Domicile of the condor and home of the world’s largest hummingbird, beautiful Ecuador harbors approximately 1600 species of birds, about 16.5% of all the world’s avifauna. And all within an area smaller than Arizona! Our tour is designed to sample a transect of habitats from the Amazon rain forest to the summit of the highest range of mountains in the Western Hemisphere. Additionally we’ll visit the highland Indian market in Otavalo outside 9,300-foot high Quito, capital of Ecuador. Next we transfer to the frontier town of Coca on the Río Napo for our journey into the Amazon rain forest. From Coca we travel by motorized dugout canoe for three hours on the Río Napo to our home for the next four nights, Napo Wildlife Center. Birders have recorded an astounding 450-plus species in this area of Amazonia! Birds like Black Caracara, four species (of five present!) of macaw, Cobalt-winged Parakeet, Many-banded Araçari, Cuvier’s Toucan, Cinereous Antshrike, and Masked Crimson Tanager are actually common. The prehistoric Hoatzin and the rare Zigzag Heron are usually readily found on the edges of the cocha—or lake—practically on the doorstep of the lodge. Podocarpus National Park in the southern Andes preserves a huge tract of highland cloud forest which encompasses virtually all of the pristine forest remaining in southern Ecuador. It is no surprise, then, that the birds have retreated with the Spectacled Bears to this last expanse of some 564 square miles. Some of the species found here include such lovelies as Mountain Velvetbreast, Rainbow Starfrontlet, and Flame-throated Sunangel hummingbirds, Pearled Treerunner, Undulated Antpitta, Barred Fruiteater, and Andean Cock-of-the-rock, one of the most beautiful birds on the entire continent. No few than 50 species of the tanager tribe also ornament the Park list. With nights at both Loja and Zamora, we are positioned within a half-hour drive to both main entrances to Podocarpus and its list of 500+ species. Returning to Quito, we’ll take several field trips to nearby hummingbird locations in the Andes, including Papallacta Pass where we may expect such wonderful exotics as Giant Hummingbird (at 8 inches the largest hummer in the world), Great Sapphirewing (second in size only to the Giant), Black-tailed Trainbearer (with a tail alone that’s 6.5 inches long), Shining Sunbeam, Sapphire-vented Puffleg, and Sparkling Violet-ear. All told this small nation boasts 130 species of hummingbirds! As we leave the Quito area, we drop through a layer cake of habitats before we reach the patch of remnant forest at Tinalandia, located at about 2,000 feet on the Pacific slope. An overwhelming variety of birds are possible as we descend the west slope of the Andes. Some we may expect to see are Bronze-winged Parrot, Torrent Duck, White-capped Dipper, Red-headed Barbet, and Crimson-rumped Toucanet. If brilliant tropical birds are your pleasure, join us this summer in politically stable, culturally rich Ecuador.

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