have been mute here in Ecuador for some twelve weeks now and am just over
the half-way point of my time before returning to Tennessee in December.
I have been birding in Ecuador for short periods of time (a week or less)
off and on for the past 10 ten years and arrived here on July 24, 2001,
having seen about 1,000 of the approximately 1,600 species that occur here,
with about 600 of those seen in Ecuador itself.
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....Trip
Report: Ecuador Trip Report - Mostly PN Podocarpus -
September
25 – October 19, 1999. By Ottavio Janni. I had about a month off in late
September – October 1999 and decided to spend it in Ecuador where I had
done quite a bit of birding on previous trips. As I was on my own and the
trip was a little last-minute with not much time for planning, I decided
to spend most of my time in Loja where I have friends, and where I had
previously helped local NGO Fundación Arcoiris with bird surveys
in Podocarpus National Park. I added a short stay at Sacha Lodge where
I had not been before, and hired drivers for two free days in Quito and
Guayaquil.
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....Trip
Report: Birding in Northern Ecuador - July 21 to August 17, 1998.
By
Barry Wright, Neil Bostock and Keith Turner. In 1998 as part of a five-month
trip to South America, Keith Turner, Neil Bostock and myself visited a
few sites in northern Ecuador in search of very specific birds. Overall
the trip was successful, though we did miss a few hoped for key species.
Keith and myself had visited Ecuador a few years before and this time we
decided to visit sites difficult to do on a short trip due to lack of flexibility
and logistics of reaching the sites. The trip was reasonably tough requiring
good physical fitness and a lot of determination in the often-inhospitable
conditions.
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....Trip
Report: Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia - 6 June – 5 August 1999.
By
Samuel Hansson with Mathias Bergström. Mathias and I had only met
once before, very briefly, when we decided to make this journey together.
As Mathias only had 4 weeks of vacation to spare, I decided to continue
on my own after he'd gone home. South America is fantastic and the birding
unrivalled! As long as you keep yourself well informed about where it's
safe to go and not, and as long as you use your common sense, you should
be safer in Peru, Ecuador, Colombia or any other South American country
than in many European or American cities.
...
....Ecuador
Trip Reports - over 40 additional Ecuador trip reports are
available
from Blake Maybank's "Birding the Americas: Trip Report and Trip Planning
Repository".
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