Eastern Slope Birding (1 Viewer)

[PeggyG]

Hello birders -
I have been researching the east slope of Ecuador.
First of all, what would be the best time of year to go to the Eastern Slope and the Napo lodges? We are retired so we can really go at any time - I tried to find out when is the driest season and saw a rainfall chart which showed the amazon area with 8 in. of rain for both January and february and then 10 in. in March. Wildsumaco Lodge says their wettest season is March thru May. So I was thinking that perhaps February would be a good time to go to this area. What do think? Anyone been at this time of year? I realize that it rains a lot in this area, but I am hoping to minimize the disturbance to a birding itinerary - afternoon rain is one thing, but continuous all day/all night rain is something else altogether - that i would really like to avoid if at all possible.
I am trying to find a trip that includes a guide and transport all down the eastern Slope and then we would just link up with one of the Napo Lodges.
San Isidro lodge offers an itinerary as does Wildsumaco. Of course the pricey Birding tour companies have trips, but i am wondering if anyone has experience with any guides or lodges that they can recommend?
Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated - it is so hard to choose between similar itineraries, but different amounts of days, and of course prices.
Thanks for any help anyone can give!
Peggy

 

[gdhunter]

i am wondering if anyone has experience with any guides or lodges that they can recommend? Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated - it is so hard to choose between similar itineraries, but different amounts of days, and of course prices.

Peggy: Two friends & I spent the first three weeks of a month in Ecuador on the eastern slope. Our first few days were along the Misahualli River, which can be good with the right combination of lodge & guide, but that was not our fate. Wildsumaco was probably the highlight of the trip, and I can't imagine spending less that four nights there when we return (and we WILL return). San Isidro also falls within the "fantastic" category but Wildsumaco (in my view) has the edge. You couldn't go wrong incorporating stays at both places into your itinerary.

We did not retain one guide for the entire trip. Instead, we enlisted guides from each lodge for our first full day at the lodge, and followed up with self-guided birding that was at least informed by the guided experience. Wildsumaco has excellent guides on site; San Isidro handled the arrangements for a guide who lives nearby. I can't recall the rates but the 3-way split was quite reasonable.

BTW, you might consider purchasing Steven Herrman's Birding Northeast Ecuador (https://www.amazon.com/Birding-Northeast-Ecuador-Areas/dp/1539089266 ). Hadn't been published at the time of our trip, but I wish it had. In addition, the Restall/Freille field guide may have been released by the time you make the trip.

First days in last days out you might want to consider Puembo Birding Garden, a delightful B&B conveniently located for eastward travel. Mercedes & Xavier also operate the Neblina Forest tour company, and their insights & suggestions proved invaluable. They could arrange a quick high elevation day trip, or you could divert for a few hours along Paplallacta Pass either on your way to the lowlands or on your way back.

Gary H

 

[gdhunter]

First of all, what would be the best time of year to go to the Eastern Slope and the Napo lodges? We are retired so we can really go at any time - I tried to find out when is the driest season and saw a rainfall chart which showed the amazon area with 8 in. of rain for both January and february and then 10 in. in March. Wildsumaco Lodge says their wettest season is March thru May. So I was thinking that perhaps February would be a good time to go to this area.

We took our trip late October & early November. Had some rain but no day was rained out & mornings were usually shrouded in fog early before some clearing.

Gary H

 

[PeggyG]

Thank you for your replies. Gary.

I will certainly want to stay at both San Isidro and Wildsumaco. Thanks for the recommendation on how long to stay at Wildsumaco.

San Isidro's 5 day itinerary includes transfer from Quito via Papallacta Pass and Guango on day 1 - is this enough time for both of these places? O/n is at San Isidro. Better to stay at Guango Lodge?
Day 2 is spent at San Isidro. Day 3 at Loreto Road. Day 4 at Guacamayos Ridge. Day 5 back to Quito. So really only 1 day and the last morning at San Isidro (but all the nights are there). Do you think this is enough? I could probably have them or Wildsumaco then transfer us to Wildsumaco instead of back to Quito. San Isidro's price is $1061 p/p for this trip, including bilingual guide. Reasonable?

Wildsumaco's tour is for 8 days. Day 1 Quito to Guango and o/n Guango Lodge. Day 2 at Papallacta and o/n again at Guango. Day 3 Guango and San Isidro and o/n. Day 4 San Isidro and o/n. Day 5 San Isidro to Guacamayos Ridge, Loreto Road and o/n Wildsumaco. Days 6,7 at Wildsumaco. Day 8 morning Wildsumaco, then transfer to Quito or Coca.
So they spend more time at Papallacta and Guango, but then squeeze Guacamayos and Loreto into 1 day rather than 2. They spend only 3 nights at their own lodge (where you recommend 4).
Their trip is considerably more expensive. $2995 p/p based on 2. Interestingly, it is $2095 p/p based on a group of 4. That's quite a savings! Would go a long way toward paying for the Napo River lodges. Wish I knew 2 more people!

I also want to fit in Antisana (haven't seen a Condor yet). Would you recommend a whole day there?

Thanks so much for your help!

 

[PeggyG]

Oh and I forgot to thank you for the link to the North East Ecuador book. The one review is not particularly favorable, but maybe $10 for the kindle version wouldn't be too bad.
I think I remember looking at the Restall/Freille field guide and seeing it is to be out January 2018.
In 2012 we took a trip on the NW side of Ecuador and the Choco region, so I have the Ridgely guide - in entirety - I was too chicken to cut it apart

 

[njlarsen]

Regarding field guide, the field-book did most of what I needed on a recent visit to Ecuador. I am not sure that Restall's illustrations necessarily will be that much better.

Niels

 

[PeggyG]

Niels -

By field-book do you mean the McMullan/Navarette guide?
I wish I could find one - I think there's a second edition printed recently?

 

[gdhunter]

San Isidro's 5 day itinerary includes transfer from Quito via Papallacta Pass and Guango on day 1 - is this enough time for both of these places? O/n is at San Isidro. Better to stay at Guango Lodge? Day 2 is spent at San Isidro. Day 3 at Loreto Road. Day 4 at Guacamayos Ridge. Day 5 back to Quito. So really only 1 day and the last morning at San Isidro (but all the nights are there). Do you think this is enough? I could probably have them or Wildsumaco then transfer us to Wildsumaco instead of back to Quito. San Isidro's price is $1061 p/p for this trip, including bilingual guide. Reasonable?

Wildsumaco's tour is for 8 days. Day 1 Quito to Guango and o/n Guango Lodge. Day 2 at Papallacta and o/n again at Guango. Day 3 Guango and San Isidro and o/n. Day 4 San Isidro and o/n. Day 5 San Isidro to Guacamayos Ridge, Loreto Road and o/n Wildsumaco. Days 6,7 at Wildsumaco. Day 8 morning Wildsumaco, then transfer to Quito or Coca. So they spend more time at Papallacta and Guango, but then squeeze Guacamayos and Loreto into 1 day rather than 2. They spend only 3 nights at their own lodge (where you recommend 4)....

I also want to fit in Antisana (haven't seen a Condor yet). Would you recommend a whole day there?

Peggy: Our 2015 trip was my first & thus far only trip to Ecuador. It certainly helped me get my bearings for a return, but I'm certainly not a seasoned veteran. A guide from the Mindo area picked us up at San Isidro and we spent time at Guango and Papallacta Pass en route to the northwest. It was a full day, but Guango was crowded with busloads of tourists so our time there was brief. If you have a guide familiar with the paramo region, I think a few hours around the pass would suffice and Antisana would be to some degree redundant.

My first instinct for a return to the northeast would be a transfer from Puembo (very convenient to the Quito airport) via Papallacta Pass & Guango to a first night at San Isidro. Three nights there, followed by a transfer to Wildsumaco, including a few hours along Guacamayos Ridge. Four nights at Wilsumaco. From there you'd be well situated for an approach to the Napo region.

During our journeys to Costa Rica we've always retained a driver with van whose function is exclusively transportation, and we practiced a variation on that theme in Ecuador, although we had both a birding guide and driver from San Isidro to the northwest, which enabled guided birding along Papallacta Pass (essential!). You MIGHT realize a significant savings if you asked Carmen (at San Isidro) about the possibility of a guide & driver for the transfer to San Isidro, and then a guide for the first day at the lodge. the time spent at San Isidro would prepare you for much of the birding potential associated with Guacamayos Ridge, so perhaps driver only from San Isidro to Wildsumaco, followed by guided birding on the first full day after the transfer.

Although Julia Patino (https://mindobirdwatching.wordpress.com/ ) lives and guides in the Mindo region, she knew Papallacta Pass & Guango quite well, and the rate she charged (driver included) was quite affordable.

It's a bit presumptuous to assume that my birding travel inclinations work for everyone, but the three members of our party were quite satisfied with a mix of guided & self-guided birding. One important consideration for any birding in the tropics is the concept of rarity: the more time you spend in any one place, the better your chances of seeing a representative sample of the avifauna. A night or two is almost like a roll of the dice.

Gary H

 

[gdhunter]

Oh and I forgot to thank you for the link to the North East Ecuador book. The one review is not particularly favorable, but maybe $10 for the kindle version wouldn't be too bad.

I'm a bit behind on my Amazon reviews, but I think Herrmann does a pretty good job of concisely describing the birding potential of the best known sites and a few that are somewhat more obscure. Logistics are covered adequately, and some guides are listed in Appendix V. I'm a sucker for checklists, and Appendix VI includes not only a bird list for NE Ecuador but also many site-specific checklists (BTW, he combines San Isidro & Guacamayos Ridge).

Gary H

 

[gdhunter]

By field-book do you mean the McMullan/Navarette guide? I wish I could find one - I think there's a second edition printed recently?

If you happen to contact Mercedes & Xavier at Puembo Birding Garden, you might inquire about availability through them. When Xavier visited a birding festival in the USA a few moths before our trip he brought along copies (almost impossible to find here at the time) and shipped them to me for our group. It's not a bad guide at all; can't recall which hummer was inaccurately rendered, but that was the exception rather than the rule.

Mercedes took us to a suburban shopping center on our last day in country and I obtained a Spanish-language box set of the Ridgely guide with the plates separately bound.

Gary H

 

[gdhunter]

Regarding field guide, the field-book did most of what I needed on a recent visit to Ecuador. I am not sure that Restall's illustrations necessarily will be that much better.

If the guide co-authored by Restall for Venezuela is a precursor, I think it will be a grade (or two) above the fieldbook. But the latter would probably be my first recourse in the field.

Gary H

 

[njlarsen]

Niels -

By field-book do you mean the McMullan/Navarette guide?
I wish I could find one - I think there's a second edition printed recently?

I did not realize it already is difficult to get ones hands on. There was a similar guide to Columbia where they say second edition is much improved, so you can hope the weak points of the one for Ecuador will also be improved.

My only knowledge of Restall's guides are: northern SA, Trinidad, ABC islands. Mostly, the last two have been reusing illustrations from the first one.

Niels

 

[gdhunter]

My only knowledge of Restall's guides are: northern SA, Trinidad, ABC islands. Mostly, the last two have been reusing illustrations from the first one.

The Northern SA guide is split in two volumes, and the species accounts in the plates volume are quite sparse (not unexpected). The one-volume Venezuela guide has different co-authors, but it does seem that many of the illustrations (if not all) are those from the more comprehensive work. The species accounts aren't as concise as the BNSA plates volume, but not as complete as those from the text volume. Birders more attuned to nuance may find fault with the depictions, but I think they would prove useful enough in the field.

Gary H

 

[gdhunter]

By field-book do you mean the McMullan/Navarette guide? I wish I could find one - I think there's a second edition printed recently?

Peggy: According to Shiripuno Amazon Lodge, a second edition has been published (https://www.shiripunolodge.com/fieldbook-birds-ecuador/ ). It's also offered by Yasuni Wilderness ( http://www.yasuniwilderness.com/product/fieldbook-birds-ecuador/ ); note, however, $30 for international shipping. As was almost invariably true of the first edition, it's not an easy book to find outside Ecuador.

Gary H

 

[PeggyG]

$30 for shipping certainly makes me think twice - but as it seems with most things, the harder something is to get, the more I want it!
I might wait awhile to see if amazon gets it...
or, as you say, inquire at Puembo

Thanks so much, Gary, for finding it!

 

[njlarsen]

If it is available in Ecuador you could have it waiting for you when you arrive. If wanting to prepare before going, you can use the old guide for that.

Niels

 

[PeggyG]

Gary -

Thanks so much for your insight into the # of nights/days at the birding locations - helps me a lot.

I love having the luxury of guide and driver for the whole trip. Someone to stay with the van (protecting valuables - we bring lots of camera gear) while birding the area with the guide is really great. But it sure can add to the price. Your point about having only one of the days at each lodge guided, makes sense.

I totally agree with you that the more time spent in a place, the better. If you only have 1 full day at a place, the birds that are usually there may be in a different area that particular day - or what if it rains out? Has happened to me - which is why I'm so obsessed with trying to go in the dry (drier) season...

So much to consider...

Thanks again

 

[PeggyG]

Niels -

Good point!

 

[gdhunter]

If you only have 1 full day at a place, the birds that are usually there may be in a different area that particular day - or what if it rains out? Has happened to me - which is why I'm so obsessed with trying to go in the dry (drier) season...

The tropical dry season does indeed give birders more time in the field, but it can lower the chances for some species (reduced food sources & other considerations). Am guessing that's most true at the peak of the season, so early or late might balance that out somewhat.

Gary H

 

[PeggyG]

I'm still looking at both Cabanas San Isidro and Wildsumaco lodges plus probably Sani Lodge in the Napo area. San Isidro's "Tour" sounds reasonable and includes 3 nights at the lodge.

Gary - Would you think it worth staying for another full day (unguided) just to poke around the trails and feeders on our own? Did you see their Cock-of-the-Rock Lek? They also say they have Antpitta feeding stations.

And since you've been to both - If you could only stay at one of these lodges for 4 nights rather than 3, with your extra day un-guided, which would you choose - San Isidro or Wildsumaco?

Thanks for your opinions...
Peggy