ECUADOR 2022
ECUADOR - DECEMBER 2022
ECUADOR - DECEMBER 2022
SUMAK KAUSAY
- (good living/a happy life) is the aspiration for all indigenous Kichwa people. This is only possible when there’s harmony between humans, their roots, their community, the natural environment, and spirituality.
Ecuador is a very special place. I was lucky enough to spend most of December exploring some of the extraordinarily diverse landscapes with my Canon R5 + 100-500mm (with 1.4x extender), capturing over 310 species in 18 days across:
Pacific coast mangroves and wetlands
– sea level
Amazon rain forest
- 300m
Andean Montane Forest
- 3200m
I visited fourteen specialist reserves and went on many roadside forays, screeching to a stop in the car when I caught an interesting silhouette out of the corner of my eye. This resulted in over 5,000 photographs, which I managed to whittle this down to 1,960 and I've picked out some of my favourites to give you an idea of what this stunning country has to offer. Just click on the itinerary locations below or use the drop-down menu to see the birds, beasts and bugs I saw when I was staying in these wonderfully different places.
I've also included a species list at the bottom of this page for the keen wildlife spotters amongst you.
ITINERARY
01
QUITO
Flew KLM via Amsterdam to Quito - the second highest capital city in the world at 2,800m after Le Paz in Peru. Quick hostel stay before flying east to Coca.
02
NAPO
A two-hour boat ride from Coca down the Napo River (major Amazon tributary) to the Napo Cultural Centre, owned and run by the Kichwa Community.
03
PUERTO MISAHUALLI
A hair-raising three-hour taxi ride from Coca south to Puerto Misahualli. The roads intermittently disappear and the drivers are crazy fast!
04
COJIMIES
A three-hour drive up to Quito where I changed horses (Lucia to Anderson) and another four hours west to the Pacific coast and a fantastic Airbnb beach house.
05
MINDO
Renowned as one of the best birding spots in the world, the Mindo area didn't disappoint. Anderson took me to some phenomenal nature reserves where the scenery was breathtaking.
06
REFUGIO PAZ
Located near Mindo, Angel and Vinicio Paz have honed their Antpitta-calling skills to bring five species of these elusive birds out into the open as well as many others. Some of the best eco- conservationists.
07
AMAGUSA
One of my favourite reserves high up in the hills to the north of Mindo. Beautiful surroundings and heartfelt conservation effort and success.
08
BELLAVISTA
Christmas in the Cloud Forest. It was just like Jurassic Park - spooky, damp and full of super-sized monsters (check out the giant earth worm).
09
BACK TO QUITO VIA ZUROLOMA
Probably one of my top two places of the whole trip, Zuroloma lies to the west of Quito, high up in the Andes at 3,200m. Stunning scenery, weather and birds. The perfect way to spend my last day before returning to the airport to fly home.
Species sighting list
Napo rain forest
Amazon Kingfisher
Amazonian Umbrellabird
American Pygmy Kingfisher
Black Caracara
Black vulture
Black-fronted Nunbird
Blue and Yellow Macaw
Blue-headed Parrot
Blue-throated Piping Guan
Buff-fronted Woodcreeper
Chestnut-eared Aracari
Chestnut-fronted Macaw
Cobalt-winged Parakeet
Copper-winged parakeet
Crested Oropendola
Crowned Slaty Flycatcher
Drab Water Tyrant
Dusky-headed Parakeet
Ferruginous Pygmy Owl
Giant Cowbird
Gravish Saltator
Green and Rufous Kingfisher
Great Kiskadee
Great Potoo
Great White Egret
Great-billed Hermit
Greater Ani
Greater yellow-headed vulture
Hawk-billed Kite
Hoatzin
King Vulture
Lafresnaye's Piculet
Lettered Aracari
Magpie Tanager
Malia Amazon Parrot
Many-banded Aracari
Opal Crowned Tanager
Orange-backed Troupial
Orange-cheeked Parrot
Orange-winged Parrot
Oriel Blackbird
Osprey
Palm Tanager
Pied Lapwing
Plumbeous Pigeon
Red-bellied Macaw
Ringed Kingfisher
Roadside Hawk
Rufescent Tiger Heron
Rufous collared sparrow
Russet-backed Oropendola
Scarlet Macaw
Short-crested Flycatcher
Silver beaked tanager
Slender-billed Kite
Smooth-billed Ani
Snow Egret
Social Flycatcher
Southern Lapwing
Speckled Chachalaca
Spotted Sandpiper
Squirrel Cuckoo
Sungrebe
Swallow-tailed Kite
Swallow-winged Puffbird
Tawny-bellied Screech Owl
Tropical Kingbird
Tropical Screech Owl
Turkey Vulture
Violaceous Jay
White-banded Swallow
White-throated Toucan
White-vented Euphonia
White-winged swallow
Yellow tufted Woodpecker
Yellow-crowned Parrot
Yellow-headed Caracara
Yellow-rumped Cacique
Blue Morpho butterfly
Brown-mantled Tamarin
Brown Woolly Monkey
Dusky Titi Monkey
Ecuadorian Capuchin
Giant Owl Butterfly
Giant River Otter
Juno Longwing butterfly
Long-nosed (fishing) bat
Monsaki Monkey
Red Howler Monkeys
Squirrel Monkey
Tailless Whip Scorpion
Tayra
Three-toed Sloth
Tropical Thorny-tailed Iguana
Veil Mushroom
Yellow-spotted River Turtle
Tena
Bananaquit
Black Hawk Eagle
Black-throated Mango
Blue Gray Tanager
Boat-billed Flycatcher
Chestnut-eared Aracari
Fork-tailed Swallow
Gilded Barbet
Glossy Black Thrush
Mottle-backed Elaenia
Orange-crowned Euphonia
Palm Tanager
Purple Honeycreeper
Silver-backed Tanager
Tiger Heron
White-banded Swallow
Land turtle
Tapir
Lasalle's Fishing Snake
Ama Lodge, Puerto Misahualli
Black bellied Thrush
Black capped Donacobius
Black Caracara
Blackpoll Warbler
Blackthroated Mango
Blue-necked Tanager
Cobalt-winged Parakeet
Cream-coloured Woodpecker
Dusky-headed Parakeet
Ecuadorian Cacique
Glittering-throated Emerald
Great Black Hawk
Lineated Woodpecker
Magpie Tanager
Masked Crimson Tanager
Masked Tityra
Mottle-backed Elaenia
Orange-backed Troupial
Palm Tanager
Purple Gallinule
Red-capped Cardinal
Red-eyed Vireo
Ringed Kingfisher
Roadside Hawk
Rufus-breasted Hermit
Shiny Cowbird
Solitary Black Cacique
Spot-breasted Woodpecker
Striated Heron
Summer Tanager
Sungrebe
Violaceous Jay
Yellow-bellied Tanager
Yellow-crowned Tyrannulet
Yellow-tufted Woodpecker
San Tadeo/Los Cotingas
Andean Cock of the Rock
Andean Emerald
Brown Inca
Brown Violetear
Buff-tailed Coronet
Crown Woodnymph
Empress Brilliant
Fawn-breasted Brilliant
Green Crown Brilliant
Hook Billed Kite
Purple-bibbed White Tip
Purple-throated Woodstar
Rufous-gaped Hillstar
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird
Scrub Blackbird
Swallow-tailed Kite
Tawny-bellied Hermit
Velvet Purple Coronet
Violet Tailed Sylph
White booted Racket Tail
White-naped Jacobin
Agouti
Cojimies/Manabi
American Oystercatcher
Anhinga
Bay Wren
Black capped Tanager
Black Skimmer
Black-bellied Whistling Duck
Black-crowned Night Heron
Black-cheeked Woodpecker
Blue Gray Tanager
Blue Heron
Blue-winged Teal
Booted Racket tail
Brown Pelican
Cattle Egret
Chestnut-throated Seedeater
Common Gallinule
Croaking Ground Dove
Ecuadorian Ground Dove
Ecuadorian Trogon
Flame-rumped Tanager
Glossy Ibis
Gray-breasted Martin
Great Blue Heron
Great-tailed Grackle
Green Kingfisher
Grey-breasted Martin
Guayaquil Woodpecker
House Sparrow
House Wren
Lesser Nighthawk
Lineated Woodpecker
Little Blue Heron
Little Cuckoo
Little Egret
Magnificent Frigatebird
Maroon-tailed Parakeet
Masked Water Tyrant
Neotropic Cormorant
One-coloured Becard
Osprey
Pacific Parrotlet
Pale-legged Hornero
Pearl Kite
Peregrine Falcon
Peruvian Pygmy Owl
Red-breasted Meadowlark
Ringed Kingfisher
Roadside Hawk
Royal Tern
Saffron Finch
Sandwich Tern
Savanna Hawk
Semi-palmated Plover
Semi-palmated Sandpiper
Snowy Egret
Snowy-throated Kingbird
Southern Beardless Tyrannulet
Southern Rough-winged Swallow
Spotted Flycatcher
Squirrel Cuckoo
Striated Heron
Tropical Kingbird
Turkey Vulture
Uniform Crake
Variable Seedeater
Vermillion Flycatcher
Wattled Jacana
Whimbrel
White Ibis
White lined Tanager
White-browed Gnatcatcher
White-cheeked Pintail
White-throated Crake
Yellow-crowned Night Heron
Refugio Paz de las Aves
Black and White Owl
Blue Gray Tanager
Chestnut-crowned Antpitta
Common Potto (baby)
Flavescent Flycatcher
Giant Antpitta
Golden Tanager
Golden-bellied Flycatcher
Green-fronted Lancebill
Lyre-tailed Nightjar
Montane Woodcreeper
Moustached Antpitta
Ornate Flycatcher
Thick-billed Euphonia
White-winged Tanager
Yellow-breasted Antpitta
Zeledon's Antbird
Bellavista, Tandapaya
Bar-winged Wood Wren
Bay crowned Brushfinch
Beryl's Spangled Tanager
Blackburnian Warbler
Blue and White Swallow
Blue winged Mountain Tanager
Chestnut-capped Brushfinch
Common Potoo
Crimson-mantled Woodpecker
Glossy Black Thrush
Golden-bellied Grosbeak
Golden-capped Flycatcher
Green-throated Tanager
Grey-breasted Wood Wren
Masked Flowerpiercer
Masked Trogon
Montane Woodcreeper
Ocellated Tapaculo
Pearled Treerunner
Plate-billed Mountain Toucan
Plumbeous Pigeon
Plushcap
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Slate-throated Redstart
Slaty Finch
Strong-billed Woodcreeper
Tawny-bellied Hermit
Tricolored Brushfinch
Turquoise Jay
White-tailed Tyrannulet
Cloudy snail eater snake
Giant Cricket
Giant Earth Worm
Millipedes
Samurai Beetle
Spider Hawk Wasp
Tarantula
Mindo Cloud Forest
Bananaquit
Bay Wren
Bay-headed Tanager
Black cheeked Woodpecker
Black Phoebe
Black Vulture
Black-winged Saltator
Blue Gray Tanager
Blue-necked Tanager
Blue-tailed Trogan
Bronze-winged Parrot
Buff-throated Saltator
Cattle Egret
Cerulean Warbler
Cinnamon Becard
Collared Aracari
Crested Guan
Crimson-rumped Toucanet
Crowned Woodnymph
Dusky-faced Tanager
Ecuadorian Thrush
Fawn-breasted Tanager
Flame-rumped Tanager
Giant Cowbird
Green Honeycreeper
Guayaquil Woodpecker
House Wren
Laughing Falcon
Lineated Woodpecker
Long-tailed Tyrant
Maroon-tailed Parakeet
Masked water Tyrant
Maskey Tityra
Orange-bellied Euphonia
Orange-bellied Sparrow
Ornate Flycatcher
Pale-legged Hornero
Palm Tanager
Red-headed Barbet
Red-faced Spinetail
Roadside Hawk
Ruddy Pigeon
Rufous Collared Sparrow
Rufous-tailed hummingbird
Rufus Motmot
Rusty Margin Flycatcher
Scrub Blackbird
Silver-throated Tanager
Smoke-coloured Peewee
Smooth billed Ani
Southern Rough-winged Swallow
Squirrel Cuckoo
Summer Tanager
Swainson's Thrush
Swallow Tanager
Swallow-tailed Kite
Three-striped Warbler
Tropical Kingbird
Tropical Parula
Variable Seedeater
Western Wood Peewee
White-capped Dipper
White-collared Swift
Yellow-bellied Seedeater
Yellow-throated Toucan
Amagusa/Balcon Tumpiki
Azara's Spinetail
Barred Becard
Black-chinned Mountain Tanager
Black Striped Sparrow
Blue and White Swallow
Broad-winged Hawk
Chestnut-capped Brushfinch
Dusky Chlorospingus
Ecuadorian Thrush
Flame-faced Tanager
Glistening Green Tanager
Golden Tanager
Golden-headed Quetzal
Green Thorntail
House Wren
Indigo Flowerpiercer
Masked Flowerpiercer
Moss-backed Tanager
Orange-bellied Euphonia
Purple-beaked Whitetip
Red-billed Parrot
Rose-faced Parrot
Rufous-throated Tanager
Slaty-throated Redstart
Thick-billed Euphonia
Toucan Barbet
Tropical Kingbird
Velvet-purple Coronet
Violet Tailed Sylph
Wedge-billed Treecreeper
Yellow-bellied Seedeater
Yellow-throated Toucan
Zuroloma
Andean Guan
Black-crested Warbler
Blue-capped Tanager
Brown-backed Chat-Tyrant
Buff-winged Starfrontlet
Chestnut-naped Antpitta
Cock of the Rock
Ecuadorian Antpitta
Empress Brilliant
Glossy Black Thrush
Glossy Flowerpiercer
Golden-bellied Grosbeak
Gray-browed Brushfinch
Masked Flowerpiercer
Mountain Velvetbreast
Sword-billed Hummingbird
White-sided Flowerpiercer
White-throated Screech Owl
Yellow-breasted Brushfinch
