The packing is finished (too much, too heavy, what was I thinking?), our transportation set (brother-in-law to the rescue once more), and we are finally ready to begin our Ecuador birding adventure!

Jim and I are going a day ahead of the scheduled tour, as are 4 other participants.  Traveling in February from Ohio, you don't want to take chances on airline delays.  For our last trip (to Panama), we left on Jan. 7, just hours before a big snow storm hit Cincinnati, and it looks like we're dodging another bullet this time.  Our plane leaves at 7:15 tomorrow morning, and the snow is suppposed to start some time during the night, mixing with rain and ice tomorrow.  Forecasters are talking about 6 inches of snow in some areas before it's over, so hopefully we'll get out of Ohio before the heavy snow and/or ice hits.

The six of us who are arriving early plan to spend the day touring Quito on Feb. 6 while others are in transit.  We have a driver for the day, and we are grateful to Andres for setting everything up for us.

Jim and I are so excited about this trip!  Over 1600 species of birds in an area the size of Nevada, including 131 hummingbirds!  Andres tells me he developed a checklist for this trip with over 1000 species possible following our itinerary.  Wow!

I'll try to keep the blog updated during our time in Ecuador, but I'm sure there will be many days where there is no internet access (or I'm just too spent to try to write).  I'll try to include a lot of bird information, as well as some anecdotes along the way.  I hope you enjoy reading this blog, and I'd love to receive suggestions and constructive criticism from you.