Pichincha, Ecuador
The South American country of Ecuador features some of the highest avian diversity on Earth. An incredible 1,600 species of birds have been identified in its tropical rainforests, cloud forests, dry forests, and other habitats. What makes this even more impressive is that Ecuador is roughly the same size as the United Kingdom! The high number of bird species is enough for placing Ecuador on this list, but it isn’t the only factor taken into account. A country can have a huge number of bird species but if large areas are difficult to access, or it only has infrastructure suitable for the most adventurous of birdwatchers, then it won’t make it onto the this particular list. The province of Pichincha, Ecuador, is ranked among the top ten best birdwatching places in the world because in addition to hosting hundreds of spectacular bird species, it also has some of the best birding infrastructure on the planet.
Pichincha has a number of eco-lodges that cater to birders, proficient birding guides, experienced travel and tour companies, lots of information on where to find bird species, and easily accessible reserves. These factors make it feasible to see literally hundreds of species of birds during a two week tour or even birding on your own with public transportation.
The first stop for most birdwatchers who make it to the province of Pichincha is the Tandayapa Valley. Only two hours by car from Quito, the cloud forests of Tandayapa are a birder’s dream come true. Lodges such as the Tandayapa Bird Lodge and Bellavista have feeders that host more than a dozen hummingbird species and trails with stunning species such as Plate-billed Mountain-Toucan, Toucan Barnet and a glittering array of tanagers. Many of these birds are absolutely breathtaking in appearance and quite easy to see right around the lodges.
A bit lower in elevation, the Mindo area also hosts several eco-lodges, quetzals, many tanagers and hummingbirds and other exciting cloud forest species such as Andean Cock of the Rock. At the nearby Refugio Paz de las Aves, owner Angel Paz actually calls in secretive antpittas and wood quails to the delight of visiting birders, and the incredible Long-wattled Umbrellabird can also be seen at private reserves in the area.
A bit further downhill from Mindo along the main highway, the mossy forests of the Milpe Reserve welcomes birders to its trails and canopy tower. This is an excellent site for uncommon species such as Moss-backed Tanager, Lanceolated Monklet and Choco Trogon. When birdwatchers get their fill of the fantastic birding at Milpe, they often take lunch at the nearby Mirador Restaurant in the town of San Miguel de los Bancos, although it can be hard to focus on food when confronted with dozens of tanagers, woodpeckers and toucans that visit fruit feeders just outside the window.
As the highway heads into the Pacific lowlands, another set of bird species awaits birdwatchers, but most of the low lying areas are sadly shorn of trees. One of the only intact, readily accessible patches of lowland rainforest is found at the Rio Silanche Reserve. Trails and canopy tower help visiting birders see specialties like Blue-whiskered and Rufous-winged Tanagers, Double-banded Graytail and 200 more species of the Ecuadorian lowlands.
The birding in Pichincha province is so good that it’s difficult not to see at least a couple hundred species when visiting the above-mentioned reserves.
flickr image by ornitholoco
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