Antpitta Ecuador Bird Watching Trip - 1 Day

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!

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!