Jon Feenstra on his just-completed tour, Ecuador: A Week in the Clouds

We just wrapped up six full days of birding across 10,000 feet of elevation change along the Amazon slope of the Ecuadorian Andes. There were many great birds from the Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe that literally took the breath away (at 15,000 feet) to Chestnut-fronted Macaws and Black-mandibled Toucans in the foothill rainforest. And that was only the first day. Other days we didn’t travel quite as widely, but worked our way back uphill. We had fun birding from the comfort of east Ecuador’s best birding lodges, each situated in its own private forest reserves. 

Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe

Black-mandibled Toucan

Hummingbird feeding has long been a common practice in Ecuador and we totaled thirty species including such specialties as Black-throated Brilliant, Napo Sabrewing, and Gorgeted Woodstar. 

Hummmingbird watching in the eastern Andes

Antpitta feeding, the recent craze at Ecuadorian eco-lodges, is now practiced at all of the lodges we stayed at. We saw the tiny Ochre-breasted as well as the medium sized White-bellied and Plain-backed Antpittas. Other tough birds are also starting to come in to these feeding stations, so numbered are the days of thrashing around in the jungle for the likes of Slaty-backed and Spotted Nightingale-Thrushes, and White-crowned Tapaculo – all of which also came in to the lure of fresh worms.

White-bellied Antpitta

We did do a little thrashing about in the jungle for the charismatic White-crowned Manakin and not-so-charismatic but difficult Euler’s Flycatcher. Much of our birding was from the roadsides along excellent stretches of forest, where we enjoyed Collared, Masked and Green-backed Trogons, Crimson-crested Woodpeckers, and more Cerulean Warblers than anyone had seen before. 

Green-backed Trogon

All photos attached here are by Jon Feenstra.