Jon Feenstra from his on-going tour to Southern Ecuador

We're five days into 15 days of birding all across southern Ecuador. We began in the high country of El Cajas National Park,

Part of the group in El Cajas National Park

enjoying the cool, thin air above treeline and seeing some of the signature species like Violet-throated Metaltail and Tit-like Dacnis. After a stop at Reserva Yunguilla, nearly the only place on earth to see Pale-headed Brush-Finch,

Pale-headed Brush Finch, almost unknown away from Reserva Yunguilla

we traveled south to Zamora, gateway to the lower reaches of the vast expanse of Podocarpus National Park. We spent a couple of days walking in the park with bird highlights of Foothill Elaenia, Lanceolated Monklet and Blackish Nighjar.

Lanceolated Monklet

To top that off, Copalinga Lodge now has a tinamou feeding station and we had killer views of a Gray Tinamou, a bird that often otherwise only exists in legend.

As for now, we just left the low foothills of the Cordillera del Condor in far southeastern Ecuador where we spent the last two days. It's only recently accessible, a true birding frontier, and we've seen some great stuff like the local specialty Orange-throated Tanager, as well as some other goodies like Blackish Pewee and Napo Sabrewing. To add to the "local specialtie", Cabanas Yankuam lodge served frog legs for dinner last night - a noted delicacy of the province of Zamora-Chincipe. Next it's back into the high country, this time in southern Loja, home of the Jocotoco Antpitta and continued good birding.