Birding Ecuador’s East Slope + Limoncocha/PN Yasuni: Trip Report, Aug-Sep 2023
Photos by Danny Karp, text by Rob Furrow with edits by Danny Karp.
When Danny Karp and I (Rob Furrow) conceived of the trip, we knew we had only a short time to spend in Ecuador, so we decided to focus on seeing as many habitats as possible to observe maximal biodiversity, rather than dedicate extra time to specifically target local and endemic birds. We hired Ecuadorian guide Antonio “Tony” Jaramillo, who did a fantastic job outlining a plan for an intense blitz of the east slope and Amazon region. We ended up with a plan to bird for eight full days: August 30 – Sept 6, 2023.
Day 1. Birding from Quito airport to Guango Lodge. Night at Guango Lodge
Day 2. Guango Lodge to WildSumaco. Night at WildSumaco Lodge
Day 3. All day at WildSumaco, night at lodge.
Day 4. Sumaco Road to town of Limoncocha. Night in Limoncocha.
Day 5. Birding Parque Nacional Yasuni and river spots. Night in Limoncocha.
Day 6. Birding Limoncocha lagoon and nearby primary forest. Night in Limoncocha.
Day 7. Limoncocha to San Isidro. Night at Cabanas San Isidro.
Day 8. Guacamayos Ridge then back to Quito. Night at La Jimenita in Quito.
We did well on some of the rarer targets throughout our itinerary, though having only a single day birding Parque Nacional Yasuni left us wishing for more time in terra firme forest. And we missed plenty of fairly common species throughout. However, we ended up with an impressive group total of 521 species, which was far beyond what we had hoped for.
Linke to eBird trip report
Day 1, Aug 30. Tony was waiting at baggage claim when we arrived around 6:30am. He whisked us over to the airport ponds for a few waterbirds including Pectoral Sandpiper and a Black-crowned Night-Heron. A flyover Least Sandpiper giving its rising flight call was a nice pick-up here. Quick stops on the way out of town offered up Ash-breasted Sierra Finch, Black-tailed Trainbearer, and the uncommon Streak-throated Bush-Tyrant. By 8:25am, we were up at Papallacta Pass, where we headed straight for the radio antennas. It was a beautiful clear day, with excellent views of the volcanos. After we paused to take it all in, Tony led the charge to a pair of Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe near the very highest point of the buildings. We managed a nice look at Tawny Antpitta, plus Chestnut-winged and Stout-billed Cinclodes, Many-striped Canastero, and Brown-backed Chat-Tyrant. But, as expected at such high elevation, there wasn’t an abundance of birds.
From here, we birded the old road west of the pass, where Tony cued us in on both Tyrian and Viridian Metaltail, and we briefly saw a Blue-mantled Thornbill. Other goodies here included the cute White-chinned Thistletail, a hefty Red-crested Cotinga, Tufted Tit-Tyrant, and a group of the local Black-backed Bush-Tanagers. By 1pm we started heading downhill after failing to find Giant Conebill at a few Polylepis forest stops. The road to Cayambe-Coca above Termas de Papallacta was quiet on this hot and sunny afternoon, but patient birding on the road and into the reserve eventually yielded a stunning male Rainbow-bearded Thornbill, a heard-only Andean Pygmy-Owl, and a Black-chested Mountain Tanager right at the parking at the ranger station.
We reached Guango Lodge around 4pm, where the feeders hosted many White-bellied Woodstars and a lovely Sword-billed Hummingbird. Birding the lodge grounds, we eventually hit our first nice flock. Birds that afternoon included Bar-bellied Woodpecker, Rufous Spinetail, Torrent Tyrannulet, White-capped Dipper, Slaty-backed Nightingale-Thrush, Pale-naped Brushfinch, Hooded and Lacrimose Mountain Tanager, and Gray-hooded Bush Tanager. We had no luck owling after dinner, though Danny and I heard and recorded a Rufous-banded Owl calling from the bedroom window pre-dawn – this species is uncommon here at such a high elevation.
Day 2, Aug 31. With high elevation temperate forest habitat, birding Guango Lodge doesn’t typically yield huge species lists, but ~5 hours this morning offered up 39 species. The moth feeders were underwhelming and had few moths, though they still offered great looks at Andean Guan, Turquoise and Green Jay, and Mountain Cacique. The highlights of the morning were along the trail on the other side of the road (the pipeline trail?), where lodge staff had set up a fruit feeder that was said to get visits from mountain-toucans. We birded that area, first seeing (!) a Chestnut-naped Antpitta and hearing an Equatorial Antpitta, then encountering a group of three Gray-breasted Mountain-Toucans giving amazing looks. Definitely the highlight of the trip thus far! Those birds eventually worked down the trail towards the fruit feeder, though we never saw them land at the fruit while we were there. No luck with Mountain Avocetbill, but a Chestnut-bellied Chat-Tyrant stunned us with its beauty. A soaring White-rumped Hawk was also an exciting find overhead.
After we left Guango and began driving downslope, we hit a mega swift flock while Tony got the car gassed up. Just before pulling in to the station a White-tipped Swift gave a low flyby, and swift-watching at the gas station offered up a White-chested among many Chestnut-collared and White-collared Swifts. Band-tailed Pigeons appeared here and there while we were at these elevations. Tony suggested that we had time to bird the Borja bypass and stop by La Brisa hummingbird feeders. His route paid off! Along Borja Road we had Torrent Duck, Red-breasted Meadowlark, and a great flock including Flavescent Flycatcher, Bronze-green Euphonia, Tropical Parula, and a nice suite of tanagers. (I particularly enjoyed the Golden-collared Honeycreeper.) At La Brisa, we saw several new hummingbirds: Tawny-bellied Hermit, Lesser Violetear, Bronzy Inca, Peruvian Racket-tail, Green-backed Hillstar, and Fawn-breasted and Violet-fronted Brilliant. We saw a Barred Becard here, heard a singing Black-billed Peppershrike, and we enjoyed the striking scarlet-faced eastern subspecies of Flame-faced Tanager.
Our next stop was Sendero Jumandy at Guacamayos Ridge, where we almost immediately found a Black-billed Mountain-Toucan close to the trailhead. (The rare double mountain-toucan day!) We didn’t stay too long, but we enjoyed our first Sulphur-bellied Tyrannulet and Grass-green Tanagers of the trip, and had an unexpected female Swallow Tanager (typically found at lower elevation). We stopped here and there as we headed towards Loreto, and picked up several Cliff Flycatchers at the expected spots (km 10-13 on Loreto Road). At km 13, there were persistently singing Plain-backed Antpitta and Wing-banded Wren, but we never managed a look at either. We did, however, see a stunning Orange-eared Tanager and watched a few White-chinned Swifts overhead (for our 5th swift species of the day). Tony heard a Rufous-tailed Tyrant, but we didn’t manage to see the bird until a few days later when we stopped by again on our way back towards Quito. We reached WildSumaco lodge after sunset, hearing Common Pauraque as we parked. After a lovely dinner, we did some owling from the road right outside the lodge, seeing Common Pauraque and hearing Band-bellied Owl.
Day 3, Sep 1. I woke up a bit early today, so I wandered a trail close to the lodge in the dark. After hearing a Buckley’s Forest-Falcon, I went back to the room to grab Danny. No luck seeing anything, but we ended up hearing a Buckley’s Forest-Falcon and a very close Collared Forest-Falcon. We had breakfast before sunrise so we could start promptly at the moth traps. In addition to Tony, lodge guide Byron Gualavisi joined us for the whole day and took us on a very intense whirlwind through every trail and up to Pacto Sumaco. To kick it off, the moth traps had Black-faced Antbird, Plain Antvireo, and Western Fire-eye, with Lined Antshrike nearby. It was particularly fun to see Olive-backed Woodcreepers pick at the moths. We started to leave the main lodge grounds and quickly found several Fiery-throated Fruiteaters around the parking area and nearby along the road. Tony needed to change a leaking tire, so we started walking down the road toward the lower trails with Byron, seeing Olive-chested Flycatcher, Scale-crested Pygmy-Tyrant, and an assortment of more common edge species. Slaty-capped Shrike-Vireo was singing near the lodge but we never got a chance to see one.
Tony had mentioned to Byron that we were intense and excited to bird quickly in order to hit a lot of habitats. Byron took that seriously, though this meant that we moved so quickly that I didn’t always pay attention to which trails we were on as we found particular birds. A few highlights from the lower trails (partly on Piha trail?) included amazing views of Yellow-throated Spadebill, Gray-tailed Piha, and Black-streaked Puffbird, all within a few hundred meters of each other. Along the road some highlights were Rusty-winged Antwren, Large-headed Flatbill, and good looks at Wing-banded Wren. On the Face trail, we got spectacular looks at Crimson-bellied Woodpecker and, after working on it a long time, Chestnut-crowned Gnateater. We found several Ecuadorian Piedtails in the forest. Byron also had spots for roosting Band-bellied Owl, and he magically pulled out a calling Rufescent Screech-Owl that we saw after Danny managed to spy it through the undergrowth. As we headed back to the trailhead to go get lunch, we flushed a Sooty Antbird and then saw two (uncommon and local) Spectacled Bristle-Tyrants.
At midday, rain came pouring down, so we took a break until 2:15pm. In the meantime, Danny and I watched the lodge hummingbird feeders and found the regular suspects, including Black-throated Brilliant, Napo Sabrewing, Green Hermit, stunning Wire-crested Thorntails, and Many-spotted Hummingbird. When the four of us came together again, we first worked the trails below the lodge (Benavides trail), finding many birds including Coppery-chested Jacamar, Andean Cock-of-the-rock, Spot-winged Antbird, and Striped Woodhaunter. Next up was the 3pm antpitta feeding, where we enjoyed Plain-backed and Ochre-breasted Antpitta. Byron knew I loved flycatchers so a little taping brought in an excited Orange-crested Flycatcher. White-crowned Tapaculo did not come in that afternoon, but we did hear them at several spots.
We headed upslope now, stopping by the research station trails to unsuccessfully look for Foothill Screech-Owl. Birding the town of Pacto Sumaco, we had a new suite of birds including Gray-chinned Hermit, Black Antbird, Smoky-brown Woodpecker, Dusky Spinetail, Green-backed Becard, and White-crested Elaenia. As darkness fell, we were back at the lodge, adding a Blue-fronted Lancebill at the feeders. In total, we found 161 species on day 3, including many of the most sought-after targets, which reflects the excellent birding at WildSumaco and the intense efforts spearheaded by Byron.
Day 4, Sep 2. We felt sad to leave WildSumaco, but ready to continue our descent into the lowlands. Two hours of birding around the lodge grounds didn’t offer many new birds, except for a pulse of Western Wood-Pewees that had apparently freshly arrived from the north. Though not new, the fire-eyes at the moth feeders continued to impress. Birding Sumaco road started out strong with Long-tailed Tyrant, a Short-tailed Antthrush that Danny followed into the bushes to catch a fleeting look, and our only Blue-tailed Emerald of the trip (a little high elevation for this species, but we were mostly down Sumaco Road at this point). I got brief looks at an apparent Bran-colored Flycatcher and didn’t think much of it. But later I heard from the eBird reviewer that this species is actually poorly documented in Ecuador and should be identified with caution. Unfortunately, it wasn’t flagged on eBird at the time, so I didn’t consider trying to photograph or record it. The first big surprise of the day was a doozy, an out-of-range Crested Eagle soaring with long, slow loops over a nearby ridge, while we were only 3-4 km from Loreto Road. We got to watch it for ~10 minutes and put it in the scope for good looks. This is an exceptionally high elevation for the species, but Jonas at WildSumaco had just been telling us about the increasing number of Amazonian species occurring near the lodge.
Today was mostly a driving day, but early stops offered up new birds like Chivi Vireo and Caqueta Seedeater, and later stops revealed lowland birds like Violaceous Jay, Yellow-rumped Cacique, Gray-breasted Martin, White-banded Swallow, and Swallow-winged Puffbird. Danny pulled a Pearl Kite from a wire, which Tony explained was a surprisingly rare bird in that part of eastern Ecuador. Arriving in Limoncocha, we quickly headed out around 12:45pm for an afternoon of birding the Limoncocha Lagoon. During our time in the lowlands, we were also joined by local guide Carlos Landazuri, and occasionally by Pablo Hualinga as well (we were staying in his cabanas). This afternoon, with Tony, Carlos, Danny, and I, we spent five hours around the lagoon and nearby trails. Highlights from the lagoon included Azure Gallinule, Hoatzin, Sunbittern, Rufescent Tiger-Heron, American Pygmy Kingfisher, Cinnamon Attila, and many Lesser Kiskadees. Along a forest trail, Carlos got us on Chestnut-capped Puffbird, roosting Crested Owls, a Slate-colored Hawk, and heard-only Plain-winged Antshrike and Cinereous Tinamou.
We figured that Crested Eagle would be our bird of the day (or whole trip!), but there was more in store. Carlos wanted to follow up on a singing crake in the lagoon that was not any of the local species. Reaching the spot, we all quickly heard two individuals giving thin, tinkling “tee-tee” calls, but no one was sure of the species. What followed was some great teamwork. Tony recorded the call and started playing back, and we found ourselves close to the hidden birds. Danny managed to get a photo through the vegetation of a bird’s eye and not much more. But that was enough for us to notice dark patterning on the face, revealing that they were Yellow-breasted Crakes!! We persisted and eventually got nice photos and audio recordings. This species had only been reported before in Ecuador at a single western site, with no photos or recordings, so it was thrilling to be part of the team that finally got a photo- and audio-documented record of the species for the country. Credit of course goes to Carlos for knowing that these were calls worth investigating. Another amazing day, this time with about 145 species observed.
Day 5, Sep 3. We had planned on Day 5 being our main day in terra firme forest in PN Yasuni. But it ended up being a tough day overall. We rose a little late, around 5am, with plans to take a motorized canoe downriver to the Yasuni tower (by the eBird hotspot Sendero Belisario). However, there had been an all-night party in Limoncocha which kept some of us up most of the night. We listened to a Great Potoo and a Tropical Screech-Owl at the empty boat ramp, but the canoe driver never showed up. Carlos made a number of calls until we finally got through to the owner of the canoe, who generously gave us a ride. Piled onto an already latish start, we were now behind schedule a bit more, which meant sunrise happened when we were still about an hour away from the trail. That, combined with a hot and still day, meant that we didn’t have a huge amount of bird activity within Yasuni.
On the canoe ride down, we picked up a distant Lesser Yellowlegs, some Black Skimmers, our first Cocoi Heron, and our only Brown-chested Martin of the trip. At the trail, we hustled past a few calling birds (including Peruvian Warbling-Antbird and Buff-throated Woodcreeper) to climb the tower as quickly as possible. This tower was impressively high, so high in fact that the optimal canopy viewing was actually a few levels down from the top, though the top offered better looks at parrots, hawks, and anything else more distant. The birds here were a fun change of pace from anywhere else. We savored a Crowned Slaty Flycatcher giving great looks, and saw many birds that we didn’t find elsewhere, including King Vulture, a heard-only Black-faced Hawk, Short-tailed Hawk, Black-tailed and Amazonian Trogon, Orange-winged Parrot, two surprising Red-and-green Macaws, Rufous-bellied Euphonia, and Fulvous-crested and Opal-rumped Tanager. Good looks at a Lemon-throated Barbet were a highlight, as was a Gilded Barbet only a couple feet away from us up on the tower. We heard three tinamou species: Little, Undulated, and Variegated.
Things slowed down by around 9:30am, so we descended and carefully birded the trail back to the canoe. It sounded like there were whispers of an antbird flock from the slope below the trail, but we never managed to really get on it. We did hear Mouse-colored Antshrike, Plumbeous Antbird, and Common Scale-backed Antbird, and got a brief look at a woodcreeper that was either Ocellated or Elegant. By 11am, we were back on the water heading north. With more light, we started picking up some river specialties including Drab Water Tyrant, Collared Plover, and Yellow-billed and Large-billed Tern.
At 12:30pm it was blazing hot and still, but we decided to brave the sun and bird a river island with a nice assortment of succession. Carlos boldly led our parched and sweaty team as we trudged across the mud to reach the vegetation. We quickly found many Olive-spotted Hummingbirds and flushed two Capped Herons. Some playback pulled out Castelnau’s Antshrike and White-bellied Spinetail. We got excited as Carlos managed so-so looks at a conebill, which Danny also briefly saw. Although the exceptionally rare Bicolored Conebill may be the most likely, Carlos suspected it could be an even rarer Pearly-breasted Conebill, which had recently occurred at lower spots along the Rio Napo. In our notes, we left it as Bicolored Conebill / Pearly-breasted Conebill, and we never managed to re-find it. Other typical river island birds we found included Oriole Blackbird, Eastern Kingbird, Mottle-backed Elaenia, and Ladder-tailed Nightjar. We trudged back to the boat feeling pretty beat but appreciating the fun new birds. I particularly enjoyed the chunky and messy-crested elaenia.
The rest of the boat ride back to Limoncocha was quiet, except for an Amazonian Umbrellabird that Danny narrowly missed as he roused from a moment of closed-eye rest. This was comical, because Danny had missed Long-wattled Umbrellabird on a recent trip to the western slope, being just a few seconds too late on a bird that folks in the front of the car had seen. So from this point on we were on high alert to find another umbrellabird that everyone could get on. Reaching Limoncocha, we took a much-needed rest, and Pablo pointed out a group of Tropical Screech-Owls roosting in a tree next to our Cabanas.
Recharged and rehydrated, we left at 4pm for Carlos to take us to some spots for other Limoncocha-area targets. An orchard with secondary forest edge was a spot for Yellow-billed Nunbird, but it remained heard-only today. Cream-colored Woodpecker was a great consolation, and everyone (including Danny) finally got onto another flying Amazonian Umbrellabird. We had been talking about how hard the less common oropendolas are to find around Limoncocha, so an Olive Oropendola on a high perch was a great surprise. We birded here until sunset then made a quick stop for a heard-only Tawny-bellied Screech-Owl before heading to a local restaurant for dinner.
Day 6, Sep 4. We had been debating trying to go back downriver, but considering the 1.5-hour commute time and heat, we elected to bird the Limoncocha lagoon at dawn for a different taste of that habitat. We were happy with the decision, which gave us a more restful morning and offered many new birds. On the water today, we got to see our first Little Cuckoo, had an awesome encounter with a noisy Gray-cowled Wood-Rail, heard the Yellow-breasted Crakes again, heard and saw Gray-breasted Crake, found several Sungrebes, and had nice encounters with raptors including Gray-headed and Slender-billed Kite and a well-seen Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl. The early morning was better for kingfishers; we found two American Pygmy Kingfishers as well as a Green-and-rufous, an Amazon, and many Ringed Kingfishers. White-eared Jacamars were remarkably cute, and we got fantastic looks at Silvered, Riparian, and Plumbeous Antbird. We were still somehow missing Masked Crimson Tanager, but a trip to the far NE corner of the lagoon yielded several. The most notable miss was Long-billed Woodcreeper.
At 11am, we transitioned to birding forested patches and edges, where we found Great-billed and Black-throated Hermit, Black-spotted Bare-eye, and Long-billed Gnatwren. While eating lunch, Carlos got us onto the click-like calls of Riparian Parrotlet and we saw a few of these tiny green creatures blasting past. We waited out the midday sun and got back out around 2:30pm. Although Carlos was our primary guide, Pablo offered to join us to lead us into some primary forest north of the lagoon. This forest was excellent and had some very special birds that we didn’t expect to find around Limoncocha but were really excited to pick up. Those included Spix’s and Blue-throated Piping-Guan, Purplish Jacamar, Chestnut-belted Gnateater, and Wire-tailed Manakin, though the manakin was heard-only. Along forest-edge roads, we added Brown Jacamar, Bat Falcon, and White-shouldered and Opal-crowned Tanager. We returned to yesterday’s nunbird spot and were soon rewarded with a nice but distant look at a Yellow-billed Nunbird and a close encounter with two Rufous-headed Woodpeckers. We also stopped at a known Lettered Aracari spot and quickly found a group of them. At sunrise, we checked a spot where Zigzag Heron is possible, but it never called. We did get to hear the haunting songs of two Common Potoos, and see our first Tawny-bellied Screech-Owl.
Day 7, Sep 5. On our final morning in Limoncocha, Pablo led us to his feeding stations, where we enjoyed Black-banded Crake and White-lored Antpitta, as well as great looks at White-bearded Hermit at the antpitta spot. We poked around forest patches and edges, adding a heard-only White-chinned Jacamar, a Little Woodpecker, Black-crowned Tityra, Solitary Black Cacique, and looks at the cute Yellow-browed Tody-Flycatcher. (I had been feeling sad that we missed it at the tower, so this was a pleasant surprise.)
We hit the road at 8:15am with plans to reach San Isidro with some time to bird the grounds before sunset. We wanted to use dawn on Day 8 to be at Guacamayos Ridge, so we didn’t want to neglect San Isidro completely. Our first longer stop was at Amarun Pakcha. The gate was closed, but the road nearby had new birds: White-vented and Thick-billed Euphonia. Our next long stop was at the Sendero Jumandy at Guacamayos Ridge, where Danny managed to see an Undulated Antpitta on the path and we had a nice up-close encounter with Sharpe’s Wrens. We reached Cabanas San Isidro just before 4pm and immediately hit a good tanager flock by the lodge. New birds here included Speckle-faced Parrot, White-bellied Antpitta (heard only), Pale-edged Flycatcher, Andean Solitaire, and Blue-capped Tanager. But the highlight was a noisy flock of White-capped Tanagers that we first encountered in the clearing opposite the lodge gate, then continued to see circling the area near the lodge dining area.
Before dinner we birded up the road about 1.5 miles. We were still missing Fawn-breasted Tanager for our trip list, but we instead ran into the duller but much rarer Rufous-crested Tanager. There were two birds together, and one even started singing! On the way back down, we had nice looks at a flyby Rufous-bellied Nighthawk. During dinner, the stars of the show were two of the lodge’s Black-banded (San Isidro) Owls feeding on moths by the balcony. We later tried to track down some calling Rufous-banded Owls on the road outside the lodge, but never managed to see them. Tony heard a brief call of a White-throated Screech-Owl as well.
Day 8, Sep 6. We had ambitious plans for our final day. We left San Isidro at 5am and reached Guacamayos Ridge by 5:20am. In the dark, we hiked down Sendero Jumandy, aiming to start at a Peruvian Antpitta territory a bit beyond the second stream crossing. A few fallen trees made things a little tricky in the dark, but we were in position just as birds were starting to become active. No luck with Peruvian Antpitta, though we did hear White-bellied, Chestnut-crowned, and Slate-crowned Antpitta. Though the weather was nice with scattered clouds, bird activity felt pretty slow in the dawn hour. New birds today included the localized Greenish Puffleg, many Long-tailed Tapaculo, three Green-and-black Fruiteaters, Handsome Flycatcher, Three-striped Warbler, Black-capped Hemispingus, and Bluish Flowerpiercer. But the special surprise was a very close Greater Scythebill that Danny spied just ahead of us low on a tree next to the path. We spent 5 minutes with this bird in fairly close proximity, though it never showed too well for good photos. We left at 8:45am because we planned a late breakfast at San Isidro. The lodge’s guide had offered to let us try a White-bellied Antpitta feeding at 9am, which is much later than usual, to accommodate our morning trip to the ridge. No luck there, but we enjoyed a simple breakfast and some beautiful Green Jays, and soon hit the road to head back into the temperate zone. In our heads, there were a lot of productive spots to try again, but the day ended up being very clear and a little windy, with limited bird activity.
Still, Tony cleverly led us to precise stops to round out our trip list, guiding us to Buff-winged Starfrontlet and Superciliaried Hemispingus near the Termas de Papallacta. We headed higher to the Reserva Ecological Cayambe-Coca. A distant Great Sapphirewing showed its strikingly slow wingbeats (and was our 49th hummingbird species for the trip), and a flyover Andean Condor was a lovely surprise here, where the species is not too common. Wind at the pass kept activity low and we found no new birds there. Onward towards Quito.
When we reached Hacienda La Jimenita in Pifo (about 20 minutes from the Quito Airport), it was blustery, so Tony said his goodbyes while we took an hour to rest and re-pack. Around 4pm, Danny and I headed out to bird the well-vegetated grounds of the hotel – it was our one real chance to look for species common in this dry Interandean valley. The hotel grounds are adjacent to a steep canyon with some native plants and many rocky cliff faces, and this area was somewhat sheltered from this afternoon’s wind. In a few hours, we managed to find quite a few new birds, including Giant Hummingbird (our 50th and final hummingbird species of the trip), great looks at the elegant Golden-rumped Euphonia, Golden Grosbeak, Blue-and-yellow Tanager, and Saffron Finch. Danny briefly saw a White-winged Brushfinch, but we never re-found it.
After dinner, we spent 30 minutes looking and listening for nightbirds along the edge of the canyon. Band-winged Nightjar was actively foraging around the trails, giving us great looks and singing a few whistles. We taped for Great Horned and Stygian Owl but got no responses. The nightjar felt like a perfect final species for our trip, so we happily headed to our room for the night to prepare for our early morning flight.
Summary thoughts. If your goal is to see as many species as possible in 8 days, this east slope itinerary might be as good as it gets anywhere in the world! However, you definitely need to study well beforehand to be able to make sense of the crazy number of possibilities and the constanting changing suite of birds each day. You could easily spend twice as long at each site, except maybe the temperate zone of the high Andes. If we were to have one extra day, it would probably have been best spent at WildSumaco or Cabanas San Isidro. But with a few extra days going deeper into the Amazon might bring the most different set of birds.
The bird highlights are too numerous to comprehensively list, but here’s a rundown of some numbers. We had 4 tinamou species, 4 nightjars and 2 potoos, 8 swifts, 50 hummingbird species, 7 members of the Rallidae family (rails, crakes, coots, gallinules), 30 diurnal raptor and 10 owl species, 5 jacamars, 9 toucans, 12 woodpeckers, 17 parrots including 5 macaws, 22 antbirds, 2 gnateaters and 10 antpittas (all seen except for White-bellied and Equatorial), 26 furnariids (ovenbirds) including 9 woodcreepers and 5 spinetails, 63 tyrant flycatcher species, 8 swallows, 13 wrens, 11 blackbirds, and 66 Thraupidae tanagers including 12 species in the stunning Tangara genus (note: in Fall 2023 the Thraupidae family includes seedeaters, grassquits, some grosbeaks, and an array of other species with non-tanager common names).
This trip was always exciting, though it definitely felt hurried, with us leaving each site despite having many more possible species to find. We did end up seeing and hearing a nice mix of the common, uncommon, and highly local species at each site. It helped that Danny and I are field biologists and big day enthusiasts who enjoy birding quickly. However, I did wish that I had gotten to know the birds a bit better. I look forward to another visit in which I stay multiple nights in the subtropics and even longer in the foothills. Guacamayos Ridge in particular felt like we found totally different suites of species on each visit, and there was a lot more to find.
As for guides, we were in great hands with Tony, who is a great birder, an excellent planner, and a generally kind and fun person to spent so much time with. We were so happy with our time together and sad to say goodbye! Carlos was similarly a good planner for Limoncocha – he is somewhat newer to birding, though he knows the birds of Limoncocha very well and has spots for the key targets. I suspect he is up-and-coming as the next guru for guiding in that area. Pablo is a stellar birder for the lowlands, with a great ear and a rich depth of experience guiding at many of the big Amazonian lodges. However, Pablo is not too organized, so it would be tough to count on him as your only guide when you are based in Limoncocha. Finally, Byron at WildSumaco seems to be about as good as it gets for a local guide. He has a wealth of spots for every WildSumaco target and incredibly great eyes and ears.
Linke to eBird trip report