We booked a tour with Neotropical Nature and Birding Trips. After looking at a number of companies, Neotropical was selected because of the great reviews on Trip Advisor and other sites. I would add a word of caution; the tour depends on the tour guide not the people in the office. Our guide came to pick us up right on time. He was very quiet. While he knew where to go and see the birds, unless you asked him specific questions, he wasn’t very forthcoming. The car was a bit of a four wheeled clunker and the driving was, well, let’s just say, Mike and I thought we would die somewhere on the streets in Quito especially when he cruised past 3 lanes of traffic entering a traffic circle. Maybe driving in Ecuador is different from home.
On the bright side, we saw awesome hummingbirds in the mountains. We stopped at Alambi Reserve where there were probably 30 or 40 hummingbird feeders and hundreds of hummingbirds feeding.
Farmers have figured out they make more money providing tourists with easy ways to see the amazing birds that are endemic in the country.
Standing in the midst of these beautiful birds buzzing all around you is a feeling like no other.
After that, we drove further into the mountains to another farmer site called San Tadeo, but this focused on the beautiful tanagers in the jungle area.
Their preferred food seemed to be bananas which are placed on platforms in the trees. The tanager colors were vibrant blues and yellows. Again, it is a viewing that defies comprehension. We would never see the birds if they weren’t in a reserve such as this. Tanagers belong to the second largest bird families in the world (Thraupidae) and 60% are native to the greater Andean area.
Blue Grey Tanager
Blue and Yellow Tanager
Our third stop didn’t go very well. We were supposed to see toucans but there was a bus full of students who weren’t very quiet and chased the birds away. Unfortunately, we didn’t know why we stopped until we left. That was part of the missed communication.
We drove to a Baños, a town that is located in a valley near an active volcano. We were told it is famous in the area for all of the outside sports and waterfalls. We stopped at a family owned restaurant and hotel (cabins). We enjoyed our outdoor lunch surrounded by birds and gardens.
From there, we went in search of the Cock-of-the-Rock, an unusual bird that I wanted to see in the wild. We went to a place they were supposed to inhabit but we were a bit too early in the afternoon and missed them. We actually had to walk down muddy steps to get to a bird screen and wait and wait and wait. Unfortunately, we never got to see the bird in the wild but here is a picture of what we were looking to see. The good news was I was able to walk down the muddy stairs.
By this time, it was a full day for us and we were anxious to get back to the hotel to rest since the next day was a very early one but it took 2 ½ hours to get back and it was probably the most harrowing ride ever. Our driver sped through traffic and cut people off. I held my breath for most of the trip. Mike remarked that he never heard me be so silent. Guess praying was the word of the day. Silversea included a 2-hour Quito tour for that evening but we didn’t take it after our all-day birding tour. We were exhausted and just glad to be in the hotel. The next day started very early and we finally reached the Galapagos. The next post will be getting to the Galapagos.