With your help, we supported our Ecuadorian partner, Fundación Jocotoco, to purchase and save 387 acres of Andean cloud forest to expand Narupa Nature Reserve.

Established in 2006 to protect a large block of eastern Andean foothill forest from rapidly advancing deforestation for cattle ranching, this reserve is important for many rare species including the endangered Orange-breasted Falcon.

Named for an elegant species of tall palm, the Narupa Reserve is located in Napo province of eastern Ecuador. The reserve was established in 2006 to protect a large block of eastern Andean foothill forest, one of the largest in this part of Ecuador. These forests are globally threatened and have been the focus of much deforestation as the elevation is optimal for development and agriculture.

Narupa Reserve currently contains 1,265 acres and serves to protect part of an ecological corridor between the park and neighboring Napo-Galeras National Park, facilitating animal movement in an increasingly fragmented landscape. Rainforest Trust intends to continue to expand the size of the reserve to prevent deforestation.

Narupa has a growing list of birds that currently includes over 300 species. Five globally threatened species have been recorded, including its flagship species, the Cerulean Warbler, a long-distance migrant that breeds in eastern North America and spends the boreal winter in northwestern South America. Other wintering birds include the Canada Warbler and Swainson’s Thrush. Other globally threatened bird species that have been recorded include Black Tinamou, Military Macaw, Coppery-chested Jacamar, and Foothill Elaenia. A notable rarity is the Orange-breasted Falcon, a pair of which has bred for some years on a cliff immediately adjacent to the reserve; this represents the only currently known nesting nest for this rare falcon, itself Globally threatened, in Ecuador.