Tanagers are one of my favorite families of birds in the tropics. They are colorful, rather large, somewhat slow, and plentiful. The Ecuador birding field guide lists about 66 species with tanager in their name. We didn’t photograph that many during our Strabo Photo Tour Collections trip in March but we got a lot.
Black-capped tanager — Mindo Valley, EcuadorBlue-capped tanager in the Mindo Valley. This was a new bird for me.Blue-capped tanagerBlue-winged mountain-tanagerGolden tanager — Mindo Valley, EcuadorFlame-faced tanager — Mindo Valley. What a great name!White-lined tanager — See the white line?
We found a nice variety of birds along the way. These are all from the Mindo Valley of Ecuador on the western slope of the Andes Mountains.
Chestnut-capped brush-finchCrimson-rumped toucanetCrimson-rumped toucanet — here you can see the rumpDusky Chlorospingus — Love that name!Rufous-collared sparrow — so common but so pretty.Swainson’s thrush on wintering grounds. It will be arriving in my area of Texas in mid-April on its way to breeding grounds in the north.
Here are a couple more hummingbirds from the last day of the trip. The birds in Ecuador are amazing.
