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Rich Hoyer on his recently completed tour, Ecuador: The Amazon Lowlands



October 09: Rich Hoyer on his recently completed tour, Ecuador: The Amazon Lowlands

There may not be any pronounced dry season on the Equator in the Amazon Basin, but if there was one week-long dry spell this year, we found it. It was hot as usual in the tropics, but that was an even tradeoff for not being forced to take time off due to rain. It was a wonderful week that passed by all too quickly, filled with great birds and some incredible tropical diversity in the way of lizards fighting on trees, killer mushrooms invading insect brains, and a very friendly, almost even loving, Amazon Tree Boa. We saw some marvelous birds at the canopy platform, such as a perched Orange-breasted Falcon and Yellow-billed Nunbirds, while along the various trails elusive species such as Collared Puffbird, Wire-tailed Manakin, and Black-faced Antbird performed well. Super delightful were the several boat rides on the lake (cocha) and stream (yacu), where rare kingfishers such as American Pygmy and Green-and-rufous were ridiculously abundant and easy to see. But we didn’t have to go far from our rooms (or the lodge’s bar) to enjoy some of the best birding in the area – with the exception of the Orange-breasted Falcon, all of the following photos were taken right around the lodge’s buildings.


Orange-breasted Falcon


Scarlet-crowned Barbet


Hoatzin


American Pygmy Kingfisher


White-eared Jacamar


Masked Crimson Tanager

Posted: October 09, 2017