Plate-billed mountain toucan in Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve, Ecuador

A plate-billed mountain toucan. Plate-billed mountain toucan

We’re at the Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve in the Pichincha Province of Ecuador, a 2000-acre conservation area that was established in 1981. Bellavista is located at a high altitude, in the northwestern Andes mountains, and is home to a huge variety of bird species, including the plate-billed mountain toucan you see here.

These colourful birds live in the elevated cloud forests of Ecuador and southern Columbia, and are particularly vocal toucans, with males and females known to duet at volumes that can be heard more than a half-mile away. Plate-billed mountain toucans are considered near-threatened due to loss of habitat due to deforestation and poachers who trade in exotic birds. But conservation organisations including Bellavista are offering a glimmer of hope – and refuge – to this and many other rare and understudied species of birds, plants, and other wildlife.