In order to have the best opportunity to spot birds over the weekend, we will use Friday to familiarize our teams with the area. Of course, we will birdwatch along the way.

These areas will include:

On land -  the Kichwa community's birding tower, a trail near the lodge that leads to higher land away from the water, another trail near the convergence of the Cuyabeno and Aguarico Rivers.

On water - the Cuyabeno River, the Aguarico River, and possibly the Wasp River. 

We will spend some time strategizing with our guides on the best way to maximize our team effort to spot the most birds on the following day.

Today is the big day.

We will have an early morning start to take advantage of every minute of the day. Today's count will not only place Playas de Cuyabeno on the map, it will help add species to the overall count for the region and for the country. Last year, Ecuador came in third-place after Colombia and Peru, despite having more biodiversity for the size of the small nation. 

We will take a break in the afternoon as we also plan on utilizing the evening hours to spot night birds that are harder to see in the daytime. 

We want to make sure you have the opportunity to see all of the possible species around Playas de Cuyabeno. Therefore, Sunday we will head out and make sure that each team has a chance to explore places that they may not have visited the day before. Additionally, if there are any places an individual birdwatchers wants to return to, we may change our groupings to accommodate that desire. We will do our best to make sure each participant checks all the boxes on their life lists.

On day 5, we will return by boat and car for your return to Quito. If you plan on flying, there are no afternoon connecting flights from Coca to Quito. Therefore, you may need to plan for an extra night stay in Sushufindi or in Coca.