Ecuador Day 4 - Mashpi Magic

View from our room this morning. We saw hummingbirds alight on the branches, hoping to catch some of the small flies attracted to our windows during the night. 

Mashpi Lodge 

MORNING

We met at 8:30 this morning for the first of our three expeditions. Two members of our group had elected to take a long steep downhill hike into the Magnolia Valley and then walk in a shallow river for about 45 minutes before climbing a tower to board the Dragonfly mid-route. The rest of us (the “easy option takers”) broke into 2 groups due to seating capacity, and spent the morning on the Dragonfly. It is a 2 km (1.2 mile) round trip cable car ride down into and across a cloud forest valley. 

The Dragonfly has 4 gondolas equally spaced along the cable. Each can seat 3 guests plus a guide, who helps identify plants and birds seen as we sailed slowly above the forest. The guide can also signal the cable operator, who can stop the cars in a moment so we had time to examine things during the trip. Greg, Irene and I rode with Lizardo. Besides being super knowledgeable and congenial, he’s a whiz at bird, frog and monkey calls. 

The coolest bird we spotted this morning as we walked to the Dragonfly was a long-wattled umbrellabird. I’d never heard of one, but Lizardo said it’s a pretty big deal in the birding world. It has quite a profile. You can read about it here: https://ebird.org/species/lowumb1. (Wendy, this is for you.)

When we first climbed aboard, we were in thick cloud cover and had no idea where we headed - only that it involved a steep drop. 

We soon dropped below the clouds and could see the valley below. 

It’s impressive that this entire structure was built by hand. I can’t imagine how they winched the heavy cable into place. 

Some of our group heading back on the other side of the cable

At the far side, the gondola swings around like a chair lift or amusement park ride, and you dip back into the valley again. 

Lizardo and Greg

AFTERNOON

We boarded a Mashpi van at 3 to head to the Hummingbird Garden. It was a bumpy ride, doing wonders for today’s step count. (My Fitbit was so confused by all the activity that it congratulated me for working in the zone, and credited 2000 steps for each direction.)

We arrived at a rather nondescript viewing area. There was a covered space with several hummingbird feeders scattered around, and a couple of logs with several chunks of banana on them. But what a treat this place was. I hardly know where to start!

A coatimundi, or coati, scampered up to grab some banana. Coatis are diurnal members of the raccoon family found in tropical and subtropical South America. Up to half its adult weight can be in its tail, but this chubby fellow seems a little lacking in the tail department.

Many colorful birds visited, but never for long. Lizardo was endlessly patient as we kept asking, “What’s that?” for types of birds we’d already seen several times. 

Green tanager (we did all remember the name of this one)

Golden naped tanager

Flame-rumpled tanager

Golden tanager

Crimson rumpled toucanet. Adorably named. Still counts as a toucan!

By far the stars of the appropriately named Hummingbird Garden were the hummingbirds. 

We held out little containers of sugar water and they swooped in to feed. We stood around with silly grins on our faces as they zoomed around, dive bombing and darting in and out. Greg said it sounded like a Top Gun dogfight on low volume. We could hear and feel the pressure from their wings. One landed on my cell phone as I was shooting a video of my other hand with a hummingbird sitting on it. It was quite magical. 

The darn things move so fast that it was a matter of luck to get a good still shot.

We could see their very long tongues dipping to the bottom of the container as they lapped up the sugar water. Most of the photos are screenshots from videos. This one’s tongue is still sticking out a little. 

EVENING

We gathered again at 7 pm for a night walk.Armed with flashlights and Lizardo and Gabby, 5 of us set off to hunt for frogs and other nocturnal critters. We stayed on the main road, shining our lights into the vegetation and looking for anomalies. Lizardo, we later learned, is called “the nights guy” by other Mashpi staff. We discovered he is also a frog whisperer. While a couple of us found specimens, he was preternaturally good at it. And if he heard one but couldn’t find it, he’d crouch down and do frog calls. Inevitably, it would respond and he’d find it under a leaf or in the brush. 

Rain frog (baby - the size of my thumbnail)

Millipede - about 5 inches long. The most disgusting find of the evening

Tiger spider - 4” and totally creepy 

Rain frog

Without our lights, it was super dark out, like the inside of a cave when they turn out the light. There was no moonlight, no stars, no light pollution. 

Giant snail (probably not its scientific name, but it was indeed giant. The shell was the size of my fist.)

 

Wandering spider. It was in the middle of the path. Ick.

Every time we found a frog that wasn’t in a good place for photos, Lizardo put it on a leaf and took photos with our cell phones.

Mashpi glassfrog. We were most excited to see this one. It’s a brand new species, and quite rare. This little guy is transparent on its underside. If we’d had a piece of glass to set him on, we’d have been able to see his internal organs. A stock photo from Sci News is below. 

I have sensory overload, in the best possible way. So many amazing experiences today. Mashpi is a magical place.