Bird Photography at San Jorge Tandayapa in Ecuador’s Cloud Forest

Today was a transfer day as we moved from Quito to Tandayapa, deeper into Ecuador’s cloud forest.

We left the lodge in a 4WD, which made sense almost immediately. Along the way we stopped at a small hummingbird spot, the kind of place that feels increasingly common across Central and South America. At some point, everyone seems to have realized that if you build the right setup, the birds will come, and so will the tourists.

The overcast skies created a natural softbox effect, while the flowers and perches were positioned to frame the mountains in the distance, creating some great opportunities for hummingbird photography.

What we enjoyed most here was watching the interactions. We spent ages watching these two Buff-tailed Coronets having an argy-bargy. In our minds, an entire telenovela was playing out.

The hummingbirds here were incredibly tame. At one point they were landing directly on our host.

And it wasn’t just hummingbirds. We added golden-naped tanagers, blue-winged mountain tanagers, Yellow-throated Euphonia, golden grosbeak, and rose-breasted grosbeak to the list.

It was also interesting to watch the flowerpiercers. They pierce the flowers near the base to access the nectar. Then the hummingbirds then take advantage of the holes they leave behind.

Heading to San Jorge Tandayapa

After two hours and a few thousand images, we continued along the main highway before turning onto a narrow, winding dirt road toward San Jorge Tandayapa. This was why we needed the four-wheel drive. After about twenty minutes we reached a small parking area. From there, we walked about five minutes into the forest to the lodge itself.

 

 

San Jorge Tandayapa sits in the Tandayapa Valley, surrounded by cloud forest and constant bird activity. The lodge is part of the Tandayapa Cloud Forest Reserve and sits at around 1,700 metres elevation.

Our room was enormous and located just below the dining area, which is outdoors and surrounded by bird perches. Once again, we were the only guests at the lodge, which gave the whole place a quiet, private feel. Even better, several of the staff had come over from the Quito lodge, so there were familiar faces and a sense of continuity after the slightly chaotic start to this leg of the trip.

Bird Photography at San Jorge Tandayapa

Most meals were interrupted by a photo opportunity, the first one being a swallow tanager.

In the afternoon we set up for another multi-flash hummingbird session.

For this setup, we used a plain backdrop behind the flower and captured some nice booted racket-tailed hummingbirds.

We didn’t really need the multi-flash setup, because the forest surrounding the dining room attracted plenty of hummingbirds with beautiful natural backgrounds. Here, we added long-tailed sylph to the list.

After a few days of adjusting to altitude, new locations, and different setups, this one felt more comfortable. The birds were active, the light was manageable, and for the first time in a couple of days, everything felt like it was falling into place.