The Cerro Pata de Pájaro Protected Forest is a 10,707 acre (4,333-hectare) conservation area located in the coastal mountain range of northern Manabí Province, Ecuador. The area is co-managed by Third Millennium Alliance (TMA) and Ecuador's Ministry of Environment. First recognized for its extraordinary biological importance during scientific expeditions in the early 1990s, the area was later designated as a national protected forest. However, decades of limited management allowed extensive deforestation across much of the landscape, leaving conservation organizations and local communities with the challenge of protecting what remains and restoring what has been lost.

The protected area contains one of the largest and most pristine remnants of old-growth cloud forest remaining in the Pacific Forest of Ecuador, with approximately 5,350 acres (2,165 hectares) of primary forest surviving on its highest peaks. Perpetually shrouded in clouds, these montane forests form a critical refuge for endemic and threatened species while serving as a key ecological link within the Capuchin Corridor, a landscape-scale initiative designed to reconnect fragmented forests between Pata de Pájaro and the Jama-Coaque Reserve. The area represents one of the most important opportunities for large-scale conservation and restoration within the critically endangered Pacific Forest of Ecuador.