Jewels of Ecuador: Hummers, Tanagers & Antpittas

Centered around the lush, forest-cloaked slopes of the Ecuadorian Andes, the world’s stronghold for tanagers, hummingbirds, and antpittas, this tour surveys both outer slopes of Ecuador’s cordilleras, from paramo and treeline down to the rich upper tropical zone along the eastern base of the Andes and the tropical Choco lowlands in the northwest. We fly south to include fabulous Podocarpus National Park, itself spanning habitats from treeline to the tropical zone; El Cajas National Park in the paramo near Cuenca; and a nice sampling of the geographically restricted Tumbesian avifauna in the arid intermontane valleys near Loja.

A few of the 500 or so species we hope to see include Bearded Guan, Dark-backed Wood-Quail, Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe, the rare and local White-necked Parakeet, the “San Isidro mystery owl,” Lyre-tailed Nightjar, Coppery-chested Jacamar, two quetzals, Black-streaked Puffbird, Lanceolated Monklet, three mountain-toucans, an amazing six to ten species of antpittas, Ocellated and Chusquea tapaculos, Elegant Crescentchest, Club-winged Manakin, Scaled Fruiteater, Andean Cock-of-the-rock, Tit-like Dacnis, Giant Conebill, and possibly Olive Finch.

But the real showstopper is the almost constant procession of tanagers and hummingbirds (more than sixty species of each are realistically possible!), a truly dazzling array of gemlike beauties, some very scarce or threatened.