Our 2008 birding tour of Northern Ecuador covers the west slope of the Andes including the Mindo Valley, the east slope of the Andes including San Isidro, and the Ecuadorian Amazon Basin including a 4-night stay at Napo Wildlife Center.
During our 2007 tour to northern Ecuador, we recorded 561 species of birds with a similar itinerary and same time of year. We scheduled our tour for late October, which is late in the dry season on the west slope and early in the dry season on the east slope, an ideal time for maximizing our birding success because birds will be active everywhere we visit.
WESTERN ANDES
On the western slope, we'll bird famed Mindo and Tandayapa Valleys as well as further downslope in the Silanche Bird Sanctuary and Milpe Bird Sanctuary. These are located in the Choco endemic area, where we can expect to see over 200 species during our visit. Possible endemics and specialty birds we may see include Empress Brilliant, Brown Inca, Gorgeted Sunangel, Purple-bibbed Whitetip, Violet-tailed Sylph, Club-winged Manakin, Long-wattled Umbrellabird, Narino Tapaculo, Moustached (Griscom's) Antwren, Narino Tapaculo, Beautiful Jay, Moss-backed, Glistening-green, and Blue-whiskered Tanagers, Dusky Bush-Tanager, Yellow-collared Chlorophonia, and Scarlet-breasted Dacnis. We'll also visit Angel Paz's increasingly famous finca where we have a good chance of seeing Yellow-breasted, Giant, Moustached, and Ochre-breasted Antpittas, as well as Dark-backed Woodquail, Golden-headed Quetzal, and Toucan Barbet.
HIGH ANDES
We'll visit high elevation paramo in Yanacocha Reserve on the west slope, where we'll be looking for specialties such as Shining Sunbeam, Sword-billed Hummingbird, Great Sapphirewing, Golden-breasted Puffleg, Red-crested Cotinga, Superciliared Hemispingus, and Black-chested and Scarlet-bellied Mountain-Tanagers. The reserve is also home to the highly endangered Black-breasted Puffleg, which unfortunately is not usually there except during the rainiest months of March-May.
In the eastern Andes Papallacta Pass offers substantial birding opportunities as we drive upslope. The scrub vegetation and paramo are home to a variety of specialties including Ecuadorian Hillstar, Giant Hummingbird, Bar-winged and Stout-billed Cinclodes, Andean Tit-Spinetail, White-chinned Thistletail, Tawny Antpitta, Brown-backed Chat-Tyrant,Scarlet-bellied and Buff-breasted Mountain-Tanagers, and Plumbeous and Ash-breasted Sierra-Finches. In Cayumbe Reserve above the pass we'll be looking especially for Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe, a locally distributed species that is best seen there. We'll also be looking for Andean Condors, which sometimes soar high above this area. On the lakes below we'll look for a variety of higher elevation aquatic birds, particularly Andean Teal, Yellow-billed Pintail, Andean Ruddy-Duck, Andean Coot, and Andean Gull.
EASTERN ANDES
On the east slope of the Andes, we'll visit famed Guango Lodge and San Isidro where a whole new set of birds await us. We'll bird within the private reserves around these two lodges, upslope at Santa Lucia, and downslope along the Loreto Road. Hummingbird feeders at the two lodges attract Tawny-bellied and Straight-billed Hermits, Glittering-throated Emerald, Chestnut-breasted Coronet, Mountain Velvetbreast, Fawn-breasted Brilliant, Buff-winged Starfrontlet, Tourmaline and Flame-throated Sunangels, Sword-billed Hummingbird, Long-tailed Sylph, Mountain Avocetbill, and other species.
The gardens and river around Guango Lodge offer opportunities to see a variety of higher elevation birds including Torrent Duck, Pearled Treerunner, Gray-breasted Mountain-Toucan, Torrent Tyrannulet, White-capped Dipper, Hooded Siskin, Blue-backed and Capped Conebills, Gray-hooded Bush-Tanager, Black-capped, Superciliaried, Black-eared, and Black-hooded Hemispingus, Red-hooded Tanager, Hooded, Lacrimose, Scarlet-bellied, and Buff-breasted Mountain-Tanagers, Fawn-breasted, Paradise, and Blue-and-black Tanagers, Plushcap, White-sided, Glossy, and Masked Flowerpiercers, Pale-naped, Slaty, and Stripe-headed Brush-Finches, and Northern Mountain Cacique.
At San Isidro a local guide has conditioned Chestnut-crowned and White-bellied Antpittas to come out on the trail for food. A variety of birds can be readily seen from the lodge grounds, including Rufous-bellied Nighthawk, Masked Trogon, Highland Motmot, Crimson-mantled Woodpecker, Montane Woodcreeper, a variety of flycatchers, Inca Jay, Glossy-black Thrush, Black-crested Warbler, Fawn-breasted Tanager, Subtropical Caciques, and Russet-backed Oropendolas. San Isidro is also home to a mysterious owl that is intermediate between Black-banded and Black-and-white Owls that is locally known as the San Isidro Owl as no one knows quite what it is. In addition, the lodge owns an extensive tract of middle elevation forest that can be birded from roadside and along forest trails. Birding these areas offers many possibilities including Crested and Golden-headed Quetzals, Yellow-vented Woodpecker, Ash-browed Spinetail, Spotted Barbtail, Olive-backed Woodcreeper, Long-tailed Antbird, Sharpe's and Mountain Wrens, Black-billed Peppershrike, Grass-green, Saffron-crowned, Flame-faced, Golden-naped, Beryl-spangled, and Black-capped Tanagers, and Chestnut-breasted Chlorophonia. Upslope at Santa Lucia additional possibilities include Andean Guan, Wattled Curassow, Andean Toucanet, and Powerful Woodpecker.
Farther downslope, birding along the Loreto Road offers a variety of more subtropical species. Possibilities include Amazonian White-tail, Black-billed Treehuntered Trogon, Coppery-chested Jacamar, Spot-breasted Woodpecker, Equatorial Graytail, Amazonian Umbrellabird, Blue-rumped Manakin, Violaceous Jay, Magpie, Silver-backed, Orange-eared, Turquoise, Paradise, Golden, Yellow-bellied, Spotted, Bay-headed, and Swallow Tanagers, Caqueta Seedeater, Lesser Seed-finch, Red-breasted Blackbird, Ecuadorian Cacique, and Crested Oropendola.
ECUADORIAN AMAZON
We'll spend 4 days and 3 nights at Napo Wildlife Center in the Ecuadorian Amazon. This amazing place is nearly beyond superlatives. After flying to Coca, we'll take a powerboat for 2 hours down the Napo River and then be transported by dugout canoe up a tributary of the Napo to our lodge. We'll bird en route and can expect to see bizarre Hoatzins and Black-capped Donacobius. We may also find more secretive birds such as Agami Heron, Zigzag Heron, and Great Potoo. We can expect to see and hear several species of macaws and parrots flying overhead, as well as possibly puffbirds, jacamars, barbets, and others.
While at NWC, we'll climb a 120-ft observation tower, giving us a wonderful vantage over the forest canopy. From there we're likely to see Blue-and-yellow Macaw, Chestnut-bellied Macaw, White-throated Toucan, Black-tailed Trogon, and Purple-throated Fruitcrow. We'll visit two parrot clay licks in Yasuni National Park, an amazing spectacle where hundreds of parrots congregate to ingest minerals from the soil. We'll explore flooded varzea forest and hike trails of dry terra firme forest. Possibilities include 
Sungrebe, Gray-fronted Dove, Sapphire Quail-Dove, Black-bellied Cuckoo, Little Cuckoo, Crested Owl, Spectacled Owl, Rufous-breasted Hermit, Great-billed Hermit, Reddish Hermit, White-eared and White-chinned Jacamars, White-necked and Chestnut-crowned Puffbird, Brown, Black-fronted, and White-fronted Nunbirds, Scarlet-crowned Barbet, Scaly-breasted, Cream-colored, Red-necked, and Crimson-crested Woodpeckers, Long-billed and Black-banded Woodcreepers, Mouse-colored and Dusky-throated Antshrikes, various antwrens and antbirds, White-browed Purpletuft, Bare-necked Fruitcrow, a plethora of flycatchers, Lawrence's Thrush, Masked Crimson Tanager, White-lored and Rufous-bellied Euphonias, Opal-rumped Tanager, Black-faced and Blue Dacnis, Purple Honeycreeper, and Oriole Blackbird.
