Ecuador Bird Watching Trip - Blue Sky Wildlife

Ecuador Birding Trip

Our Antpitta Ecuador Bird Watching Trip which is moderately paced available daily is designed for people with little time available, who would like to have a taste of the wonders of the northwest. We visit the high elevation reserve of Yanacocha, (over 3000 meters / 10000 feet), and then visit Bellavista´s Private Protected Area (2200 meters), finishing with a hummingbird and tanager spectacle at a hummingbird garden in the lower Tandayapa Valley (1700 meters). A rich and diverse taster! Really close to Quito – only one hour 50 minutes away! Expect to see some 297 species of birds on this trip.

In this Ecuador Bird Watching Trip, Your guide has many years of experience leading birders in our region and elsewhere in the country. He/she has an official guide license (Ministry of Tourism) and speaks fluent English (and native Spanish). Guides in other languages, or a translator, are available on prior request. Our guides are passionate about birds, and love looking for elusive wildlife.. mammals and amphibians! Should you be a photographer, we will choose a guide who deeply shares your interest.

Important Note: This tour includes an exclusive full-time private guide service.

At Bellavista itself, and at the reserves, we visit beyond Bellavista, access is moderate on well-maintained trails.

If you’d like to try an alternative tour, look at what this Birdwatching Ecuador Tour has to offer.

Alternative Tour Name: Cock-of-the-Rock & Antpitta Discovery in Ecuador

Day 1

Full Day Trip

Depart From Quito

Starts in Quito: Early morning (05.30 a.m.) departure from Quito for high elevation reserves: the usual choice is the new Zuroloma Reserve.. those who want to hike and explore further might choose Yanacocha Reserve instead. Many high elevation hummingbird species to look for, including the unbelievable Sword-billed Hummingbird, as well as Buff-winged Starfrontlet, Sapphire-vented Puffleg, Mountain Velvetbreast, then highland species of tanagers, such as the Black-chested Mountain-Tanager and Scarlet-bellied Mountain-tanager, and also Yellow-breasted Brush-Finch. Antpittas include the Chestnut-naped Antpitta and the Rufous Antpitta. (The endangered Black-breasted Puffleg finds refuge at this elevation .. rather elusive, but always hopeful!) As we drop down the highly scenic Nono Road, Torrent Duck and White-capped Dipper, Black Phoebe and more are attracted by the rushing stream.

Midday arrival at the Lodge where we first admire the amazing flurry of hummingbirds at the feeders. Gorgeted Sunangel is a target bird here. Other birds will be seen – maybe Plate-billed Mountain-Toucan, almost certainly beauties like the Masked Flowerpiercer, Blue-winged Mountain-Tanager, also look for Masked trogons and more.

After lunch and more time at the Lodge, we drive down to a hummingbird garden at low elevation in the Tandayapa Valley, which has a true hummingbird spectacle, with birds like White-necked Jacobin, Purple-throated Woodstar, and Crowned Woodnymph, plus Tanagers, Euphonias, Red-headed Barbet, often Crested Quetzal, and more.

We leave back for Quito at 15.30 , to be back in the city at about 17.00 p.m.

Meals: B, L

Wildlife Reviews

5 stars

- based on 2 reviews

Amazing birding tours arranged by Bellavista
Hari Viswanathan27 Mar 2018
5
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My 9 year old son and I had an amazing time staying at Bellavista. We visited Yanacocha to see the Swordbill hummingbird and several mountain tanager species, Aves de Paz where we saw several Antpittas, the Andean Cock of the Rock, and Scaled Fruiteater, and the Umbrella bird lek at Recinto de Junior. Bellavista itself gave us great looks of Mountain Toucan, Toucan Barbet, Booted Rackel-tail, Tanager Finch and the Violet-tail Sylph and mammals like Tayra and Kinkajou. We got great pictures of all these species and give this cloud forest paradise my highest recommendation!
ECUADOR DELIVERS AGAIN
Wilf & Julia Powell22 Oct 2017
5
Overall

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Wildlife
Guides
Conservation
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Value

My wife and I recently spent a wonderful 3 weeks on a wildlife focused trip to Ecuador, excellently organised by Richard Parsons of Bellavista Lodge, who arranged accommodation, transport and a knowledgeable guide, Gustavo Canas-Valle. We had spent several days at Bellavista 5 years previously and had vowed to return. This time, after a week visiting Bellavista and several other sites in N.W. Ecuador, we headed to the less-visited South where we stayed at a range of excellent, comfortable lodges, many set up by the Jocotoco Foundation which is dedicated to preserving Ecuadors amazing fauna and flora.. Even though the trip was not solely focused on birds, we came back with a list of 472 species, including local specialties such as El Oro Parakeet and Jocotoco Antpitta. The trip was appropriately rounded off by close views of a pair of perching Andean Condors while visiting Antisana Reserve near Quito before heading to the airport. We saw a fabulous range of other stunning wildlife, including an abundant variety of butterflies. Gustavo was an accomplished botanist and we learnt a lot about the Andean flora. He also had a wealth of knowledge of local history and architecture which greatly added to our experience as we visited Quito and other towns en route. What a memorable trip!

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