| With tour leaders TBA and Laura Fellows |
Limited to 8 participants
Minimum 4 participants |
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| Begins in Quito Sunday evening |
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$TBA |
Nov 15-22, 2009 (8 days, 7 nights)
Single Supplement = $TBA
Tinalandia, Mindo, Tandayapa |
Our 8-day birding tour of the western Andes of Ecuador is designed for those unable to take our full two-week tour of the northern Ecuadorian Andes. The tour is scheduled at a time of year when we are very likely to encounter good weather. For those coming in a day early, we offer a day trip to Yanacocha Reserve, a high elevation site where we can expect to find a good variety of specialty birds we're unlikely to see during our main tour.
This tour offers excellent opportunities to see the many birds found only on the western slope of the Andes. We'll see a good variety of hummingbirds and Choco endemics not found in eastern Ecuador as well as more widely distributed species. Many birds of the western Andes are found only in narrow altitudinal zones, so we'll be doing a transect from 2000 ft elevation to 9000 ft, encompassing habitats from tropical rainforest to temperate cloud forest. This strategy allows us to maximize our birding success while giving everyone a chance to acclimate gradually to the higher altitude around Quito.
During the tour we'll bird a low-elevation site at Tinalandia, two notable bird sanctuaries downslope from Mindo, famed Mindo and Tandayapa Valleys, and beautiful Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve.
We'll have an opportunity to see several species of antpittas conditioned to come out on the trail by Angel Paz at his finca and by one of the guides at San Isidro. We'll visit a known Andean Cock-of-the-Rock lek near Mindo, look for Dark-backed Wood-Quail at the same site, likely see as many as 25 species of hummingbirds, a dozen species of antbirds and antpittas, over 30 species of flycatchers, and possibly 30 species of tanagers.
Some of the commoner birds we'll be looking for at Tinalandia include Orange-fronted Barbet, Club-winged Manakin, Black-lored Yellowthroat, Bay-headed Tanager, Black-winged Saltator, and Slate-colored Grosbeak. We'll also be looking for Long-wattled Umbrellabird, a possibility there. Mindo Valley and Bellavista Cloud Forest feature numerous hummingbirds including White-whiskered Hermit, Green Thorntail, Andean Emerald, Empress Brilliant, Buff-tailed Coronet, Velvet-purple Coronet, Buff-winged Starfrontlet, Purple-bibbed Whitetip, Booted Racket-tail, Violet-tailed Sylph, and Purple-throated Woodstar. Among the many tanagers we'll likely find are Guira Tanager, Tawny-crested Tanager, Blue-capped Tanager, Blue-winged Mountain-Tanager, Yellow-collared Chlorophonia, Blue-whiskered Tanager, Flame-faced Tanager, Rufous-throated Tanager, Rufous-winged Tanager, Golden-naped Tanager, Metallic-green Tanager, Beryl-spangled Tanager, and Black-capped Tanager. Other specialty birds of the western Andes we usually see are Masked Trogon, Golden-headed Quetzal, Toucan Barbet, Choco Toucan, Plate-billed Mountain-Toucan, Golden-green Woodpecker, Guayaquil Woodpecker, Red-faced Spinetail, Spotted Barbtail, Russet Antshrike, White-flanked Antwren, Esmeraldas Antbird, Immaculate Antbird, Giant Antpitta, Yellow-breasted Antpitta, and Andean Cock-of-the-Rock.
For additional description of this tour, please click on the DESCRIPTION tab above. For information on the places we stay, click on the ACCOMMODATIONS tab above.
Feel free to call us any time at 877-247-3371 (inside US) or 303-325-5188 (outside US) about this tour.
