A Reflections of the Pure World Weblog Submit Sequence by Jim Achieve
Ecuador Birding – The place Each Feather Tells a Story
From October 26, 2025 via November 8, 2025 I joined 5 different adventurers and an impressive photographer and birding information (Liron Gertsman) with Eagle-Eye Excursions to Ecuador. This weblog sequence highlights the animals (principally birds), folks and areas we encountered over the 14 full days on this stunning land.
DAY 2 – Late Afternoon
- My Ecuador Species Depend as much as and together with our arrival on the Sani Lodge jumps as much as: 76 (52 lifers)
- Major eBird Public Hotspots: Sani Lodge
The Hoatzin is a type of birds that feels much less like a species and extra like a narrative the forest has been telling for hundreds of thousands of years. Encountering it in Ecuador—particularly alongside the black‑water lagoons and quiet backchannels of the Amazon—looks like stepping briefly into deep time.
My first glimpse got here as a rustle within the riverside vegetation, adopted by a gradual, deliberate motion that appeared virtually too heavy for the department it clung to. Then it emerged: a Hoatzin, trying each bit like a creature that missed the memo on fashionable evolution. Its shaggy crest flared within the humid air, chestnut wings glowed with heat gentle, and the cobalt‑blue facial pores and skin framed these amber eyes with an virtually prehistoric depth.
The Hoatzin doesn’t fly a lot as heave itself into the air, gliding awkwardly from department to department. However that ungainly model is a part of its attraction. In Ecuador, locals affectionately name it the “smelly turkey”—a nod to the musky odor produced by its uncommon digestive system. The Hoatzin is the one chook on this planet that digests meals like a cow. As a substitute of counting on a muscular gizzard, it ferments leaves in an enlarged crop. This course of breaks down powerful plant materials but additionally makes the chook surprisingly poor at flight—its chest muscle groups are lowered to make room for that fermentation chamber. This odd biology provides the Hoatzin a spot all its personal on the avian household tree. Scientists have debated its evolutionary relationships for many years, and it stays some of the distinctive—and puzzling—birds on Earth.
Ecuador’s Amazon basin is among the finest locations to see Hoatzins, particularly round oxbow lakes and gradual‑transferring tributaries. They collect in small, noisy teams, clambering via overhanging branches with a sequence of croaks, hisses, and grunts that sound extra reptilian than avian. In case you’re fortunate, you would possibly spot a juvenile. Younger Hoatzins nonetheless carry the species’ most well-known ancestral trait: claws on their wings. These assist them climb again into vegetation in the event that they fall into the water—a outstanding throwback to early chook evolution.
On this journey, I watched a small group settle into the late‑afternoon gentle, their crests glowing like backlit flames. One chook stretched its wings, revealing the wealthy tapestry of chestnut, buff, and black that makes their plumage so hanging. One other let loose a guttural croak that echoed throughout the nonetheless water. There was no rush, no urgency—simply the gradual, historical rhythm of a species completely at residence in its world. In a spot as vibrant and quick‑transferring because the Amazon, the Hoatzin looks like a reminder to pause, breathe, and recognize the unusual and exquisite threads that tie the current to the previous.
NEXT UP: EB#18 “First Encounters within the Amazon: A Hen‑Crammed Afternoon“
Extra Images and Video
Earlier Ecuador Birding Weblog Posts:
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EB17 – Feathers from the Previous: The Exceptional Hoatzin of Ecuador
by Jim Achieve
In October 2025, Jim Achieve joined a birding tour in Ecuador, exploring its wealthy biodiversity and gorgeous landscapes over 14 days. This put up focuses on his encounter with the Hoatzin.
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EB16 – The Mama Lucy and Canoe Transit to Sani Birding Lodge
by Jim Achieve
In his weblog sequence, Jim Achieve shares his Ecuador birding journey from October 26 to November 8, 2025, with information Liron Gertsman and fellow fanatics. Throughout their journey, Achieve’s species depend reached 76, together with 52 lifers. Captivated by the Amazon’s magnificence, they encountered hanging birds like Pied Plovers and Crimson-capped Cardinals, capturing the essence and vibrant colours of this unbelievable ecosystem. Their expertise on the Sani Lodge related them deeply with nature.
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EB15 – Puembo Backyard Surprises Earlier than Taking Off for Coca
by Jim Achieve
In October 2025, Jim Achieve joined a birding tour in Ecuador, exploring its wealthy biodiversity and gorgeous landscapes over 14 days. The weblog sequence chronicles his experiences with birds and nature. This put up focuses on one more new set of species at Puembo Birding Gardens, a visit to the Mariscal Sucre Worldwide Airport and a flight all the way down to Coca within the Ecuadorian Amazon lowlands.
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EB14 – The Official Launch of the Eagle-eye Tour
by Jim Achieve
In October 2025, Jim Achieve joined a birding tour in Ecuador, exploring its wealthy biodiversity and gorgeous landscapes over 14 days. The weblog sequence chronicles his experiences with birds and nature. This put up focuses on the official begin of the Eagle-eye Tour and attending to know the opposite contributors.
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EB13 – When Shade Takes Middle Stage: Male and Feminine Crimson-headed Barbets Steal the Present
by Jim Achieve
In October 2025, Jim Achieve joined a birding tour in Ecuador, exploring its wealthy biodiversity and gorgeous landscapes over 14 days. The weblog sequence chronicles his experiences with birds and nature. This put up focuses on the euphonias, tanagers and hummingbirds we noticed once we arrived on the Mirador y Restaurante Guaycapi for lunch. – Half 3
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EB12 – Extra Feathered Encounters at Mirador Guaycapi
by Jim Achieve
In October 2025, Jim Achieve joined a birding tour in Ecuador, exploring its wealthy biodiversity and gorgeous landscapes over 14 days. The weblog sequence chronicles his experiences with birds and nature. This put up focuses on the euphonias, tanagers and hummingbirds we noticed once we arrived on the Mirador y Restaurante Guaycapi for lunch. – Half 2
*This Ecuador Birding weblog put up was formed and polished with the help of Microsoft Copilot, serving to deliver readability and a constant stream to my area notes and dictated reminiscences.
**Until in any other case indicated within the picture caption, all pictures (>99%) are mine.