Spread Your Wings
“During the
summer, my father lies in a hammock, gin & tonic in hand, waiting for
hummingbirds…
Tapichalaca
Reserve, in southern Ecuador,
would be heaven for him.
In the
cloud forest here, armies of hummingbirds dart between feeders & the woods
next to a nature lodge.
Their
beating wings are so loud they sound more like bees. When they zoom past, you
can feel the wind, &, in the mornings before they’ve been fed, they’ll land
on your outstretched arms or search for nectar inside your nose…
The lodge belongs to the Jocotoco Foundation,
named after the rare Jocotoco antpitta, a bird whose discovery in the late ‘90s
inspired the organization’s creation.
…Jessie,
has been living in Tapichalaca’s researchers’ quarters this year, studying the
golden-plumed parakeet, another rare bird…
More than
300 bird species, 13 of which are globally threatened, live in the mountain
rainforest among 130 endemic plant species. 90% of these plants are threatened,
&, in 2004, the rare Bomarea longpipes vine was discovered after being
presumed lost for 130 years.
…Every 5
days, she monitors newly hatched parakeet chicks in forest nest boxes. Jocotoco
has participated in a widespread conservation campaign over the past 7 years to
protect the birds, whose primary home, the wax palm, was harvested by
Ecuadoreans for Palm Sunday.
Expanding
public awareness & building nest boxes has helped, & the parakeets-
along with the Jocotoco antpitta-are one of Tapichalaca’s main bird specialties.
Others include the jaylike whitecapped tanager & colourful grey-breasted
mountain-toucan…”
Will Ford
For THE WASHINGTON
POST
in The Gazette, Montreal
June 13/2015
Cute Critter Pic
