November 22-December 1, 2025 with Mitch Lysinger & Doug Hitchcox
For anybody who wants to see a slew of fabulous birds, Ecuador is hard to beat… and I think we proved this! The tall mountains that run right down to the lowlands, straddling the equator line, coupled with fairly constant spring-like temperatures – well, not so much in the paramo! - and regular rains create the perfect storm to drive all of this diversity of landscapes and birds that we experienced. From the scrubbier forests of the central valley around the San Jose hotel, and the high paramos of Antisana National Park and the Papallacta Pass, to the more stunted temperate forests of the eastern highlands and Guango Lodge, down to the subtropical forests of San Isidro and the lush tropical foothills lower down towards the Amazon, we undertook a pretty complete coverage of the habitats to be found on the slopes of the most biodiverse region on earth.
We started and ended our birding right on the grounds of our attractive and comfortable hotel in the valley below and east of Quito, where much of the habitat has been converted to gardens with some patches of the native chaparral scrub here and there, dominated by Acacias. The birds seem to do fine in both habitats! Some of the key birds we spotted were Scrub and Blue-and-yellow Tanagers, and Tropical Mockingbird.
Our first major venue was Antisana National Park in the high paramo habitats right up near the continental divide, and we had a sensational day here, finding most of the targets we were after, including Silvery Grebe up on Mica Lake, a few of the very local Andean (Black-faced) Ibis, Andean Condor, Andean Lapwing, Ecuadorian Hillstar, Black-winged Ground-Dove, and plenty of ground furnariid brown-jobs.
After lunch we cruised back to down to the central valley to set our sights on getting to Guango Lodge for the night, crossing the continental divide for the first time at the Papallacta Pass. Lucky for us though, before we could make it that far, Doug spotted an Andean Bear for us enroute on a grassy slope for great scope views… wow! During some late afternoon birding in the paramo we snagged some nice birds, like Tawny Antpitta and Red-rumped Bush-Tyrant!
The following day, we spent a wonderful morning birding the mossy forests at Guango, where we had some excellent mixed flocks with the likes of Hooded Mountain-Tanager and Slaty Brush-Finch. The big highlight had to be the Gray-breasted Mountain-Toucans that came to feed at close distance at the fruit feeders up the trail… incredible. The Andean Guans weren’t bad either! After a hot lunch there, it was time to head downslope to San Isidro Lodge. First though, we stopped off at a productive little spot for hummingbirds between to two lodges. Had great looks at Green-backed Hillstar and Peruvian Racket-tail here, among others.
The rest of our days were spent based out of comfortable San Isidro Lodge, exploring the grounds and surroundings nearby, as well as the productive slopes further down-slope from here. Staying at San Isidro is like just disappearing from the outside world, where one doesn’t hear traffic and trucks and you just feel completely enveloped in Ecuador’s eastern cloud forests. For the most part, the weather was on our side, sometimes too much so, with maybe a little more intense sun than needed, but then be careful what you ask for, because the foothills were too drippy. But hey, all good, and the successes were just so many. It really takes time spent in these habitats to pry out the goodies, which is why we devote a week to this spectacular area.
Everybody will always have their favorites, but here are some of the leader’s picks that really sent this trip over the top (!): those Torrent Ducks that we finally found out along the Cosanga River; the smashing Ecuadorian Hillstar as it fed on its favorite orange Chuquiragua flowers; an impressive number of hummingbirds, but I think the Giant, Black-tailed Trainbearer, Glowing Puffleg, and Gorgeted Woodstar take top honors; Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe with three chicks in tow right at our feet (literally!); the hard-to-find Fasciated Tiger-Heron along a rushing river in the foothills on a drippy day; the majestic Andean Condor up at Antisana; the “San Isidro” Owl for killer views at dinner time right from the porch; gorgeous Golden-headed and Crested Quetzals; Andean Motmots right in San Isidro’s gardens; those stunning Gray-breasted Mountain-Toucans at Guango as they gobbled down grapes; that male Powerful Woodpecker along the Guacamayos trail on our last full day; the rare and local Orange-breasted Falcon hunting and calling all around us near San Isidro one sunny morning; White-bellied Antpitta coming in for worms at San Isidro, and those comical Tawny Antpittas in the paramo; exceptional views of the secretive Tyrannine Woodcreeper along the trails at San Isidro; more furnariids than we probably wanted to see, but each one was so unique and fascinating, and it is amazing how they have a representative in all habitats(!); that surprise Scaled Fruiteater feeding at a fruiting palm tree; those mind-blowing Andean Cocks-of-the-Rock for some unforgettable views; surprisingly easy Amazonian Umbrellabirds down in the foothills for really nice scope views (I suspect they were either breeding or nesting); a head-spinning number of tyrannids, but I think the Red-rumped Bush-Tyrant was an aesthetic highlight that topped them all; Black-capped Donacobius (Doug put in a request for this one!); those active and smart White-capped Dippers along those rushing Andean rivers; and a long list of tanagers that pretty cover all of the colors one could imagine, Black-chested Mountain-Tanager, and Golden-crowned, Blue-browed and Vermilion Tanagers seem to stand out! For mammals, we had some sensational sightings, with that Andean Bear on our first day, and those three night monkeys right around the lodge at San Isidro that put on their show at dusk on most days.
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/545291
You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/hec25pTRIPLIST.pdf
-- Mitch Lysinger