Los Nuevos

Hi there! My name’s Hamish. Jo and I are from New Zealand and we’re managing Las Tangaras until late August. We first heard about the reserve around 18 months ago when we were in a tramping hut (that’s Kiwi for “trekking cabin”) in Arthur’s Pass in New Zealand’s South Island where we met Bex, who managed the reserve in 2011. It’s great to now be here ourselves!

Corey, Niki, Jo and Hamish

We arrived to a warm welcome from Corey and Niki, who introduced us to some of their favourite locals, made us beds and dinner and showed us how things work around the reserve. They had recently re-named trails in the reserve at Dusti’s suggestion. Niki chose names from birds she had seen on each trail so we now have ‘Los Tucanes’, ‘Los Colibríes’, ‘Los Momotos’, ‘Los Patos’ and ‘Los Quetzales’. The ‘Bosque’ and ‘Gallo de la Peña’ trails remain unchanged. The day after we arrived Danielle also came to the reserve. She’s a Californian who has been studying in Quito for a semester and is staying with us for five weeks, doing research on hummingbird interactions, amongst other things, as part of her studies for her college in Maine.

Danielle

For me, living here is a remarkable opportunity. Tropical forests with their enormous species richness continue to be cut and compromised all around the girth of our planet. As a global community we lose the contained biodiversity forever. I think part of the reason why tropical forests continue to be eroded so quickly is that most people have no way of relating with them or their inhabitants and therefore have little reason and unclear means to conserve them. Most of us don’t consider tropical forests in our day-to-day lives. So I’ve often wondered, what are valid ways for those of us who normally live in cities or closer to the poles to personally relate with tropical forests?

In flower

Jo and I are excited about our stay in the 50 hectare Reserva Las Tangaras on the edge of a 19 200 hectare forest reserve called Bosque Protector Mindo-Nambillo. Part of the excitement for me is getting to know a few of the animal and plant species in the brilliant display of life here. People attach names and therefore importance to the species they relate with. Reserva Las Tangaras has a small library of great guidebooks to the names and human uses for many plants and animals in South American topical forests. So we are reading and looking and learning every day.

Neglected 88

Jo has taken a shine to the hummingbirds and has become the best at identifying them. About twelve species commonly visit the feeders at the front deck of the house we live in. Jo frequently informs them that “You are all beautiful!” Here in the cloud forest on the shoulder of the Andes there are much greater numbers and diversity of these stunning little birds than down in the rain forest of the Amazonian lowlands to the east.

Green-crowned wood nymph

I’m getting a handle on identifying plant families as we maintain trails around the reserve. I’m fascinated to learn how many members of these groups my community and I back in New Zealand use daily as food and medicine. Strange, beautiful insects and myriapods walk, eat, hunt and find mates all over the assorted foliage in the reserve and I have enjoyed photographing these over the last couple of weeks. For three months Jo and I get to relate closely with this patch of tropical forest as managers of the reserve. Maybe our new understanding of the inhabitants can also sustain a longer-term relationship with and appreciation for their home. Maybe our means to conservation from afar could be in supporting others who conserve reserves or in encouraging others to undertake eco-tourism in places like Mindo, Ecuador, so that locals more highly value the biodiversity on their doorsteps.

Bright-eyed orthopteran

Peppermint and bronze weevil with mauve dancing shoes

Insex

Millipede

Gumboot-residing orthopteran

The sun has been sparkling through blue skies in the mornings here, almost, but not quite enough sun to dry the clothes and linen we wash by hand. The forest cloud and afternoon rain enable lush vegetation to grow outside the house and moulds to establish on neglected surfaces within. We carry machetes on every walk to clear vegetation from trails. On the steep, slippery parts of wet tracks we build steps from fallen logs and drift wood collected from the edge of the Nambillo River. The smaller tributary that is the source of our water is a beautiful series of cascades and pools that support dippers, insects and tiny, exquisite frogs. The stream also frequently rejects the water pipe that carries water to the house, thereby necessitating frequent admiring or disgruntled visits by the inhabitants of the house to re-establish the flow. In Ecuador this cloud forest to the west of the Andes is currently transitioning from the wet season to the dry, so we are seeing more and more sunshine as the days go by, making this is a great time to visit! There’s even a chance of spotting Ecuadorian white fronted capuchins – we’ve seen them twice near the house this week. The trees here are home and life for those primates so they don’t think about the validity of their relationships with tropical forest!

Red-spotted glass frog