After my
Costa Rica tour I flew home, repacked and spent just one night in my bed, then
early the next morning headed to the airport for my flights to Ecuador. I had
agreed to be a substitute leader for Steve Howell who had to cancel for health
reasons, and all the participants of the tour were committed to doing the tour
even without Steve. The tour fell exactly between my tours in Costa Rica and
Oregon, and just last October I spent two weeks there. I was also the only
WINGS tour leader available, so it only made sense for me to cancel my plans
for the break (which included birding and camping with friends from Oregon as
well as volunteering for the Tucson Birding and Nature Festival), and do
everyone a favor (and earn some money).
My “From the
Field” submission was brief:
“There may not
be any pronounced dry season on the Equator in the Amazon Basin, but if there
was one week-long dry spell this year, we found it. It was typically hot as
usual in the tropics, but that was an even tradeoff for not being forced to
take off any time due to rain. It was a wonderful week that passed by all too
quickly, filled with great birds and some incredible tropical diversity in the
way of lizards fighting on trees, killer mushrooms invading insect brains, and
a very friendly and almost even loving Amazon Tree Boa (…of which I neglected
to get a photo).
“We saw some
marvelous birds at the canopy platform, such as a perched Orange-breasted
Falcon and Yellow-billed Nunbirds, while along the various trails elusive
species such as Collared Puffbird, Wire-tailed Manakin, and Black-faced Antbird
performed well. Super delightful were the several boat rides on the lake
(cocha) and stream (yacu), where rare kingfishers such as American Pygmy and
Green-and-rufous were ridiculously abundant and easy to see. But we didn’t have
to go far from our rooms (or the lodge’s bar) to enjoy some of the best birding
in the area – all of the following photos were taken right around the lodge’s
buildings.”
American
Pygmy-Kingfisher
Hoatzin
Masked
Crimson Tanager
Scarlet-crowned
Barbet
White-eared
Jacamar
The
following video is a montage of more things we saw right near the lodge, from
the boat, the dock, and the bar.
This pair of
Tropical Screech-Owls roosted in the same place every day by the dock.
But of
course in a week’s tour one sees so much more. We took boat rides on the oxbow
and narrow streams, hiked trails, and climbed the to canopy platform at least
twice.
This
Collared Puffbird appeared for us on our very last morning’s walk on the trail
system behind the lodge.
I had to get
some video that shows the typical puffbird behavior – very staid, but alert and
constantly puffing up its feathers.
The best
bird from the tower was spotted by one of the participants who simply asked
“what is this bird?” By far this is the best view I have ever had of an Orange-breasted
Falcon, the rarest falcon in the Americas. (I saw one perched more distantly in
May 2001 in Bolivia, and had one fly over a gap in tall forest in N Brazil two
years ago.)
But in
general, my participants had little patience or interest for anything that
wasn’t a large, colorful, tropical bird. My first hint this might be the case
was when I gasped in excitement at this beautiful Arctiine moth on the shore of
the Napo River when we arrived, and not a single person bothered to pause or
lift their binoculars. (At least they were all really nice people who I
otherwise enjoyed getting to know.) I’m sure this moth is not rare, but I
haven’t managed to find a picture match or name for it.
I found two
of the less showy members of the tribe Morphini, usually known for the several
species of big blue, showy butterflies usually called “blue morpho.”
Caerois chorinaeus
Antirrhea philoctetes
The flooded
stands of the giant aroid Montrichardia
linifera along the streams are the reliable habitat for the stunning
metalmark Helicopis cupido.
This
kite-swallowtail Protesilaus glaucolaus
was on the bank of the Napo when we departed, but I had to sneak in photos
while everyone waited.
Herps seemed
to be slightly more interesting to the participants, especially this Brilliant-thighed
Poison Frog, Allobates femoralis.
This Anolis transversalis was on a tree as we
returned form the tower.
Night walks
weren’t of that much interest to the group, and I found this treefrog Boana geographica on of my solo night
wanderings.
This Pristimantis limoncochensis was a lucky
find on one of the more distant trails.
For me, this
treerunner Plica umbra was one of the
more thrilling finds, just down the trail from our lodge as we were returning
one morning.
I wanted to
stay to watch this most dramatic (and very rarely seen) encounter to see what
happened, but everyone was quite visibly bored with the whole thing and after
just a few moments wandered off down the trail. I should have stayed to watch
the end of it.
Bugs were
yet another thing – most of the participants had no interest in or even were
quite vocal in their dislike for insects or other invertebrates. Two of them
nearly upturned the entire dinner table when an utterly harmless insect was
attracted to the lights and landed nearby. Even then I managed photo of a few
amazing critters during breaks in the birding and on my night walks. This
peanut-headed bug, Fulgora laternaria
is usually a huge crowd-pleaser, but not with this group.
This is a
rich area for odonates, most of which I don’t know. Thanks to the Facebook
group dedicated to Neotropical Odonata, I learned that this damselfly is Aeolagrion inca.
I took close-ups
of three harvestmen I found on the trail one evening. They are surprisingly
beautiful up close.
Here’s another
thing I know very little about: spiders. I know enough to know that most don’t
weave a typical web, and some have some amazing ways of catching their prey,
such as the bola spiders. I think what I’m seeing here are similar lines of
silk hanging like traps from the underside of leaves, with blobs of sticky
liquid silk near the ends. I never did find the spider responsible for them.
Some of my
group did join me for one night walk, and they were super lucky to see this
mouse opossum Marmosops noctivagus,
the ID confirmed by mammalogist and tour leader Fiona Reid, a Facebook friend of mine.
The plants
were lovely and interesting at Sani Lodge. This is Aphelandra aurantiaca, a member of Acanthaceae, and a genus known
for some fancy house plants.
Nautilocalyx lucianii is in Gesneriaceae,
another houseplant family most famous for the African violet and gloxinias.
I know this cauliflorous
tree is in the legume family, but I don’t know what it is yet – it was common
along many of the trails and just starting to bloom.
Finally,
here is a spectacular flower if you like odd plants: Ombrophytum peruvianum. It lacks chlorophyll and is a root parasite
in the family Balanophoraceae.
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