Mike Breiding's Epic Road Trips: 2024
South America
The Ecuadorian Andes
From Hummingbirds to Condors and Everything in Between
Birding in the Ecuadorian Andes
February 2024
My January 2024 Road Scholar trip to Ecuador was one of several firsts for me: my first time in South America, my first trip that concentrated completely on bird watching, and my first introduction to the birds, scenery, and landscape of the Andes.
I flew into Quito, Ecuador's capital city. Our field of exploration was primarily in the area around Quito known as the Central Sierra. (see maps below) It was a mostly rural area with small towns.
Our group as a whole saw 283 species of birds including 44 different kinds of hummingbirds. We also saw beautiful scenery, flowers and plants, stayed in small lodges and were treated to delicious food. But I will begin with the birds.
Click on the photos below for a larger image.
Our birding in Ecuador was basically done in two different ways. The first way was out in the field and this was a little frustrating for me at times since the birds were often in the distance and difficult to locate because of foliage and my less that stellar ability to lift my binoculars to the correct position to spot the bird. Fortunately those people who quickly found the birds helped us slow pokes. (Photo location is here)
Our bus bumped us down narrow back roads with steep drop offs to get to our birding destinations. At one point a land slide ahead stopped us. We all got off the bus and continued on foot while Victor, our driver, carefully backed down the road until he got to a place he could turn the bus around. He was a pro!
Our guide, Ed, was a native Ecuadorian and experienced birder. No, he is not scrolling through his social media. He is looking for a particular bird call to try to coax a shy bird into our view.
Our second method of bird watching was more up close and personal. We would visit blinds and feeding stations designed to bring in the birds so you barely needed binoculars to get a good look.
Does it look like I was standing right next to this hummingbird feeder? I was!
White-booted Racket-tail
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© Jory Teltser eBird S63559114 Macaulay Library ML 206437691
Shining Sunbeam
The hummingbirds were my favorites. Besides their brilliant colors, they had great names such as the Tawny Bellied Hermit, the Shining Sunbeam and the Velvet-purple Coronet. Two of my favorites were the White-booted racket-tail who looked like he was flying around with cotton balls on his feet, and the Collared Inca, a plush little black and white "tuxedo" hummer.
At one "hummingbird garden" they let each of us hold a spray of flowers that had been spritzed with sugar water. When it was my turn I actually had five hummingbirds perched on my fingers at once. I could feel their tiny feet as they held on to me while they fed.
Chestnut breasted coronet.
Moths were the delicacy used to bring in the insect feeding birds. Large white screens with a light shining on them overnight brought in an amazing variety of moths. Here are two little morsels to tempt the birds.
These large and colorful "green jays" were among the birds swooping in to feast on the moths. Among the many other customers were the Crested Oropendola, the Cinnamon Flycatcher and the Masked Trogon.
Female Masked Trogon
At my favorite lodge, San Isidro, I stood at the deck railing watching the birds fly in and out when a female Masked Trogon flew up and perched on the railing right next to me. She "flirted" with me, blinking her eyes and chirping for a minute or two before she flew away.
A non avian visitor was this Black Agouti.
Blinds allowed us to get closer to some of the birds without being detected. I believe this is the blind where we saw the beautiful Cock of the Rock.
Cock-of-the-Rock
One of the birds we saw towards the end of our trip was the Andean Condor. With a wingspread of 10 feet, these soaring wonders weigh approximately 33 pounds, stand a meter and a half high and often live in the wild to the age of 50 years! We saw them on the wing and also spotted a group of them relaxing on the ground in a distant field. Before we trained our binocs on the huge birds at rest, we thought they were cows! (Condor location)
Andean Condor
Some of the white spots you see on these cliffs are the condors' droppings.
Spectacular scenery was everywhere. One day giant leaved Gunnera marched up the hillside to our left as we walked.
We often passed by flowering hedges. Since Ecuador is on the equator there are only two seasons and the temperatures vary only slightly so it seems there is always something in bloom.
We even saw a bit of sunshine now and then.
The rivers rushing over and around boulders allowed us to get a good look at the Torrent Duck. I also spied a familiar friend from back home, the spotted sandpiper.
I loved the way the mist and clouds drifted among the mountains and I had a hard time limiting my camera clicks as you can see!
I wish I had taken a video so you could hear the sound of this rushing stream.
If you look closely at the upper right hand corner of this photo you will see the pendulous nests of the Crested orapendola, the much larger relative of our orioles.
Crested orapendola
On our last day we visited Antisana National Park where we saw this amazing snow capped volcano.
When I focused on it with my binoculars I felt like I was looking at a scene from the mountains of Tibet.
The wide variety of plants and flowers on the highways and byways begged to have their pictures taken. I used Google Lens to help make some flower identifications.
I probably missed spotting a few birds as I stopped to click on the flowers calling out to me to take their photo.
Morning glory
And these willing subjects didn't fly away when I got up close to take their pictures! I believe this is the painted trumpet vine.
Red Angels Trumpet
Now here's something I didn't expect to stumble across in Ecuador - a morel!
These colorful hanging vines seemed to be used like curtains of hanging glass beads at some of our stops. I think this is Mysore Trumpet Vine.
Royal purple banana tree.
Walls of flowers and flowering shrubs along the walkways drew in hummingbirds and butterflies.
Pink Boa Mimosa.
Sobralia Rosea
What looks to be a decorative lichen was spread across a group of boulders we passed by.
Lots of beautiful lupine.
Of course I have to talk about the food, which was delicious as well as beautifully plated wherever we went. Soup was often a first course and bowls of popcorn were put on the tables to be liberally sprinkled into the broth.
Sometimes the soup was accompanied by a soft cheese to melt into the warmth and add to the flavor.
This is a cold soup, a cream ceviche - I had it several times. Mmmmm!
Here a hard boiled egg makes an elegant appetizer.
We usually had at least two choices of main dish and there was a vegetarian choice as well. Some offerings were beef, pork, chicken, fish, and what looked like potatoes or fries would sometimes be yucca.
Ecuador has many trout farms. When trout was on the menu it was always my choice, cooked slightly differently each time but always delicious.
Every meal was accompanied by pitchers of fresh fruit juice, sometimes familiar like pineapple, blackberry or watermelon and sometimes less so as in passion fruit, tamarilla (tree tomato) and guava. All were naturally sweet (no added sugars) and tasty.
Yes, wine and beer were available at additional cost but selection was very limited.
The beer selection was either Pilsener (that is how they spell it) or an Ecuadorian pale lager called Club. Club, with its slightly skunky smell reminiscent of Moose Head, was my beer of choice
This was our hotel in Quito, a large facility but retaining a quaint quality in its guest rooms and interior spaces.
At the places we stayed out in the countryside I had my own little bungalow each time. The lodges were quite small - sometime the 12 of us were the only guests or there might be another small group. This was quite different from the large and busy lodges of Costa Rica and I liked it.
A pleasant lunch stop.
Our schedule was very busy and intense, exhausting at times, but finally the last two evenings we were able to sit outside by the pool with a drink before dinner. Heavenly!
I couldn't come home without a couple of souvenirs! We really didn't have time to shop and only had access to a couple of tiny gift shops at the lodges where we stayed. These were my selections - actually the small bags were a gift to each of us from our guide.
Want to see what happens when you spend all day every day with the birds? This is it! Luckily the wings disappeared before I had to get on the plane to go home. The airline might have made me buy an extra seat!
Goodbye, beautiful Ecuador!
P.S. I put together this web page with much technical assistance and patience from my husband. Thank you, Mike!!