With over 1500 species of birds, Ecuador offers more bird diversity in less space than any other country in the world.

Geographic good fortune has blessed Ecuador with a wide variety of faunal zones, including some of the richest on this planet, each with its characteristic birds.

Ecuador's Amazonian faunal zone alone has more than 600 species of birds, and several other Ecuadorian zones are nearly as rich.
Ecuador's small size (equal to the U.S. state of Colorado) and well-developed transportation system means that this diversity can be easily accessed and experienced even by those with limited time and money.

The key to seeing lots of species in Ecuador is to visit as many different faunal zones as possible. However, if your goal is to observe a selection of birds closely, you will have a more satisfying experience by picking one or two zones and remaining there as long as
Ecuador's Faunal Zones.

For birding purposes, Ecuador can be divided into eight faunal zones:

• Amazonian Lowlands
• Northwestern (Choco) Lowlands
• Southwestern (Tumbesin) Lowlands
• Subtropics
• Eastern Subtropics
• Temperate
• Paramo
• Galapagos Islands

These zones are largely the result of the uplift of the Andes mountains, which separate and isolate western Ecuador from the eastern part of the country. Additionally, the western lowlands experience a strong moisture gradient from south (arid) to north (very wet), causing even more diversity.

Logistics

Birding Strategies in the Tropics
If you choose to go on your own, you can follow certain strategies to improve your chances of seeing that once-in-a-lifetime rarity. The most important thing is to bring a tape recorder and directional microphone. (Look for my bimonthly column, one of which will be devoted to a discussion of this kind of equipment.) The above equipment will cost you as little as USD 150 and yet allow you to call in many species that I guarantee you will not see otherwise.

If you can afford it, invest in a good pair of binoculars for tropical birding.

Tropical forests are dark and wet, so you'll need binoculars with large front lenses (bigger than 40 mm in an 8x or 10x binocular) and with some water resistance.

"Gas-sealed" binoculars are best; these never suffer from internal condensation, a common problem in humid environments with cheap binoculars.

One unsettling characteristic of tropical birds is their habit of foraging in large mixed-species flocks. This means that a birder might not see any birds at all for a long while, and then suddenly be confronted with forty or more species flitting around for ten minutes or so, followed once again by silence. Tropical birding depends on finding these flocks -- you should search hard if you hear chirping in the distance. Try to follow (or better, anticipate) the flock, and learn to look for the conspicuous "core" species that usually indicate the presence of such a group. Use a tape recorder to take verbal notes of the birds you glimpse. Become familiar with your field guide in advance, perhaps tagging some of the plates with the most confusing birds, so you can quickly open to those pages after you've just seen a woodcreeper, foliagegleaner, or flycatcher. Don't waste precious time looking up tanagers and other brightly patterned birds; you can look those up later, after the flock has gone.