Wings, Wanderings, and Walters: April 2016

Ecuador 2016

(Part 2)

A trip to the Amazon area of Ecuador is not that unusual for some, but for Cameron and I, it was a very unusual experience. Two weeks, counting getting there and back, of high humidity, fairly high temperatures, and lots of birding from a canoe or peering through jungle foliage for fairly nondescript small birds that were difficult at best to photograph, for a great part, was unusual and exasperating at times. Did we enjoy it overall? Of course!

But first, let me lead you to Part 1 of this Blog that is prepared by Cameron as a running dialogue and summation of our daily routine for this trip. You may get a better sense of the life beyond the search for birds (my part) associated with our adventures.

I have included a snapshot of aerial views of locations where we landed in Quito at 12:30 a.m., where we then flew to the next morning, the City of Coca, as well as those of the three (3) different Lodges we stayed. Each of the three lodges lie along the reaches of the Napo River although each is set apart from the river. Sacha Lodge is approximately one mile north of the river accessed mainly by board walk, then a short canoe ride along a narrow channel and then across an eighty acre or so lake. Napo Wildlife Center is several miles down river from Sacha and on the south side. It is accessed only by canoe along a 4 mile or so channel, exiting into a 150 plus acre lake. The view of the Lodge is quite striking as you round the corner from the channel looking over the lake. Our third lodge, Sani Lodge, was again further down river on the north side, and again a board walk of approximately 3/4 mile with a short canoe ride to the elongated lake and the Lodge. Sani Lodge is more or less at its infant stages, yet learning how to make its way known to tourism and birders. The accomodations were somewhat less sparse but acceptable. The food at all lodges was very good to exceptional.

I have included hereafter a small number of the 200 plus birds seen, most of which were photographed to varying levels of success. All lodges visited had observation towers whereby we were able to view the tops of the forest canopy. They typically were in the 100 to 112 feet high range. We visited them in early mornings to catch birds feeding and to beat the heat, both for us and the birds. They were exciting to climb the stairs of, and equally exciting to experience the views and existing bird life. Again, Cameron has included in Part 1 of this Blog some of my photos, and I have included a couple of his hereafter. I am a birder, Cameron is not, completely, yet! We both enjoy photographing anything that moves, or is interesting. We had a running contest to see who could spot and photograph the best butterfly. Sometime later, we may have a separate Blog on our collections and ask for feed back.

We did take more videos this trip. Cameron has included them in Part 1. We may be adding additional ones in the future if not included at this time.