In English we use the word “visit” to denote the action of being temporarily present at a location. In Spanish, the more common word is “conocer.” The best translation of “conocer” in this context is “to get to know,” as one would get to know a friend. I got to know a huge variety of people and places throughout northern Ecuador. Each of the four majors region of Ecuador (Amazonia, Sierra, Costa, Galapagos) has a distinct culture and cuisine and can feel like a country entirely different from the other regions. And of course, each region has its own beautiful places, flora, and fauna.
Amazonia
Sierra
Costa
Galapagos
And, nestled between the high mounatins and the coast lie the western cloud forests of Ecuador, yet another magical area.
Though I managed to see quite a few places in Ecuador, there is still so much to explore. I have yet to visit the southern parts of Ecuador such as Cuenca and Loja, and birds such as the cock-of-the-rock and mountain-toucan still elude me. You can be sure I’ll be returning to Ecuador, possibly as soon as March 2015. However, right now I am back in the USA, so unfortunately this is end of this blog, at least for the time being. Thanks for reading!
If you want more adventures stateside (and problably in Quebec as well), follow my next blog, An Iowan around North America. This next week I’ll be in southern Texas, a wildlife hotspot with quite a few bird in common with Ecuador! (Note: at time of writing, that blog is empty.) It’ll be largely nature-themed, though culinary escapades and some sightseeing are likely to take place as well.
I’m but hours away from leaving Ecuador, but I’m squeezing in one last post before I go. (There will be one final post after this one.) For our last hoorah, my whole study abroad group returned to a familiar location: Comunidad Yunguilla.
Chico, our host family’s dog, was eagerly awaiting us.A view of the valley below Yunguilla.
We were last in Yunguilla three months ago, after visiting the beautiful Santa Lucia. Last time around in Yunguilla, we spent most of our time doing community service work (which we did a bit of this time, too).
Trail clearingHammering a log to loosen the bark… after hauling it up a hill.
This time, we spent most of our time giving presentations on our projects (see my last three posts for info on my project). The venue was the restaurant/hostel Casa Tahuallullo, which happens to have aroids with giant leaves outside.
Also known as “the beard plant” by absolutely no one.
When we weren’t hard at work presenting or doing manual labor, there is a giant swing with an incredible view of the valley below.
I also got a bit of birding in, as I am apt to do.
Blue-winged mountain tanagerBlue-and-black tanager, a reasonably uncommon but beautiful species
One particularly interesting bird from an ecological standpoint is the black flowerpiercer, so named for its feeding habits. Flowerpiecers use their sharp beaks to rob flowers of nectar without pollinating.
Some pena-pena flowers pierced by a flowerpiercer.
My flight back to the states leaves in approximately 4.5 hours, but as I mentioned earlier, I still have one more post planned. Stay tuned!
I feel the warm sun against my skin as I lay in the…
Snow?!
You might have though I went to the beach again, but those were and Andean gull, Andean lapwings, and a Baird’s sandpiper (in that order). The first two stick around the Andes all year long, while the Baird’s sandpiper migrates all the way from the Arctic to the Andes, which some migrating as far as the southern tip of Argentina (Source).
One week ago today was my last sojourn into the shadow of Volcán Antisana. However, I made sure that last week wasn’t a dull week, as Vladimir (co-owner of Tambo Condor, the place I have been staying) and I climbed up to an altitude of 4700 meters (3 miles) to the base of the glaciers of Antisana.
While the area was barren at first sight, upon closer inspection there is some very cool plant and bird life at three miles up.
Rufous-bellied seedsnipe. Looks and acts like a bit like a chicken, but is more closely related to the gulls and shorebirds you saw earlier. There are only four species of seedsnipe, all found in South America.Nototriche ecuadoriensis, a gorgeous small flower of the hibiscus family. It is only found in the highlands of Ecuador.Senecio canescens. The hairy leaves keep water from freezing on the leaf surface and block excess sunlight. (Note: I miss ID’ed this as an Espeletia species earlier. Oops. Fixed 6/17/2015)Wish I could tell you what this is, but I’m clueless! Update as of 6/17/15: I have been informed that this is species of violet, Viola polycephala, that is endemic to Antisana. Thank you, Charles Dawkins of Denmark!
Other points of interest last week were the field tests of our ibis models. Turns out, they don’t attract ibises very well, though we did have a pair get reasonably close.
We also finally saw some ibises mating, which was was quite good for the study, as one of our main objective was to find reproducing birds.
Unfortunately, if they were starting mate last week, that means they could be nesting starting this week, after my study is over.
In other news, I finally managed a decent photograph of one of my favorite birds, the sword-billed hummingbird! It’s the only bird with a beak longer than its body.
Tomorrow I head back to Quito, and Monday I’m off to the cloud forest community of Yunguilla, a place which I have visited before but did not have the chance to write about.
I’m afraid this blog is coming close to its end, as I head back to the US in one week. However, expect at least one or two more posts before I ship out. Until next time!
Not a whole lot has changed weather-wise up in the páramo. It’s still darn cold (got snowed on again) and getting around is a little muddy.
Just another frosty morning at the base of Antisana.The car got a bit dirty, but it apparently loves it.
However, I did manage to take a sweet photo of an Ecuadorian hillstar at an altitude of 4320 meters (that’s about 2.7 miles, for the metric challenged).
I mentioned how these guys survive frigid nights in a past post. Turns out the hemoglobin in their blood is specially adapted for thin air as well by being more efficient at capturing oxygen (Source). But was is a hummingbird to eat at these elevations? Blueberries! Or rather, nectar from Disterigma flowers, a South American genus of blueberry.
Also managed to find three life birds in a day, including this gorgeous Aplomado falcon.
These guys are found as far south as Argentina and as far north as the southern tip of Texas. However, the road to see them there in Texas is terrible, as my mother can attest.
It also happens to be the season of catsos in the páramo. What are catsos? Catso is the Kichwa word for “beetle.” What does one do with a catso? You toast it with garlic and corn!
While definitely counter to the general notion in the US that bugs aren’t food, catsos have a nice crunchy texture and don’t really have much flavor, other than that of what they are cooked with. In other words, they’re not bad.
Oh, I mentioned ibis decoys last week. Well guess what? They’re done!
The beginning of two ibises.
And done!
We have yet to officially field test them, but for now they are handsome steeds.
Yeehaw!
It may be a while (2-3 weeks) before the next post, as this next week is my last full week of data collection and then I have some writing to do. After that, I’m off to present my paper to the study abroad group in some as-of-yet undisclosed location. Until next time!
I have left the city and exams behind for a more peaceful local, namely Tambo Condor and the Antisana Ecological Reserve.
The sunset view from the front of my cabin at Tambo Condor. You wouldn’t know it, but Quito is in that valley down there.
In the mornings or afternoons (depending on my work schedule for the), I’m greeted by these little fellas (if you count the largest hummingbird in the world as a “little” fella).
Sparkling violetearBlack flowerpiercer. Normally, it steals nectar from the bottom of flowers, but hummingbird feeders work too.That would be the giant hummingbird, which is about the size of a sparrow.
What exactly am I doing up in this mountainous area? I am assisting in research on the Andean ibis.
That would be a pair of Andean ibis.
While first recognized as a species by French biologists back in 1894, the Andean ibis has since been considered a subspecies of the buff-necked ibis and then the black-faced ibis. It wasn’t until this year that the IUCN and BirdLife International recognized the Andean ibis as a full species. (Source). In Ecuador, they live near two volcanoes: Antisana and Cotopaxi.
AntisanaCotopaxi
While listed as NT (near threatened) worldwide, the population of Andean ibis in Ecuador is critically endangered, with about 100 individuals estimated in 1999.
But that was 15 years ago. The data for the last fairly comprehensive study on these birds was done near Antisana in 2000, and even after that no one knows where the population near Antisana nests. While we’re still trying to figure that out, we have confirmed a roosting spot.
Puma Pacha. See that little hole in the cliff face? Ibises roost there.A close up of the roost area.
Yes, these birds roost behind a waterfall (well, two of them do.)
While the ibises are my primary focus, there are other birds to be seen up in the páramo, such as condors and other raptors.
Juvenile condorJuvenile variable hawkThe same variable hawk chasing after an adult condor. Note the size difference.Carunculated caracara, locally known as a curiquingue. While related to falcons, they are essentially the crows of Antisana; they eat just about anything and will bully ibis to get access to food.Genciana sedifolia
The plant life in the páramo is as beautiful (and sometimes alien) as ever.
Clubmosses growing within a mass of cushion plantsA strange yellow patch within a cushion of Distichia muscoides
While it may look like fun and games from these photos, the páramo is darn cold. It’s one thing to visit for a day and half as I did a little over a month ago, but being out for six hours at a time can be a little chilly. This is especially true since our observations either start in the early morning or last until sunset.
Yep that’s snow. Yes, I’m basically on the Equator.
However, staying out while the temperature is hovering around freezing does have some perks, namely incredible views of Antisana.
Up next: Do ibises react to paper mache doppelgangers? I don’t know the answer either, but we’ll hopefully find out next week!
It’s been about two weeks since I last set foot in Galapagos, and almost three weeks since my last post, and I apologize for that. There are pesky things called papers, field notebooks, and final exams that got in my way. But those are over now! So here are a lot of pictures of (and facts about) the Galapagos.
Let’s start with some geology! And by geology I mean “look at those clouds spilling into that crater!”
Sierra Negro Volcano on Isabela Island.
Isabela Island, like almost all of the Galapagos Islands, is of volcanic origin. Such origins create cool formations such as lava tunnels, which occur when hot liquid lava continues to flow underneath hardened, cooled lava.
Los Tuneles, remnant of old lava tunnels.
South Plazas is one of the few islands that is not of volcanic origin, but nevertheless the scenery there is quite spectacular as well.
Me watching shearwaters (seabirds) from the cliff on South Plazas.
Remember how I said in my last post I would get better photos of pelicans, frigatebirds, and boobies in Galapagos? Well I missed the pelican, but…
Magnificent frigatebird on our boatFrigatebird flaring its tailBlue-footed booby flockBooby staredownBlue-footed booby with chick.A Nazca booby. There are actually five species of booby in the world, and three nest in Galapagos.
I also managed to spot three waved albatrosses, but I didn’t photograph any of them (at least not well). They are big birds, with 8 foot wingspans. The closest I got this shot of an Elliot’s storm petrel, a robin-sized cousin of the albatross (both have tubular noses that help them sniff out prey and excrete excess salt, since they drink salt water).
The Galapagos also has flamingos, which eat tiny pink brine shrimp from brackish wetlands. The pigments from the shrimp color their feathers. This specific flamingo species (American flamingo, Phoenicopterus ruber) is originally from the Caribbean and some how managed to arrive in Galapagos. This same species occasionally pops up in the Everglades.
In addition to these birds, the endemic bird life (i.e. native to only also proved quite photogenic.
A common cactus finch eating cactus fruit while perching on a cactus. Aptly named I would say. This is one of the species of Darwin’s finches.The Galapagos subspecies of the striated heron, often called the lava heron due to its camouflaged plumage. The same species in the mainland is brown and striped, as the name suggests.One of my favorite Galapagos birds, the swallow-tailed gull. It’s the only nocturnal gull species in the world and breeds only in Galapagos and on one island near Colombia. Its main food source is nocturnal squid. Source.Galapagos penguin, the only penguin found north of the Equator (unless you count zoos and aquariums).
“But what about the tortoises?” you may ask. Don’t worry, I have pictures of literal piles of tortoises.
This is a tortoise nursery on Isabela island, not the wild!
And tortoises eating.
There are actually two main types of tortoise in Galapagos. The dome-shells (above) live in the moist highlands, where much of the food is close to the ground. The saddle-shells (below) live in the desert-like lowlands, where they need to reach for their food (e.g. cactus).
Other endemic reptiles include land iguanas, marine iguanas, and lava lizards.
Land iguanaMarine iguana with a lava lizard hat. The lava lizards sometimes eat parasite off the iguanas.A crossing of marine iguana tracks in the sandGalapagos sea lion chilling with a marine iguana. Two iconic animals in one photo!
Speaking of sea lions, October happens to be pupping season for much of the Galapagos, so we go to see a lot of sea lion pups. These sea lions are actually descended from California sea lions and not South American sea lions, which are found as close as Peru.
“Don’t you mess with me!”
While Galapagos doesn’t have the tidepools of Ecuador, colorful Sally Lightfoot crabs line the shores.
Under the water, the Galapagos is incredible, seeing as it has currents coming from the north, east, south, and west bringing spectacular sea life from many corners of the Pacific. I could only photograph a few species, seeing as I only had a barely function underwater disposable camera. Also, the lens of said camera was exactly where I wanted to put my finger when taking a shot.
Reef manta ray (and my finger). I don’t think that counts as a selfie.Whitetip reef sharks swimming in the sky above a marine iguana (just kidding, the iguana’s on a cliff).
This could be my last post for a while, seeing as I’m headed back to the paramo of Antisana to research the endangered Andean ibis. The goal is to find a nest of this bird, which is something that has not yet happened in Ecuador. Wish me luck!
Last weekend ended up being a three day weekend, as the President decided to move a national holiday (Guayaquil’s Independence Day) from the 9th (Thursday) to the 10th (Friday). Regardless of the source of this three-day weekend, it allowed me and few others from my exchange program to ditch the mountains for something a little sandier and saltier, namely Mompiche in the province of Esmeraldas (pronounced mohm-PEE-chay, which is why the title might be funny).
The view from the the top of our hostel
Despite everyone in Quito and their dog leaving the city this weekend, Mompiche was not overly crowded. However, the sun was not a strong presence. But at least the water was pretty warm! We arrived at Mompiche shortly after a spring tide, which the water covered the beach came over the wall in that previous picture a few times and soaked a few unsuspecting beach-goers.
There were a few birds at Mompiche, none of which I was terribly successful at photographing due to leaving my nice camera in Quito for safekeeping (which was a good idea, because the humid, salty air managed to kill my “waterproof” camera). Anyway, here are some birds (all of which I will get better photos of in the Galapagos)!
Brown pelicansMagnificent frigatebirds, named for their habit of stealing fish from other birds. There were also pelicans in the trees, which I did not manage to photograph.Blue-footed boobies. Contrary to popular belief, they are not only found in the Galapagos and range from Baja California to Peru along the Pacific coast. Occasionally, tropical storms force them inland to places such as Arizona.
There were also a few cool things washed up on the beach.
A not-so-puffed-up pufferfishMangrove seedlingOne of the larger hermit crabs I’ve seen
However, the coolest part of Mompiche was definitely its tide pools, which were in a rocky part of the beach near the boobies.
Sea anemonesSea urchinElysia crispata, a lettuce nudibranch (or sea slug)A chiton, a strange, armor plated mollusk
Another attraction at Mompiche is the Playa Negra (black beach), which we visited at sunset, when the tide was covering the sand… However, the sunset was nice, even if we did nearly walk back to the town in the dark.
If you look hard enough, you can see the black sand in the crashing waves.Cows attempting to block our twilight passage back to the town
Starting tomorrow, my oceanic adventures continue in the Galapagos Islands. Expect another post in the next 1-3 weeks!
Welcome to the second (and final) installment of my Amazonian adventure chronicles! Before diving into the pictures, I’d like to tell you a little bit about Tiputini. It is a highly selective research station run by the Unversidad de San Fransico in Quito. Only students and researchers to stay there. It is in the heart of the Ecuadorian Amazon, across the Tiputini River from Yasuni National Park (potentially the most biodiverse place in the entire world). To get to Tiputini, we took a short bus ride from Limoncocha to the Napo River, crossed the river in boat, went through a Yasuni National Park checkpoint (which is run by an oil company), took an open sided bus for two hours to the Tiputini River, and then took another boat for two hours to arrive at the station.
Right by the dock is a miniature salt lick, where butterflies and moths gather to obtain mineral nutrients.
Fun fact: the brown one is a butterfly, and the black-and-green ones are uraniid moths.
The sheer number of animals and plants we saw was astounding. I’ll stop writing so much and let you enjoy pictures of some of them.
Brownea grandiceps
A living fossil, the velvet worm (Onychophora). This is probably what the ancestor of all arthropods (insects, spiders, lobsters, centipedes) looked liked. They shoot streams of quick-drying glue from their mouth to ensnare prey and give birth to live young. (Source.)This is the only successful photo I have of a blue morpho. Only the upper side of the wings are brilliant blue.I know almost nothing about lizards, so I’m not going to try to identify this guy.An amblypygid, also known as a whip spider or tailless whip scorpion. However, they are not spiders, not scorpions, and not true whip scorpions. But they are arachnids!Big old katydidChestnut woodpeckerMany-banded aracari, a member of the toucan familyBaby dwarf caimanMother bat with young. The mother flies with the baby clinging to her belly.Woolly monkey with a young babyAnother woolly monkey with a babySouth American tapir, one of the large mammals found in Tiputini. This one was tame and not in the reserve (it was in someone’s yard), but it’s still a cool animal.
I could talk for quite a while about Tiputini, but I’ll stop there. Tomorrow I’m off the coast with friends, since the President decided less than three weeks ago that this Friday is to be a national holiday. Hopefully I get a post in about the coast before heading to the Galapagos.
It’s been a little over two weeks since my last post, so it’s due time I put a few photos up. Since I was in the Amazon for a whole week, I decided to break the trip up into two posts. And I’ll start out this post with this guy:
That is San Rafael Falls, the largest waterfall in Ecuador at a whopping 160 m (525 feet for the metric-challenged). An that’s the waterfall at its lowest current level, since I took that photo at the end of the dry season. However, there is a hydroelectric diversion project called Coca Codo Sinclair that will divert water away from the falls, reducing the flow by 40-60%. That means that only during the rainy season will the waterfall be as big as you see in that photo. However, the project is supposed to generate 1500 MW, which is quite a bit of power (Source).
After our pit stop at San Rafael and several hours of bus-riding we arrived a Limoncocha, a small Amazonian town that happens to be one of the only places in world where pale-eyed blackbirds live. I unfortunately did not see any during my visit, but I did see these bizarre beauties:
“Beauty” might not be the first word you would use to describe these birds, but horned screamers are now quite rare due to hunting pressure and so are quite sought after by birders like myself. Despite looking like turkeys, they are distantly related to ducks and geese.
I saw those birds on a boat ride around Laguna Limoncocha, which was probably one of my favorite birding experiences of all time. Here are some other cool birds I saw on that voyage:
Juvenile wattled jacanas. Their long toes allow them to walk on aquatic vegetation without sinking.Limpkin! I spent a whole week in Florida searching for one of these snail-eating birds and saw not a one. I saw three during this one hour-and-a-half boat ride.Amazonian white-tailed trogonA pair of capped herons in the rainA hoatzin, a bizarre leaf-eating bird affectionately known a “stinky turkey.” The young of the hoatzin are the only living birds with claws on their wings.Black-capped donacobius. They sing in pairs and waggle their tails as they do so. Here’s a video of them in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1BUrimoc5k
In addition to birds, monkeys clambered in the trees along the lake shore.
Squirrel monkeyRed howler monkey. Not sure if he’s taking a nap or scratching his back…
We also got the chance to ride around the lake at night, looking for black caimans.
Big ol’ black caiman
In addition to caimans, millions of lightning bug larva line the shores at night, creating what looks like a sliver of the night sky all around the lake. Unfortunately, I was unable to photograph this phenomenon due to lack of a tripod/camera that does really long exposures.
While the lake shore was incredible, the fauna within the village did not disappoint either.
A black-mantled tamarin, called a “bebe leche” (milk drinker) in Spanish due to its perpetual milk mustache.=POrange-backed troupialA great potoo, a very strange nocturnal bird. Their call is somewhere between a roar and someone yelling “mom.”
Limoncocha also has a large quantity of heliconias in its secondary forests. Heliconias are Neotropical cousins of the banana (which are native to the Old World tropics) and smell just like banana peels. The bracts (red part which covers a small cluster of fruits and flowers) can also double as a bird beak.
That’s about all I have to say about Limoncocha! Later this week I’ll tell you about Tiputini Biodiversity Station, a remote location in the heart of the Amazon.
That glacier-covered mountain is not only a site of snow and ice very close to the Equator, but it is also an active volcano. Its name is Antisana and is the mountain which Antisana Ecological Reserve is named after. See that little shack in the foreground? That was a home of the famous naturalist Alexander von Humboldt.
Laguna Micacocha, an important source of water for the city of Quito.
The name for this type of habitat is páramo, which essentially means “tropical alpine grassland and scrubland. While the landscape may look a little bleak, there is actually some really cool plant and animal life hidden away in the grasses and shrubs
Flower of the Puya, an alpine member of the pineapple family and source of nectar for the giant hummingbird.Purple gentians growing near tussock grasses and cushion plants.Individual plants from a cushion plant colony. Cushion plants retain dead organic material below ground to soak up water and preserve nutrients.
Some of the wildlife isn’t necessarily hidden. It’s pretty hard to hide when you have a ten foot wingspan.
That would be an Andean condor, Ecuador’s national bird. The IUCN classifies the worldwide population of this bird as “Near Threatened” and estimates that its population is declining (Source.) Fewer than 100 condors remain in Ecuador, making them endangered in this country. Condors face a variety of problems, including cattle ranchers killing them due to the belief that they eat cattle, lack of food, and habitat loss. Condors principally eat carrion and only take live prey (such as newborn livestock) rarely (Source). In order to provide food for the condors, the Hacienda Hosteria Guáytara, a private ecological area near Antisana, sacrifices cattle to provide food for these gigantic birds, thus aiding in their conservation in Ecuador.
Speaking of Guáytara, its land has hundreds (or potentially thousands) of chuquiragua flowers, which are a favorite food of a very special hummingbird.
The Ecuadorian hillstar is found in no other place but the Ecuadorian Andes. At night it nearly halts its metabolism by going into a state called torpor, which allows it to survive frigid páramo nights (Source). Other hummingbirds also enjoy chuquiragua nectar, including the black-tailed trainbearer.
While found in Quito, Guáytara is simply swarming with them. You can hardly go a minute walking the trails without hearing a male sing.
If you want more information on Guáytara, check out their website. The accommodations are quite nice and the wildlife is spectacular. I saw four condors during breakfast one morning, and you can reportedly see over fifteen at a time on a good day.
Well, it might be a while before I post, since I’m off to the Amazon on Friday and will be staying there for a whole week. I’ll be sure to update if I do anything cool in the next few days, but if I don’t expect another post in a couple weeks!
An Iowan on the Equator 