Overview

This is the tour for those wanting to watch  5 species of antpitas, cock of the rock, and ocellated tapaculo , all those super special birds in the birding world, and the best chance to find 3 of the northwest toucan species at Milpe reserve

Departure Quito: We depart from Quito at 04:00 am and drive less than 1:40 hours to get to Refuge Paz.

Where we will go to the lek of the Andean Cock-of-the-rock, here you can see between 5 and 10 individuals (males), these are showing their power and beauty to attract the female and this show takes about 1 hour. It's all about wing flapping and dancing to impress the girls, it is considered one of the most interesting mating displays in wildlife. It starts at 05:45 am.

After this we will continue to look for the elusive  Antpitas, yet friendly in this reserve. This reserve contains 5 antpitta species Ochre-breasted, Giant, Chestnut-crowned, Yellow-breasted, and Moustached Antpitta. We will witness how they are whistled out of the woods, Ángel (the owner) has developed some really special skills and connection and we want you to witness it. Another special bird we will enjoy is the ocellated Tapaculo, this reserve is quite a special place for all these specialty birds.

To finish we will enjoy a delicious  breakfast at the main house with the company of hummingbirds and maybe Quetzals, Toucan Barbets, Crimson-rumped Toucanet, Dark backed Quails and the list goes on.

Before noon we will make our way to San Tadeo which  is another  beautiful tanager and hummingbird garden owned by Rolando, member of the local community who has worked very hard to transform the northwest as a birding epicenter. There are some very interesting species to be watched here like the Beryl Spangled Tanager, and Black Capped Tanager to name a few. All very hard to find anywhere else.It is also a great place for hummingbirds with some new species here,it is beautiful to watch the purple velvet coronet take its  regular baths at the fountain,red headed barbets show up frecuently and with a lot of luck we will be visited by linear woodpecker after around 1 and a half hour we will make our way to Milpe reserve and bird sanctuary, Milpe, at 1100 meters altitude, is birders paradise with many Choco endemic species and well kept trails to look for Club-winged and Golden Manakin during their season, as well as the elusive and endangered Umbrella Bird. This is for sure "the" place to find the endemic Choco Toucan as well as Pale-mandibled Aracari, and Chestnut-mandibled Toucan and about 16 tanager species, some endemic. At Milpe it  is where we will enjoy our lunch, we will stay at this beautiful reserve until around 5 pm when we will make our way back to Quito returning around 7 pm