Ecuador in the Middle of the World.

My first visit to Ecuador was in November/December 2008, and it certainly will not be the last one. Ecuador is a small country with an excellent infrastructure and all places can be easily accessed. It contains various habitats for birders as you can find the Pacific Coast beaches, the Andes Mountains, and a portion of the world's largest rainforest, so called Amazonia. With over 1500 bird-species recorded, Ecuador offers more bird-diversity than any other country in the world, thanks to a great diversity in habitats. During my first visit I stayed in the subtropical zones on the lower slopes of the Andes. These zones are almost as species rich as the lowland zones, and some bird groups - hummingbirds and tanagers for example - reach their maximum diversity here. The western subtropical zone is an easy zone to bird, with good forest remaining alongside the roads. The eastern subtropics are less well-known but even more biodiverse than the subtropics of the west. The eastern sub-tropics feature amazing tanagers and hummingbirds. The eastern subtropics are also a good place to see the Crested Quetzal and Torrent Duck. The temperate faunal zone with its cloud forests, covered in mosses and bromeliads are extraordinarily beautiful, and have their share of exciting birds. Above the forested slopes of the Andes lies a rolling grassland called "paramo." Here the birds are refreshingly easy to see and quite distinct from those of other zones. This is the place to search the sky for Andean Condor ,the Andean Snipe and Tawny Antpitta.

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