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Ecuador - Bird Photography Tour

© Black-throated Brilliant by Adam Riley
Ecuador - Bird Photography Tour 2027

30 Apr 2027 - 12 May 2027 (13 days)

USD6,200 SPACES AVAILABLE

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Tour Leader: Alexander Alvarado

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Tour Price (Per person): USD6,200 (GBP4,772 * EUR5,449 * AUD9,521)

Pricing notes : *Prices are estimated, and dates may change*

Ecuador - Bird Photography Tour 2028

20 Jan 2028 - 01 Feb 2028 (13 days)

USD6,500 SPACES AVAILABLE

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Tour Leader: James Wade Lee

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Tour Price (Per person): USD6,500 (GBP5,003 * EUR5,712 * AUD9,981)

Pricing notes : *Prices are estimated, and dates may change*

Ecuador is fortuitously situated within the heart of a fantastically diverse habitat array, ranging from the high Andes to excellent lowland rainforest. Ecuador’s small size, good infrastructure, unsurpassable scenery, and friendly people make it one of the planet’s most delightful birding destinations. Our dedicated Bird Photo Tour seeks to enjoy an incredible selection of Ecuador’s avian wonders and the various lodges and accessible feeders that we will visit superbly augment our overall experience.

Highlights

  • Visit many of Ecuador’s most famous sites that include some stunningly scenic locations including Antisana and Pichincha Volcano’s and the incredible Papallacta Pass.
  • Feeders abound throughout our route which attract numerous species. These provide fantastic photo opportunities of many different species from stunning hummingbirds to flashy tanagers.
  • Comfortable accommodation, many of which are built to be specialist birding lodges.
  • Refugio Paz, one of the most amazing bird shows on earth where several extremely cryptic species can be coaxed into view.
  • Visit to an Oilbird roost cave, an iconic monotypic family species.
  • Short travel distances between lodges, extensive birding habitat throughout.
  • Opportunities for Giant Hummingbird, the largest hummingbird in the world.

Top Birds

Andean Cock-of-the-rock; Andean Condor; Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe; Orange-breasted & Scaled Fruiteaters; Golden-winged, White-bearded & Club-winged Manakins; Beautiful Jay; Black Solitaire; Oilbird; Glistening-green, Moss-backed, Grey-and-gold, Rufous-throated, Blue-whiskered, Scarlet-browed, Saffron-crowned, Beryl-spangled, Flame-faced, Black-capped, Grass-green, Golden-crowned, White-capped & Ochre-breasted Tanagers; Buff-breasted, Masked, Blue-winged and Scarlet-bellied Mountain Tanagers; Black-headed & Rufous-breasted Antthrushes; Giant, Moustached, Yellow-breasted, White-bellied, Peruvian, Slaty-crowned, Crescent-faced & Ochre-breasted Antpittas; Dark-backed Wood Quail; Golden-headed Quetzal; Chocó Trogon; Toucan Barbet; Pale-mandibled Aracari; Plate-billed Mountain & Chocó Toucans; Ecuadorian, White-tailed & Green-backed Hillstars; Black-tailed Trainbearer; Great Sapphirewing; Purple-backed, Black-mantled, Blue-mantled, Purple-mantled & Rainbow-bearded Thornbills; Shining Sunbeam; Giant, Speckled, Many-spotted, Violet-headed & Sword-billed Hummingbirds; Collared & Bronzy Incas; Long-tailed & Violet-tailed Sylphs; Tourmaline Sunangel; Chestnut-breasted, Velvet-purple & Buff-tailed Coronets; Mountain Avocetbill; Tyrian & Viridian Metaltails; White-bellied, Purple-throated & Gorgeted Woodstars; Glowing, Sapphire-vented, Black-breasted, Hoary & Golden-breasted Pufflegs; Violet-fronted, Black-throated, Empress, Green-crowned & Fawn-breasted Brilliants; White-booted & Peruvian Racket-tails; Geoffrey’s Wedgebill; Brown Violetear; Bronzy & Brown Incas; Green & Sparkling Violetears; Gould’s Jewelfront; Golden-tailed Sapphire; Napo Sabrewing; Rufous-vented & Purple-bibbed Whitetips; Golden-tailed Sapphire; Blue-fronted Lancebill; Wire-crested & Green Thorntails; Fork-tailed & Crowned Woodnymphs; Green & White-whiskered Hermits; Ecuadorian Piedtail; White-tipped Sicklebill; Buff-winged Starfrontlet; White-necked Jacobin; Andean Emerald.

Top Mammals

White-tailed Deer; Andean Fox; Mountain Tapir (rare); Olingito; Tayra; Spectacled Bear (rare)

Habitats Covered

temperate tree line forest, subtropical cloud-forest, tropical foothill forest and tropical lowland forest all in the Chocó bioregion, paramo grasslands and highland lakes, polylepis forest, temperate cloud-forest, upper and lower subtropical cloud-forest

Expected Climate

chilly to hot and humid (very pleasant temperatures on most days)

Max Group Size

8 with 1 Rockjumper leader & local birding leader

Tour Pace & Walking

UNDEMANDING: This tour is ideal for birders and wildlife enthusiasts of all experience levels. It’s suitable for most mobility levels and offers a relaxed pace, ensuring an enjoyable experience for everyone.

Undemanding. Suitable for all birding / wildlife interest levels. Our Bird Photo Tours are a hybrid between our Classic birding tours and dedicated photographic tours. You don’t have to be a professional photographer or have the biggest lens; this is for everyone with an interest in photography and birding. Whether you’re using a bridge camera or the latest body and prime lens, our aims are the same. • These tours are not aimed at seeing the most species possible on the route, rather taking time to photograph key targets and any other interesting species we may find. Naturally, the overall species list will be lower than a comparable birding focused tour. • Whilst we may use blinds, feeders and hide setups on some of these tours, we will not be spending an entire day nor even several hours fixed in one spot. • These tours are suitable for photographers who prefer opportunistic photography over entire days in a hide. • Our leaders will assist in helping everyone secure good photographic opportunities and advise as much as they can on camera setup. However, they are not professional photographic tour leaders.

Accommodation

Comfortable.

Ease of Birding

Mostly undemanding. Birding is primarily at lodge feeders & trails, roadside or in parks/preserves.

Photographic Opportunities

Good to very good, numerous feeders.

What our clients say about us

Dušan Brinkhuizen
RW & KW - Ecuador 2022

The birding was the point and our guide Dusan Brinkhuizen was and is one of the best birds guides we have ever met. Dusan has really amazing people and leadership skills. We had three very sick people on the tour and Dusan managed this and the tour very well. I personally lost a day and a half to illness and Dusan kept me appraised and part of the team as we went.

Adam Walleyn
CO, Ecuador - Northern: Eastern Andes II 2025

This is the first Rockjumper trip I have been on that required a lot of logistics, including transfers to and from hotels/lodges that were included in the cost of the trip. Awesome job! Truly appreciated. I felt safe and taken care of the entire time. Adam did a great job with our group and worked extra hard to accommodate by culinary "challenges."

Dušan Brinkhuizen
SW, Ecuador 2022

Our tour of the Choco cloud forest and the Eastern Andes paramo and cloud forest was superb. Our guide Dušan Brinkhuizen was amazing in his ability to find birds; he clearly has supernatural hearing and eyesight! He also was superb at making sure that everyone saw the birds. He truly worried about his clients and listened to their requests as to birds, landscapes and need for sleep. We saw spectacular landscapes far off the beaten path and got very good looks at birds in all habitats. An additional plus was our driver Dario who kept us safe on marginal roads. We look forward to our next Rockjumper trip.

Dušan Brinkhuizen
JM, Ecuador 2018

I was particularly impressed by Dušan Brinkhuizen. His knowledge of Ecuadorian birds, both visual and auditory, was amazing. He showed an unflagging energy and was sensitive to the myriad of special interests of our participants.

Adam Walleyn
DL, Ecuador - Northern: Ultimate Amazon II 2025

I just completed the Ecuador - Northern II: Choco Cloud Forest; Eastern Andes (Paramo and Cloud Forest); and the Ultimate Amazon: Sumaco Foothills & Rio Napo for a total of 21 days. Adam Walleyn was our head guide and he did a fantasic job. He cleary knew all the birds in the region by both sight and sound and worked extremely hard to get everyone on the tours to see every bird. He was very clear in describing what the agenda was for the day, and what we we'd be doing relative to hiking, terrain, hiking difficulties, etc. He was very well organized and very friendly, a perfect guide. Adam also filled out ebird trip reports for every spot we visited over the 21 days and sent them to all tour members every night, so we could easily keep track of the species seen and immediately accept the reports into our individual ebird accounts. Not including birds only heard and not seen, I had 570 species for the trip. I'd also like to praise Rockjumper's local guide on this entire trip, Marcello. He was very friendly, energetic and man did he know the birds of Ecuador and how to find them. His hearing was absolutely acute and very tuned into the birds. Both guides carried scopes and instantly got birds into scope view for everyone. Very happy with the guides and the overall trip.

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