Welcome to Birdquest
REMOTE ECUADOR
Tuesday 9th September - Thursday 25th September 2008
János Oláh
Birdquest has operated a very long series of successful tours to Ecuador over the last fifteen years. A few years ago the idea of a ‘Remote Ecuador’ tour was developed to cater for the many birders who has already been to this fantastic country and wanted more! Ecuador undeniably offers the best of the ‘Bird Continent’ with most species of birds per square mile in the World. Needless to say on a regular circuit it is possible to see a huge selection of birds and to come across some rare and hard-to-find birds but we do not usually have the time to spend long periods looking for one or two specialities. So the original ‘remote’ tour was designed to fill such a gap with a visit to the ‘off the beaten track’ Chocó region and Kapawi lodge in Amazonia. This tour was a great success but to really do the endemic-rich northwest of the country justice we left out Amazonia and concentrated on ‘the wonders of the Chocó’!
The Chocó region covers the humid forest belt stretching from southern Panama through southwestern Colombia to northwestern Ecuador. Designated as Birdlife International’s endemic bird area number 41 this EBA holds a great variety of special birds. The number of these range-restricted species depends on which different taxonomy is followed but ranges between 80–85 and is therefore undoubtedly one of the richest EBAs in the World. It is very difficult to see some of these birds as most of the Chocó area is in Colombia with no proper access to this region but Ecuador however holds about 70 of them and our tour was carefully designed to seek out as many as possible. In addition to this we spent two days in search of a few more special birds in the Andes of northern Ecuador.
This superb new itinerary immediately set the standard against which all future tours will be judged with a great selection of rare birds. Some parts of our action-packed two weeks were spent in rarely visited areas and we managed to see many of the enigmatic and localized birds of Ecuador we had targeted. Although this tour was not about a long bird list we saw a good selection of northwestern Ecuador’s specialties, recording 457 species, of which 425 were seen and indeed this was another memorable visit to this very special country, even for those who had been here more then once before!
Our first few days were spent around the Mindo area, the inevitable starting point for almost all Ecuador tours, but it was with a difference this time. We devoted most of our time to the seeking out those birds we don’t usually have enough time for on our other tours, plus as many Chocó birds as possible. Then we had a day visit to the Manga Loma Reserve, which attracted much attention recently following some Banded Ground-Cuckoo sightings. After a quick visit to Rio Silanche we spent an enjoyable few days in the Canandé Jocotoco Reserve. Then we set off for the lowlands of the Cotacachi-Cayapas Reserve and travelled by canoe to the Playa de Oro Lodge along the Santiago River. After some memorable days at this great place we visited the swamp forest of Humedal de Yalaré before climbing up to the foothills again and birded around Lita. Our last port of call was the remote Cerro Mongus in north Ecuador to look for some of the rare specialties there. With hard work we recorded the following Chocó endemics (52): Plumbeous Forest-Falcon, Dark-backed Wood-Quail, Brown Wood Rail, Dusky Pigeon, Pallid Dove, Indigo-crowned Quail-Dove, Rose-faced Parrot, Chocó Poorwill, Cloud-forest Pygmy-Owl, White-whiskered Hermit, Purple-chested Hummingbird, Western Emerald, Purple-bibbed Whitetip, Empress Brilliant, Brown Inca, Velvet-purple Coronet, Gorgeted Sunangel, Hoary Puffleg, Violet-tailed Sylph, Chocó Trogon, Toucan Barbet, Orange-fronted Barbet, Five-coloured Barbet, Stripe-billed Aracari, Pale-mandibled Aracari, Plate-billed Mountain-Toucan, Chocó Toucan, Uniform Treehunter, Lita Woodpecker, Esmeraldas Antbird, Stub-tailed Antbird, Rufous-crowned Antpitta, Yellow-breasted Antpitta, Narino Tapaculo, Chocó Tapaculo, Pacific Flatbill, Orange-breasted Fruiteater, Club-winged Manakin, Beautiful Jay, Chocó Warbler, Scarlet-breasted Dacnis, Scarlet-and-white Tanager, Glistening-green Tanager, Blue-whiskered Tanager, Rufous-throated Tanager, Grey-and-gold Tanager, Golden-chested Tanager, Ochre-breasted Tanager, Lemon-spectacled Tanager, Scarlet-browed Tanager, Dusky Bush-Tanager and Tanager Finch.
In addition to some breathtaking encounters with Chocó endemics we were lucky to have some other seldom-seen birds that perform beautifully like the majestic Black-and-chestnut Eagle, the secretive Crested Guan, the elusive Olive-backed Quail-Dove, the vociferous Rufous-headed Chachalaca, the scarce Tooth-billed Hummingbird, the localised Black-thighed Puffleg, the once almost impossible Giant and Moustached Antpittas, awesome Ocellated and Spotted Antbirds, the subtle Spot-crowned Antvireo, the noisy Black-breasted Puffbird, the very rare White-faced Nunbird, unobtrusive Olivaceous Piha, the rare Chestnut-bellied Cotinga, the now much sought-after ‘family lifer’ Broad-billed Sapayoa, the musical Song Wren and the fast-moving Slate-throated Gnatcatcher to name but a few. Add to all this a keen party of Birdquesters, lots of fun, breathtaking mountain scenery, interesting canoe journeys and you will find ‘Remote Ecuador’ to be a memorable tour. Every tour to this wonderful country is special but this one will certainly stick in our minds for a long time.
