A Family in the Cloud Forest

Hola!  After a smooth transition, Amanda and Shyama left for their travels.  They were super helpful getting us up to speed with what is happening at the reserve.  We are Micah, Jaime and Never.  Jaime is an ecologist, Micah is a carpenter and an all-around handy kind of guy and Never is our 2, almost 3, year old son. Before the reserve we lived in Oregon and this last year in Hawaii.  We left Hawaii in July to do our own travelling.  We started in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and travelled southward to Nicaragua.  From there we flew to Quito for our first taste of South America.  We are so happy to be here and looking forward to settling in for a few months after being on the road for two.

Micah, Jaime and Never

The reserve is everything we imagined and more!  The weather has been perfect!  Cool nights and perfect during the day.  It is much like the spring time in the Pacific Northwest but we know that we will be heading into a lot more rain in the time to come.  But for now the weather is pleasant and dry giving us great access to the reserve trails.

Around the reserve it has been wild watching and getting to know the 16 hummingbird species that have been visiting the feeders at the lodge, experiencing the chaos that occurs in the early mornings at the Andean Cock of the Rock lek and becoming familiar with the resident Fer-de-lance the area on the Amor trail it seems to inhabit.

Some of the many hummingbirds we see every day

A banded Andean Cock of the Rock seen at the lek

Our resident Fer-de-lance

We are attempting a small crop in the garden.  It seems the success in the garden has been limited so we are starting out small.  However, the young orchard planted this summer is coming along great.

While we are getting to know the reserve, its trail and the wildlife surrounding us we are also enjoying the records from previous managers that are now into their second year.  It is interesting to see what has been going on, who has been visiting and what people were up to for the last few years.  So many people have contributed to this place and their hard work shows.  We are honored to be able to contribute to this special place together as a family .

We would also like to thank our first (and so far only) guests to the reserve, Nicole and Ryan.  They camped at the reserve and joined Jaime at the lek early in the morning.  They were great to have around and we appreciate their support for the reserve.