I’ve just returned from an unforgettable four days in northwest Ecuador as a guest of Renato Espinoza and Paola Cevallos of Pululahua Hostal. How was the birding? You can trust I’ve got many tales to tell but for now, I’ll let some pictures do the talking…
Mike is a leading authority in the field of standardized test preparation, but he's also a traveler who fully expects to see every bird in the world. Besides founding 10,000 Birds in 2003, Mike has also created a number of other entertaining but now extirpated nature blog resources, particularly the Nature Blog Network and I and the Bird.
Wow. Torrent duck and seed-snipe – I’m jealous. Looks like you had fun 🙂
Amazing pix!
Spec-freakin’-tacular!
I can’t wait to read all about it and maybe see some more pics!
*jaw drops*
Um, sure… more, I guess.
I need to get out of the office…
@Charlie: I told you we should have changed the passwords on him. Now we’re going to have look at pictures like this while we turn green with envy…
Love the photos. Algún día I’ll go to Ecuador!
Dear Mike:
Loved your company. I hope there are more people like you that want to visit us in Pululahua… Now for the BIG NEWS… We just photographed the Andean Condor from our garden.. Now all of you can turn green!
Renato & Paola
Ecuador is one of the most beautiful countries of South America. And birdwatching in this country or in the Galapagos Islands is just spectacular.
I am madly in love with that Antpitta picture — despite the fact that it sounds like a REALLY bad sandwich. 🙂 Amazing pics!
Mike,
I am thinking of staying at Pululahua hostel this summer. The hosts sound like lovely people and it seems like an awesome location. Two questions.
1) How well do Renato and Paolo know the birds by voice?
2) Especially for locations other than the hostel, did they know where to find highly local species. For example, I hope to see Tanager Finch at Tandayapa – do they know where to look, or is it a matter of chance what is found?
What makes this trip challenging for me is cost – I’ll be alone so its challenging to keep it reasonable. If you know of anyone who would like to go to NW Ecuador in mid-July that would be great!!
By the way, great pix. You got much better weather for your Seedsnipe foray than I did!
Thanks for any feedback you can provide.
Thanks in advance for any feedback you can provide