Update from Southern Ecuador

We just finished a marathon trip through southern Ecuador, topping out over 500 species in over two and a half weeks of birding (eBird Report Here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/288618). We kind of went everywhere starting and ending in Guayaquil and going clockwise in a big loop from lowland deciduous forest to treeline forest and paramo, to Amazonian foothill rainforest, the upper reaches of the Rio Marañon watershed, some desert and thorn scrub and western foothill rainforest. We put about 3000km on the van! Grown favorites included such luminaries as Jocotoco Antpitta, Long-wattled Umbrellabird, and Blue-throated Hillstar.

No trip to southern Ecuador is complete without a visit to Reserva Tapichalaca to visit the big guy himself, the Jocotoco Antpitta, the inspiration for a huge and successful bird conservation system throughout the country.

Jon Feenstra

Likewise, a visit to the lek of some Long-wattled Umbrellabirds at Reserva Buenaventura was also a must. The males with their inflatable wattles and foghorn calls won the contest for weirdest bird of the trip.

Jon Feenstra

One great surprise, actually found by our driver, was this duo of Oilbirds tucked into a dark hole next to a waterfall on the side of the road. Goes to show that sometimes the best stuff is in the parking lot!

Jon Feenstra

Another surprise was this sublime, pigment-deficient male White-necked Jacobin. He was ghostly moving through the other flashy hummers visiting the feeders at Reserva Buenaventura.

Jon Feenstra

Among the endemic birds we saw was Blue-throated Hillstar, known to science for less than a decade and only from the single mountaintop of Cerro de Arcos.

Jon Feenstra

It was a fine combination of good birds, good people, and good vibes that made it an epic trip. (We could see the end of the rainbow – there wasn’t gold, but there were Mountain Caracaras.)

Jon Feenstra