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Jon Feenstra on his just-completed tour, Ecuador: The East Slope of the Andes



February 25: Jon Feenstra on his just-completed tour, Ecuador: The East Slope of the Andes

We just got back from the Amazon slope of the Andes in northern Ecuador east of Quito. This was a pretty short tour, five nights and six days, but we covered nearly 10,000 feet of elevation change between the high paramo above the town of Papallacta all the way down to the foothill rainforest on the south slope of the Sumaco volcano. 

On one rainy day at Wildsumaco lodge we spent much of the day watching hummingbirds from the back porch. We ended up with 22 species of hummer that day including this flashy Gould’s Jewelfront. 

 

This atlas moth outside of Cabanas San Isidro was one of the non-bird highlights of the trip. It was also a highlight for a Green Jay that found it shortly after sunrise. 

While watching a raging mountain stream from a suspension bridge, a male Torrent Duck navigated the frothy waters right below us. 

It took us two tries to find Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe in the high paramo (above 14000 feet el. Finally after an hour of hiking around our driver found it right by the parking lot where we started!

Posted: February 25, 2017