Hummingbird blog: field notes from the cloud forest
Our hummingbird blog: species guides, the native plants we grow and photography tips — written from our family farm at 2,330 m in Cuyuja, on Ecuador's eastern slope.
15 articles
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Photo: Sylvain2803, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped). Quito to Papallacta and Cuyuja: the 8-step route by car or bus
Quito to Papallacta is only the first stretch. The full route on to Cuyuja, with distances, the Quitumbe bus, 2025 road closures and driving tips.
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Photo: Don Henise, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped). Cloud forest Ecuador: the eastern slope and 7 visitor tips
What a cloud forest is, why Ecuador's eastern slope differs from Mindo, and what lives around Cuyuja, where about 90% of the parish is protected.
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Photo: Kati Fleming, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped). How long do hummingbirds live? 11 species age records
Usually 3 to 5 years, and a banded Broad-tailed reached at least 12. Banding records for 11 species, what kills them, and why Andean data is scarce.
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Photo: James Sykes, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped). Where do hummingbirds sleep? Torpor and 5 signs to spot it
On a sheltered twig, often in torpor. How Andean hummingbirds survive cold nights, 5 signs of a torpid bird and what to do if you find one.
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Photo: Jasmine Nears (nearsjasmine), CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped). How to keep bees away from hummingbird feeders: 9 fixes
Stop bees and ants, tell when nectar has spoiled, and an honest look at the foil trick, with a 9-step checklist.
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Photo: Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped). Male vs female hummingbirds: 6 Andean examples
How to tell males from females by gorget, tail, bill and size, from the sword-billed hummingbird to the near-identical coronets.
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Photo: Andy Morffew from Itchen Abbas, Hampshire, UK, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped). Sword-billed hummingbird: where to see the bird with the longest bill
The only bird whose bill is longer than its body, the flower it evolved with, and where to find it on the Papallacta–Baeza road.
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Photo: Simon Toaquiza. Collared inca: the white-bibbed hummingbird of San Pedrito
The first hummingbird we photographed on the farm. How to tell male, female and Ecuador's two races apart.
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Photo: Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped). Long-tailed sylph: Ecuador's long-tailed hummingbird
Male, female and Ecuador's races — and how to tell it from the violet-tailed sylph of Mindo.
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Photo: Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped). Tourmaline sunangel: the rosy-throated hummingbird of the eastern Andes
A bird of exactly our altitude, found in Ecuador only on the eastern slope.
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Photo: Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped). Chestnut-breasted and buff-tailed coronets: the bossy hummingbirds
Why one hummingbird chases all the others from the flowers, and how to tell the two coronets apart.
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Photo: Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped). What do hummingbirds eat? Nectar, insects and the right feeder recipe
How hummingbirds feed, what their chicks eat, and the 1:4 nectar recipe that helps rather than harms.
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Photo: Alexey Yakovlev, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped). Hummingbird plants of the Andes: the native flowers we grow at 2,330 m
Tacso, red angel's trumpet, fuchsias, iochroma and bomarea — chosen for our altitude and our birds.
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Photo: Simon Toaquiza. Hummingbird photography in Ecuador: settings and field tips
Shutter speeds that freeze wings, flash, clean backgrounds, phone tips and ethics in the cloud forest.
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Photo: David C. S., CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped). Cuyuja, Ecuador: a local guide to the cloud-forest village
Waterfalls, rock climbing, birds, history and how to get there from Quito.
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