Length of Tour
13-Days/12-Nights
DAY 1: ARRIVAL IN GUAYAQUIL / TRANSFER TO HOTEL
After arriving in Guayaquil, you will be picked up at the airport and transferred to your hotel.
Night: Gran Hotel, Guayaquil
DAY 2: DRIVE TO UMBRELLA BIRD LODGE
After an early breakfast we will drive to Manglares Churute an area surrounded by marshes and dry forest. Our target bird here is the prehistoric-looking Horned Screamer (as this is the only place in Ecuador where the bird breeds), but while there we will also look for Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Least Grebe, Snail Kite, Savannah Hawk, Wattled Jacana, White-throated Crake, Masked Water-Tyrant, Peruvian Meadowlark, and Pacific Pygmy-Owl. After lunch we will embark on the four-hour drive to Umbrellabird lodge
DAY 3: UMBRELLA BIRD LODGE
We will have a full day at Umbrella Bird Lodge, where we will walk the trails in search of El Oro Parakeet and El Oro Tapaculo, two more Ecuadorian endemics. We will also have plenty of time to enjoy the lodge’s hummingbird feeders; who knows what may show up!
Night: Umbrella Bird Lodge
DAY 4: DRIVE TO JORUPE RESERVE
After an early breakfast we will spend the morning combing the trails for any species that we may have missed the previous day. At mid-morning we will travel to Macara, where we will spend the next two nights at the Jorupe Reserve. On the way we will make a special stop to look for Tumbes Swift,White-headed Brush-Finch.
Night at Jorupe Reserve.
DAY 5: JORUPE RESERVE
After breakfast , we will enjoy the great feeders , The pale-browed Tinamou, White-tailed Jay, Yellow-tailed oriole, Black-capped Sparrow , blue and Ecuadorian ground-doves usually visit the corn feeders then we will explore the reserve’s trails in search of Tumbesian specialties such as Watkin’s Antpitta. Henna-hooded and Rufous-necked Foliage-Gleaners, and Gray-breasted Flycatcher. After lunch we will drive up to the Utuana Reserve, where at this higher elevation we hope to find Rainbow Starfrontlet, Purple-throated Sunangel, Piura Hemispingus, Black-crested Tit-Tyrant, Chapman’s Antshrike, and Gray-headed Antbird.
Night: Jorupe Reserve.
DAY 6: DRIVE TO TAPICHALACA
After an early breakfast, we will return to the Utuana Reserve to clean up any species we may have missed yesterday. Then we will travel to Loja, stopping en route at Catamayo (also known as “Finch Heaven”) to look for Tumbes Sparrow, Drab Seedeater then drive to Tapichalaca reserve
Night: Tapichalaca.
DAY 7: TAPICHALACA
This morning we will hike the Quebrada Honda Trail to a very special feeder area where “Panchito” the Jocotoco Antpitta comes in for his breakfast! Other tough-to-see targets we will search for include Ocellated, Ash-colored, and Chusquea Tapaculos. After lunch we will road-bird on the way to the town of Valladolid, where we will search for Maranon Thrush. As darkness approaches, we will try for Andean Potoo and Rufous-bellied Nighthawk.
Night Tapichalaca.
DAY 8: DRIVE TO COPALINGA LODGE
After an early breakfast we will spend the morning birding the lodge grounds in search of anything we may have missed. After lunch we will drive to Bomboscaro and the Copa Linga Lodge, where we will spend the next two nights. We will have time this afternoon to search the lodge grounds for Wire-crested Thorntail, Spangled Coquette, and Violet-fronted and Black-throated Brilliants.
Night: Copa Linga Lodge
DAY 9: COPALINGA LODGE
We will spend the day birding the Bomboscaro area, where we hope to find such target species as Amazonian Umbrellabird, Coppery-chested Jacamar, Highland Motmot, Andean Cock-of-the-rock (the orange eastern race), and Olive Finch. In addition, there’s always the possibility of a tanager flock that will include such gems as Paradise, Green-and-gold, Yellow-bellied, Spotted, Magpie, and Fulvous-crested Tanagers.
Night: Copa Linga Lodge
DAY 10: DRIVE TO SARAGURO
This morning we will drive to Yanzatza to look for the Cute Spangled Coquette and we will be birding around that area and after lunch we will drive to Saraguro.
Night in Saraguro.
DAY 11: DRIVE TO SANTA ISABEL
We will have an early start to go to Cerro Arcos , where is the home of the new Hummingbird for the Science and endemic to Ecuador The Blue throated Hillstar. And then we will drive to the Jubones valley Santa Isabel
Night vin Santa Isabel.
DAY 12: RETURN TO GUAYAQUIL
This morning, we will search for one of Ecuador’s (and the world’s) most threatened species at one of the Jocotoco Reserve, Yunguilla, , the Pale-headed Brush-Finch, rediscovered here by Niels Krabbe. This is the only known population of this Ecuadorian endemic. We will also have a chance at locating Purple-collared and Little Woodstars.
Afterward that we will drive back to Guayaquil.
Night in Guayaquil.
DAY 13: RUTURN HOME
Transfer out at any time today.
Southern Ecuador has only recently become easier to traverse for birding in search of the sixteen endemics that reside here. One of our top targets is the Jocotoco Antpitta which was only discovered by modern science in 1997! Bob Ridgely and John Moore heard a bird they did not recognize as they were exploring the region, when they finally saw the bird they were positive it was something new.
