The Podocarpus National Park is conveniently divided into two main sections, one the higher elevation site accessed from the Cajanuma entrance and the other the lower elevation Bombuscaro section accessed from Zamora.
The Cajanuma section features a landscape of steep slopes covered with dense temperate forest often shrouded in mist.Towering trees emerging above the canopy are covered in epiphytes, while smaller trees, bushes, and patches of bamboo create an impenetrable understory of thickets that difficult. An intriguing mix of birds live in this forest, including such specialties as the endangered Bearded Guan, the lovely Golden-headed Quetzal, and the Powerful Woodpecker. Mixed-species flocks can make birding can create a birding extravaganza when they put in an appearance. Birds are notoriously difficult to see along the several trails penetrating the dense forest but offer the possibility of seeing some skulkers such as antpittas and tapaculos.
The lower elevation Bombuscaro is in the Subtropical and Upper Tropical altitudinal zones and offers some of the best birding in Ecuador. The area is famous for the relatively recently discovered Foothill Elaenia and two other near endemics, the White-breasted Parakeet and Coppery-chested Jacamar. Extraordinary mixed-species flocks of gaudy tanagers, as many as 10 species in a single flock, are nearly unmatched anywhere else in the Neotropics. Feeders at Finca Copalinga near the park entrance draw in an impressive variety of hummingbirds, including the rare Black-throated Brilliant and Wire-crested Thorntail as well as the little-known Spangled Coquette and the Amethyst-throated Woodstar.
