Birding Ecuador For Conservation: Recinto 23 de Junio - Long-wattled Umbrellabird Helps Conservation

Much of the forest on the west side of the Andes has been destroyed by agriculture´s great pressure on the eco-systems that support our beautiful neotropical birds. Many people from the south of Ecuador migrated to the west slopes and settled in this ground more than 30 years ago in their search of fertile land. Their dream was to cut the tress, sell the wood, and make room for pastures and cows. This story repeated itself as an eco going through the land, and the damage spread through our forest like termites on a dead tree. These migrating Ecuadorians began their dream life with the destruction of primary forests without knowledge of the negative effects that this would bring to our eco-systems.

We birders can make positive impact on these people by doing what we like most that is: Bird Watching.

Our visit to Recinto 23 de Junio (at 40 minutes from Los Bancos) was to see the Long-wattled Umbrellabird and we saw four males and a female. We also saw 48 other species making that day a record breaking day! In addition our guide Luis Ajila and his family became the envy of the community when we ask them to provide us with more services than the usual Umbrellabird watch, such as lunch and a guide for the rest of the day. Every time a birder goes to this place and pays money to see the birds and other services, everybody in this small community become more aware of the economic value of conservation.

Here are some of the best birds and pictures of the day:

The Long-wattled Umbrellabird