Ecuador

Ecuador’s Amazonian rainforests and snow-capped volcanoes provide a fabulous arena in which to observe a bewildering medley of birds, butterflies and animals. Rio Napo’s rainforests are the most biodiverse on Earth.

The loud gruff calls of Red Howler Monkeys fill the dawn air at magical Sacha Lodge, deep in Amazonia. Delicate Clearwings, Polkadot Treefrogs and all the intricacies of life in the rainforest canopy can be seen from a superb canopy walkway. A great spot to watch Sacha’s most colourful birds like Plum-throated Cotinga, White-throated Toucan, Ivory-billed Aracari and Bare-necked Fruitcrow. Amazonian Umbrellabirds enjoy ripe avocados whilst groups of Heliconid butterflies flash green and red in the lodge grounds. Shimmering blue Morphos alight on a sun-dappled bough sending the world’s tiniest primate, the Pygmy Marmoset, scurrying away in fright – it is an amazing place!

The sheer complexity of Baeotus japetus’s marking have to be seen to be believed, yet even Baeotus is eclipsed by Batesia hypochlora, the Painted Beauty, an insect of the purest brilliance. Lovely Kite Swallowtails mud-puddle by the waterside alongside red and blue Callicore zelphanta and the shining purple emperor Doxocopa agathina. There’s also the almost transparent Blushing Phantoms Cithaerias menander, Cithaerias aurorina and Cithaerias merolina, whose hindwings blush pinky-red. A hide overlooks the Yasuni clay lick where hundreds of parrots congregate daily, and we’ll see the rare Zigzag Heron and enjoy Giant Otters as they cruise nearby waters.

Mindo’s biodiverse cloudforests will be our ‘dip’ into the Western Andean slopes remarkable bird and butterfly life. This is superb butterfly country. We’ll see the plush-velvet Corades enyo, lovely green and black Philaethria dido and the brilliant blue and orange daggerwing Marpesia marcella. We’ll visit the famed Oilbird Cave and watch the remarkable and highly entertaining Cock-of-the-Rocks at their lek. Picturesque Chuquiragua blooms attract dazzling Ecuadorian Hillstars on the paramo of Volcan Antisana, as we search for Andean Condor and Carunculated Caracara. Mossy cloudforests are home to Tourmaline Sunangel and the outrageous Sword-billed Hummingbird whilst along rushing rivers are Torrent Ducks and White-capped Dippers. Ptarmigan-like Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe feed in cushion-moss dotted with beautiful flowers. Moths crowd to the lights at our lodges in the subtropical forests of the Eastern Slope, home to secretive Antpittas nowadays drawn into the open by regular feeding! We’ll follow an old Incan trade route through the mossy forest of the Guacamayos Ridge, inhabited by Greater Scythebill and the amazing Grass-green Tanager. Wildsumaco’s sensational feeders draw up to seventeen Hummingbird species in an hour including Ecuadorian Piedtail and Napo Sabrewing. The incredible shimmering purple-pink-blue upperside of Fountainea nessus will induce gasps of admiration whilst hardly less stunning is the bronze-shaded clearwing Godyris duillia. We’ll see the fabulous orange and navy-blue striped ‘Banner’ Epiphile dilecta as well as the lovely ‘Eighty-eight’ Diaethria eluina. Fabulous Perisama humboldtii has complex patterns of turquoise, red and gold which are truly something to behold.

An extension takes us to the still little-known Podocarpus National Park in the south of Ecuador. Abundant orchids adorn beautiful forests, home to Flame-throated Sunangels and the newly-discovered Jocotoco Antpitta. Green-and-Black Fruiteaters and Grey-breasted Mountain-Toucan inhabit stunning cloudforests where the glittering gem that is the Glowing Puffleg feeds at flowering shrubs.