Dates: December 4 - 17, 2009
Cost: $2900.00 USD
Single room supplement: $275.00 USD
Maximum group size: 10
Guide: Morris Gevirtz
The forests of Ecuador are home to more than 1600 bird species that we know of. The principal reason for such avian bio-diversity is the rugged terrain with micro-climates and breeding barriers at every turn. Sometimes the same mountain can have completely different plant and animal species on each side. Epic Bird Tours, Inc. invites you to come see the birds of both sides of the Andes Mountains. This fourteen day tour offers you the birds of the Mindo region –the Tandayapa Valley– (a Conservation International Bio-diversity-hotspot) as well as the birds of the Amazon Basin at the renowned La Selva Jungle Lodge, 60 miles north of Coca, Ecuador.
There will be many places to visit while in the Tandayapa valley. After our first day’s excursion to the heights of El Volcán Pichincha, where we hope to catch sight of the critically endangered and endemic Black-breasted Puffleg, we will travel down the old Nono-Mindo road to the Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve and which will be our home for the first half of our adventure. Bellavista itself offers over 40km of birding trails on its property, which regularly produce such species as the Rufescent Screech-Owl, Common Potoo, White-faced Nunbird, Cloud Forest Pygmy-Owl, Giant Antpitta, Swallow-tailed Nightjar, Ocellated Tapaculo, Green-fronted Lancebill, Andean Cock-of-the-Rock, Crested Quetzal,and the Plushcap. After we have exhausted these trails of their “feathery treasures” –or we feel like we have exhausted those trails- we will proceed to bird the rest of the valley with its 676 species of birds.
In the Lower Tandayapa Valley one can see as many as 20 species of hummingbirds including: Brown Violetear, Western Emerald, Buff-tailed Coronet and Brown Inca. Other key birds of the area are the White-faced Nunbird, Ecuadorian Thrush, Beautiful Jay and Barred Hawk.
In the high subtropical forest of the upper Tandayapa Valley, you will find species that are not found in lower regions such as the Grass-green Tanager, Green-and-black Fruiteater, Western Hemispingus, and Streaked Tuftedcheek. The Plate-billed Mountain-Toucan is an easy bird here. It is also possible to see the Tanager Finch, Ocellated Tapaculo, Black-chinned Mountain-Tanager and Velvet-purple Coronet.
At Calacalí, an area of dry, temperate forest and scrubland, the White-tailed Shrike-Tyrant, and other arid-zone birds such as Tufted Tit-Tyrant, Black-tailed Trainbearer, and Golden-rumped Euphonia are present. The Giant Hummingbird can be seen here as well, especially when agaves are in bloom.
The Milpe Bird Sanctuary is located in a Birdlife International-defined Important Bird Area (IBA), Los Bancos—Milpe. Here it is possible to see many spectacular Chocó endemics such as the Plumbeous Forest-Falcon, Moss-backed Tanager, Glistening-green Tanager, Chocó Trogon, Club-winged Manakin, and Long-wattled Umbrellabird. This site also has the distinction of being the easiest place to find the rare Moss-backed Tanager. The old Nono-Mindo road, one of Mindo’s most bird-productive areas, begins just outside of Quito and takes you through páramo down to subtropical Andean foothills putting you close to a wide variety of birds from many different habitats.
At Paz de las Aves Reserve you are as sure to see the Giant, Yellow-breasted and Moustached Antpittas as you are to see any bird… at a zoo. The owner of this refuge, “bird whisperer” Ángel Paz, has developed a “relationship” with local Antpittas not unlike that which most American birders have with feeder-visiting Chickadees and Mourning Doves. These wild birds, however, eat from his hand. But the show doesn’t end with the antpittas! There is also a covey of Dark-backed Wood-Quail and a Cock-of-the-rock lek on Angel Paz’s property.
The Rio Silanche Bird Sanctuary (only opened to the public in 2005) is one of the few remaining lowland forested tracts in the area and another good site for Chocó endemics. Birds seen here include: Purple-chested Hummingbird, Chocó Trogon, Double-banded Graytail, Griscom’s Antwren, Stub-tailed Antbird, Black-tipped Cotinga, Slate-throated Gnatcatcher, Scarlet-breasted Dacnis, Scarlet-and-white Tanager and Blue-whiskered Tanager.
After our stay on the western side of the Andes Mountains, we will cross the vast range to sample a completely different avifauna.
exceedingly complex, poorly understood, system of rivers, hillocks, creeks, bogs, and rainforest. Our destination, La Selva Lodge, lies on the very edge of the basin, on the shore of lake Garzacocha, (really a beautiful and tranquil lagoon) just a mile or so away from the banks of the Río Napo, a major tributary of the Amazon River. There are few more comfortable or “bird rich” places in the world than The La Selva Jungle Lodge. More than 500 birds can be seen on La Selva Lodge property alone. The guest-birder at the lodge will enter every micro-clime and habitat in the area and see many of the birds that have adapted to each niche in the Amazon Basin. In addition to the plethora of birds, the guests at La Selva share the forest with crocodiles, anacondas, pumas, panthers, leopards, ocelots, many species of monkeys, river otters, pink dolphins, coatis, piranhas, tarantulas, poison-dart frogs, and the Arapaima, the largest fresh water fish in the world.
Some days will be spent in the cool forest understory, listening quietly for 14 species of Manakins and 58 species of Antbirds. Other days we will canoe in quiet lagoons, looking for an Azure Gallinule, 11 species of Puffbirds, a Sand-colored Nighthawk or a Ladder-tailed Nightjar. Then on at least one day, we’ll climb the staircase to the top of La Selva’s 135 foot canopy tower, where we’ll see –at arm’s length– canopy feeding birds such as : Tanagers, Toucans, Woodpeckers, Treecreepers, and Flycatchers –a mere 68 species of flycatchers. While at the tower, –if we’re lucky– we might catch sight of a Harpy Eagle or some other raptor or high canopy roosting owl or Potoo. Certainly we’ll hear and see many species of monkeys in the trees around and below us. Then, if that weren’t enough, some days we will “patrol” the Napo river banks looking for riparian species like the Yellow-browed Sparrow and the Gray-breasted Crake. We will visit the Yasuní National Park and its famous salt licks and see seven or eight species of parrots.
But of course, after a hard day of birding we will enjoy wonderful meals at the Lodge dining room and maybe watch the stars from the lagoon pier, while sipping on a cool drink and listening to the owls and nightjars. I can think of no better way to spend a week of my life than birding at the La Selva Jungle Lodge.
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