Reserva Las Tangaras

Here we are, finally, at Las Tangaras! We are Jeff and Kate, the new managers for the next three months. We’ve been working as National Park rangers during the summertime and doing international work during the off season. And now, we’ve been busy getting our feet wet in the all the workings of Las Tangaras, some routine, some extraordinary. Here’s a quick overview of our first three weeks here.

A little cabin in the big jungle

Previous managers Jaime, Micah, and Never helped us get acquainted with the reserve during our first two days. They’ve done a huge amount of work here and have left us with an overwhelming amount of information. The most exciting news perhaps is that Micah upgraded the water system with better connections, easier access, and an intake filter that should reduce clogs from sediment. Thanks! Dusti, our boss, was also here for a our first day and it was great to go with her to the cock of the rock lek and get a little birding lesson.

9:00am on our second day, Jaime, Micah, and Never left and it was just Kate and Jeff, brand new managers, and a couple campers in the reserve. We proudly finished our first hummingbird identification session on our own.

Our little friends enjoying their daily fix

11:00am, a couple hours into our managerdom, a camper runs up to us and says “the bridge just broke!” So much for our first peaceful morning. Did Jami and Micah’s protective spell break when they left? Whatever strange cosmic coincidence may have caused this mishap, we may never understand. But we went down to look, and yes, indeed, one of the cables of the cable suspension bridge had snapped and left the floor of the bridge hanging somewhat precariously.

Oops! Glad nobody was hurt!

Good thing the water system and other things were in order, because it would take us the next three weeks to talk with locals, look for suppliers, investigate other hanging bridges and cable structures, meet with cable experts (zip line tours are big here), and ultimately make a trip to Quito to purchase 130 meters of new cable and connection hardware to replace all of the cable in the bridge. Jeff claims that he crossed from the southern hemisphere into the northern hemisphere and back again, 8 times in one day, just to get that new cable. Happily, with good planning, it only took 2 days of labor to get the cable replaced. We hired locals Artemio and his son to help make it happen.

Carrying 150 pounds of cable

Cutting the old bridge cables from below the newly placed cables

Securing the cable clamps around the trees

Oh, and maybe the magic spells didn’t all break after all, as we went an entire week without rain–the first drops fell the evening after we finished all the hard work on the bridge. Lots of work still remains to be done on the bridge, but at least it is standing and it feels a lot stronger than before.

Construction workers at bridge with new cables

Otherwise, life is filled with the daily jobs of being here: long hikes into town for food and supplies, waiting many days for laundry to dry, and feeding lots of crazy hummingbirds that are addicted to their daily fix of sucrose.  Kate has been working on harvesting and drying bamboo to make some furniture and shelving in the cabin.

Tired after cutting and dragging lots of bamboo

We also took advantage of the transport for the cable delivery to buy a backup water storage tank. That way, if there are ever problems with the water system, we have water for a few days to hold us over. The hardest part was getting the tank the last two kilometers to the reserve.

This is how everything gets to the reserve

We’ve been loving the amazing plants and wildlife here. Lots of cool bugs, of course.

camouflaged leaf hopper/katydid

But the reserve is especially about the birds, and we hope to have more time to sit and identify some of them, now that things have settled down a little. We’re not hard-core birders, but the little bit of bird knowledge we have led to an interesting deja-vu experience. One of our first mornings we woke up to a very familiar sound. We had only been learning bird songs back at home for the past year or so, so it’s still a novelty to identify bird songs–we usually second-guess ourselves. But one of our first mornings we hear the unmistakable song of Swainson’s thrushes. We feel like we’re back in the North Cascades with pine trees towering overhead . Is that possible? We rush downstairs to check the bird list for Las Tangaras. Yes, Swainson’s thrush is on the list. A little more perseverance with the binoculars, and we get a clear visual ID of the guy. Did they migrate down here, too, just like us, to spend the winter at Las Tangaras? Thank you for sharing that familiar sound, welcoming us to our new home!

We’ll be back soon with more pictures and more stories. In the mean time, Merry Christmas, Happy New Years, and happy holidays to all from Las Tangaras–Adios for now!

Our Christmas picture with a bamboo tree

November has been a busy month at the reserve and many improvements have been made.  Here are some of the new things here at the reserve.

The first improvement you will see will be right as you enter the reserve.  Micah has replaced all of the wood on the suspension bridge and built new stairs and platforms for getting on and off the bridge.  The old bridge was really cool looking with all the moss and epiphytes growing on it but it was a little rickety, slippery and somewhat scary.  When Micah removed the old boards he found many that were rotten through.  It was definitely time to give it a face lift.  The new bridge is a little sturdier although still a little bouncy.  It is a suspension bridge after all.

New Stairs

New Bridge

Old Bridge

Micah also replaced the table at the campsite.  The old one was made out of a recycled aluminum sign.  The new one matches the bench which is made from Chonta, a type of palm.

New table at the campsite made with chonta

Micah also finished the bookshelf inside the cabin so that the shelving goes all the way to the floor.  He also included some doors to create cabinets that can be closed and locked.

There was some wood leftover from the shelves so we used that to create a new sign at the trailhead on the road.  The old sign was painted on an aluminum sheet and was starting to fade a peel a bit.  We thought a wood sign wood reflect the lodge a little better.  Unfortunately neither of us are artists so we could not include any pretty birds.  It was a lot just for Jaime to paint the letters freehand and not look like a child painted it.  Well maybe one of the future managers will be more artistic and can add some artwork to the sign.  But for now we think the sign looks a little better than the old one and definitely fresher.

New Sign

Old aluminum sign

It has been fun giving the reserve a facelift.  Now we are focusing on getting it ready to hand over to the new managers.  We look forward to meeting Kate and Jeff this week.  Adios for now!

This week we celebrated Never’s birthday.  He turned 3 years old!A friend of Nev’s, Negue, lives in town and his birthday is the day before Nev’s.  So we joined celebrations and had a double birthday party.  There were several kids there and they all had a good time with face painting, piñata, food and cake.

In honor of Nev we thought we would post a blog about Nev’s experience living at the reserve.  It has been a really awesome experience for us to be here at the reserve with Nev.  He really enjoys this place too.  He has grown so much and learned a lot during our time here.

Here are some of his favorite things about the reserve:

playing at the river and throwing rocks into the water

chasing butterflies and finding cool new “buggies”

looking at all the beautiful flowers and crazy plants

working in the garden

helping with chores around the reserve like sweeping and laundry (i.e. water play time).

He is learning about the birds just as we are.  He always asks the names of the hummers that come to the feeders.  Although his favorite we just call the “bumblebee” because it sounds like a bumblebee (Purple-throated woodstar).

Nev also really loves when we have visitors at the reserve.  He has wrangled pretty much everyone who has come here into playing cars and trains with him or watching a movie.  His favorite movie right now is The Lorax.  All of the visitors have been great with him and he is always sad to see our “friends” leave.

He definitely really enjoys this place and what a cool place it is for a 3 year old to spend time exploring.  We think he will be just a sad as us when our time here is over and we have to leave this beautiful sanctuary.  But hopefully we can return here with him when he is older or when he is an adult and off on his own adventures.

     Well, we´ve come to the end of our term here at Las Tangaras and its a bittersweet feeling. We are sad to be leaving the little cabaña in the forest, but are also excited to begin our travels. Some days it feels as if the months have flown by, and other times we feel we´ve been here for years. Its impossible to put so much time and effort into such lovely surroundings without leaving a bit of yourself there, but we´ll also be taking a piece with us.

        Now we hand over our responsibilities to the new managers, Micah and Jaime, and hope they enjoy their time here as much as we have. Thank you to all who have shared our experiences through this blog, we strongly encourage you to visit Reserva Las Tangaras, its even more impressive in person. We leave you with a few recent pictures and some of our favorites from the last 3 months.

View from the new picnic area on the Bosque Trail.

So thats why the feeders are empty in the morning!

View from the other new picnic area on Rio Nambillo.

Choco Toucan taking a break in the forest.

Beautiful… This is one of our favorite views on the reserve.

Bye for now… Shyama and Amanda

     As our time at Las Tangaras draws to an end, we continue to enjoy the abundant wildlife that surrounds us. Our most frequent visitors are the variety of hummingbird species that drink from the cabin´s feeders everyday. In the last month we´ve witnessed an increase in both the number of species and the amount of daily activity. Food and the need to reproduce lead to combative fighting and colorful displays of territoriality.      

Hummingbird wars!

     Another fleet footed resident of the reserve is the basilisk. These lizards are so quick that we´d only caught brief glimpses of them scurrying out of sight, until a recent warm morning along the river, when we came across one sunning itself on a rock. As soon as it caught sight of us, we were rewarded with it´s trademark run over water as it headed for cover. It performed the feat twice more before coming to rest on a log, when we were finally able to snap a photo.

The Basilisk is in the center of the photo, above the heart shaped leaf.

     One day, while clearing Sendero Bonito and checking on the new steps we´d built, Shyama let out a yell when he nearly bisected a masked trogan that came flying out of a hollow tree stump and only avoided his machete´s momentum by a few inches. These birds are known to nest in cavities of dead trees, fairly low to the ground. Our suspicion that this bird was guarding or building a nest was confirmed later that week, when we returned for a closer look.

Masked Trogan guarding the nest.

     Our next sighting actually occurred in Mindo, but we feel that it was unique enough to warrant it´s inclusion here. Amanda spotted this anolis fraseri in the grass of Mindo´s central park, on our way to find some almuerzo. She tried to catch this colorful, foot long lizard, but it quickly escaped up a tree and out of reach. Luckily we were able to get some good pictures.

     Well, we´ve saved the best for last.Our most jaw dropping (and heart-rate elevating) sighting has surely been the fer de lance. We´ve known that these highly venomous snakes inhabit this area, yet, though they are diurnal, they are rarely seen. We returned to the cabin one afternoon, after a day of erosion control at the Gallo de la Peña lek, to find this one coiled beside the front steps. We´ve seen several snakes over the months, but this fer de lance, at 1 meter long and thick in it´s midsection, was definitely the largest. As lethal as these snakes are, this one was content to rest in it´s coils while Amanda enthusiastically snapped photos and Shyama stood well back pondering his mortality. After an hour or so, we watched it make it´s was slowly off into the forest, and were able to appreciate it´s full size and beauty. 

While the abundance of birdlife is the biggest draw for visitors to Las Tangaras, they are by no means the only wildlife roaming the hills of the reserve. Large mammal sightings tend to be rare, but several other creatures are commonly seen, and at least one mammal, the armadillo, turns up quite frequently.

Pablo

After much anticipation, and nearly 6 weeks of waiting, we finally had our first visit from the 9 banded armadillo with battle scars, dubbed ´Pablo´ by previous managers. We had read much about Pablo in the managers´ journal, and seen fresh evidence of armadillo activity nearly every day, but our first actual glimpse came as a pleasant surprise. He nosed around the garden for a few minutes, unmindful of us, before climbing nimbly over the fence that was built to keep him out.

Although squirrels are a common site in the states, we had quite an uncommon experience with a red tailed squirrel here at the reserve. We came into the care of a young squirrel after it was abandoned by its mother during the installation of a fruit tree grove. For the next 3 weeks we acted as foster parents for this squirrel; weaning it off milk, introducing solid food and encouraging it to climb and forage.

Squirrely climbing lesson

The last few nights it stayed with us, we kept its makeshift burrow outside, hoping it would leave on its own. Unfortunately it had grown accustomed to our high class cabin lifestyle, and wasn´t keen on venturing far from human care. We would solidly ignore it for hours on end, busying ourselves inside the cabin with doors shut to keep it out, only to find it snoozing contentedly in the sun atop one of our sweaty, drying work shirts.

Squirrely sleeping on Shyama´s dirty work shirt

Two days passed with the squirrel sleeping on the porch, even though we´d stopped feeding it. We tried releasing it into the fruit grove where it was found, roughly 130 meters from the cabin. A day and a half later it was back on the front porch. This happened twice. Finally Shyama marched it much further away from the cabin, and in the opposite direction. We haven´t seen it since, but hope that it’s found its way and is enjoying its squirrel life in the forest.

One day, while weeding the garden and hacking away the encroaching jungle, we came across a Western Lowlands Rain Frog. It was hopping to escape in the thick bushes when Amanda snatched it up for closer inspection and a few pictures. It was a treat to see one up close, as we hear a chorus of frogs every evening at dusk.

Western lowlands rainfrog

This Marine Toad was actually spotted in Mindo, but was a neat find nonetheless. It also relieved itself twice on Amanda´s hand, which was pretty funny, and yet she persists in handling amphibians for identification.

Marine toad

We´ve also had the pleasure of observing a number of Torrent Ducks who have taken up residence on this stretch of the Nambillo River. Their unmistakable swimming expertise, from which they get their name, is impressive to witness firsthand. And apparently they are thriving in these waters, as we have spotted a mother and her ducklings on several occasions.

Mama Torrent duck and ducklings

It is also worth noting the abundance of bats that live with us in the forest. Every night we catch glimpses of them sipping from the hummingbird feeders, or catching insects above our mosquito net. Some had the misfortune of flying into mist nets during the bird surveys, while others were awoken from a pleasant day´s sleep when we cleaned the cabin´s rafters.

bat, unsure of the species, that Mauricio safely untangled from the mistnet

One of the most intriguing animal behaviors we´ve witnessed here is that of the Oilbird. They are typically nocturnal birds, and we feel privileged to have seen one in the daylight hours and to be able to add it to the Las Tangaras bird list. Oilbirds are known to roost in caves by day, and for their distinctive posture when perched on a branch. It was midday when we flushed this one off the Amor Trail, but luckily it only flew a few meters off the path. It landed on a branch and promptly positioned it´s head vertically down, with tail feathers pointing to the sky. It hung there motionless as we watched; only moving when the wind would stir the trees, whereupon it would sway like a leaf in the breeze. It´s ability to camouflage itself in the relatively open forest was uncanny. We admired this bird for some time before moving on, and we hope that it found its way home.

Oilbird hanging from branch (tail feathers up)

Oilbird hanging like a leaf

These animals are only a small sample of the abundant wildlife that exists here at Reserva Las Tangaras. We feel lucky to have witnessed these creatures in their natural habitat, and look forward to all that remains to be seen.

     July 15th brought our first large group of visitors to the reserve with the arrival of Dr. Dusti Becker and the LifeNet volunteers for the Las Tangaras, Ecuador Cloud Forest Bird Surveys. For the next two weeks we assisted the LifeNet team with multiple bird surveys that consisted of mist netting in low cloud forest, edge netting in Yanez Pasture and second growth forest. Volunteers were trained in the construction of mist nets, safe removal of birds from the nets, and the proper techniques for data collection and entry.

     Our mornings were spent manning the nets, after which we were always rewarded with a hearty and delicious almuerzo (lunch) by our talented chefs Jessica and Alicia. Following lunch came siesta, always a favorite, where some chose to nap, swim or simply lay in the hammock and read a book. Afternoons varied with data entry, hiking the lovely trails of Las Tangaras and collecting data on the infamous Andean Cock of the Rock. In the evenings we were treated to another hot meal and occasionally surprised with a delicious homemade dessert. We were constantly amazed with the women´s ability to create such flavorful and diverse dishes in the rustic cabin, with no electricity or refrigeration.

     The other half of LifeNet´s Ecuadorian staff is comprised of Mauricio and Pascual. These men proved themselves invaluable to the team on a daily basis. Pascual assisted Dusti with the bird banding, and showed great patience while explaining fieldwork techniques to the volunteers.  We dubbed Mauricio ¨El Professional¨ due to his ability to safely remove even the most tangled of birds and bats from the nets. We extend our utmost gratitude to these couples for all of the insightful advice they shared that has helped us to live more comfortably on the reserve.

     Too much happened in those two weeks to record with words, but some of the more memorable moments were captured on camera…

Pascual making friends with an Andean Cock-of-the-Rock

Olivaceous Piha, a new bird for the las Tangaras list!

Mauricio after working his magic with a Rufous-throated Tanager.

LifeNet Volunteers, Genavieve, Margaret, and Larry

    We would like to thank Dusti, the LifeNet team and the volunteers for the opportunity to assist in the fieldwork. It was a great learning experience for the both of us, and we´re happy to have met and shared memories with so many wonderful people.

Lifenet, las Tangaras Team 2012