I take more photos of birds when I’m not suffering

It was still dark as we loaded our gear into the van. Guayaquil, Ecuador is steamy even at 5:30 in the morning and I was already sweating. I lifted myself into the van and scooted in the seat just behind our driver, Jorge, and stuck my nose in my arm pit to double check that I wasn’t smelling foul just yet. I knew it would be just a matter of time. Steve slid in just next to me and once José, our guide, took his position in the front, Jorge began driving out of the city toward Bosque Cerro Blanco, guiding the van’s headlights out of the city toward dawn.

I began slathering the oily Jungle Juice on my arms, my neck and face, and I inhaled the potent chemicals that stung the top of the inside of my nose and I was certain this daily practice was going to  grow some sort of cancer in me. But if it meant not getting ravaged by mosquitos, I was willing to take the risk.

Cerro Blanco

Cerro Blanco is 14,800 acres of protected dry forest on the outskirts of Guayaguil and it didn’t take us more than 30 minutes to get there. The sky was light now and when Steve opened the sliding van door we heard the screechy cacophony of parakeets overhead.

“Gray-cheeked parakeets,” José said matter-of-factly as I poked my head out long enough to watch the flock dart across the sky toward the sun as the morning rays pierced my eyes.

We began our hike into the dense forest on a trail that went up a hill with some makeshift steps made of stones. I moved slow over the damp mossy stones so not to slip. I already had a bad accident hiking on a slippery surface three years ago, leaving me in an agonizing mess on a trail with two broken bones in my leg, so I wasn’t about to do an encore of that event.

Trees surrounded us and the shade was only a feeble attempt at relief from the equatorial sun. Strangely, their bark peeled away like paper. with long strands curling down from their trunks. It was if the trees were a DIY arts and crafts project where the glue didn’t stick and the bark was popping off.

My long pants and long-sleeved shirt made me feel like I was wearing a plastic bag and the Jungle Juice I had slathered on my face earlier was now being carried by my sweat into my eyes, stinging them.  And it wasn’t the only stinging. I was being bit on my legs, on my rear end, on my calves. The mosquitos were actually biting me through my pants.

Oh hell.

At the top of the hill we crossed a wobbly wooden bridge and made our way down the other side of a dry creek and trekked down the neighboring hill. José was in the front, I was trying to keep up in the middle and Steve took up the rear to make sure that I didn’t fall off the trail. The air was feeling increasingly damp and thick, and even my knees were sweating. The poles I used helped me navigate the slippery steps carefully as I was being eaten alive, and I figured that the cancer I was likely to get from the Jungle Juice was now the least of my worries. I was now probably going to get malaria.

And if all that wasn’t enough…

“Hey, look at this.” Steve said with his usual curious tone. José and I looked back and Steve was stooped over a spider the size of his hand.

Big-ass Wolf Spider

So if not cancer, if not malaria, and if not breaking a leg, I was going to face certain death by a gigantic spider.

As for the birds, we were struggling to get a good look at any of them. Occasionally one would pop out, but they kept mostly hidden and called to us.

We were particularly interested in finding the illusive Great Green Macaw, which is critically endangered and known to be in the area, but alas, it wasn’t to be found. Not on this day, at least. We did, however, get good looks at the Pacific Hornero, which turned out to be the most cooperative bird when it came to photography.

Thank you for the pose, Pacific Hornero.

Cerro Blanco

Ancon

Feeling satisfied that we’ve fed all the mosquitos in Cerro Blanco we begin a two-hour drive to Ancon, which looks an awful lot like West Texas—dry, brown, dusty and hot—with the added touch of petroleum pump jacks all around. Ecuador produces a great deal of oil and Ancon is where you’ll see their great pipeline reach out to the ships awaiting to fill up and carry the petroleum to their various destinations.

We pull over to the side of the road and find a bus stop with a bench–a bench made up of four 4” steel pipe welded together–with the purpose of eating our box lunches the hotel packed for us. Not terribly comfortable, but then again, it’s not meant to be a picnic table either. We eat our box lunches, but I was completely sapped of all energy and couldn’t imagine birding in the heat without any shade. Steve and José weren’t about to let the sun spoil their intentions, so they took off on foot into the hot desert of Ancon looking for birds while Jorge and I stayed back and played Angry Birds on my iPhone. (I think that counts as birding.)

After an hour Steve and José come back with drenched shirts. They don’t look so well, I thought. We climbed into the van to head to our next birding spot and I see José in the front seat holding his head in his hands as if trying to keep it from exploding. He was miserable and I knew he was suffering from heat stroke. I reached into my bag and offered him Excedrin, which he chased down with a bottle of warm water that had been sitting in the hot van since lunch.

(Steve and José’s adventure in the desert garnered the following lifers for Steve: the Short-tailed Field Tyrant, Collared Warbling Finch, and Parrot-billed Seedeater. So I missed those by hanging back. But I also didn’t pass out in the heat.) 

Punta Carnero

Not too far from Ancon is Punta Carnero, a beach in Salinas county where we felt immediate relief from the ocean breezes. Ancon already was a distant memory and José was feeling much better. We got good looks at Oyster Catchers, Sand Pipers, and a Whimbrel, and we spent an hour or so at a nearby lagoon where we spotted Chilean Flamingos (lifer!)  and Peruvian Pelicans (lifer!)

Here’s the thing I learned about myself: I take more photos when I’m a) Not being eaten alive by mosquitos and b) Not suffering from heat exhaustion. So that’s why there are more photos from Punta Carnero.  Click each photo to enlarge and get a good look. (The entire day’s list of birds is found at the bottom after all the photos.)

Peruvian Pelicans (the larger ones) and Brown Pelicans (the smaller ones)

Least Sandpiper and Semi-palmated Sandpiper

Chilean Flamingos

American Oystercatcher

Semi-palmated Sandpipers and Semi-palmated Plover

Whimbrel

Snowy Egret and Gray-headed Gull

See how happy a little ocean breeze can make a person?

We ended our day by checking into the Mantaraya Lodge in the Machalilla National Park, where the property sits atop a hill overlooking the ocean. This is a fantastic place with a great restaurant and, most important, a pool. To be honest, I didn’t want to leave. The staff is wonderful, there’s free wi-fi in the public areas and there’s also a jacuzzi. Plus, who can resist such colorful accommodations? We stayed two nights and would have loved to have stayed more. The hotel can also arrange diving and whale watching trips. Perhaps another trip back is in our future.

Mantaraya Lodge

Birds this day (lifers in bold)

1. White-cheeked Pintail
2. Chilean Flamingo
3. Peruvian Pelican
4. Brown Pelican
5. Neotropic Cormorant
6. Magnificent Frigatebird
7. Great Egret
8. Tri-colored Heron
9. Snowy Egret
10. Cattle Egret
11. White Ibis
12. Black Vulture
13. Turkey Vulture
14. Crane Hawk
15. Zone-tailed Hawk (Steve only)
16. Wilson’s Plover (for Lisa)
17. Kildeer
18. American Oystercatcher (for Lisa)
19. Black-necked Stilt
20. Whimbrel (for Lisa)
21. Spotted Sandpiper
22. Western Sandpiper (for Lisa)
23. Least Sandpiper
24. Gray-headed Gull
25. Laughing Gull
26. Gull-billed Tern
27. Royal Tern
28. Rock Pigeon
29. Pale-vented Pigeon
30. Eared Dove
31. Croaking Ground-Dove
32. White-tipped Dove
33. Gray-capped Cuckoo (heard day before, but saw on this day)
34. Smooth-billed Ani
35. Groove-billed Ani
36. Peruvian Pygmy Owl
37. Amazillia Hummingbird
38. Long-billed Starthroat
39. Gartered (Northern Violaceous) Trogon
40. Ringed Kingfisher
41. Ecuadorian Piculet
42. Red-rumped Woodpecker
43. Scarlet-backed Woodpecker
44. Golden-olive Woodpecker
45. Guayaquil Woodpecker
46. Laughing Falcon (heard only)
47. Red-masked Parakeet
48. Gray-cheeked Parakeet
49. Red-lored Parrot
50. Collared Antshrike
51. Plain Antvireo
52. Red-billed Scythebill (for Lisa)
53. Streak-headed Woodpecker
54. Streaked Xenops
55. Pacific Hornero
56. Henna-hooded Foliage-gleaner
57. Necklaced Spinetail
58. Southern Beardless-Tyrannulet
59. Pacific Elaenia
60. Tawny-crowned Pygmy-Tyrant
61. Common Tody Flycatcher
62. Yellow-olive Flycatcher (Flatbill)
63. Vermillion Flycatcher
64. Short-tailed Field Tyrant (Steve only)
65. Sooty-crowned Flycatcher
66. Boat-billed Flycatcher
67. Social Flycatcher
68. Streaked Flycatcher
69. Tropical Kingbird
70. Slaty Becard
71. Black-and-white Becard
72. Red-eyed Vireo
73. Rufous-browed Peppershrike
74. Southern Rough-winged Swallow
75. Gray-breasted Martin
76. House Wren
77. Speckle-breasted Wren
78. Superciliated  Wren (Super Loud Wren)
79. Tropical Gnatcatcher
80. Ecuadorian Thrush
81. Long-tailed Mockingbird
82. Tropical Parula
83. Olive-crowned Yellowthroat
84. Gray-and-Gold Warbler
85. Blue-gray Tanager
86. Collared Warbling Finch (Steve only)
87. Saffron Finch
88. Variable Seedeater
89. Parrot-billed Seedeater (Steve only)
90. Streaked Saltator
91. Black-capped Sparrow
92. Southern Yellow Grosbeak
93. Scrub Blackbird
94. Yellow-tailed Oriole (heard only)
95. Yellow-billed Cacique
96. Orange-crowned Euphonia