Wenatchee Valley’s March color palette of mostly browns triggers me to dream of tropical places awash in color – like Ecuador! Next August, my brother-in-law, John Winnie Jr., is leaded two eco-tours to the Galapagos and the cloud forest. John is a conservation biologist, an award-winning teaching university professor, and a professional photographer who is ready to share both ecology and photography expertise
I’m pleased to share John’s description and a sampling of his own photographs about this upcoming Holbrook Travel adventure:
Ecuador is split north to south by the Andes, the country’s east slope spawning the headwaters of the Amazon river, and its west slope grading from rugged alpine down through high, cool, misty cloud forest to coastal tropical forests.
Marine iguanas Photo by John Winnie Jr.
This huge geographic diversity parked right on the equator, leads to unmatched biodiversity – Ecuador has more different species per square kilometer than any other country on earth.
Blue-footed boobies Photo by John Winnie Jr.
On land we’ll see a wide range of ground nesting birds, marine and land iguanas, and of course, Galapagos Tortoises and Darwin’s Finches. We’ll island-hop aboard a 104′ chartered yacht and spend our days hiking and snorkeling in the company of a local naturalist guide, and spend our evenings reviewing the day’s sightings, photographs and briefing for the next day’s activities.
Green sea turtle. Wildlife is as tame and abundant in the water as on land in the Galapagos.
Here is John’s description for the 2-week cloudforest trip: Ecuador has more different species per square kilometer than any other country on earth. For example, Ecuador is about the same size as Montana and is home to at least 1620 bird species. Compare that to 914 for all of the United States, including Hawaii. With this kind of variety and the sheer density of birds, bird watching and photography here can lead to whiplash as fellow nature lovers loudly whisper, “Whoa, it’s a Flame-faced tanager!” or, “Holy cow, what is that (fill in the blank: blue, yellow, red, green, orange…) bird over there?”
A Pale-mandibled Aracari, a type of Toucan, at Mirador Rio Blanco, the first stop on our Ecuador bird tour. Photo: John Winnie Jr.
While the usual problem photographers have is finding subjects, here difficulty is in choosing which one to commit to photographing while surrounded by stunning birds flitting around nearby feeders. (Behavioral ecologists refer to this as predator confusion, but you learn to deal with it.)
Flame-faced tanager at Mindo Loma Lodge, our second stop on the Ecuador bird tour. With that name, how can it not be beautiful?
John concludes, On this photo tour, we’ll visit 5 lodges in the Andean Cloud Forest that specifically cater to birders and bird photographers, 3 on the east slope of the Andes and 2 on the west slope. The lodges are at different elevations and each offers opportunities to encounter new species – it’s not unusual to see 2 dozen different species of hummingbird along our route. We’ll be accompanied along the way by an Ecuadoran guide, and each lodge has naturalist guides on staff for optional guided hikes.