| Tour leaders Laura Fellows and TBA |
Limited to 8 participants
Minimum 4 participants |
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| Begins in Quito Saturday evening |
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$TBA |
December 5-13, 2009 (9 days, 8 nights)
Single Supplement = $TBA
Mindo Valley, Bellavista Cloud Forest, Papallacta Pass, & Guango Reserve |
Our bird and nature photo tour to the Andes Mountains of Ecuador is specially designed for those wanting to make photographs of the numerous hummingbirds and other bird species in the Andes Mountains. Many hummingbirds and other species are found only on the western or eastern slopes, so visiting both slopes of the Andes produces a much greater diverity of subjects for our photography than would a tour to just Mindo and Bellavista Clouder Forest. Indeed, we could encounter as many as 40 species of hummingbirds during this tour. We can expect to have numerous opportunities to photograph many other bird species, including trogons, barbets, toucans, woodpeckers, antbirds, tanagers, flowerpiercers, and more.
During our stay in famed Mindo Valley, we'll photograph numerous hummingbird species zooming around feeders just outside the lodge entrance. We'll visit a nearby finca where we'll have an opportunity to photograph the beautiful Andean Cock-of-the-Rock on its display grounds, several species of antpittas a local resident has trained to come out onto the forest trail, beautiful endemic birds such as possibly Golden-headed Quetzal, and much more. We'll also spend an afternoon farther downslope at Milpe Bird Sanctuary where many lower elevation specialties can be seen and photographed along trails. We'll spend the better part of two days at famous Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve, featured on NBC's Today Show, where some new hummingbirds can be seen and photographed. While relaxing on the deck, we should also have opportunities to photograph the beautiful Toucan Barbet, Plate-billed Mountain-Toucan, and other birds in the nearby forest.
From Mindo we'll return to Quito for an overnight stay, and then spend much of a day ascending Papallacta Pass to the east. We'll have ample opportunities to photograph a variey of higher elevation birds, including a new set of hummingbird species. We'll be on the lookout for Andean Condor, which sometimes soars above the pass. We'll also take a side road up above the pass to photograph Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe, a very special bird hard to see anywhere else.
We'll spend the remainder of the tour at Guango Lodge, located near the village of Papallacta east of the pass. The food and accommodations here are simply splendid. We'll have a full day to photograph the many interesting specialty birds found in the gardens and along the river near the lodge. We'll also discover many new species of hummingbirds, and will spend as much time as we like making photographs of them.
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.
