Bird watching Ecuador - Andes/Choco Region
Ecuador’s northern Andes offer very easy birding in a beautiful setting that will thrill both the experienced birder and the novice alike.
Under two hours from Quito, these beautiful cloud forests are home to an array of humming birds and mixed feeding flocks of sometimes 25 different species of birds. Home to the famed Tandayapa Valley, near Mindo, an area that has won the highest 24 hour bird count in 2006, 2007, and 2008 in the Audubon Christmas Bird Count for the Americas. Newcomers to the Neo-tropics are introduced to birds such as Tanagers, Toucans, Motmots, Cotingas and Potoos, and previously almost mythological bird families such as Ant-pittas, Ant-thrushes, Tapaculos and Wood-creepers are easily located with newly created lodges/reserves specifically designed for birdwatchers.
In a two week tour of Northern Ecuador covering the eastern and western slopes of the Andes, and a variety of altitudes you can expect to see over 425 species with highlights including the Andean Cock-of-the-Rock, rare species of antpitters, some 60 species of hummingbird and some 60 species of tanagers.
| Region | Habitats | Sites | Target Birds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Western Andes | Paramo - Cloud Forest - Lower Mountain Forest | Yanacocha Reserve and Nono - Mindo Road | Brown and Collared inca, Western emerald, Great saphirewing, Dark-backed wood-quail, Scarlet-bellied mountain tanager, Hooded mountain tanager, Golden tanager, Flame faced tanager, Black-winged saltator, Shining sunbeam, Mountain Velvetbreast, Sword-billed hummingbird, Black-chested mountain tanager, Black breasted puffleg, Giant Conebill, Ocellated Tapaculo, Imperial snipe, Andean and Sickle-winged Guan |
| Western Andes Coastal Region | Lower Mountain Forest | Bellavista & Mindo Valley | Empress brilliant Violet-tailed sylph Green-tailed trainbearer Tawny-bellied hermit Green fronted lancebil Purple-throated woodstar White-bellied woodstar Green-crowned woodnymph Plate-billed mountain toucan Toucan barbet Fasciated tiger-heron Velvet-purple coronet Fawn-breasted brilliant Giant antpitta Andean Cock-of-the-Rock Club-winged manakin Toucan Barbet Blue-winged mountain-tanager Beryl-spangled tanager Beautiful jay |
| Eastern Slopes Eastern Andes |
Paramo - Cloud Forest - Lower Mountain Forest | Papallacta – Baeza Road. San Isidro and Guango | Black-and-chestnut eagle Bicolored antvireo Oleaginous hemispingus Bicoloured and Broad-winged hawks Black-and-chestnut eagle Chestnut-breasted chlorophonia Chestnut-breasted coronet Highland tinamou Lemmon browed flycatcher. Moustached and Peruvian antpittas Rufous-bellied nighthawk Rufous-vented whitetip Slate-crowned antpitta Striped treehunter White-bellied antpitta White-capped Yellow throated and Metallic-green tanagers, Black-capped and Black-eared Hemispingus, Buff-breasted and Hooded Mountain-Tanagers, Golden-breasted and Glowing Pufflegs, Gray-breasted Mountain-Toucan, Gray-hooded Bush-Tanager, Lacrimose Mountain Avocetbill, Turquoise Jay, Andean Guan, Slaty Brush-Finch, Tourmaline Sunangel, White-bellied and Gorgeted Woodstar |
Western Slopes
Sachatamia
A comfortable and cozy wooden lodge set in lush tropical cloud forest just next to the Mindo-Nambillo reserve. Built from wood, the lodge is comprised of several cabins next to the forest and a main building with lodging on the first floor and a main dining area and lounge area with beautiful views to the forest and garden of native plants and humming bird feeders which are litterally buzzing with activity... Find out more »
Bellavista
Bellavista Bellavista Simple, comfortable eco-lodge. * Overview * Facilities Overview Setting In the heart of the Cloud Forest Canopy. The accomodation itself is simple, but comfortable. The forest around the lodge is literally buzzing with hummingbirds, which you can observe from your private balcony and the main area around the lodge. As well as spotting some spectacular birdlife the 360 degree view from the Dome also allows you to see across the forest canopy... Find out more »
Septimo Paraiso
Septimo Paraiso is located at just one and a half hours from Quito, Ecuador; 2 km from the 'Y' of Mindo, towards the village. Offering comfortable accommodation, good service and good food, it sits in its own 420 hectare reserve of pre-montane and montane cloud forest which has one of the largest bird counts of the north-western area of Pichincha...
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Maquipucuna
Located within the Choco-Andean corridor, one of the top five ‘biodiversity hotspots’ on earth, Maquipucuna is surrounded by 35,000 hectares of primary and secondary forests and is a great place for birding Choco Endemics and birds of the western Andes. A pioneering conservation project in Ecuador which has been working for over 20 years, the lodge itself is located in a 6,000 hectare private reserve which covers a range of altitudes from 1,000 to 2,800 meters... Find out more »
Santa Lucia Lodge
Santa Lucía is a community owned cloud forest reserve and a truly inspirational example of community eco-tourism at its best. The lodge is 100% owned and run by the local community and they will give you a very warm welcome. The lodge has recently built some new very comfortable accommodation (with great views of the forest), and its location on the top of a hill means it has fantastic vistas across the forest... Find out more »
Eastern Slopes
Termas de Papallacta
Nestled in a high Andean valley, 67 km (40 miles) east of Quito, Termas de Papallacta offers fantastic birding in the Rancho del Canon or the Cayambe-Coca Ecological Reserve, spectacular scenery, comfortable cabins and thermal baths. At 3,300 meters (10,824 feet) above sea level, it is probably the highest most of you will stay during your time in Ecuador. Its altitude and location in humid upper-montain rainforest makes it usually cool and wet... Find out more »
Guango Lodge
Opened in 2000, Guango Lodge is a new, small tourist facility surrounded by temperate forest and very birdy flocks. Owned by the same family as San Isidro, and about an hour away, Guango Lodge lies at a higher elevation (about 2,700 meters) on Ecuador's eastern slope, only 11 kms down the main Interoceanica Highway from the town of Papallacta. This area is centered in a zone classified as humid temperate forest... Find out more »
San Isidro
Nestled in the picturesque Quijos Valley, one of the westernmost headwaters of the Amazon basin, San Isidro (of Napo, Ecuador and only 2 ½ hours from Quito) lies at an elevation of about 2,000m (6,800 ft.) above sea level in a zone still mostly blanketed by extensive humid forest. San Isidro has built a reputation for being the premier spot for serious birders whose interests lie in seeking out the birds - rare or common - of the lush subtropical zone of the east slope of the Andes... Find out more. »
Wildsumaco Lodge
From the Guacamayors Ridge on the road that winds through the Andes' beautiful eastern foothills, a volcano can sometimes be seen rising to 3730 meters (12,250 feet) through the misty distance of the east. It is called Sumaco. The hills below and around Sumaco are covered in lush primary forest, so remote and difficult to access that to this day they remain virtually unexplored, unmapped, a mystery... Find out more »
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01482 872 716 for more information or 
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