Jon Feenstra on his just concluded tour, Ecuador: A Week in Paradise

I just finished an always-exciting exploration of the best birding locations of northwest Ecuador, ranging from elfin woodland near treeline to hot lowland rainforest, with various degrees of cloud forest in between. All were easily reached in day trips from our base near Mindo. Highlights included nearly 40 species of hummingbirds including such luminaries as Giant and Sword-billed Hummingbirds, Velvet-purple Coronet, and the tiny Green Thorntail (which at some point on the trip landed on everyone). Tanagers were equally represented, some in exciting (and occasionally frustrating) mixed-species canopy flocks and other nonchalantly chowing on bananas at feeding stations. Some of our favorites were Bay-headed Tanager, Flame-faced Tanager, the local specialty Moss-backed Tanager, and the rare Blue-whiskered Tanager. There's more, of course: antpittas, flycatchers, toucans and parrots...so many birds.

The tiny Green Thorntail

Flame-faced Tanager