Ecuador Birds Tours
Birding Tour Ecuador: Penas Blancas Birding Road & Guango Reserve
✅ Possible 20 - 40 Bird Species including Torrent Duck and Grey-breasted Mountain Toucan.
✅ Tailor-made Experience – Birding or Photography at your own pace.
✅ Visit Penas Blancas Birding Road and Guango Reserve
✅ Delicious Ecuadorian Lunch with Cloud Forest View
✅ Conservation-Oriented – Supporting our Reforestation Projects
✅ Ecuador Birds Tours Souvenir Cap
Penas Blancas and Guango Tour Birding Map
- Pick up 6:30am - 7:00 am from your hotel in Quito
- Visit Penas Blancas Birding Road
- Lunch in Guango Reserve with Cloud Forest View
- Return to Quito
HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR ANDEAN COCK OF THE ROCK TOUR
- Visit Penas Blancas Birding Road for Spectacled Bear, Blue-mantled Thornbill, Rainbow-bearded Thornbill, Purple-mantled Thornbill and other specialties of the Andean Paramo.
- Visit Guango Reserve Hummingbird Feeders, Main Trails along the river for possible Torrent Duck and Grey-breasted Mountain Toucan
- Possible Mountain Tapir at the Reserve
- Delicious Lunch with Cloud Forest views, Station of Tea and Coffee Available.
ITINERARY
Perched high in the Eastern Andes, Papallacta Pass - Penas Blancas Birding Road offer a spectacular introduction to high-andean birding in Ecuador. At elevations ranging from 3,000 to over 4,000 meters, these two sites are home to a unique blend of paramo and polylepis forest habitats. Birders can expect thrilling encounters with iconic species such as the Giant Conebill and the Spectacled Bear.
Just below the pass, Guango Reserve is another of our hidden gems with its lush cloud forest and hummingbird feeders, where species like the Sword-billed Hummingbird and Tourmaline Sunangel can be observed. Together, these sites offer one of the richest high-Andean birding experiences in the Ecuador, all within few hours from Quito.
Early in the morning, we’ll pick you up from your hotel in Quito and begin our top birding tour to the Eastern Slope Cloud Forest. Our first stop takes us high into the majestic Andes at Peñas Blancas – Papallacta Pass, where we’ll search for three spectacular and rare high-altitude hummingbirds. With luck, we might even spot the elusive Spectacled Bear roaming the paramo mountains.
Target Species: Purple-mantled Thornbill, Rainbow-bearded Thornbill, Blue-mantled Thornbill, Giant Conebill, Tawny Antpitta, Black-chested Buzzard Eagle, Pearled Treerunner, Red-crested Cotinga, Andean Tit-spinetail, Great Thrush, and others.
From there, we continue down through Papallacta Town—famous for its natural hot springs and surrounded by scenic cattle pastures and trout farms—on our way to Guango Reserve. This private birding reserve features several forest trails, waterfalls, and hummingbird feeders. We’ll spend time observing an incredible array of hummingbirds up close, followed by a relaxed walk along the trails in search of mixed flocks, mountain-toucans, and other cloud forest specialties.
A delicious lunch will be served at Guango Lodge. In the afternoon, we return to Quito, where you'll be dropped off at your hotel.
Target Species: Torrent Duck, White-capped Dipper, Hooded Mountain Tanager, Masked Trogon, Andean Potoo, Grey-breasted Mountain Toucan, Andean Guan, Slaty-backed Chat-tyrant, Mountain Cacique, Turquoise Jay, Tourmaline Sunangel, Sword-billed Hummingbird, Andean Guan, Collared Inca and others.
Testimonials
