Three Weeks In, Three Miles Up

I feel the sand between my fingers…

I hear the sound of gulls flying overhead…

Shorebirds frolic in the nearby grasses…

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.

Taken at Tambo Condor.

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!

Week 2 in the High Andes

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!

Antisana Round 2: This Time with Ibises (and More Condors)

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 violetear

Black 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.

Antisana

Cotopaxi

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 condor

Juvenile variable hawk

The 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 plants

A 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!

Amazonian Adventures Part 2: Tiputini Biodiversity Station

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 katydid

Chestnut woodpecker

Many-banded aracari, a member of the toucan family

Baby dwarf caiman

Mother bat with young. The mother flies with the baby clinging to her belly.

Woolly monkey with a young baby

Another woolly monkey with a baby

South 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.

Amazonian Adventures Part 1: San Rafael Falls and Limoncocha

 

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 trogon

A pair of capped herons in the rain

A 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 monkey

Red 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.

=P

Orange-backed troupial

A 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.

¡El Cóndor Pasa!: Antisana Ecological Reserve and Hacienda Hosteria Guáytara

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!

Birds and Blooms at the Jardín Botánico Quito (and Elsewhere)

Well, today was my first day in Quito, Ecuador. I could tell you about how I ate at a place called Texas Chicken twice with two different groups of people, but I’ll stick to the stuff that I found more interesting, mostly El Parque La Carolina, its botanical garden, and some common birds in Quito. I apologize for the photo quality in this post; I didn’t have my nicer camera on me as I was still trying to gauge how safe such devices would be to bring around.

I’ll start out by telling you about a dream I had last night. The basic idea was that the ornithologist at my college was in Quito with was disappoint in me for not finding any birds yet. In my dream, the first bird I saw was an eared dove, an lo and behold the first bird I found today was an eared dove.

Dream bird! (I guess…)

Eared doves are essentially  South American mourning doves with shorter tails and a slightly different head pattern/color.  They are as ubiquitous as pigeons in other big cities, but are actually native! Quito still has feral pigeons, but it’s still cool that they aren’t displacing the native dove.

That photo was taken in El Parque La Carolina, which looks like this:

It’s still the dry season here, so the grass isn’t terribly happy, but the palm trees are nice change of pace from both Iowa and Maine. The air is dry here, as Quito is in the mountains and so does not have the humidity characteristic of the Amazon and cloud forests of lower altitudes.

Within  El Parque La Carolina, there is a botanical garden with a very impressive orchid collection, which is no surprise considering that Ecuador has 1710 endemic orchid species (Source). The botanical garden has about 400 species of orchids in all kinds of colors and shapes. In retrospect, I should have taken more pictures, but here’s my best one.

The orchids in botanical garden that I found the most interesting (at least from a biological perspective) were epiphytes (plants with no roots in the soil) from the Amazon that have aerial roots. These roots not only take up water but also can store it since the plants rely on an inconsistent water source, namely rain. The aerial roots can even photosynthesize in some species (Source and a brief overview of aerial roots).

Put your roots in the air like you don’t care!

Other cool plants also had a home in the botanical garden, including a greenhouse with the ominous sign “Carnívora,” which at first glance conjured images of a jaguar.

Don’t think that’s a jaguar, but I’m new to this continent.

That would be a pitcher plant, which traps insects in a pool of digestive juices. The insects cannot climb the slippery sides and thus drown and are eventually digested. The plant does this to obtain nitrogen (an essential component of proteins) when it is not available in the soil.

Other pretty flowers included bromeliads, relatives of the pineapple. This one had a fluorescent pink flower stalk and a purple flower.

This flower of an elephant ear (aroid) was bigger than my hand!

The floraof the garden, of course attracted pollinating fauna, including the spectacular black-tailed trainbearer.

That tail!

Other birds also inhabit the garden, including the great thrush (Quito’s answer to the robin/Eurasian blackbird) and purple gallinule.

Don’t you belong in the Everglades?

Even outside the botanical garden, the flora and avain fauna of Quito is quite enthralling. Here’s a sparkling violetear (what a name!) feeding on flowers in downtown Quito. What’s even better is that these gorgeous hummingbirds are everywhere here.

What I’ve shown you is just a microcosm of Quito itself (I’ve only had a day here!), and in the grand scheme of Ecuador, Quito is but one place in a land that includes both snow-capped volcanoes and sweltering rainforests. Despite that, I’m pretty excited but what I’ve seen so far and can’t wait to explore more!