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 – Early Afternoon
- My Ecuador Species Count including the visit to El Retiro and San Roque jumps up to: 185 (130 lifers)
- Primary eBird Public Hotspot: Sani Lodge
After this Kodak moment, we had more time to explore, and I focused on the resident birds that had eluded me earlier in the trip. Smooth‑billed Anis strutted through the open areas, their glossy black plumage and oversized, ridged bills giving them a slightly prehistoric look. They moved in tight family groups, constantly chattering to one another as they flipped leaves and probed the ground for insects, always seeming half‑curious and half‑mischievous.
Pale‑vented Pigeons, soft gray with a gentle blush of pink on their breasts, preferred to perch right beside the bar area, watching the world with calm, unhurried eyes. When they took flight, their broad wings produced a surprisingly powerful clatter, a reminder that these otherwise placid birds are strong, capable fliers of the lowland forest.
Near my room, a female Black‑throated Mango perched on a slender branch, her iridescent green back shimmering while I tried to capture the subtle, dusky throat markings unique to the females. She hovered in place with effortless precision, occasionally flicking her tail as she darted out to snatch a passing insect before returning to the same favored perch.
Alex and I then settled at the fruit feeding station to see what might drop in. Almost immediately, the White‑lined subspecies of Blue‑gray Tanager appeared, its powder‑blue plumage accented by crisp white wing bars. It fed with quick, delicate movements, pausing between bites to deliver soft, buzzy calls that blended into the forest’s background hum.
An adult Red‑capped Cardinal followed—a jewel of a bird with its brilliant crimson head and velvety black body. In the sunlight, faint emerald glosses shimmered across its wings, revealing colors far richer than the field guides ever suggest.
Our attention was suddenly pulled skyward by the loud, bubbling call of a Russet‑backed Oropendola, which landed on its long, pendulous nest. Like other members of the oriole family, oropendolas weave intricate hanging nests, and we watched as the adult reached deep inside and emerged with a fecal sac—an essential housekeeping task to keep predators from detecting the scent of the young. Its sheer size and commanding presence made the entire tree seem to shift around it.
In the same tree, just above the nest, a sharply adorned Yellow‑rumped Cacique posed in the sunlight, its glossy black plumage offset by a brilliant yellow rump and shoulders. It delivered its metallic, almost mechanical calls, flashing its wings as if performing for an unseen audience.
Nearby, a Silver‑beaked Tanager glowed with its deep wine‑red face and throat, the color intensifying each time it turned its head toward the light. Its soft, warbling song drifted through the clearing, adding a gentle musical thread to the morning chorus.
NEXT UP: EB#31 “One Last Cruise Around the Calluacocha Lagoon“
Additional Photographs
Previous Ecuador Birding Blog Posts:
- EB72 – Drawn to the Flame: Photographing New Birds at Tandayapa’s Moth Light
At dawn beneath the moth lights at Tandayapa Lodge, we shifted from the previous night’s flash‑photography lessons into a challenging but magical low‑light session that revealed a Three‑striped Warbler and a quartet of Funariidae woodcreepers and treehunters. This blog series chronicles Jim Gain’s experiences with birds and nature. - EB71 – Freezing Wings in Mid‑Air: An Afternoon Flash Photography Class
Our late afternoon at Tandayapa Lodge transformed into a masterclass in high‑speed flash photography, where we learned to freeze hummingbirds in mid‑air and reveal details the human eye could never catch on its own. This blog series chronicles Jim Gain’s experiences with birds and nature. - EB70 – Behind the Scenes: My Photo Processing Process — From Download to Gallery Display
This behind‑the‑scenes look walks through my complete post‑processing workflow—from organized hard‑drive folders and Lightroom edits to eBird documentation and SmugMug gallery uploads—showing how each image travels from field capture to final presentation. This blog series chronicles Jim Gain’s experiences with birds and nature. - EB69 – Illuminating the Iridescence: Hummingbirds of Tandayapa Lodge Through Forest Light
A late‑afternoon return to Tandayapa Lodge offered the perfect chance to capture hummingbirds in their natural light—iridescence glowing, wings blurring, and the cloud‑forest atmosphere turning every moment into a fleeting spark of color. This blog series chronicles Jim Gain’s experiences with birds and nature. - EB68 – More Colorful Songbirds at Guaycapi
As the hummingbirds faded into the background, a fresh wave of brilliantly colored tanagers swept through Guaycapi Lodge, setting the stage for an afternoon of dazzling forest jewels This blog series chronicles Jim Gain’s experiences with birds and nature. - EB67 – Brilliants, Woodstars, Coronets and More: A Hummingbird Spectacle at Guaycapi
A late‑morning surge of iridescent wings transformed Guaycapi Lodge into a living kaleidoscope, as a vibrant wave of hummingbirds swept in to claim the stage just moments after the tanagers faded into the canopy. This blog series chronicles Jim Gain’s experiences with birds and nature.
>>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.
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