March 2026 Meeting - Birding in Ecuador: Great Avian Diversity in a Small Country

Topic: Birding in Ecuador: Great Avian Diversity in a Small Country

Featuring: Mario Cordoba

Ecuador concentrates exceptional geographic diversity within a small area. The Andes divide the country into distinct west- and east-slope systems, linking the Chocó lowlands, inter-Andean valleys, high-elevation páramo, and the upper Amazon Basin. Steep elevation gradients, active volcanism, and equatorial climate patterns create rapid habitat transitions that have driven high levels of speciation and habitat specialization, resulting in close to 1700 recorded bird species. This presentation connects those physical and ecological processes to the bird diversity we encounter in the field and explains why Ecuador consistently ranks among the top countries globally for birders.