Work and (/is?) Play at Las Tangaras

Captain's log, Day 77: My first week at Las Tangaras and Mindo? A Lyre-tailed nightjar, silhouetted against the clouded night sky. A resident Rufous motmot. A hoarde of hungry hummingbirds and bats at the feeders, at all hours. I have three "jobs" here (as if they were actually WORK! As if I wouldn't want to be doing these things all the time anyway): Record Andean Cock-of-the-Rock lek behaviors and movements from around 5 AM to 7 AM...casually log which hummingbirds are visiting the feeders all day during luxurious breakfasts on the station porch, and then BIRDWATCH as wanted for the rest of the day to complete the month's bird sighting log. Work -is- play here. The station managers and I are living the LIFE. 

Welcome to Mindo life. Remember to check out the Reserva Las Tangaras blog, which Andrew and Emily are currently updating on the computers next to me on our Saturday trip into town (about a two hour hike).

http://lastangaras.wordpress.com/who-are-we/

For those of you I didn't tell the story of Las Tangaras, get prepared for some seriously epic Nikki luck. Before I went on this adventure, I was applying for the Watson Fellowship, and looking for opportunities to work with conservation organizations in Ecuador. Back then, the Texas A&M job board (PROTIP: you should check it out if you want to work wildlife or conservation jobs, Pomonians!!) was advertising volunteering positions with one Dr.Dusti Becker, a key player in the organization Life Net Nature, and as I discovered with some background literature searching, a fantastic tropical ornithologist. I e-mailed her and didn't get a response back then. I made other plans.

Then I came to Mindo with Claudia. I decided to walk around instead of going on a Canyon tour in early October, and saw a dusty sign by the side of the road advertising a Cock-of-the-Rock lek and trails around a privately owned reserve; $5 entrance fee, instead of a >$50 tour, as advertised in town. I opted to stay an extra day in Mindo alone and check it out. Perfect for a traveling student, and the trails looked tanager-heavy...

The universe, man. It works in funny ways sometimes.

I knew I'd stumbled into Nikki-heaven when I got there...but when the station managers told me that the reserve was owned by none other than DUSTI BECKER?! Fate.

And now I'm here. SO. 

As per usual...some of MY pictures of Mindo. Long overdue. 

Casa Cecilia, where I stayed when I first arrived in Mindo with Claudia and friends from Manna Project. 

The Rio Mindo runs through the city. 

And I have good friends and aspiring birdwatchers at the Quetzal cafe in town: their chocolate and coffee are locally grown, and totally delicious. They advertise Las Tangaras for us! 

Here is my burlap sack full of food...next to the two most important pieces of equipment needed at the reserve. 

My new room in Las Tangaras, on the second floor of the station. Birdwatching when you sleep, birdwatching when you rest, birdwatching when you wake up...

The moon coming through the clouds isn't bad, either. This view looks down towards the river. 

Second floor...

To the treasure trove that is the first floor. Seriously, it's like someone creeped on my dreams and designed this field station from what they saw. Not ONLY does it have FANTASTICALLY warm showers, no electricity, a gas stove...

...and a coffee grinder...

(Fuzzy picture of vegetables carried in from town down the cowpath!)

...but it ALSO has a FANTASTIC biological library. Field guides, conservation texts, spanish textbooks and readers, records of the reserve, and best of all: RAW DATA and papers published by Dr.Dusti Becker HERSELF, about places all over Ecuador, and even into Southeastern Arizona. I am in heaven. 

Cock-of-the-Rock lek map. We monitor these birds using color bands; every session we record where they are and how they interact around the lek. 

We also monitor the hummingbirds at the porch-feeders...which are active pretty much all the time. 

A beautiful map repainted by the current and wonderfully life-loving and wild station owners. There are so. many. swimming holes. 

Oh hey there, little hummingbird. 

Comparing my bird lists to the reserve list: on my first day, I had 116 species after my last Mindo blitz that I hadn't seen. There are about 376 bird species known to be in Mindo...and now, I need 103 more of them to have seen them all (at least somewhere in my life). 

The biodiversity is incredible here, and the trails are excellent. Mini-tour?

You have to walk a few kilometers down a cow path, past mossy canyon walls thick with visiting tanagers and hummingbirds, drinking...looking out over hillsides of antwrens and toucans and warblers and woodcreepers. This one man bridge is the final step to reach the reserve. 

Then there's the reserve.

Looking out over gorgeous cloud forest cliffsides and hills; dripping with epiphytes and jewel-like birds foraging. Home to river otters, cusumbos, and spectacled bears...

And unfortunately, tourists. They are building a road close to the reserve, and it's killing us to watch it happen. It feels like Fern Gully...and it is partially why our constant bird counts and hummingbird or lek monitoring is so important. We are recording changes in bird abundance and behavior as the construction nears the reserve...as their habitat changes. 

Can you see the station rooftop? This is the cowpath down. 

Rio Nambillo, the river closest to the reserve. 

There's this one swimming hole on our river trail where we can easily bring plastic chairs out to sit at sunset: watch the Torrent ducks, Egrets, White-capped dippers, flycatchers, river otters, and even Cock-of-the-Rocks going about their dusk business...

Cotton and flower petals falling from the trees around the riverbend. It's unreal kinds of beautiful here. 

The river is beautiful...and then there are the trails, where the birdwatching magic happens. 

...okay, a little more about the rivers. The swimming holes along the Guillermo trail are lovely, too. 

It gets a bit steep in parts...

But the destinations are totally work the work. This swimming hole is above a series of small falls; this part I have pictured is about seven feet deep. It's amazing to take a pair of the station's goggles up there and look around underwater...the temperature of the Andean runoff is not for the faint of heart. You've been warned. 

Some of the previous owners made these fantastic hand-drawn guides to the reserve's wildlife. As a visitor, you can take these and use them on your reserve walks. 

Sorry that some of these pictures didn't rotate correctly! Limited internet problems...but awesome drawings!

And so many tanagers. EVERYWHERE ALL THE TIME. 

So. ahem. The work that we do here! Here's a 5:02 AM Gallos de la Peña (cock of the rocks) selfie! It's about a 20 minute walk from the station up to the lek site before dawn.  

I get to sit in this awsome research blind, and wait for the males to start calling. For those of you who are unfamiliar with what a "lek" is...lekking is a type of behavior exhibitied by some birds where the males of the species will gather together to display to choosy females. It poses some interesting forces of selection on said lekking species...Cock of the Rocks and Manakins are the lekking birds of Mindo.  

Hard to get good photos of them, but here's R/W: the male with the red over white plastic band combo on his left leg!

We have a laminated copy of the lek map so we can map movements every morning. Again with the rotation problem! Sorry about that. It's such an awesome job to just monitor these plucky, jumpy, flighty males each morning. Hard to catch all the bands in a short amount of time, but definitely not a problem to stick around longer...

Andrew checking out a woodcreeper from the station's porch on one of our fine mornings. 

Our best friend Rufous Motmot. He hangs out, too. 

If you visit Las Tangaras, the station owners can cook you up one heck of a meal, too. Here we are with some spiced black beans, handmade corn tortillas, baked camote (sweet potato, but redder and tastier), roasted green chilis, guacamole with onions and tomatoes, about five types of aji sauce, limon straight from the orchard on the property, and Pilsener. 

Come join us! $12 to stay the night; $3-5 per meal, depending on what you want to eat. Swimming holes and birds galore. Good company and reading; candlelit evenings and lovely, hot showers. 

This is heaven. It just...couldn't get any more beautiful than this. Birder's paradise.

I have some antwrens to search out this afternoon, so I'm going to end this post here. Apologies that blogging will become less regular in the near future...I'm back to forest life.

Cheers, all.
-Nikki

Tarqui and Mazan Fundacion Ecologia

Captain's Log, Day 73: The dreams of the biologists I've worked with have never ceased to amaze me. When you've considered the research, obligations to governmentally-funded environmental programs, and the personal and family time, the fact that there are additional projects like Fabian's Mazan Fundacion Ecologia...you really start to understand the true meaning of dedication. Projects like Ernesto's Amaru and Fabian Toral's Mazan are purely the fruits of life's work that goes above and beyond the call of duty.

The second piece of the Fabian puzzle: Mazan Fundacion Ecologia. Fabian asked himself what would spread the word about and help ameliorate the situation of animal trafficking down here most effectively, and he came up with this. Privately funded and owned, the farm and bird breeding center at Mazan is aimed towards public education about sustainable living and healthy alternatives to animal trafficking. I'll give you all a bit of the tour Fabian gave me...

Welcome to Mazan: future center of the hoped-for association of bird breeders in Cuenca, and tourism for Conservation. 

The property is owned by a family who wants to develop it into a tourism-for-Conservation location. They agreed to work with Fabian so they could make their dreams a reality. This view is from their driveway in Tarqui, an area just outside of Cuenca. 

Because the demand for domesticated birds is so high, Fabian wants to help traffickers learn that there are better ways to make money in the bird trade: healthy practices in Canary, Parakeet, and Ornamental Chicken and Piegon breeding are what he aims to teach at the Mazan aviaries. 

The end-goal for the Mazan project is to establish a coalition of breeders in Cuenca, and recruit traffickers to this way of life in place of their previous practices. Educating the public about the differences between wild birds (parrots and other native species) and so called domestic breeds (parakeets, chickens, etc) is Mazan's first initiative. Hopefully, the tourism aspect would bring in the funds for the educational program.

Beautiful facility. Lots of happy birds. 

Cuy, as well!

Rabbits eating some of the house-grown sod. Om nom nom nom. 

Fabian hopes to be an example to the public of an idealized breeding facility. This may encourage others to start similar projects, and convince the public of the profitability of such enterprises. 

Oh hey there!

He sure had me convinced. Beautiful coops!

More ideas by Fabian: hydroponics for organic and safe food production for in-house animals. 

Very nice. 

Ideas for MY birds and Amaru in the future! 

They even have around-the-clock rat-control. 

On top of the bird breeding, the property includes organic greenhouses where they grow all the vegetables they and the animals need for survival. 

Composting projects! Nothing is wasted. 

Did I mention the property was beautiful? The view looking out over Tarqui. 

As far as the tourism side goes, Mazan will offer five-star digs for visitors while they learn about the region's ecology, cultural histories, and hopes for shaping the future of conservation. 

If you ever want to visit...

They offer experiences in natural healing and local health ceremonies. Here's a tub for hot-spring therapies. They have a local specialist on call for massages, water therapies, and more...

A special room for Shamanic ceremonies, too. I bet the stars are gorgeous in this room at night. 

You can't really see them all that well, but they have goats here, too! For milk and cheese. Yay goats!

They also offer up the place for weddings and parties. 

Pulling the public in is the first step. Once they're visiting, we can pounce on them with our conservation messages. Muahahaha. Good thinking. 

Happy hound of the house. 

So there you have it. A preview of dreams in the works with Fabian. After our morning at Mazan, we headed to visit the Tarqui Zoo, which is yet another site that trafficked animals occasionally end up calling home in Cuenca...

Fabian with the zoo's owner; a man who has informally been taking in animals for a number of decades, and now works with the Environmental Ministry. 

The zoo's property is considerable...but again, with new arrivals weekly, it's hard to keep up. 

Incredible: a Cock-of-the-Rock, taken from trafficking. So sad. 

Tarqui's quarantine needs LOTS of work. Fabian is currently puzzling over how to accomplish this with the owner...

A stress relieving hill.
What a simply wonderful thing: a grassy incline to roll down. For the whole family (including the dog). 

"We're not pets." Sign above the monkey exhibit. 

Incredibly sad: Penguins sold in the local market a decade back, taken from the Galapagos. 

Organic strawberries from Mazan on the car ride home while we discussed future plans. 

The take-away messages here?

Animal trafficking is a HUGE problem down here, and it isn't getting any better.

Education programs for the public (schools, pet-sellers, and the traffickers themselves) are long overdue.

It's up to the ones who have ideas about how to stop it to secure the support for programs to control and prevent it, because government funding is not forthcoming.

I definitely want to work with Fabian on his projects in the future. If we could start to slow the arrivals at Amaru, and decrease the amount of animals that are caught and sold as pets in this country, we could help prevent both an ecological (as animals that play important ecosystem roles are taken from their habitats) and health crisis (as people are exposed to wild animal diseases in rescue centers, homes, and markets).

Education is the first step...and unfortunately, to get a program going, we need support we don't have.

More to come on the state of animal trafficking in future posts.

Cheers.