Jon Feenstra on his recently completed tour, Ecuador: The Amazon Lowlands

We’re all back from a week in the Ecuadorian Amazon based at the remote, but comfortable, indigenous people-run Sani Lodge. We had a great time with bird highlights ranging from colorful Wire-tailed Manakins, a few cryptic antbirds, bizarre Hoatzins, four species of macaw, and lots of interesting insects, monkeys, and just fascinating jungle scenery. The time we spent  in the rainforest was nearly eight days, and with no rain, it was easy to explore the surrounding jungle on foot and by canoe.

A Crested Owl was a day-roost stakeout at a house near the indigenous peoples’ village.

The lodge itself always had birds about. A few Black-fronted Nunbirds were noisy members of the “bar flock”.

This was as close we came to seeing a Jaguar, but one was out there… maybe seeing us.

This peanut-headed bug (real name) was yet another example of the astounding, and often strange, diversity of the Amazon.

Though most of our birding was in the forest, we made a beach landing on a river island to get those island specialties like Oriole Blackbird and Olive-spotted Hummingbird.