Western Ecuador:
Western Ecuador:
Río Canandé and Machalilla NP
March 8 - 18, 2009
Reservations and prepayment are required on all Ventures. Your place on this Venture will be reserved when your deposit of $300 has been received. Please make your check payable to VENTURES, Inc. and send it to this address or call the office with your VISA or MasterCard #.
Limited to 12 participants.
Even though Ecuador is the size of the state of Georgia, it has 1,540 species of breeding birds - that is nearly ten times the number that breed in Georgia. Furthermore, a large portion of the world's largest endemic bird area (EBA) occurs in west and northwest Ecuador - the Choco. On this Ventures trip, will we spend several days exploring the wettest part of this EBA at Río Canandé Reserve, part of the Jocotoco Fundacion reserve system. This reserve protects globally one of the fifty rarest birds - the elusive Banded Ground-Cuckoo. It is also home to the enigmatic Long-wattled Umbrellabird, and the beautiful Scarlet-breasted Dacnis. We'll also visit the poor man's Galapagos Island - Isla de la Plata - and see Waved Albatroos, and conclude the trip in Machilla NP and Cerro Blanco looking for dry forest, Tumbesian endemics such as Henna-hooded Foliage-gleaner, Wakin's Antpitta and Crimson Tanager-Finch.
With the recent publications of The Birds of Ecuador and Birds of Northern South America: an identification guide, there is not a better time to visit this small, yet wonderfully diverse, Andean nation. Our accommodation will be comfortable and convenient to the best birding spots. The food is excellent and the people very friendly. If you have never been to South America before, this trip to Ecuador will open your eyes to the beauty and diversity that is South America.
Leader: Simon Thompson
$2,899 per person with single room supplement of $280
Price includes: All transportation throughout (with driver), all accommodation, all meals, entrance fees and gratuities (except for leader/guide), trip information, packet & bird checklist, and guide/leader service throughout.
Not included: Round-trip airfare from the US to Ecuador or internal flights to and from Loja, airport departure tax, alcoholic beverages, any meals specified in the itinerary, laundry, and other items of a personal nature.
This Ecuador tour may be combined with our Buenaventura extension (March 9-12) and even our Southern Ecuador tour. You may wish to arrive in Quito the day before in order to explore the city or rest before the tour starts.
Day 1 (Sunday, March 8) Quito
We will either arrive in Quito late on February 26 or this morning.
After freshening up at our hotel, we'll head out to bird one of the local parks
to see some of the local birds. We should see a good selection of high elevation
species including Black-tailed and Green-tailed Trainbearer, Rusty Flowerpiercer,
Sparkling Violet-ear, Great Thrush, Rufous-collared Sparrow and Hooded Siskin.
Night in Quito
Day 2 (Monday, March 9) Río Canandé Reserve
Birding as we go, we'll stop to try and get Giant Hummingbird near Mitad
de Mundo, have lunch at the Mirador Rio Blanco while watching their hummingbird
and tanager feeders, and stop every chance we get for mixed species flocks.
We'll reach our destination, the Río Canandé Reserve, in the early evening.
Río Canandé Reserve protects many wet forest Choco endemic, restricted range
species, and the following globally threatened bird species: Banded Ground
Cuckoo, Great-green Macaw, Ochraceous Attila, Long-wattled Umbrellabird,
Scarlet-breasted Dacnis and Grey-backed Hawk. Night in Canande Lodge, Jocotoco
Reserve
Day 3 (Tuesday, March 10) Río Canandé Reserve
In addition to looking for the globally threatened species, we will also
spend considerable time trying to locate some or all of the following:
Indigo-crowned Quail-Dove, Rose-faced Parrot, Chocó Screech Owl, Chocó
Poorwill, Tooth-billed Hummingbird, Purple-chested Hummingbird, Chocó Trogon,
Chocó Woodpecker, Guayaquil Woodpecker, Black-striped Woodcreeper and
Esmeraldas Antbird. Night in Canande Lodge, Jocotoco Reserve
Day 4 (Wednesday, March 11) Río Canandé Reserve
We will spend the day trying to locate the rare Stub-tailed Antbird, the
exceeding shy Rufous-crowned Antpitta and the difficult to locate Long-wattled
Umbrellabird. (This could be an interesting morning!) Among the many tanager
species we hope to locate, the Scarlet-and-white Tanager and Yellow-collared
Chlorophonia are really special. Night in Canande Lodge, Jocotoco Reserve
Day 5 (Thursday, March 12) Drive to Rio Palenque
In the morning we'll attempt to clean-up any species we missed, and then
we'll drive toward the coast stopping along the way to search the more extensive
areas of dry forest for our first Tumbesian endemics. We'll spend the night at
Rio Palenque, a remnant patch of lowland rainforest in a sea of
cultivation.
Day 6 (Friday, March 13) Rio Palenque and drive to Puerto Lopez
One of the last remnants of coastal forest, the 167 hectare Río
Palenque Scientific Research Center protects 87 ha of tropical rain forest
supporting an amazing wealth of biodiversity, including 1,216 plant species, 360
bird species, and 350 butterflies. This forest was developed as a biological
research station in 1970 by the University of Miami, declared a protected area
by the Ecuadorian Government in 1971, and acquired by the Wong Foundation in
1998. We will be looking for Dusky Pigeon, Little Cuckoo, Rufous-tailed Jacamar,
Orange-fronted Barbet, Guayaquil Woodpecker, Slaty-winged Foliage-Gleaner,
Western Slaty-Antshrike, Pacific Antwren, Sooty -headed and Brown-capped
Tyrannulets, Scarlet-browed Tanager and the seasonal Crimson-breasted
Finch.
Day 7 (Saturday, March 14) Isla de la Plata
Leaving on an early boat we hope to see Black, Wedge-rumped and
White-vented Storm-Petrels and on the island nesting Waved Albatross,
Magnificent Frigatebird, Blue-footed, Masked and Red-footed Boobies and
Red-billed Tropicbird. Short-tailed Woodstar is common as is Gray-and-white
Tyrannulet, Collared Warbling-Finch and Long-tailed Mockingbird. Night in Puerto
Lopez
Day 8 (Sunday, March 15) Machalilla NP
We should find Gray-and-gold Warbler, Speckle-breasted and Superciliated
Wrens, Collared Antshrike, Scarlet-backed Woodpecker and Tumbes Pewee as we
proceed toward the National Park. In the early morning we should locate Rufous-headed
Chachalaca relatively easily, but have to spend some time searching for the
elusive and endemic - Esmeraldas Woodstar. In the dry forest we should pick up -
Plumbeous-backed Thrush, Henna-hooded Foliage-gleaner scratching in the forest
litter, and Black-capped Sparrow. After a packed lunch we'll head toward the
coastal scrub to try for Necklaced Spinetail, Parrot-billed Seedeaters and
Croaking Ground-doves. Night in Puerto Lopez
Day 9 (Monday, March 16) Salinas and Santa Elena
Our first stop on this Southern Ecuador Venture is the Santa Elena
peninsula. We'll stop at the Ecuasal salt ponds to search for wintering and
migrant waders, and Gray-hooded and Kelp Gulls, White-cheeked Pintail and
Chilean Flamingo. At the beach we should find Brown Pelican and Magnificent
Frigatebird and maybe a Gray Gull. Night at Guayaquil
Day 10 (Tuesday, March 17) Cerro Blanco
We'll spend all day at Cerro Blanco looking for Tumbes endemics such as
Grey-cheeked Parakeet, Red-masked Parakeet, Pacific Parrotlet, White-tailed Jay,
Short-tailed Field-Tyrant, Gray-and-white Tyrannulet, Baird's Flycatcher and
Snowy-throated Kingbird, and the very local - Great Green Macaw. We'll stay to
listen to the evening chorus of Pale-browed Tinamous, and if time permits search
the nearby village of Puerto Hondo for roosting Red-lored Amazon. Night at
Guayaquil
Day 11 (Wednesday, March 18) Return to USA or Free in Guayaquil
Folks not taking the extension or continuing onto Southern Ecuador will
be shuttled to the airport this morning, while those continuing onto
Buenaventura and the Southern Ecuador tour can either relax and explore the city
or take your own transportation for some more birding. Participants on the
Buenaventura portion will be arriving in Guayaquil tonight. Night in Guayaquil
Wednesday, March 18- Saturday, March 21 Buenaventura Extension Sunday, March 22- Wednesday, April 1 Southern Ecuador