Ecuador- Part 3/3 West Coast

It was sad leaving the Amazon with so much more to see still there but we started out for our long journey from Sacha-Coca-Quito airport-Manta-Puerto Lopez. It took a full day of travel to get from one side of the country to the other going east-west.

Unknown Ground Lizard displaying (c.f Stenocercus sp.)

Hosteria Mandala is quite large and is very nice with a view of the beach from the dining area and nice shady walkways that keep the place nice and cool. But I would describe the decore as quite eclectic. The food is very good (not included) but you should never expect much of beer in Central America other than something cold and refreshing that lacks good flavor of beer.

Puerto Lopez is your stereotypical sunny beach town that started as a fishing village but at this time it is actually mostly locals visiting for Carnival. It is incredibly hot, dry and sunny which is very different from the Amazon which was hot, humid and raining pretty much constantly. The beach side of the main road isn't very developed which is nice because it allows a nice view all along the beach. The outskirts of town are mostly dry scrub with cacti. Lizards are everywhere!

Scrub in Puerto Lopez

 I definitely have seen at least three different species of lizard here and one Iguana but unfortunately I do not have a good field guide for this area in Ecuador and these will remain unidentified until I can find one.

The scrub was great for birding and included seeing many mockingbirds, doves, flycatchers and nightjars.

Anthonys Nightjar

  The harbor in town is very busy in the morning with all of the fishing ships bringing in their early morning catch and flocks of frigates and pelicans following them.

 We booked a tour on Cercapez to visit Isla de la Plata. On the way we saw spotted dolphins from the boat.

 Isla de la Plata is a protected area and they would not let us walk around without a guide. The guide didn't speak any English but still managed to point out a few interesting things. Although I don't have a good picture of it he did keep finding Short-tailed Woodstars which is a very very small hummingbird that my camera would never focus on properly. The fact it never stood still might have also been a factor though.

 The dry arid climate meant that the area wasn't very leafy and only a few Mimosa and a white lily were blooming at the time. Large fruiticose lichens attached to many of the larger shrubs and stunted trees.

 The views were amazing from all around the island. We took the shorter trail so that we could enjoy it and spend the time looking at stuff rather than hiking very quickly and missing everything.

 It was the season of the breeding boobies!! I saw more boobies on this one island than any nude beach I've been to ever before. But unfortunately unless you like birds these aren't the boobs you're interested in.

Young Blue-footed Boobies

Adult Blue-footed Booby

 Even though they aren't common in the areas we visited in Ecuador between Gail and I we always seem to find peregrine falcons if they are around. I wonder if they like baby booby for dinner?

 The tour was a bit disappointing in that you don't have much time to explore the island and then the snorkeling is only good if you are willing to dive down or get close to the rocks. Also my biggest complaint was that they actually appear to feed sea turtles to get them to come close to the boat. One of the most common injuries to turtles is from being hit by boats so this is an absolutely terrible thing to condition turtles to come close to.

 During our visit to the west coast we went to Agua Blanca (Machalita National Park) which also required a guide who again did not speak English. Others were quite disappointed but I do like the fact they are employing locals and giving them more of a reason to protect these areas. Agua Blanca is a nice walk through archaeological sites, edges of farmland and the main preserved areas by the river.

I have an irrational love for a type of bird called a Mot-Mot. Well it might not be completely irrational they are gorgeous, colourful birds with a hilarious sounding name and very cool looking tails.

Blue-crowned Mot-mot

Blue-crowned Mot-mot

 There were many bright coloured birds here which to me doesn't suit the dull scrub habitat very well. It is so easy to spot the bright colours of a Vermillion Flycatcher or Southern-Yellow Grosbeaks and others. I can't imagine how it is good for their survival to be so bright against a dull background but obviously it works! 

Don't wear anything you don't want ruined by sulfur smell into the hot springs at Agua Blanca because the smell and the mud that they say has healing properties doesn't come out! I don't know about the healing properties but it definitely does make your skin very soft after so likely works as a good exfoliate.

 The river is the only part of the area where you can see green vegetation and tall trees. The contrast from the lookouts at Agua Blanca are absolutely stunning. The vegetation quickly changes  to arid scrub that continues up the hills on either side.

 As near the town of Puerto Lopez lizards were everywere! They were foraging on the ground in the scrub and on the sides of roads and trails.

 After experiencing Puerto Lopez for a few days we tried to get closer to an area where we might get into the lower cloud forest regions. We went south to Sami Lodge in San Jose.  The lodge is on the outskirts of town and although we didn't get into any cloud forest regions (you need off road vehicles to go down those roads apparently) it was definitely different from the extremely arid area near Puerto Lopez.

Black-necked Stilt and baby

 The beach in San Jose is not as nice or picturesque as Puerto Lopez and is more of a muddy sand with some very cool invertebrates living in it. It is also built up right to the water so there is no walkway along the beach and just a few public access roads can get you onto it.

The outskirts of town are rich with birds in the scrub and farmland.

Pacific Parrotlet

Red-bellied Scythebill

Blue-headed Parrot

 Again there were many lizards everywhere but only one small brown frog near a small creek. Unsurprising since we had so much sun and no rain all. Apparently they do see large venomous snakes every so often although I was not so lucky.

 The birding is great even from the balconies at Sami Lodge. The trails there are quite overgrown, poorly marked and don't actually form a full loop.

Black-capped Pygmy Tyrant

 An entire family of scarlet-backed woodpeckers did just show up one afternoon in a tree right infront of me when I was trying to identify a small odd bird with a short stubby tail that turned out to be a black-capped pygmy tyrant.

Scarlet- backed Woodpecker

 The surfing town south of San Jose is absolutely packed with younger tourists and locals.There are drink stands everywhere and the beach has a raised walkway that allows you a view of the crowds and umbrellas. Needless to say we didn't stick around long but if you want a place to party here would be a good bet.

Ecuador- Part 2/3 The Amazon

I must admit I have always been fond of barren habitats where unique species thrive under low competition and high disturbance but the tropics have always fascinated me and I can't help loving them just as much. I have seen other tropical regions of Central America but the Amazon rainforest is definitely unique. The fast flowing river frequently flooding areas, ponds and wetlands so dark and full of tannins you look brown in the water, trees as tall as high buildings and animals so bright they look like jewels or so well camouflaged you had no clue they were even alive.

Lake at Sacha Lodge

SACHA LODGE

I stayed at Sacha Lodge which is located on a small pond/lake pretty far down the Rio Napo. The boat ride is enjoyable and you get a good look at the various industries along the river including sparse towns and predominantly mining stations.Sacha Lodge is very well kept and when I was there it was under construction to make it even better. The food is wonderful and the people are really friendly.

Sacha Lodge

Cabins at Sacha Lodge

The rainforest seamed to come even more alive at night after the intense rain we get during the day. I saw two tri-coloured swamp snakes right off the boardwalk. There were a constant chorus of frogs and toads calling as soon as it got dark. This was of course much louder after rain. Oddly enough it didn't rain at night but did almost every day. I must admit that my identification of these animals is based on a very incomplete field guide to the common reptiles and amphibians of the Amazon.

Sharp-nosed Toad (Bufo dapsilis)

The frogs and toads were fantastic but the most interesting find for me was definitely the second night when my amazing native guide and now friend (Shan-shu) found a climbing salamander! I had never expected to see any salamanders in the amazon since I was under the impression they are quite unusual and hard to find.

Amazon Climbing Salamander (Bolitoglossa altamazonica)

 The species of frog calling did differ based on time of day and between location. The wetter areas by the docks had more toads and smaller frogs calling but up near the butterfly garden had larger arboreal species.

Map Treefrog (Hyla geographica)

 Other than treefrogs, my favorite group of frogs is the poison dart frogs. Their small size, bright colours and very interesting behaviors all fascinate me. Shan-shu is again credited for finding my favorite frog that I have seen in the amazon since this little guy could fit on a quarter (with room to spare).

Sanguine Poison Frog (Epipedobates zaparo)

 On a walk down the boardwalk one day I stopped in shock and awe and called for the guides to come back since they had walked on ahead looking for birds. The oddest amphibian I have ever seen was floating in shallow water like a leaf. This was MY best find of the entire trip as it turns out and the guides were very impressed. The older guide who was born and raised in the area had only seen one suriname toad before and Shan-shu had never seen on in his life.

Utinga Suriname Toad (Pipa snethlageae)

The most common frogs in the area were crested forest toads, many-striped treefrogs, common polkadot treefrogs, amazonian rain frogs, rocket frogs and rough skinned treefrogs. This is very likely to change based on season and these were easier to find since they were calling in Februrary.

Common Polkadot Treefrog (Hyla punctata punctata)

Pale-striped Amason Poision Frog (Epipedobates hahneli)

The reptiles were't out often due to the rain we had pretty much constantly during the days but the few hours of sunlight we got in a day they all came out for!

Yellow Spotted River Turtle (Podocnemis unifilis)

Northern Caiman Lizard (Dracaena guianensis)

I only found three species of snakes in the 6 days I spent in the Amazon at Sacha Lodge. If I had been fully focused on finding them and if the weather had been a bit sunnier I might have had better luck. But with the rain preventing any diurnal basking snakes from coming out I only found common blunt headed snakes, tricoloured swamp snakes, common cat-eyed snakes and a high woods coral snake.

High Wood Coral Sake (Erythrolamprus reginae)

Despite being very tired from waking up at 4am for birds I made myself go out looking for reptiles and amphibians every night. I was determined to use every oppertunity I could to find new things and wouldn't go to bed without one. I did quite well by myself despite not being confident enough on the trails to go very far without getting lost. It is quite difficult in the jungle at night since everything looks green and similar with very little to mark the way you went.

View from the dining area at sunset

Masked Crimson Tanager

The bird life was incredibly diverse and it was hard to keep up with everything we were seeing.  The best birding was at the lookouts. Sacha Lodge has two lookouts the first is a set of three towers linked by bridges. It goes up quite high (36m tall) and gets you above/equal to most of the trees.

Walking across the bridges between towers

Pied Puffbird

Female Blue Dacnis

Crested Owls

It was a lot easier to see birds from the lookouts because of the really dark lighting in the understory. Sacha has extensive trails to get to the lookouts and other interesting hotspots for birding. Even along the way the guides know exactly where to find roosting birds that would otherwise never be seen. These crested owls were my personal favorite from the trails.

Extensive trails at Sacha Lodge

The other lookout was by far my favorite though. Built into the tallest species of tree that grows in the amazon, the Kapora Tree, it was definitely over 40m tall. The climb was worth it though! The birds literally land in the lookout and you can see so far around you.

Cream-coloured Woodpecker

These are some examples of the birds that were in the tree with me. In addition to the ones pictured, many trogons, euphonias, flycatchers and a bare-necked fruit crow all landed in the tree while we were there.

Long-billed Woodcreeper

Golden-collared Toucanet

Plum-throated Cotinga

Yellow-browed Tody Flycatcher

At the top of the treehouse tower

Rufous-green Kingfisher

YASUNI NATIONAL PARK
The guides from Sacha can take you into Yasuni National Park for an aditional fee if you request it.  This is a good chance to see some really good parrot licks. The one on the river that everyone gets to see is shaky from the boat and only had 3 species of parrots. Mealy Parrots and dusky-headed parakeets were very common on the river salt lick. Blue-headed parrots were seen but did not come down to the lick.

Parrot Salt Lick

The one in the park had a really nice hide that you could sit in eat lunch and wait for the birds to show up. When they arrived it was deafening! The macaws come down to the ground first and the smaller parrots follow very loudly and cautiously. They almost looked like they were chasing each other off branches encouraging others to go ahead of them.

Scarlet Macaw

Yasuni is also quite good for manakins, trogons and anoles. I wish I could have had a chance to go there at night!

The sandbar island we visited on the way back had some very interesting birds that are unique to that habitat. They like the shrubby/tall forbs/wide leaved grassed that grow on sandy soils. This included chestnut-bellied seedeaters, grey-breasted crake, roseatte spoonbills and oriole blackbirds.

Chestnut-bellied Seedeater