Photograph of Booted Racket-tail

The amazing Booted Racket-tail at Tandayapa in Northern Ecuador by Dubi Shapiro.

NORTHERN ECUADOR

Best Wildlife in Northern Ecuador

Mammals
Pygmy Marmoset, Black-mantled and Golden-mantled Tamarins, Black and Central American Agoutis, and Kinkajou. Also a chance of Spectacled Bear (mostly in late August-early September), Red Howler, Common Squirrel and Dusky Titi Monkeys, and an outside chance of Mountain Tapir, Giant Otter, (Brown-throated) Three-toed Sloth, and Common Woolly and Noisy Night Monkeys.

Birds
The very long list includes Andean Condor, Blue-and-yellow and Scarlet Macaws, Andean Cock-of-the-rock (at lek), Hoatzin, Oilbird (at cave), Black-billed, Grey-breasted and Plate-billed Mountain Toucans, Black-mandibled, Channel-billed, Chestnut-mandibled and White-throated Toucans, Crimson-rumped Toucanet, Crested and Golden-headed Quetzals, numerous hummingbirds (many at feeders) including Sword-billed, Andean (Highland), Blue-crowned, Broad-billed and Rufous Motmots, jacamars including Coppery-chested, Great, White-eared and Yellow-billed, Amazonian Umbrellabird, Black-necked Red Cotinga, Torrent Duck, Zigzag Heron, Wire-tailed Manakin, Musician Wren, (American) Swallow-tailed Kite, trogons and many tanagers including Paradise, near-endemic species such as Toucan Barbet and Ecuadorian Hillstar, as well as guans, Silvery Grebe, Anhinga, Rufescent Tiger Heron, Boat-billed and Capped Herons, Black-faced Ibis, King Vulture, Slender-billed and Snail Kites, hawks, Black-chested Buzzard Eagle, Carunculated and Red-throated Caracaras, Aplomado and Laughing Falcons, Azure Gallinule, Limpkin, Andean Lapwing, Collared and Pied Plovers, Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe, Andean Gull, Large-billed and Yellow-billed Terns, pigeons, doves, parakeets, parrots, Chestnut-fronted and Red-bellied Macaws, Squirrel Cuckoo, screech-owls, Lyre-tailed Nightjar, potoos, swifts, hummingbirds such as Giant, Booted Racket-tail, Collared Inca, Empress Brilliant, Gould’s Jewelfront, Long-tailed Sylph, Velvet-purple Coronet, Purple-crowned Fairy, Black-tailed Trainbearer and Wire-crested Thorntail, all five South American kingfishers, puffbirds, Swallow-wing, barbets, aracaris, toucanets, woodpeckers, foliage-gleaners, spinetails, Pearled Treerunner, Streaked Tuftedcheek, woodcreepers, antshrikes, antwrens, antbirds including Hairy-crested, Black-spotted Bare-eye, antpittas (some at worm-feeders including Giant, Moustached, Scaled, White-bellied and Yellow-bellied), Chestnut-belted and Chestnut-crowned Gnateaters, tapaculos, tyrannulets, pygmy tyrants such as Rufous-headed and Black-capped (the smallest passerine in the world along with Short-tailed Pygmy Tyrant), tody tyrants such as Rufous-crowned, tody flycatchers, flycatchers, fruiteaters, Grey-tailed and Screaming Pihas, Red-crested Cotinga, Plum-throated, Purple-throated and Spangled Cotingas, White-browed Purpletuft, Bare-necked and Purple-throated Fruitcrows, manakins including Club-winged, Golden-headed, Golden-winged and White-bearded, becards, tityras, Slaty-capped Shrike Vireo, Beautiful and Inca (Green) Jays, wrens, Black-capped Donacobius, Slate-throated Gnatcatcher, White-capped Dipper, Andean Solitaire, thrushes, wintering warblers, Slate-throated and Spectacled Redstarts, conebills, bush tanagers, hemispinguses, mountain and numerous other tanagers including Flame-faced, Glistening-green, Golden, Golden-eared, Golden-crowned, Grass-green, Moss-backed, Orange-eared and Swallow, Fulvous Shrike Tanager, dacnises, honeycreepers such as Golden-collared, Plushcap, Tanager Finch, flowerpiercers, brush finches, Red-capped Cardinal, Oriole Blackbird, caciques, oropendolas, Yellow-collared Chlorophonia and euphonias. Also a chance of Harpy and Crested Eagles, Sunbittern, Pavonine Quetzal, Fiery Topaz, Mountain Avocetbill, White-plumed Antbird, Long-wattled Umbrellabird, Agami Heron, Fasciated Tiger Heron, Black-and-white, Black-banded, Crested, Mottled, ‘San Isidro’ and Spectacled Owls, Lanceolated Monklet, Ocellated Tapaculo, Blue-browed and White-capped Tanagers, Olivaceous Piha, Orange-crested Manakin, Orange-backed Troupial and Giant Conebill.

Plants
One of the richest floras on Earth includes over 3700 species of orchid - the Andes of Ecuador support the highest diversity of orchids in the world. Also present in great diversity are arums, bromeliads, fuchsias and heliconias. Yasuni National Park in which the Napo Wildlife Center is situated has the highest documented tree diversity in the world.

Other Natural Wonders in Northern Ecuador

Cotopaxi
This almost perfectly symmetrical volcanic cone is the highest active volcano in the world. It is largely covered by permanent fields of ice and snow, and rises to 5897 m (19,348 ft), much higher than the neighbouring Andean peaks.

Best Sites for Wildlife in Northern Ecuador

Best Times for Wildlife in Northern Ecuador

The best times for birds are July to September and November to March, and the best time for orchids is October. Although wet all year round the Andes are usually drier between June and September, and Amazonia is usually drier between October and March.

Recommended Books etc. for Northern Ecuador

Traveller's Wildlife Guide: Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands by L Beletsky and D Pearson. Arris Books, 2010 (Second Edition).

The Birds of Ecuador by R S Ridgely and P J Greenfield. Helm, 2001 (Two volumes).

Birds of South America: Non-Passerines by J R Roderiguez Mata et al. Harper Collins, 2006.

The Birds of South America: Passerines by R S Ridgely and G Tudor. University of Texas Press, 1989 and 1994 (Two volumes).

Birds of Northern South America by R Restall, C Rodner and M Lentino. Helm, 2006 (Two volumes).

Mammals of South America by R D Lord. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007.

Trip Reports for Northern Ecuador

Many trip reports, some for Northern Ecuador, are posted on the websites listed here. On some of these websites some reports are independent and some are posted by tour companies who organize tours to Northern Ecuador. These tour companies and others also post their own reports on their websites, which are listed under 'Some Organized Tours to Northern Ecuador' below.

Local Guides and Tours in Northern Ecuador

The costs of organized tours partly reflect the quality of the tour leaders. Some leaders are certainly better than others and many companies claim their leaders are the best but even the best rely at least to some extent on the exceptional skills of the local guides they employ. If you are travelling independently, employing such local guides will greatly increase your chances of seeing the wildlife you wish to see.

Accommodation in Northern Ecuador


Some Organized Tours to Northern Ecuador

There are many tour companies who organize tours to see mammals, birds, other wildlife and other natural wonders. The cost of these tours vary considerably according to such variables as the airlines used, the number of days the tours last, the number of sites visited, the number of people in the group (an important consideration if you wish to see such wildlife as rainforest mammals and birds), the number of tour leaders, the standard of accommodation and transport, and the percentage profit the company hopes to make. Generally, where the number of days tours last and the number of sites visited are similar, the cheapest tours are those that use the cheapest airlines, accommodation and local transport, that have the largest groups with the least number of leaders, and that make the least amount of profit. The most expensive tours tend to be those which are exceptionally long, use the most expensive accommodation (ridiculously lavish in some cases, even for single nights) and which make the most profit. Some tour costs partly reflect the quality of the tour leaders. Some leaders are certainly better than others and many companies claim their leaders are the best but even the best rely at least to some extent on the exceptional skills of the local guides they employ.

While tour companies organize tours with set itineraries many also organize custom tours for individuals and private groups who instead of taking a tour with a set itinerary want to follow their own itinerary to suit their own personal tastes, whether it be mammals, birds, other wildlife, other natural wonders or even man-made attractions, or a mixture of them all. Many organized tours with set itineraries are also fast-paced and target as many species as possible, whether they are mammals, birds or other wildlife or everything, which usually leaves little time to enjoy the best sites and individual species, but on a custom tour those taking part can specify the pace and the sites and species they wish to concentrate on. Custom tours also suit people who like to travel with people they already know, rather than with a group of strangers, and people with partners with different interests. Individuals and small groups will almost certainly have to pay more than the price of an organized tour with a set itinerary but a large group of friends may be able to travel for less than the price quoted for a set tour.

Tour companies who are running organized tours to Northern Ecuador in the next couple of years include the following. Many of these also offer custom tours.