Jon Feenstra reports from his recent trip in the Ecuadorian Amazon

We returned from Sani Lodge, deep in the Amazon rainforest of eastern Ecuador. It’s way out beyond any roads and quite an adventure just getting there.

The avian diversity is epic and we had a nice sampling of screamers, guans, puffbirds, jacamars, toucans, antbirds, woodcreepers, flycatchers, cotingas, manakins, tanagers, and more. And, parrots! No trip to the Amazon is complete without a show from big, colorful parrots. We watched up to twenty Blue-and-yellow Macaws (pictured here), as well as a few Chestnut-fronted and Red-bellied Macaws chew up a dead tree.

We also saw up to eleven Scarlet Macaws visit a mineral spring in the jungle (here with Orange-cheeked Parrot).

The canoe rides through the flooded forest were serene and beautiful.

And, within this habitat we encountered the extremely local Cocha Antshrike, here the more striking female.

The canopy tower had its own specialties, like the tiny, colorful Yellow-browed Tody-Flycatcher.

There was a lot of walking though dark, primary rainforest.

Sometimes there were some very big trees.

And, sometimes we took a lesson from the Hoatzins and just hung out, looking out over the jungle from a good sturdy branch.