From 22 November through 1 December, Maine Audubon led a tour with Field Guides to Ecuador, visiting the eastern Andes to track down some of the many birds and other wildlife that inhabit this region. This tour was based out of the famous San Isidro Lodge, situated at 6,800ft, where we explored their grounds as well as took day trips ranging from Papallacta Pass (14,000ft) to the tropical foothills (sub 4,000ft).
This trip was a tremendous success thanks to our guide Mitch Lysinger, and the locals we worked with throughout our travels. These trips are always fun for seeing not only dozens of new birds, but finding some of “our” birds (species that breed in Maine) on their wintering grounds, such as Blackburnian Warbler being one of the most abundant species we encountered! I have several thousand photos to go through, but am excited to share a full report and travelogue via Zoom on December 16, which you can register for here (this will be recorded too): maineaudubon.org/events/birding-ecuador-trip-report-online/
We have a trip to Jamaica scheduled for March 2026 but we still need a couple more people to sign up. The island sustained a lot of damage when Hurricane Melissa made landfall at the end of October, but the island nation is rebuilding quickly. Ecotourism is even more important for the island now, and in the words of Jamaica’s tourism officials: “If you want to support us, visit us.” I’ve got a good feeling that the weather in March will be much nicer in Jamaica than it will be in Maine, not to mention the 28 endemic birds from the unique Orangequit to the fabulous Streamertails, and many more species we’ll track down during our visit. Consider joining us and supporting Jamaica! More information on this tour is available here (registration info in the pdf): fieldguides.com/jamaica-2026-with-maine-audubon/
