Owi Photo Tours

Ojalá todos tengamos al menos un pedacito silvestres, en nuestros jardines, parques y aéreas verdes.

Would you expect to find a rabbit at 4600 feet above sea level?

Well, at the Antisana National Park you can!

This Andean rabbit is not just cute, but a key player in maintaining the health of the paramo grasslands.

Your best chance to photograph this adorable shy creature is by being patient. Get down to the rabbit’s eye level, stay quiet and still, and you might be rewarded with a perfect shot.

Be sure to be quick too, as it will probably run away after noticing you!

Know someone who loves wildlife? Tag them to brighten their day!

On Saturday we went on an adventure to Antisana National Park to explore the flora and fauna of this wonderful place.

We were all so grateful for the absolutely amazing nature that was so kind to us as we got to enjoy the spectacular view of a clear Antisana!

That is not always the case. Because it is in the eastern mountain range, the Antisana volcano is almost always covered by clouds caused by the humidity of the Amazon rainforest. So we can count ourselves lucky!

The educational tour was such a beautiful experience and we learned so much about the páramo, its incredible biodiversity, and its importance for humans during the educational talk.

Where in Ecuador would you like to go on an educational tour?

WE WON A START-UP COMPETITION!!

From 50 participants that made it to the short list, OWI PHOTO TOURS was one entrepreneurship of the four from Ecuador to be selected for the Business Ideas for Development Programme (BID) from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), for being a company that contributes to the sustainable development of our country of origin (Ecuador) and to the achievement of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

We are at half of the programme now and are glad to invite you to our first tour under this cooperation!

Join us this Saturday, May 18th on an excursion to the incredible Antisana National Park. We'll be exploring the park's diverse wildlife, including Andean condors, ibis, deers, and foxes (and hopefully, spectacled bears). Plus, we'll be learning about the importance of the páramo with an educational talk. Transportation and lunch are included. Space is limited to 15 people, so don't miss out! The cost is just $60.

Tour info here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ja-arbThzo3fCbsdKoSfxGSXDaeCXDXM/view?usp=sharing

We're here to help, if you have any questions!

¡Únete a nuestra emocionante excursión al Parque Nacional Antisana este sábado 18 de mayo! Descubre la biodiversidad de este paraíso natural, observa cóndores, bandurrias, venados, lobos andinos (y con suerte osos de anteojos). Aprende sobre “La importancia del páramo” con nuestra charla educativa. Incluye transporte y almuerzo. Cupos limitados para 15 personas. ¡Valor 60 USD! 🌿🦅

Owi Photo Tours Discover birds with your 📷 in 🇪🇨 the most biodiverse country/km² —Buy our 📕 get 10% your 1st tour

And that’s how you freeze the wings of a hummingbird without Flash!

Although having some blur on the wings can be quite beautiful too, if you want them frozen without using Flash, you should:

1. Know the type of hummingbird, smaller hummingbirds move their wings faster, and will require a faster shutter speed.

2. Some hummingbirds tend to open their wings when perched on a branch, so make use of that opportunity to photograph them. Like this one right here! For hummingbirds in flight it can get more complicated… (Continued in comments ⤵️)

📷 Shining Sunbeam / Rostroter Andenkolibri / Rayito Brillante (Aglaeactis cupripennis)
📍 Antisana Ecological Reserve, Ecuador

One simple way to improve your bird photos?

Aim to photograph at eye level!

Sometimes that means bending down, lying on the ground or standing in the weirdest position.
And what do you do when the bird is above your head? If you come along to one of our tours, you’ll be glad to know that you can do it from a comfortable position in an elevated hide or a lookout, so the bird will be at eye level even if it’s on a tree.

Send us a message if that’s something you’d like to try!

📷 Black Flowerpiercer / Schwarzhakenschnabel / Pinchaflor Negro (Diglossa humeralis)
📍 Antisana Ecological Reserve, Ecuador

Te invitamos a observar aves junto al Río San Pedro en la Hacienda San Isidro en Sangolquí, donde disfrutaremos de los árboles patrimoniales y su diversidad de aves.
El Programa de Aves Urbanas junto al Colectivo Rescate del Río San Pedro buscamos la conciencia de protección de la naturaleza a través de las aves.
¡Las aves y el río nos unen!
🗓️Fecha: Domingo 25 febrero
📍Lugar: Hacienda San Isidro - Sangolquí
Evento gratuito
¿Qué necesitas?
🌿Viste ropa cómoda y de colores oscuros para camuflarte mejor en la naturaleza.
👟Calzado cómodo.
📸No olvides tus binoculares o cámara si los tienes.
🧢Gorra o sombrero.
🍏Alimentos para compartir
🍶Asegúrate de llevar hidratación.

📷 Fotografía del libro de

Did you know that a trip two hours away is the perfect amount for a day tour?

Driving two hours each way allows you to visit another location and photograph different birds without feeling too exhausted or needing to stay over for the night.

Now imagine a city that in two hours you can either be in the páramo, the rainforest, see volcanoes, waterfalls or lakes and be back home for dinner! Aren’t you curious to visit Quito?

📷 Many-striped Canastero / Weißstrichelcanastero / Canastero Multilistado (Asthenes flammulata)
📍Antisana Ecological Reserve, Ecuador

¡Disfruta de un feriado de carnaval diferente, centrado en la naturaleza!
El tour está pensado para principiantes y aficionados a las aves y la naturaleza que quieran hacer un viaje Quito - Yasuní - Quito con paradas en puntos estratégicos en el trayecto para disfrutar de una muestra de la maravillosa biodiversidad del Ecuador. Pararemos en las laderas orientales de los Andes y luego disfrutaremos de la selva amazónica y dentro de ella, en uno de los sitios más biodiversos del mundo, el Yasuní.
Haz click en nuestra story para mayor información!

After last post, could there be a better bird photo to come back from our break than with this "Páramo Sleeper"? That would be the literal name in Spanish of this species, found only at very high elevations in the Andes. Funny how names can vary between languages, right? Do you know any bird with very different names? Share it with us in the comments!

📷 Plain-capped Ground-Tyrant / Weißbrauen-Grundtyrann / Dormilona del Páramo (Muscisaxicola alpinus)
📍Chimborazo Fauna Production Reserve, Ecuador

It is time for a well deserved rest!

As the year comes to an end, we hope that you are able to enjoy some downtime over the holidays. We will be taking some time off to rest, recharge and contemplate everything that’s happened this 2023.

We appreciate each and every one of you for sharing this journey with us. If you have stopped by to read our posts, see our stories, or come along to one of our tours, it means the world to us.

We have big plans for next year and we can’t wait to share them with you!

📷 Ecuadorian Hillstar / Ecuador-Andenkolibri / Estrella Ecuatoriana (Oreotrochilus chimborazo)
📍Chimborazo Fauna Production Reserve, Ecuador

Give us a call - if you like photographing birds!

We’re planning our 2024 ethical bird photography tours and would love for you to join us in Ecuador. You can also send us a direct message or email us if you don’t like calling 😉

📷 Ecuadorian Hillstar / Ecuador-Andenkolibri / Estrella Ecuatoriana (Oreotrochilus chimborazo)
📍Chimborazo Fauna Production Reserve, Ecuador

¡VEN Y CELEBRA UNA DÉCADA DE CONTAR AVES JUNTOS! 🎉🦜

Únete al 10mo Conteo Navideño de Aves Quito, un proyecto de ciencia participativa que cada año reúne a miles de voluntarios de todo el continente americano que salen a recolectar datos sobre las poblaciones de las aves. La Sociedad Audubon y otras organizaciones utilizan éstos datos para evaluar la salud de esas poblaciones y orientar las medidas de conservación.

¡Todos están invitados! Niños, jóvenes, adultos, ¡todos son bienvenidos a explorar la naturaleza a través de nuestros vecinos alados! 🌿👩‍👦‍👦

¡Recuerda que habrá INCREÍBLES PREMIOS para adultos y para niños en la apertura y en el conteo para celebrar nuestro décimo aniversario como libros, revistas, guías de campo, afiches de aves, gorras, plantas nativas y mucho más! 🏆🦚

🐦 Apertura y charlas: sábado 16 de diciembre de 10h00 a 13h00 en el auditorio del Parque Arqueológico y Ecológico Rumipamba.
🐦 Conteo: domingo 17 de diciembre de 6h00 a 18h00 en las rutas respectivas.

¡Ven y celebra una década de conexión con nuestras aves!

Inscríbete en el evento aquí: https://forms.gle/vpVrZd8pdMUfCU339

La 10ma edición del Conteo de Aves Quito es solamente posible gracias al VALIOSO APOYO de: Alambi, National Audubon Society, Aves y Conservación, BirdLife International Americas, Café En-señas, Celebrate Urban Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, eBird Ecuador, EPMMOP, Fenasec, Fondo para la Protección del Agua - FONAG, Jardín Botánico Quito, Ilaló Verde, Introspección, Instituto Metropolitano de Patrimonio de Quito, Parque Ecológico Y Arqueológico Rumipamba, Jardines Silvestres, Fundación de Conservación Jocotoco, Jocotours Ecuador, KIRAK Veterinaria , Maraksacha Reserve, USFQ Museo de Zoología & Laboratorio de Zoología Terrestre, Nativus, NatureBooks, Owi Photo Tours, PAU Ecuador, PAU Quito , PomasQuinde, Punto Ornitológico MINDO - Birdwatching, Rescate del Río San Pedro, Hacienda Rumiloma, Sendero Ecológico La Vicentina Favio Delgado, Sisari Ecuador, Telefériqo Quito, Revista Ecuador Terra Incognita, Quinde Coffee Tour, UrbanOrnis, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Yaku Museo del Agua, Fundación Zoológica del Ecuador así como de todos nuestros queridos 🥳

¡No te lo pierdas!

To photograph birds in the field, first you have to find them. Second, birds shouldn’t find you!

Swipe to see what we mean 😉

Thanks to Carlos Cajas for the invitation to photograph Chimborazo’s endemic bird and to Equatur for this behind-the-scenes-pic.

📷 Ecuadorian Hillstar / Ecuador-Andenkolibri / Estrella Ecuatoriana (Oreotrochilus chimborazo)
📍Chimborazo Fauna Production Reserve, Ecuador

Very excited for today’s academic talk for Carrera Turismo - Espoch’s tourism students at Chimborazo’s University Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo about nature photography, sustainable birding tourism and

This is probably one of the rarest hummingbirds you’ll ever see!

It is also the emblematic bird of the Metropolitan District of Quito, although most of its citizens (birdwatchers included) have never seen it.

That’s because a great percentage of its habitat has been degraded or destroyed and there are only a few individuals left, what makes it critically endangered. Besides, it can only be found in a very specific elevational zone in the mountains west and north of Quito.

The Yanacocha Reserve, just outside of Quito, was created by Fundación de Conservación Jocotoco in 2001 specifically to protect the Black-breasted Puffleg.

Jocotoco Foundation is an Ecuadorian NGO that protects endangered species of birds since 1998. It has a network of 15 reserves, including one in the Galápagos Islands. Together, they protect more than 57,000 acres (23.000 hectares) of threatened ecosystems.

I was lucky to photograph this one at Zuro Loma Birding some weeks ago!

What’s the rarest bird you’ve photographed?

🐦📷 Black-breasted Puffleg / Schwarzbauch-Höschenkolibri / Zamarrito Pechinegro (Eriocnemis nigrivestis)
📍 Zuro Loma Birding Reserve, Ecuador

This is probably one of the rarest hummingbirds you’ll ever see!

It only lives in a small extension of forest, where around 90% of its habitat has sadly been lost to deforestation, illegal logging, illegal mining, and human-induced fires to expand the agricultural frontier and establish cattle pastures.

But do you know where this is? Stay tuned to find out!

🐦📷 Black-breasted Puffleg / Schwarzbauch-Höschenkolibri / Zamarrito Pechinegro (Eriocnemis nigrivestis)

This is probably one of the rarest hummingbirds you’ll ever see!

Found nowhere outside Ecuador and with no more than 250 individuals remaining in the wild, this incredibly beautiful hummingbird faces an extremely high risk of extinction.

But do you know why? Stay tuned to learn more!

🐦📷 Black-breasted Puffleg / Schwarzbauch-Höschenkolibri / Zamarrito Pechinegro (Eriocnemis nigrivestis)

Such a joy to share our knowledge about birds and conservation, especially when kids learn by playing! Thank you for the invitation Bosque Escuela Guardianes de Saloya, a school in close contact with nature in Mindo, Ecuador

To photograph birds in the field, first you have to find them.

Swipe to try it for yourself!

1️⃣ Cattle Egret / Kuhreiher / Garcilla Bueyera (Bubulcus ibis)

2️⃣ & 3️⃣ Ecuadorian Rail / Ecuadotralle / Rascón Ecuatoriano (Rallus aequatorialis)

📍 Yahuarcocha Lake, Imbabura, Ecuador