I met my group very early at 4:30am on a Thursday in Quito, Ecuador. This after flying for most of the day and getting in very late at night. I didn’t mind the early start and working on only 2 hours sleep, as the adrenaline and anticipation of getting into the mountains for bird photography acted like a triple-shot of caffeine for me.

As we arrived on location, I certainly wasn’t disappointed. Hundreds of high-speed hummingbirds, tanagers, toucans and more greeted us and we got to work right away to capture images with our cameras.

Over the course of the next 10 days we traveled around north-central Ecuador and photographed tons and tons of birds and other wildlife.

My small group gelled instantly as we shared stories and life experiences with each other. And we certainly added some new shared experiences that I’ll never forget. We experienced the joy of numerous hummingbirds feeding from our hands. We gaped in awe at the glaciated peaks of 19,000 foot volcanoes piercing a crystal clear sky at Papallacta Pass. We found giant grasshoppers and saw endless colorful moths attracted to night lights.

But of course, the bird life was what we were there to see and see it we did! There were startling numbers of hummingbirds, warblers, jays, creepers, antpittas, flycatchers, trogons, barbets and more. Perhaps though, we weren’t mentally prepared for just so many colorful tanagers!

I’d like to thank Gilberto for his translation abilities, his small gifts, and his friendly smile, even when under the weather for 2 days. Thank you to Cookie and Linda for your entertaining stores of music, animal rescues and dogs. I’ll happily travel again with any or all of you anytime.

Thank you to the 3 wonderful lodges where we stayed amongst the birds and thank you to our driver/guides – Nestor, Luis and Andres. Lastly, and most importantly, thank you to Ecuador – you are a beautiful, welcoming country with superb bio-diversity. I can’t wait to visit again soon.