- Oct 28 9:54 am
#86521
Hey all, just got back a few days ago from an amazing trip to the Andes of Ecuador.
We took part in the San Jorge Eco Lodge "Magic Birding Circuit" 8 day Photography tour.
The Lodge is actually 4 lodges (we visited 3) that range from high Andes to Amazon in elevation, run by Ecuadorians.
3 and 4 course meals included breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Surprisingly, this tour was cheaper than other advertised "pro workshops" but had i chosen to pursue multi-flash setups, Luis (our guide) would have been happy to oblige me with equipment.
I chose to shoot the entire trip with natural lighting conditions however, i don't think my work suffered too much without artificial light.
I didn't know what to expect from a group tour but was assured group sizes would be 6 or under.
As it turned out, it was just my wife Api and i, we had our guide Luis Alcivar (the owners son and a fellow bird photographer himself) to ourselves!
He delivered on all his "iconic Ecuador birds" although we missed Choco Toucan at Milpe lodge, we really made an effort but in the end it was our British birder friends Mike and Helen (birders in a different group but staying at same lodges for part of trip) who got the looks we kept missing.
On our last birding day he really went out of his way to drive us to the Torrent duck location on a raging muddy river in rain and cold conditions, this bird wasn't on the schedule, it was a "bonus" - i did see a female float by briefly but never secured a shot (did get two new hummingbirds there though).
My camera lens fogged over one afternoon but the lodge at Milpe had an electronic device dryer (a hot box, basically) that heated everything up until fog was gone, quickly.
Other than that, everything went smoothly and according to plan, American Airlines were a pleasure to fly with, Dallas Fort Worth is an easy airport to get around and i would recommend this trip to any serious bird photographers.
Here then is a small selection of some of my favourite hummingbirds
We shot 31 species total
Oh, i also followed my bird photog comrade Liron into the 1000 species club, we both got our 1000th in Ecuador, he did it a few months earlier though.
Next up, tanagers.
Rainbow-bearded Thornbill (the last bird we shot on our trip, at 3800 metres altitude.)
White-bellied Woodstar
Booted Racket-Tail - much smaller than you would think
Giant Hummingbird - the worlds largest hummingbird, at 4000m elevation.
Green-crowned Brilliant
Brown Inca
Long-tailed Sylph
Velvet-purple Coronet
Green-crowned Wood-Nymph
Andean Emerald
Brown Violetear
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird
White-necked Jacobin
Sword-billed Hummingbird - iconic
Shining Sunbeam - the front of the bird is quite unexciting
Black-tailed Trainbearer
Thanks for looking
We took part in the San Jorge Eco Lodge "Magic Birding Circuit" 8 day Photography tour.
The Lodge is actually 4 lodges (we visited 3) that range from high Andes to Amazon in elevation, run by Ecuadorians.
3 and 4 course meals included breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Surprisingly, this tour was cheaper than other advertised "pro workshops" but had i chosen to pursue multi-flash setups, Luis (our guide) would have been happy to oblige me with equipment.
I chose to shoot the entire trip with natural lighting conditions however, i don't think my work suffered too much without artificial light.
I didn't know what to expect from a group tour but was assured group sizes would be 6 or under.
As it turned out, it was just my wife Api and i, we had our guide Luis Alcivar (the owners son and a fellow bird photographer himself) to ourselves!
He delivered on all his "iconic Ecuador birds" although we missed Choco Toucan at Milpe lodge, we really made an effort but in the end it was our British birder friends Mike and Helen (birders in a different group but staying at same lodges for part of trip) who got the looks we kept missing.
On our last birding day he really went out of his way to drive us to the Torrent duck location on a raging muddy river in rain and cold conditions, this bird wasn't on the schedule, it was a "bonus" - i did see a female float by briefly but never secured a shot (did get two new hummingbirds there though).
My camera lens fogged over one afternoon but the lodge at Milpe had an electronic device dryer (a hot box, basically) that heated everything up until fog was gone, quickly.
Other than that, everything went smoothly and according to plan, American Airlines were a pleasure to fly with, Dallas Fort Worth is an easy airport to get around and i would recommend this trip to any serious bird photographers.
Here then is a small selection of some of my favourite hummingbirds
We shot 31 species total
Oh, i also followed my bird photog comrade Liron into the 1000 species club, we both got our 1000th in Ecuador, he did it a few months earlier though.
Next up, tanagers.
Rainbow-bearded Thornbill (the last bird we shot on our trip, at 3800 metres altitude.)
White-bellied Woodstar
Booted Racket-Tail - much smaller than you would think
Giant Hummingbird - the worlds largest hummingbird, at 4000m elevation.
Green-crowned Brilliant
Brown Inca
Long-tailed Sylph
Velvet-purple Coronet
Green-crowned Wood-Nymph
Andean Emerald
Brown Violetear
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird
White-necked Jacobin
Sword-billed Hummingbird - iconic
Shining Sunbeam - the front of the bird is quite unexciting
Black-tailed Trainbearer
Thanks for looking
Paul Kusmin
http://punkbirdr.photo
http://www.flickr.com/photos/revs45
http://45revs.blogspot.com
https://www.instagram.com/punkbirdr
Digital (photo) Life List:
292 birds B.C. / 446 birds N.A. / 1020 birds World (including NA)
http://punkbirdr.photo
http://www.flickr.com/photos/revs45
http://45revs.blogspot.com
https://www.instagram.com/punkbirdr
Digital (photo) Life List:
292 birds B.C. / 446 birds N.A. / 1020 birds World (including NA)