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Tropical Birding Trip Report Ecuador Photo Journey, January 2017

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Ecuador Photo Journey

14-23 January 2017

TOUR LEADER: Pablo Cervantes Daza

Report and photos by Pablo Cervantes Daza

Sword-billed Hummingird

Ecuador is one of the best countries in South America for bird photography. The biodiversity is spectacular, there are a

number of great lodges and reserves well set up for the needs of photographers, and many of them can be reached

without driving for many hours. We visited lowland rainforest, lush cloudforest, and even scenic paramo at over 4000

meters (13000 feet) above sea level. This ten day tour featured a variety of colorful targets including tanagers, barbets,

motmots, Andean Cock-of-the-rock, as well as several days largely devoted to multiflash hummingbird photography.

15 January: The weather was great as we headed up into the mountains and spent most of the day at Antisana National

Park. Some of the birds we were after included Carunculated Caracara, Buff-necked Ibis, Andean lapwing, Andean Gull,

Silvery Grebe, Andean Coot, Andean Teal, Andean Condor, Giant Hummingbird, and Andean Condor.

The Antisana Volcano

Black-faced Ibis

Carunculated Caracara

Laguna La Mica – good for waterbird photography

Andean Coot

Silvery Grebe

Paramo scenery at Antisana

16 January: We spent most of the day doing multiflash hummingbird photography at Guango Lodge, using 4 or 5 flashes,

getting some nice shots like the Sword-billed Hummingbird at the start of this report. We had great chances to get shots

of perched hummers too. A few shots are below but others we also shot included Tourmaline Sunangel and Tyrian

Metaltail.

Collared Inca

Buff-winged Starfrontlet

Long-tailed Sylph

Chestnut-breasted Coronet

White-bellied Woodstar

17 January: This morning we spent a few hours over 4000 m. (13000 ft.) at Papallacta Pass, where you can feel that is

possible to touch the sky with one of your fingers. It’s one of the most incredible landscapes in Ecuador. Some of our

target birds were Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe, Plumbeous Sierra-Finch, Tawny Ampita, Stout-billed Cinclodes, and Bar-

winged Cinclodes. We spent the afternoon back at Guango shooting hummers.

Papallacta scenery

Stout-billed Cinclodes

Tawny Antpitta

18-19 January: After our last breakfast in Guango, we headed over to the west side of the Andes and spent a few nights

based in Tandayapa Bird Lodge. That afternoon and the next morning were mostly devoted to hummingbird

photography. This is a truly special place for hummers! Here are a few shots, but other species we got were Brown Inca,

Purple-bibbed Whitetip, Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, Booted Racket-tailed, and Green-crowned Brilliant.

Multiflash hummer photography at Yanacocha

Shooting an Andean Emerald…

…and one of the results!

Violet-tailed Sylph

Western Emerald

Buff-tailed Coronet

Brown Violetear

20 January: Today we headed down to lower elevations and spent the morning photographing some different

hummingbirds at Milpe Bird Sanctuary. Later on we stopped at a private reserve near San Tadeo, and some terrific

activity at the feeders. Me managed to get some very nice shots of tanagers, toucanets, barbets and thrushes.

Green Thorntail (male left and female right)

Green-crowned Woodnymph (female left and male right)

Green-crowned Brilliant

View over the Rio Blanco

Blue-gray Tanager

Black-capped Tanager (female)

Ecuadorian Thrush

Summer Tanager

Dusky Bush-Tanager

Black-striped Sparrow

Rufous-collared Sparrow

Golden-naped Tanager

Male Black-capped Tanager Crimson-rumped Toucanet

Red-headed Barbet Toucan Barbet

Lemon-rumped Tanager

21 January: On our fourth day on the west slope of the Andes, we took a day trip to lower elevation rainforest,

spending most of our time at Rancho Suamox. This is a private reserve with great feeders, and we nailed some shots of

woodpeckers, tanagers, motmots, euphonias, and others.

Blue-gray Tanager

Golden-olive Woodpecker

Orange-bellied Euphonia

Dusky-faced Tanager

Rufous Motmot

Thick-billed Euphonia

22 January: We spent our last shooting day at Refugio Paz de las Aves, going after antpittas and other shy species that

are virtually impossible to photograph anywhere else. Starting extra-early gave us a chance to try for Andean Cock-of-

the-rock (below), before chasing some antpittas and getting good shots of Yellow-breasted and Ochre-breasted.

Ochre-breasted Antpitta

For more info on this tour please see our website: http://www.tropicalbirding.com/photo-tours/ecuador-photo-safari/

ecuador photo journey - tropical birding · ecuador is one of the best countries in south america...

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