Ecoquest Travel (2024)

05/09/2022

Happy Birthday Dave Davenport! Here's hoping your day is FABULOUS!

08/03/2022

Hi Everyone,
The Pantanal is home to an incredible number of raptors. Many, like the Savanna Hawk below, are specialized for living and hunting in open country. Note the really long legs which aid in hunting in tall grass. This is a spectacular species which is very common in the Pantanal. Enjoy!

06/03/2022

Hi Everyone,
The Pantanal is far and away the best place in South America to see mammals. This includes many rare charismatic species like Jaguar, Tapir, Giant Anteater and Giant Otter - more on those species in coming posts. The Pantanal is also home to many smaller, lesser known, species including the Yellow Armadillo in the photo below. Although not as charismatic as the aforementioned species these guys have a ton of character and are hilarious to watch as the snuffle about looking for food!

05/03/2022

Hi Everyone,
The Pantanal is home to a variety of spectacular parrots including the Turquoise-fronted Parrot pictured below. This species is found in the open country of Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina, preferring gallery forest and islands of forest within Cerrado and savanna habitats. Enjoy!

03/03/2022

Hello Everyone,
I’m in-between trips, but leave for Ecuador soon. Before I depart I will post from last August’s trip to the Pantanal of Brazil and it’s extension to Cristalino Lodge in the Southwestern Amazon. It was a sensational trip full of highlights! The Pantanal is the world’s largest wetland and home to an incredible diversity of birds, mammals and reptiles, including most of South America’s most charismatic species. The largest of the toucans - the enormous Toco Toucan - lives in the Pantanal and is seen in a variety of habitats including those close to our lodges. Here is an individual that was just outside my room one morning.

19/02/2022

Hi Everyone,
One of the birding highlights our first morning in San Blas was a flock of Black-throated Magpie Jays calling and displaying in the treetops. It is not unusual to see Black-throated Magpie Jays in this area, but to see fifteen to twenty together all singing and displaying was really special. They are large, colorful birds and look a bit wacky with their incredibly long tails and spindly crests on their head. It was a great start to the morning!!

17/02/2022

Hi Everyone,
Once we finished our whale watching in Puerto Vallarta we traveled north to San Blas for a couple days of birding and wildlife watching. San Blas has many different habitat types including extensive mangrove forests and estuaries. Mangroves are highly productive and are a haven for juvenile fish. This in turn creates excellent hunting grounds for water birds including the flock of Wood Storks feeding in the photo below. The afternoon light was great!

15/02/2022

Hi Everyone,
In Puerto Vallarta the warm waters of Banderas Bay hold a large wintering population of Humpback Whales. They migrate from their feeding waters in Alaska to Banderas Bay to give birth and to mate. Males compete for females which means there are all sorts of behaviors you can observe on our whale watching trips - including breaching, spy hopping and fin slapping. The photo below is a Humpback diving - lifting its tail flukes high in the air to help take them downward in the water column.
Our trip to witness Mexico’s Magical Migrations - Monarch Butterflies & Humpback Whales - is a fantastic way to view two of nature’s greatest spectacles. We are offering another trip to Mexico with a focus on Monarchs and Humpbacks this December prior to the holidays and we invite you to join us. If you are interested please contact us!

14/02/2022

Hi Everyone,
Once we concluded our visits to the Monarch Butterfly Reserves we flew to warmer Puerto Vallarta where we would go whale watching. You could tell we were in warmer weather as our first morning produced a rather handsome visitor in the palm trees right outside our hotel. This huge male Green Iguana was taking in the morning sun! Some males as they age turn from green to this orangey color.

11/02/2022

Hi Everyone,
No photo today just an announcement. As outlined in our last newsletter, we have partnered with Ultimate Safaris in South Africa on a YouTube Channel dedicated to wildlife and conservation. EcoQuest will have a playlist of videos on this channel.We have two videos currently up - the first an overview of EcoQuest Travel and our new partnership; and the second is a Jaguar video from our trip to the Pantanal of Brazil last August. So, both these videos are live and our third featuring a Giant Anteater will go live soon.
We can’t post a link within Facebook, however, if you open YouTube and search for "Ultimate Safari” - it comes up with an orange and black Leopard logo. Click on Ultimate Safari and when you reach the Ultimate Safari's homepage just click the Playlist button on the menu bar and then click the EcoQuest videos. Also, once you on the home page please subscribe to the channel – there is no cost to do this. Also, if you select the notification button the channel will send you an email to let you know when a new video will appear.
This is just another way to reach out to all of you and bring the magic of trips to you even when you can’t participate. You can share in our experiences from the comfort of your home. We are very excited about this new partnership which will enable us to show you video footage from our trips and expand our brand while enhancing our ability to educate.

10/02/2022

Hi Everyone,
One final Monarch Butterfly shot from our recent trip to Mexico. In the spring the butterflies begin to feed building up fat reserves for the flight back to Texas. The generation that overwinters in Mexico flies down from the Northern US and Canada, overwinters and then flies back to the Texas Coast, breeds, lays eggs and dies. Then there are three more generations that move northward as milkweed (the host plants for the caterpillars) becomes available. The last of these generations reach the Northern US and Canada, breed, lays eggs and dies. The eggs that they laid give rise to the next generation who migrates to Mexico to repeat the cycle. This is nature’s most remarkable migration and one which continues to be endangered mostly because of widespread use of pesticides and herbicides - killing both milkweed and the butterflies themselves.

06/02/2022

Hi Everyone,
In the last post we discussed how the Monarch Butterflies clump in the trees on their wintering sites in Central Mexico. Normally, if the day is sunny, as it begins to warm many Monarchs take wing to drink. Hundreds can gather together at these little streams and puddles to drink water and take in minerals. As the day begins to cool down they return to their roosts in the Oyamel Fir Trees.

04/02/2022

Hi Everyone,
More from our recent Mexico trip… As always, the Monarch Butterflies were incredible. We visited two sanctuaries Chincua and El Rosario and, while both experiences were awesome, El Rosario really stood out this year with about 15 million butterflies in the colony we observed. Below is a photo taken earlier in the morning when the Monarchs clump close together in such numbers that they make the tree branches sag under their weight. More on the Monarchs and their migration in the next post so stay tuned.

28/01/2022

Hi Everyone,
Just back from an incredible trip to Mexico where we witnessed the Monarch Butterfly and Humpback Whale migrations and saw lots of special birds. I’ll be posting from this trip for the next week or so!! I am going to start with a cultural photo taken at the ruins of Teotihuacan just outside Mexico City. EcoQuest Travel specializes in wildlife and birding trips, but we never ignore important cultural sites and/or experiences. The ruins of Teotihuacan are amazing covering thirty two square miles. The pyramids in Teotihuacan are among the largest in the Americas and the Pyramid of the Sun in the photo below is the third largest pyramid in the world (the two that are larger are found in Egypt). It is often assumed incorrectly that Teotihuacan are Aztec ruins, in fact the city was built between 1AD and 350 AD over 1,000 years before the Aztec empire rose to power. At its apex there were at least 125,000 people inhabiting Teotihuacan making it the sixth largest city in the world at that time. Today it is Mexico’s most visited site and one that inspires awe and wonder!

09/01/2022

Hi Everyone,
Our November/December safari to Tanzania produced one of the greatest Leopard sightings we have ever had! The photo below is just one of many this female allowed us to take at very close range while she was on low branches in a Sausage Tree. She also jumped down to attempt to hunt and when this failed she walked right beside our vehicle before fading into the grass. Seeing Leopards is always a matter of luck and persistence and seeing them well, and for such a long time, is rare and special. Enjoy!

08/01/2022

Hi Everyone,
Sorry for the hiatus over the holidays - I hope you had a great holiday season and Happy New Year from EcoQuest Travel! I am about to depart for Mexico next week so I’ll post from that trip soon. In the meantime we’ll go back to Tanzania - our last trip in November/December. Thomson’s Gazelles are so common in the Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti they are often overlooked. This is a shame because they are just stunning antelope! Here’s a male in the Ngorongoro Crater. The contrasting markings are beautiful - enjoy!

21/12/2021

Hi Everyone,
The photo below is a female Greater Painted Snipe - an unusual shorebird found in Africa and Asia. Painted Snipes belong in their own family that contains two genera and three species - Greater and Australian Painted Snipes in one genus and then the South American Painted Snipe in the other. They are unusual in that the females are more colorful than the males. They are not common and seeing one is always special. The female in the photo below was walking in a clear rivulet just below a bridge in Lake Manyara National Park.

20/12/2021

Hi Everyone,
We had some extraordinary luck with elephants at Lake Manyara NP this November. While elephants are common in this park they are not always easy to see - this was not the case with our recent visit which produced many memorable sightings including the very young calf in the photo below. Elephants have up to 40,000 muscles in their trunk - by contrast humans have about 600 in our entire body. This means that it takes quite a bit of time for young elephants to learn how to manipulate their trunk. You can frequently see them struggle trying to complete more complex tasks and in frustration they often just whirl it around instead. The elephant in the photo was definitely still figuring out his trunk and was trying to hold it up and he walked through the grass.

19/12/2021

Hi Everyone,
There are so many fabulous birds in East Africa. One of my favorites is the African Paradise Flycatcher shown in the photo below. The males, during the breeding season, have outlandishly long tail feathers that trail behind them like streamers when they fly. The contrasting colors of rust, white and black are punctuated by a brilliant blue eye-ring and beak - subtle flamboyance at its best!

18/12/2021

Hi Everyone,
The birds in Africa justifiably get most of the glory for their riotous colors, but they are not the only ones sporting incredible hues, The photo below is a male Red-headed Rock Agama - when warmed by the sun and in prime breeding condition these large lizards are fantastically colored. Enjoy!

17/12/2021

Hi Everyone,
I just returned from a spectacular safari in Tanzania - the third to Tanzania since June! I posted a couple of photos from the very beginning of our trip, but without good internet access the rest had to wait until now! Today’s post is a male Silvery-cheeked Hornbill. We saw lots of Silvery-cheeked Hornbills in both Arusha and Lake Manyara National Parks. These large hornbills are omnivorous and while they do eat lots of fruit they certainly hunt for animal protein as well. This individual in Lake Manyara National Park was catching freshwater crabs in a stream and gulping them down whole.

27/11/2021

Hi Everyone,
One of the most common monkeys in East Africa is the Vervet. These monkeys are often found in close proximity to people and often raid gardens, orchards and even houses for food. This mother and baby were eating the bananas found in the gardens at our lodge. Monkey business all around!

26/11/2021

Hi Everyone,
Greetings from Tanzania where I am leading my fourth safari since June and my third in Tanzania. We had an incredible day in Arusha National Park today with excellent sightings of Black-and-white Colobus and Syke’s Monkeys; Olive Baboons, Harvey’s Red Duiker, Masai Giraffe and so much more. However, the real highlight was seeing a Suni. A Suni is a small forest antelope which are very shy and seldom seen. They are the smallest antelope in Tanzania and only occur in the highland forests found on Mount Meru and Mount Kilimanjaro. I have only seen a Suni one time before and today’s sighting was incredible as it did not immediately melt away into the forest. Below is the best photo I got - it’s an adult male - note the two small horns.

22/11/2021

Hi Everyone,
Belize is home to a host of special reptiles and amphibians. Snakes are particularly diverse and, while it is harder to find them in the dry season, we did find a juvenile Boa Constrictor. Boa Constrictors are found throughout the Neotropics, but have superb camouflage and are encountered infrequently on a typical ecotour. Enjoy!

19/11/2021

Hi Everyone,
Trogons are amazing birds of the tropics - though there are a few species that reach the subtropics including the Elegant Trogon which is present in SE Arizona. Belize has four species of Trogon including the Gartered Trogon in the photo below. Eye-ring color and the amount of white on the under tail help separate similar looking species. They feed on fruit, insects and small vertebrates which they often gather by hover-gleaning - hovering in place while grabbing their intended target. Trogons are among the most colorful of denizens in tropical forests.

17/11/2021

Hi Everyone,
Just returned from a great trip to Belize. The group visited Thatch Caye first to experience the barrier reef and then it was on to our lodge in the middle of the rainforest not far from the border with Guatemala. The Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico and Belize holds some very special birds not found anywhere else. One of these species is the Ocellated Turkey. There are only two species of turkey in the world - the familiar Wild Turkey found throughout much of North America and the Ocellated which is found only on the Yucatan Peninsula. Our lodge is situated in a vast area of rainforest and has been protected for a long time making Ocellated Turkeys quite common - indeed “yardbirds” around the lodge grounds. Despite how common they are in a few protected places, they are endangered throughout their limited range due to overhunting and habitat loss. It was a privilege to see these beautiful birds daily!

03/11/2021

Hi Everyone,
African Buffalo, also known as Cape Buffalo, are sometimes dangerously unpredictable. They stare at you like you owe them money — trying to decide whether to collect on that debt or not. However, for the individual in the photo below the stare is there, but it’s less convincing when wearing a bouquet of flowers!

02/11/2021

Hi Everyone,
Tanzania is home to an incredible variety of antelope species. Some like Wildebeest and Impala are easily seen and recognized. Others are shy and more difficult to observe. The Bushbuck is a shy resident of forests and thickets. The Bushbuck in the photo below is a young adult female. Note the absence of horns - Bushbuck males have horns and females do not. The beautiful striping on her coat is retained through adulthood. This individual gave us some excellent photos as she stayed in the open an unusually long time. Eventually she did as all Bushbucks do and melted away into the underbrush.

01/11/2021

Hi Everyone,
Reptiles are abundant in Tanzania, but are often hard to observe on safari. Being confined to a vehicle makes looking for reptiles difficult, but sometimes you get lucky. The photo below is a Leopard Tortoise - Africa’s second largest tortoise species. The pattern on the carapace (the upper shell) gives this species its name and also provides excellent camouflage when among the grasses and leaves. This one was about to cross the road and really stands out against the red clay.

30/10/2021

Hi Everyone,
Primates, especially young ones, are constant sources of amusement on safari. These young Vervet Monkeys stopped their wrestling match just long enough for this shot. Enjoy!

Ecoquest Travel