February 19-March 8, 2026 with Willy Perez
This tour is originally designed for people who would like to visit Ecuador only once, because we cover as much as possible in two weeks. We visit the south of the country for one week and the northern part for another week. The main focus is to find as many hummingbirds, tanagers and antpittas… and this was certainly the case this time, with many spotted!
The journey began with an early flight from Quito to Catamayo (Loja) and it was just stunning with views of Cayambe, Antisana, and even Cotopaxi volcanoes with the first rays of sunlight. During this time of the year, the valley of Catamayo was very green with a lot of flowers and of course, a lot of birds. We spent the morning in this great habitat, where we saw many Tumbesian endemics like Collared Antshrike, Pacific Parrotlet, and even Elegant Crescentchest. On our way to Loja, the plan was to drive along the old road but it was closed by a landslide, so a plan b was necessary instead.
Staying in the small city of Loja was nice and comfortable, and early the next day we drove to the eastern side of the Andes towards the town of Zamora. We took the old road where we had our first encounter with a Cock-of-the-Rock female, White-capped Dipper, and even scope views of Oilbirds, unusual to find. In Zamora, we stayed in the simple but lovely Copalinga lodge where the garden birding was great especially for some hummingbirds. We really enjoyed watching a battle between Spangled Coquette and a Violet-headed Hummingbird trying to get the best flowers possible from a Verbena bush.
Bombuscaro was full of action, and the weather was great all day long. Highlights were Coppery-chested Jacamar, Lanceolated Monklet spotted by Edgar, and White-necked Parakeets that came to eat the clay on the bank. Many colorful tanagers and even an Ecuadorian Piedtail chick being fed. The lower Old Loja Zamora Road was very birdy, with great weather. Wonderful birds were seen like Equatorial Graytail, Lemon-browed and Cliff flycatchers, and Lafresnay’s Piculet. The two nights at Saraguro were a good call; when we visited Acacana the weather was not the best, but it didn’t stop us from having a good day. We saw many Golden-crowned Tanagers, Scarlet-bellied, and Lacrimose Mountain-Tanagers, Black-headed Hemispingus, Barred Fruiteater, and the fantastic Crescent-faced Antpitta. We heard the rare Red-faced Parrots in Huashapamba but no luck with actually seeing them. The hummingbirds along the road were great, with Glowing Puffleg and Purple-throated Sunangel being the best.
The visit to Cerro de Arcos, the home for the very rare Blue-throated Hillstar, was long but a superb day, as we managed to see this rare bird, but also we learnt about the studies that they are doing to understand the species diet and which flowers they use to feed on. Our visit to Yunguilla Reserve was another great one, with super views of another rare endemic species, the Pale-headed Brush-Finch that we managed to see well. Some hummingbirds surprised us, when Little and Purple-collared Woodstar showed up beautifully well.
Cajas National Park was a big success too, with great views of the important birds like the Tit-like Dacnis, Violet-throated Metaltail, and even a Giant Conebill pair that gave us a crazy show. Our flight from Cuenca to Quito was good and on time.
In the northern part of the country, our first visit was Zuroloma, with 3 species of antpittas and a big selection of hummingbirds, including Sword-billed and Mountain Velvetbreast. On our way to Septimo Paraiso, where we stayed three nights, we had a superb encounter with a Plate-billed Mountain-Toucan. We walked along the trails at the lodge and despite the weather, which wasn’t the best, we managed to see some unique Choco endemic hummingbird species from this area, such as Violet-tailed Sylph, Velvet-purple Coronet, Brown Inca and Purple-bibbed Whitetip, as well as a mating pair of Kinkajous up in the trees. Other special birds to note were Tawny-bellied Hermit lekking, and a male Golden-winged Manakin, which made our morning. We spent the afternoon at Milpe Garden, where we saw other exciting species, the “Butter butt” (Buff-rumped Warbler) walking on the trail, followed by a whole vocal experience from the Ochre-breasted Tanager.
We spent a full day in the western lowlands visiting Rio Silanche Reserve, with lots of happy birding, especially at the tower, with such iconic species like Blue-tailed Trogon, Choco Toucans, Cinnamon Woodpeckers, and an amazing variety of colorful tanagers, such as Scarlet-browed and Blue-whiskered. A highlight was seeing four species of colorful Dacnis, Yellow-tufted, Scarlet-thighed, Blue and the stunning Scarlet-breasted pair. We also visited the Frutti Tour trail in the middle of Pedro Vicente Maldonado, where we were delighted to add more hummingbirds to our list, like Bronzy Hermit, Purple-crowned Fairy, Long-billed Starthroat and many more. A Brown Woodrail appeared just as we were leaving, which captivated us for some time too, as these can be hard to see.
The Cock-of-the-Rock lek visit at Reserva Paz de las Aves, was less active than usual, but even so we managed to see a couple of males displaying. However, afterwards we got to see a Cloudforest Pygmy Owl even through the scope, and a Giant Antpitta came to be fed just nearby too, which was fantastic. Later on, despite very heavy rain, we got to see all the charismatic birds at Angel’s, some of them we had to walk a bit for, and others just popped up; Crimson-rumped Toucanet, Toucan Barbet, Golden-headed Quetzal, Crested Guans and a very colorful Orange-breasted Fruiteater, followed by Yellow-breasted Antpitta…. not bad for a wet morning!
Leaving the west the next day, we headed east, with our first stop up at the antennas where the views were impressive, but it was quieter on the birding front. White-chinned Thistletail, Carunculated Caracara, Rainbow-bearded Thornbill were around as we wandered along the road. Our next stop was Guango Lodge for a delicious lunch, after which we did the trail along the river, with a view of the Torrent Duck, and then a nice Guango mixed flock, where some got a nice photo of a Pearled Treerunner! We also saw Turquoise Jays and even an Andean Guan with a chick. From here we carried on down the eastern slopes to San Isidro Lodge, where we settled ourselves for another 3 nights and enjoyed the delicious food, easy birding from the deck, with a nice coffee in the mornings with all the moth/bird activity, and agoutis running around. The combination of birds was crazy, from Flycatchers to Caciques, Wrens, Trogons, the beautiful Andean Motmot, Barred Becard, noisy Green Jays, Russet-backed Oropendolas, Yellow-vented Woodpecker and some lovely migrants like Blackburnian, Canada Warbler and even Summer Tanager. We hiked along the road above the reserve a couple of times with different birds like Crested Quetzals, Southern Emerald Toucanet, Green-and-black Fruiteater, but the biggest highlight was Chestnut-breasted Chlorophonia. Visiting the Refugio El Quetzal one afternoon, with delicious pan de yuca and hot chocolate, we saw Green-backed Hillstar, the tiny Gorgeted Woodstar and Rufescent Screech-Owl roosting. We were lucky to see the signature birds in San Isidro, the Black-banded Owl and the White-bellied Antpitta. On our way back to Quito, we dipped back into the highland birding spots to another side of the Cayambe Coca Reserve, and had a brilliant mixed highland flock in the elfin forest at over 12,000 feet, with Golden-crowned Tanagers, Red-crested Cotingas displaying, Rainbow-bearded Thornbill, Black-backed Bush Tanager, Pale-naped Brushfinch and three Mountain Tanagers: Scarlet-bellied, Black-chested and the very secretive, difficult Masked Mountain Tanager which stole the show.
As I mentioned before, this trip was designed to see a good range of Ecuadorian endemics, Andean birds from the high Andes, and to visit a combination of the unique Tumbesian habitats in the south and the Choco in the North. Despite challenging weather and road conditions in the south, we managed to visit the places we had planned to and saw an amazing variety of birds. Overall, the trip was very successful with an incredible 67 species of hummingbirds, 9 species of antpittas and countless colorful tanagers.
To have a successful trip, you need to have a good group, and I certainly was lucky to have a great group, so I would like to say thank you to all of you for embracing the challenges and wet weather, making the most of it and having fun along the way. Thanks also to Edgar, our trusty driver, who navigated wet roads like a pro and helped looking for birds. I hope that we will see each other again soon in the field, looking for more birds. Meanwhile, keep birding!
Other wildlife:
Red-tailed Squirrel
Central American Agouti
Black Agouti
Kinkajou
Tayra
White-tailed Deer
Night monkeys in San Isidro
Lots of butterflies!
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/489994
You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplistsjec26TRIPLIST.pdf
-- Abrazos from Dorset, Willy