Quito - Ecuador. Help needed (2 Viewers)

[tominadel]

My wife and I are going to the Galapagos Islands in December. In the
process, we will be in Quito, Ecuador for one day, and I'd like to
spend that day (or part of it, anyway) looking for birds. I won't be
able to go to any of the cloud forest reserves outside of Quito - I'm
pretty-much stuck within Quito itself.

Does anyone know of any guides specific to the Quito area? The field
guide to Ecuadorean birds looks beautiful, but it weighs about 3.5
pounds and will be filled with plates of birds I'm unlikely to
encounter beyond very specialized habitats. I've tried with no luck
to find online accounts of birds in Quito.

(My default is to go to the Quito Botanical Garden. I've generally
had good luck looking for local birds in botanical gardens. If any
of you are ever in Beijing or Singapore, they're excellent places to
get started.)

Thank you very much.

 

[JWN Andrewes]

Was in Quito years ago ('89), didn't get much time for birding while in the city but saw a few bits and pieces anyway - keep a look out for Giant Hummingbird (the one I saw perched up on a telegraph wire). Also saw Black-tailed Trainbearer, one of the Violetears (Green or Sparkling) Blue & Yellow Tanager and Cinereous Conebill as garden birds. Black Vultures, Eared Doves & Rufous-collared Sparrows were abundant. Botanical Gardens sounds like a pretty good idea (it's worked for me in Cape Town & Rio de Janeiro). Wish I could be of more help - hope you both have a great time.

James

 

[Ben Rackstraw]

An update on what James has posted above...spent a couple of nights in transit in Quito last October, and made two brief visits to Parque La Carolina - one of which was around Saturday lunchtime and so it was very busy. Try a Google search to see if this is close to where you are staying - there are some botanical gardens there.

Anyway, our sightings included Sparkling Violetear, Saffron Finch (well out of range so may well have been escaped cagebird), Great Thrush, Vermilion Flycatcher, Southern Beardless Tyrannulet, Blue Grey & Blue & Yellow Tanager (latter not a particularly conspicuous bird - seemed quite fond of thick cover), Hooded Siskin, Blackburnian Warbler, Black-tailed Trainbearer, Black Flowerpiercer, Cinereous Conebill and Variable Hawk.

Don't know whether there are any ID guides on birds in Quito, might be worth buying a copy of the big field guide for home reference and then taking digicam pics of the key plates - don't think that presents any copyright problem for personal use.

No Giant Hummingbird for us though - here or anywhere else! :-C

 

[richlindie]

Re. Quito

I spent a year in and out of Quito and can say that the parks can hold quite a few interesting but common species. You may get a little more if you head out to Mitad del Mindo, the equator monument, 20 - 30 minutes by city bus from the more central parts. There are some large Agave plants and other dry scrub that hold species like the Giant Hummer.
I am not sure how much time you have to walk around any parks but as the buses are extremely frequent and easy to catch from almost anywhere you are probably better off heading say 45 minutes to an hour outside of town toward some of the better areas, like Mindo and Papallacta. And although you won't get to the sites themselves you can jump off anywhere along a good stretch of road and it will prob be more productive for the hour or so than a long stroll around any park.
About the field guide .. it is a great guide and what most of us do is have the book bound into sperate books (plates and text), It cost around $8 in Quito but not sure how much where ever you are. There is a small book on the birds of Quito and you could prob pick it up at Libri Mundi (sp?). Not very good but better than nothing. Sorry I am in Korea, far away from the book at home in South Africa so cant give you an author.

Hope this helps a little,
If I remember anything I will add it straight away, contact me anytime,
Good Luck
Rich

 

[Dave B Smith]

While you are waiting for more responses to this thread, you might also want to do some forum searches. A search for Quito Ecuador turned up a good number of threads including this one .
Hope this helps and have a great trip.

 

[tominadel]

A great big thank you!

Thank you all for your generous help. And, keep them coming! We are truly fortunate to be part of a whole birding community. Common interests, common goals make the birding world a better place, from birder to birder, one to an other, we are proud to be a part. Thank you again. We are counting day's now, next birding stop...Ecuador and Galapagos. Bird on everyone, bird on.

Tom :t: