JL's Ecuador Pictures (Part 2)

Ecuador: Day 3 (afternoon) - Sacha Lodge

After lunch and a bit of a siesta, we and Andrew and Wilmer (proud new father) took the canoe across the lake to the trail that leads to the Napo. 

I like Wilmer. He looks hardly a day over twelve (I'm old now - I can say that) but he's actually 33, married, and has 2 kids. He's a native local, and English is his 3rd language, which he picked up entirely by working at Sacha Lodge the last twelve years. He was taught Spanish in school since the age of seven. He taught me the word for butterfly in his native language, which is "peempleetoo" (no idea on spelling) unless it's a female, in which cas it's "peemplah". So there you go. I'm sure that will serve me just as well as sinaasappelsap has. 

Anyway, the trail. It's a little over a mile long, and boardwalk the whole way. The birding wasn't great. We saw some jacamars, and a few other things, but it really wasn't the best. Fortunately, I passed the time taking pictures of other things. 

On returning to the lodge, we had some dinner and called it a night. Fortunately we finished dinner early, because the power to the entire lodge went out (including the Internet - sorry for the abrupt stop to the iMessages, Mom). Fortunately, all those still in the dining hall didn't have to eat in darkness for long, as things were up and running again in 5 minutes. Until 5 minutes later, when it all went dark again. But, 10 minutes after that, it was all good again, and apparently ran well all through the night.

Sacha Lodge

For whatever reason - I'm blaming the heat - neither Dad nor I slept very well. I caught him getting ready to head out around 1:45. To be fair, I'd be doing the same thing two hours later. It wasn't great. 

Fortunately, we somehow managed to actually be ready and as rested as possible for our next day's journey. 

Ecuador: Day 2 (afternoon) - Sacha Lodge

After a really big lunch, we had a little break. Dad took a nap while I braved the slow internet to put up the previous posts. 

At 3:30 we met with Andrew and Wilmer and took a walk through the jungle. The bugs weren't as persistent as they were on the tower, but they were certainly around. And even though we had a little rain and it was overcast, it was very hot and humid. 

So we saw some owls, various birds, bugs, etc. I'll leave most of the bird pics to Dad (will post later) but here are a couple things I shot this afternoon. 

Smooth-billed Anis

Some kind of butterfly

Wire tailed manikin

Costa Rica: Day 7 - Arenal Volcano

Busy day all around the Observatory Lodge and all on foot.  The weather wasn't terribly cooperative, but we muddled through and got some good shots.  This place is pretty amazing. I recommend it for anyone who is planning on visiting the area.

Here's what we woke up to:

Here's what it looked like for the 3 minutes that the clouds left the peak today:

Without getting into too much detail (as I'm tired, and the room doesn't have wifi so I have to go to reception or the bar), I saved the bird pics for Dad, but due to some slight technical difficulties, we'll be posting his pics another day. 

Key points not included in the photos:

- I saw a whole herd(passel? troupe?) of coati walk past us in the forest today. I fully expected one to look up at me and say "Oy! Ake!" as they are the closest thing to billybumblers I have ever seen. 

- Bavaria Dark beer is pretty good. 

- My aunt Marcia is really good at yelling in Italian. 

On with the pics: 

Hepatic Tanager

Dualling Clay-colored Thrush (C R's national bird)

Tropical Pewee

Great Curassow

Costa Rica: Day 6 - La Selva to Arenal

Another fine day of mostly cruising in the car. There were many stops along the way, each in the name of birding.

First we stopped at a Nature Center, although it's in it's early growth stages. The gentleman who runs the place was very nice, very talkative, and very enthusiastic. The most exciting part of that visit was this guy: 

Or maybe this guy:  

Blue-gray Tanager

After that, we stopped at a hotel for lunch. It was fancy as well as delicious. It didn't hurt that the grounds around the open-air restaurant were riddled with iguanas of all sizes. According to Noel, our guide, a group of iguanas is called a "lounge".  Go figure. Noel also hung some bananas out for the local birds, and Dad got a great pic of the following: 

Blue Dacnis

We also were lucky to see the Emerald Basalisk. 

After lunch, it was up (and around) the hill through Paraiso to the Arenal Volcano. Beautiful country. We looked for some birds, did a bit of work to get the Thicket Antpitta, and then headed to the Volcano Observatory Lodge. I can't speak for Dad, but I dunno how they let a schlub like me in to this place. No photos now, as I'm planning on a Places We Stayed post at the end of the trip. 

Upon settling in, I was on the back porch working on this post and I spotted this guy:

White-nosed Coati

While at first I was amazed as it went loping past the back of the porch, I later figured out it was not fate or divine intervention at all. 

Yup.... That is our "neighbor" feeding it Cheetos. 

Awwwwwwwwwesome. 

Anyway, here are a bunch of other things that we did not feed Cheetos to toda:

Long-tailed Tyrant

White-necked Jacobin

Orange-billed Sparrow

Fasciated Antshrike

Plain Brown Woodcreeper

White-throated Magpie-Jay

Costa Rica: Day 5 - La Selva

Another fine day on the Carribean side. Hot, muggy, but not as bad as yesterday. We did plenty of birding, and saw many a thing. I even went into town (Puerto Viejo) with Noel, our guide, to pick up some beer and snacks.   Saw some really cool birds, got a great video of some ants (too big to post here now - Internet may be too slow), and we waited for an owl, but had no luck. But as you'll see below, that didn't stop Dad and Noel from looking for a Common Pauraque later (which they found).

Fun Facts: 

~ Dad has reconfirmed he's not a big fan of cilantro. 

~ Most things Dad decides to eat have cilantro in them. 

~ There are fireflies here. 

Anyway....... Today's pics:

Hidden Things

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Female Passerini's Tanager needs a napkin

Not a crocodile

Looking for doves in all the wrong places

(High contrast Howler Monkey, to keep it PG.  Dude kept flashing his junk)

Pale-billed Woodpecker

Black-capped Pygmy-Tyrant

Just cause I like this picture!

White-collared Manakin

Rufous-winged Woodpecker