Trip Report — Cloudforests of Ecuador: All the Best of the Wild Northwest 2025

July 21-31, 2025 with Willy Perez

Here is the group posing for an unforgettable photo during our visit to the iconic Reserva Paz de las Aves by Willy Perez.

This is one of my favourite tours because the cloud forest in the west is where I grew up, where I’ve lived, and where I still have strong connections. For me, this trip feels like going back home. The landscapes are stunning and incredibly diverse. The cloud forest isn’t as well known as the rainforest, but it has its own special magic and is made up of vital ecosystems. It's full of epiphytes like orchids, bromeliads, ferns, and lots of moss—a beautiful place often covered by clouds in the afternoon and filled with birds all day long. And we saw all of that in just one amazing week.

John Rounds got a fantastic photo of the colourful Glistening-green Tanager at Amagusa reserve.

The tour began in Quito, right after I finished my Galapagos tour. Just before the farewell dinner with the Galapagos group, I managed to give a quick briefing for the cloud forest tour. Some of our group had already arrived, while two more were due later that evening. We had a full week ahead of us to explore this incredible part of Ecuador, and we jumped right into planning for an early start the next day.

This tour includes only a half-day visit to the upper mountain forest, so I made sure everyone was prepared for the 11,000 ft elevation, since the rest of the trip would be at lower altitudes. This year, we visited Yanacocha, one of the Jocotoco Reserves, where we saw some beautiful hummingbirds and tanagers. But the highlights at this altitude were definitely the Ocellated Tapaculo and the Barred Fruiteater. It was a productive morning, and after our boxed lunch, we drove down to Maquipucuna Lodge.

Robert McNab capture this Long-wattled Umbrellabird male in full display when we visit their lek.

The three lodges we stayed at worked perfectly—each one strategically located to give us access to different habitats and bird species. Every lodge had something special to offer. At Maquipucuna, we could bird from just about anywhere—even from our rooms or the bar! Guaycapi offered stunning views, with beautiful mountain scenery as the backdrop to all the bird activity in front of us. At Sachatamia, the hummingbird feeders were a whirlwind of activity that kept us glued to our binoculars and cameras.

The leks we visited were unforgettable—watching the colorful Cock-of-the-Rock males displaying and catching a glimpse of a silhouetted Umbrellabird were definite highlights. The hides at Maquipucuna and Sachatamia gave us the chance to observe shy species like Antbirds, Motmots, and several kinds of Woodcreepers. At Angel Paz’s Reserve, we saw three species of Antpittas and had fantastic views of them. We even ventured under a bridge to spot a female Lyre-tailed Nightjar with her chick—a very special sighting.

Club winged Manakins are distributed only in southwest Colombia and northwest Ecuador and we had to make a special effort to see this nice male displaying. Photo by John Rounds.

Our early departure to Amagusa really paid off, with many Chocó endemics making an appearance. One of the favourites was the striking Black Solitaire. When we visited the lowlands at Silanche, we were amazed by the colorful diversity of birds. We saw four species of Dacnis, with the Scarlet-breasted Dacnis stealing the show. We ended our lowland day with the “Sendero Frutti Tour,” which gave us a chance to spot more lowland species like the Bronzy Hermit, Red-billed Scythebill, and the elusive Western Woodhaunter.

The entire week flew by, but it was full of activity and discovery. We saw so many birds, and I even got the chance to bring the group to my own garden to see the Lanceolated Monklet—a widespread species, but not always easy to find. That was a special moment for me.

Ocellated Tapaculo is one of the most colourful of the group but is always very hard to see. Here, Paul Beerman managed to get this stunning photo of one of them at Yanacocha reserve.

The staff at the lodges were fantastic, the food was delicious, the weather was kind to us, and the birds were incredible. I have to say, this trip was GREAT, and for me it was a real pleasure to share these moments with a nice bunch of people. Thank you all for making this such a fun and unforgettable adventure into the beauty of the cloud forest.

Along the way, we also spotted some other amazing wildlife, including:
Common Opossum
Kinkajou
Western Dwarf Squirrel
Red-tailed Squirrel
Central American Agouti
Basilisk Lizard
And many stunning butterflies

Robert McNab got a close up photo of the impressive Plate-billed Mountain-Toucan.

You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/404270

You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/ems25TRIPLIST.pdf

-- Abrazos desde Dorset, Willy