A Reflections of the Natural World Blog Post Series by Jim Gain
Ecuador Birding – Where Every Feather Tells a Story
From October 26, 2025 through November 8, 2025 I joined 5 other adventurers and an outstanding photographer and birding guide (Liron Gertsman) with Eagle-Eye Tours to Ecuador. This blog series highlights the animals (mostly birds), people and locations we encountered over the 14 full days in this beautiful land.
DAY 5 – Morning
- My Ecuador Species Count including the visit to El Retiro and San Roque jumps up to: 190 (135 lifers)
- Primary eBird Public Hotspots: None
The following morning brought a surprise none of us expected. While we had assumed the relentless rainfall was simply the Amazon being the Amazon, our guides explained that this was far more than the usual wet‑season pattern—especially upstream. When we stepped out to continue our explorations, the change was unmistakable. The lagoon had risen more than a meter overnight, and the lodge’s canoe landing—normally a sturdy wooden platform—was now completely submerged beneath brown, swirling water. Vladimir and Carlos improvised quickly, bringing the canoe around to a side access point along the bank where we could board with care. The lagoon, usually a mirror‑still sanctuary of blackwater reflections, now carried a noticeable current, pushing against the bow as we made our way toward the river.
Our guides worked harder than usual to maneuver us through the flooded channels, but even in these altered conditions the wildlife continued to reveal itself. A YELLOW-BROWED SPARROW hopped along a newly formed shoreline, and moments later we caught our first look at one of the forest’s nocturnal specialists—the LADDER-TAILED NIGHTJAR, resting quietly in the dim morning light. Just before we reached the river launch site, a GREATER ANI posed obligingly on an exposed branch, its glossy plumage shining despite the overcast sky.
We transferred to the powerful Mama Lucy and began tracing our way upstream toward the El Retiro community, noting how astonishingly high the Napo River had risen. When we reached the stretch where we had previously watched children walking to school along a dry, elevated path, the transformation was dramatic. The once‑solid walkway—well above the river just a day earlier—was now completely submerged. Students were wading waist‑deep through the floodwaters, machetes in hand to cut passages through the vegetation that had overtaken their usual route. Older children held the hands of younger siblings or carried them on their backs, moving with practiced determination. It was a vivid reminder of the resilience required to live in the Amazon rainforest, where daily life bends to the will of the river.
NEXT UP: EB#30 “Napo River Wings: Skimmers, Screamers and Surprises“
Additional Photographs and Video
Previous Ecuador Birding Blog Posts:
- EB49 – Turquoise Jay: The Andean Jewel of Ecuador
At Guango Lodge, the Turquoise Jay’s explosive burst of color and the challenge of photographing its shifting blues transformed a rich morning of cloudforest birding into a defining moment that propelled us up the trail in search of the next Andean treasure. This blog series chronicles Jim Gain’s experiences with a birding tour in Ecuador. - EB48 – Moth Lights and Mountain Birds: A New Chapter Begins at Guango Lodge
Arriving at Guango Lodge felt like entering a cooler, quieter Andean world where dawn birds and the forest’s layered rhythms created a timeless, living welcome woven from mist, movement, and the murmur of the Río Papallacta. This blog series chronicles Jim Gain’s experiences with a birding tour in Ecuador. - EB47 – Ascending Into Mist and Mountain Air at Río Quijos EcoLodge
Climbing from El Quetzal toward Río Quijos, the day unfolded as a seamless blend of roadside surprises, river‑edge targets, and cloudforest color, each stop adding new species and renewed momentum as the journey pressed on toward Guango Lodge. This blog series chronicles Jim Gain’s experiences with a birding tour in Ecuador. - EB46 – El Quetzal Bosque Protegido: Songbirds of the Afternoon
An afternoon walk through El Quetzal revealed a calmer, more contemplative side of the forest, where understated songbirds and familiar species offered quiet beauty and character before the journey carried us onward toward new habitats and fresh surprises. This blog series chronicles Jim Gain’s experiences with a birding tour in Ecuador. - EB45 – Midday Birding Adventures in the El Quetzal Protected ForestEl Quetzal Bosque Protegido unfolded as a lush, hummingbird‑filled sanctuary where the cloudforest’s color, motion, and quiet magic set the stage for a vibrant midday interlude before the forest shifted toward an entirely new cast of characters. This blog series chronicles Jim Gain’s experiences with a birding tour in Ecuador.
- EB44 – Warm Light in a Cool World: The Cinnamon Flycatcher of San Isidro
A gentle, steady presence in the cloudforest, the Cinnamon Flycatcher became the quiet emblem of renewal—its warm glow and unhurried grace mirroring the author’s own return to clarity and grounding. This blog series chronicles Jim Gain’s experiences with a birding tour in Ecuador.
>>Ecuador Birding Blog Home Page Link https://reflectionsofthenaturalworld.com/ecuador-birding/
*This Ecuador Birding blog post was shaped and polished with the assistance of Microsoft Copilot, helping bring clarity and a consistent flow to my field notes and dictated memories.
**Unless otherwise indicated in the image caption, all photographs (>99%) are mine.
Reflections of the Natural World 
Leave a comment