La Selva Lodge is in a splendid location. Photo: Gary Rosenberg
The Amazonian lowlands of eastern Ecuador have proven in recent years to be among the most diverse areas in the world for birds, comparable to parts of eastern and southeastern Peru in both richness and beauty. La Selva Lodge, two and a half hours by boat down the Napo River from the Amazonian town of Coca, is situated on an oxbow lake in the heart of the Amazon rainforest and offers us excellent access to the region’s extraordinary diversity. More than 500 species of birds are known from this single locality, including five species of macaw, ten puffbirds, seven toucans, and more than 40 antbirds. It is possible to see some of the rarest and least-known Amazonian species, such as Zigzag Heron, Black-banded Owl, White-browed Purpletuft, Banded Antbird, Orange-crowned Manakin, and the recently rediscovered Cocha Antshrike. The addition of a 100-foot tower, easily accessible by stairs, has brought a new dimension to Amazonian birdwatching: the ability to observe many of the rarely seen canopy species. The lodge itself is rustic, yet offers a degree of comfort seldom seen among Amazonian lodges: excellent meals, service, and private bungalows, each with a private bathroom complete with hot water. Although most trips to La Selva are for three to four days, our longer stay at the lodge will allow us to experience more fully the area’s extraordinary diversity.
This tour can be taken in conjunction with our tour Southern Ecuador: The High Andes to the Southwest Coast.
Day 1: The tour begins at 6:00 pm in Quito. Night in Quito.
Day 2: Because winter weather in the US often delays travelers (or luggage), and even Quito Airport can close due to fog, we have intentionally scheduled our first day of birding around Quito. Once we leave for La Selva, it’s very difficult and expensive to catch up! We’ll spend the entire day exploring Yanacocha and the road to Tandayapa and Mindo. This road exits Quito to the northwest and descends through lush temperate and subtropical Andean forest. The variety of hummingbirds, flycatchers, warblers, and tanagers here is remarkable, and we’ll search for such special birds as Plate-billed Mountain-Toucan, Golden-headed Quetzal, Toucan Barbet, White-capped Dipper, and a variety of tanagers including the very gaudy Grass-green. A highlight of the day will be a visit to a set of hummingbird feeders near Tandayapa, where we’ve seen as many as 23 species of hummingbirds in a single hour. We’ll travel the Tandayapa Road as far as time permits before returning to Quito. Night in Quito.
Day 3: We’ll fly this morning over the Andes to the Amazonian town of Coca and board our boat for the two-and-a-half hour ride down the Napo River to La Selva Lodge. As the lodge itself is located on an oxbow lake, not the main river, we’ll walk on a developed trail to the lake and then transfer to small dugout canoes for the tranquil fifteen-minute paddle to our accommodations for the next seven nights. After a welcome drink and a late lunch, we’ll make our first of many excursions to the newly constructed 100-foot tower, a fifteen-minute walk from the lodge. The tower, reached by a sturdy staircase that wraps around a gargantuan tree, allows us access to one of the least-known habitats in the tropical rainforest, the canopy. Some of the many possibilities we may see from the tower are Blue-throated Piping-Guan, Great Potoo, Chestnut-fronted and Blue-and-yellow Macaws, Spangled, Plum-throated, and Purple-throated Cotingas, White-browed Purpletuft, and Paradise, Green-and-gold, Turquoise, and Yellow-bellied Tanagers. Each visit to the tower allows for the unexpected. Night at La Selva.
Days 4-9: Six full days at La Selva will give us ample time to explore and re-explore the many different habitats accessible from the lodge. A highlight of any trip to La Selva is a visit to several easily reached parrot clay licks. Literally hundreds of parrots come early in the morning to replenish their mineral supply by licking and pecking at exposed rocky areas. If we are fortunate, we may see as many as four or five species using the lick at the same time, including hundreds of Mealy and Blue-headed Parrots. La Selva Lodge’s excellent trail system will enable us to explore superb primary rainforest on both sides of the Napo River. The list of species found in this vanishing habitat is seemingly endless, and we’ll concentrate on observing mixed-species flocks of woodcreepers, antbirds, ovenbirds, flycatchers, and tanagers. Among the more beautiful birds that we’ll search for in the upland forest are Purplish Jacamar, Many-banded and Lettered Aracaris, Golden-collared Toucanet, Collared Puffbird, Scale-breasted Woodpecker, Undulated Antshrike, White-plumed Antbird, Wire-tailed, Striped, Blue-crowned, and Golden-headed Manakins, and Fulvous Shrike-Tanager. At night, we’ll look for Black-banded, Crested, and Spectacled Owls and Tawny-bellied and Tropical Screech-Owls, as well as Great, Common, and Long-tailed Potoos and Short-tailed Nighthawk.
One of the most appealing aspects of our stay at La Selva will be the leisurely canoe rides around Garzacocha, the serene lake on which our lodge is located. We’ll be watched by the prehistoric-looking Hoatzins as we paddle around the edge in search of species found only in flooded forest and along the lake edges, including specialties such as White-chinned Jacamar, Dot-backed and Silvered Antbirds, Cinnamon Attila, Black-capped Donacobious, Buff-breasted Wren, and the striking Masked Crimson Tanager. Our main goal, however, will be to snatch a glimpse of the rare and elusive Zigzag Heron, a species that has proven to be regular around the lake at La Selva. The boardwalk between the Napo River and Garzacocha traverses excellent semiflooded forest, and we’ll look for the entirely yellow Cream-colored Woodpecker, as well as Plumbeous and White-shouldered Antbirds and the extremely rare Orange-crowned Manakin.
One afternoon we’ll canoe a small stream in search of the recently rediscovered Cocha Antshrike, a species that until the fall of 1990 was known to science from a single female specimen. One morning will be devoted to visiting islands in the Napo River, where a completely different assortment of species can be found, some of which are so specialized in their unique habitats that they have never been recorded on the mainland. We’ll look particularly for White-bellied Spinetail, Castelnau’s Antshrike, Black-and-white Antbird, Lesser Wagtail-Tyrant, River Tyrannulet, Mottle-backed Elaenia, and Orange-headed Tanager. Along the river itself we can expect to see Collared Plover, Pied Lapwing, Large-billed and Yellow-billed Terns, and possibly roosting Ladder-tailed Nightjars that frequent the sandbars. Nights at La Selva.
Day 10: We’ll depart the lodge in the predawn hours for our boat ride back to Coca and our morning flight back to Quito, arriving at our hotel by early afternoon. Night in Quito.
Day 11: The tour concludes this morning in Quito.
Updated: 16 June 2010
Prices
- 2011 Tour Price $3,290
- Single Occupancy Supplement $410
Notes
Maximum group size eight with one leader.