Hi All
I have just returned from a trip to Ecuador and whilst the trip was not just a
birding trip, I did manage to fit in quite a bit. A 12 day trip around the
Galapagos was followed by two day's birding around Quito and then five days in
the jungle near the river Napo. To say that it was the highlight of my (long)
birding career would be an understatement. Ecuador is a little larger than
Victoria and boasts a total of over 1600 birds and most of them are delightful.
There are three main regions:- the coast, the Andes and the jungle, each with
very different varieties of bird. This doesn't include the Galapagos Islands
which provides habitat for over 50 additional birds. I managed to find and
identify (with quite a lot of help!) around 250 species, so I still have a long
way to go.
I received a lot of help, both in terms of the locations and the identity of
the birds we saw. On the ship and around the Galapagos we were guided by
naturalists Martin Loyola and Greg Estes. They combined an enormous knowledge
of the region and its flora and fauna with a terrific sense of humour. We saw
nearly 60 species of birds - including many Red-billed Tropicbirds!! - and many
animals, none of which exhibited any fear of humans.
Around Quito we contacted a birding organisation called Neblina Forest and were
guided by Xavier Munoz - without whose help, we would have been very lost in a
new world. It was here we received our introduction to Hummingbirds and
Tanagers. Even these were eclipsed by early morning views of Andean
Cock-of-the-Rock at their lek followed by amazingly close views of Antpittas,
skulkers of the forest floor - even my photos aren't that bad.
The last week was spent in the jungle on the Napo river where we were guided by
a local called Enrique. The only English he could speak was the names of all
the birds, that was great, but we had trouble understanding his desciption of
where the birds were! On our last day, we were on a man-made platform at the
top of a very tall tree and apart from many other birds, we saw a
Golden-collared Toucanette. It was quite astounding I still get a thrill just
thinking about it. We decided that would be our last bird of the trip -
something we would always remember. We managed to communicate that to Enrique
and his smile indicated that he understood perfectly well.
I am in the process of putting together something more detailed - so if anyone
is interested in taking the subject a little further please contact me off-line.
Regards
Nigel Harland
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