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Ecuador's Sacha Lodge is a wonderful place to see many special birds, such as these Many-banded Aracaris. The canopy towers offer amazing views of these and many other birds that are normally difficult to see this well. Photo by participant Elliott Ginger.

This is truly a fantastic tour; what else can you expect when you visit one of the most biodiverse places on the planet, the famous Amazon rainforest? Staying in one of the most comfortable lodges in the area with fantastic accommodation, superb service, delicious food and more importantly, the sheer number of unique birds, make Sacha Lodge a must-visit place for birders.

We flew from Quito, going above the Andes mountains where we had views of the Cayambe volcano, which was beautiful. After 35 minutes we landed at the town of Coca. The next step was a two-hour journey by motorized canoe downstream along the Napo River, plus a kilometer hike and a 20-minute dugout canoe ride. Then we arrived at Sacha Lodge where we stayed for the whole week.

One week sounds like a lot of time in one location, but there are so many places to go and we were very busy every day. The forest hikes behind the lodge provided us with very impressive birds like a male Wire-tailed Manakin, a pair of Crested Owls on their roost, plus Plain-throated Antwren. The Balsa (how we refer to the dining room), which faces the Pilchecocha lagoon, was the perfect place to shelter ourselves during the rainy times that we had. From here, there were always birds to keep us occupied, such as Hoatzins, Greater Anis, White-winged Swallows and the impressive Long-billed Woodcreeper. The dugout canoe was the perfect transport to explore the creeks with the unique flooded forest that is home to Orange-crowned Manakin, Dot-backed Antbird, and the Zigzag Heron that we managed to see.

The strongest components of a trip to Sacha are the towers, where the experience of birding rises to a different level. Birders come face to face with the birds on top of the tree canopies. We visited the metal towers twice and we spent the mornings there. It was so active, especially with Tanagers, like Masked, Opal-rumped, Opal-crowned, Green and Gold, even the beautiful Paradise Tanager. The Kapok wooden tower, where you literally stand in the tree canopy amongst the birds, provided an incredible platform to see Many-banded Aracaris, Spangled Cotinga, the striking Gould’s Jewelfront and many other magnificent birds that kept us very busy the whole morning.

Staying the whole week at Sacha gave us time witness one of the most interesting and fascinating events in nature, when parrots come to eat clay at the clay lick. Sitting in a canoe on the Napo River, the site was amazing, with many Mealy, Yellow-crowned, and Blue-headed parrots and the small Dusky-headed Parakeets coming to eat clay from the cliff. The noise of these birds alone is an extraordinary experience. Later in the morning, we ventured deeper into the forest to another clay lick where Scarlet Macaws came to drink the water with its minerals. It was a privilege to see them so close. The river island along the Napo was great, too, and we were lucky with the weather that day. It was cloudy almost the whole morning, perfect for island birding. We saw several island specialties like Olive-spotted Hummingbird, Black-and-White Antbird and White-bellied Spinetail, to mention a few. The night birding was great, and several owls and two species of potoos showed up for us. We didn’t have to go far to see other wildlife, either, as there was a boa near the dining room and one night an unlucky boa was spotted in the jaws of a caiman. The sounds of the frogs, owls and insects at night were incredible, so with so much constant activity, we kept our cameras and binoculars close.

While the whole trip was full of excitement and good birding, we also took the time to enjoy some cultural experience, and some people managed to master the art of using a blowgun for hunting. It was unusual that most of us actually managed to hit the monkey; luckily the monkey was one made of balsa wood!

We had great help from our local guides, Oscar and Carlos and all the staff at Sacha worked hard to look after us.

Finally, thank you to the intrepid group that make this trip possible, but more importantly, thank you for a great and fun experience in the Amazon Rainforest.

See you soon, Willy.

KEYS FOR THIS LIST
One of the following keys may be shown in brackets for individual species as appropriate: * = heard only, I = introduced, E = endemic, N = nesting, a = austral migrant, b = boreal migrant

A highlight of the Sacha Lodge area is being able to see many species of parrots visiting a clay lick on the Napo River. Here we were able to see Mealy, Yellow-crowned, and Blue-headed parrots and Dusky-headed Parakeets as they came to the cliffs. Photo by participant Francois Grenon.

We had some interesting cultural experiences, in addition to great birding. Here, guides Willy, Oscar and Carlos take a turn with the blowgun. Photo by participant David Youker.

This Paradise Tanager was one of many gorgeous birds we saw from the towers. Photo by guide Willy Perez.

Hummingbirds, tanagers and parrots are not the only brightly colored birds we saw, as shown by this brilliant Crimson-mantled Woodpecker. This one was seen at our hotel in Quito. Photo by participant Francois Grenon.

The male Green Honeycreeper is more of a turquoise color, but still blends in well with the forest background. Photo by participant Elliott Ginger.

A male Black-faced Dacnis peered at us with his bright golden eyes. Photo by participant Elliott Ginger.

Amazon Kingfishers were the most common of the kingfishers we saw during our trip. We saw all five South American species. Photo by guide Willy Perez.

Participant David Youker got this photo as we flew over Volcan Cayambe on our way to Coca.

This Rufous-bellied Euphonia was seen from Tower 2 on one of our visits there. The towers allowed us to see seven Euphonia species in all! Photo by participant Elliott Ginger.

The brilliantly colored male Wire-tailed Manakin really stands out in the forest. We saw this beauty on our first morning at Sacha. Photo by participant Francois Grenon.

Participant Elliott Ginger got a nice portrait of this Black-tailed Tityra.

Here is a photo of the happy group at the base of one of the giant Kapok trees at Sacha. Photo by guide Willy Perez.

Greater Anis kept us amused while we waited out rain showers in the dining room, which is called the Balsa at Sacha. We saw these large cuckoos every day around the lagoon as well. Photo by participant David Youker.

Participant Francois Grenon got a lovely image of a Golden-rumped Euphonia showing how it got its common name.

This Yellow-shouldered Grosbeak was an unexpected prize for us; we saw it in a mixed species flock along the boardwalk trail. Photo by participant Francois Grenon.

Another surprise was this Long-billed Woodcreeper that we saw on our last day; what an impressive bill! Photo by participant Francois Grenon.

Tiny birds like this Yellow-browed Tody-Flycatcher are often easier to see from the canopy towers, so we were really glad that Sacha has such a wonderful system. Photo by guide Willy Perez.

This beautiful female Gilded Barbet also showed well while we were on the tower. Photo by participant Francois Grenon.

We visited an island in the Napo River where we found some distinctive birds, such as this Olive-spotted Hummingbird. It's not as colorful as many of the others, but it's a special bird that is not often seen. Photo by participant Francois Grenon.

We enjoyed beautiful days, and gorgeous sunsets over the lagoon. This fiery sky was captured by participant David Youker.

In addition to the spectacular birds, we saw some interesting mammals and reptiles, including this Caiman Lizard photographed by participant David Youker.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

There were many other animals during our trip. Here are some impressive ones: Spectacled and Black Caimans, Yellow-spotted Amazon River Turtle, Caiman Lizard, Red-tailed Boa and Crested Forest Toad.

Totals for the tour: 303 bird taxa and 9 mammal taxa