no pics this time around, just an update. so lately i´ve been waiting around to hear from my advisor to see if i could do an independent research project on the nesting habits of the most powerful bird in the world, the harpy eagle. this last wed i got word that the one chick she was studying was blown from it´s nest and died. if that wasn´t bad enough, the river levels are too low to get to the other study sites, therefore making my study in the amazon impossible.
since then i´ve been scrambling to set up another project. i´ve lined one up near sumaco volcano national park on the eastern slope of the andes before they dive off into the amazon. i´ll be studying the effects of human development and disturbance on the distribution and abundance of bird species. pretty interesting i think. i´ve got to learn a lot of birds though as i´ll be there conducting the survey alone, and the bird list for the area is at 323 as of now!
i head out on tue the 14th with a bird tour group, which is guided by two of ecuador´s top ornithologists. i´ll head out with them in the mornings the first few days, then they leave and i´ll be on my own for the next bit, trudging around the cloud forest. no electricity, sleepin gin my sleepingbag again, wandering around the wood, and cooking for myself, i can´t wait! i´ll be out there, with nowhere near to get supplies so i´ll be carrying in everything i need for the couple of weeks. if you´re curious check out their website www.andeanbirding.com. i´ll be in wild sumaco, their reserve just south of the volcano.
i´ll be out of touch for a bit, until december, and then i´ll probably lock myself in a den to whip out my final paper over the study, as it will be due one day after i get back from the field! after this stretch, the semester will be over, and then the vacation begins! starting it off with a bit of mountaineering, as i´ve missed being out and climbing so much. we´re hitting up cotopaxi, the earth´s closest point to the sun as it´s so close to the equator, then chimorazo, ecuador´s highest point. then, no plans as of yet, just know i want to surf and dive on the southern coast, and i have to leave the country before the 20th of december, so maybe bolivia.
well i´m off to try to study some more birds, it´s so overwhelming, i hope i can get them down before too long!
happy thanksgiving to you all, and happy birthday pops!

Here´s the amazon, or oriente as it´s called here in ecuador. this is at tiputini biological research station along the tiputini river, south of the napo river. we were really out there, a plane ride, two chiva (open bus) rides, and two canoa (motorized canoe) rides after leaving quito we arrived there. the biodiversity was outrageous! i added 108 new birds to my life list in just one week. there are apparently more than 630 species of birds there, just nuts. and the diversity of insects, plants, and mammals was just as abnormally high. this area has the highest concentration of jaguar in the world, and it shares a border with Huaroni territory. the Huaroni are one of the last ¨ unthouched¨ civilizations left out there. the whole trip was quite inspiring. if you want some really sweet photos of the area, check out nov. national geographic, there´s a photo essay of the fungus of tiputini towards the beginning.
oh yeah, it was really, really, really humid there. my backpack molded and it was just sitting in the hut.








just kicking it in the canopy as my prof Xavier, or Xavs or Dr. X as we like to call him, looks on. this was the during the canopy trip, not at the tower, which is following.








oh, those beautiful zebra bromeliads! as seen from where i´m sitting in the previous pic.












the morning fog from the tower before the sun burned it off. we would head up there for some great birding, as it protruded from the canopy.











the largest and most prehistoric looking grasshopper i´ve seen. yeah, that´s a full sized bic pen in the shadow






don mayor, this man knew everything about this forest. quite a brilliant fellow.









a frog encountered when we were floating the river at night to find caimen. we saw numerous caimen, a couple from just feet away.









the flower i watched for two hours, as i was trying to get a better understanding of the pollination of it. small ants were robbing the nectar, getting it through a small hole at the base and avoiding the pollen. nothing else came by for a visit.









the army ant bivouac. up to 600,000 ants will join hand in hand to create a temporary home for the queen as they are nomadic ants. i spent numerous hours tromping through the understory following a line of ants, two or three wide, in hopes of finding the foraging front (where they have a massive attack on insects) or the bivouac. i didn´t find either until the last day of the trip when i happend upon the bivouac 12 ft from the trail. pretty sweet to see a mass of ants like this.


after the last hike of the trip, around the perimeter of the reserve, my buddy and i climbed a ceiba tree. these are the largest, and stick out of the canopy. a couple of vines made for a great route until the first branch forked off. we stayed for the sunset before sliding down and running back to class (on the camera traps around the reserve)

the largest caldera in the world as seen from the edge of the crater. the equator falls near this point. i was here for the equinox, and met quite an interesting fellow who had a lot of interesting things to say. after a bit of a conversation i asked him what religion he was, right at midday, on the equator, during the equinox; he pointed straight up and sai el sol. i couldn´t have been more perfect. after the talk i walked down a bit and sat there watching the clouds scream into the valley below and work their way up the hill side and over my head. great equinox celebration.




the páramo. the higest ecosystem in ecuador before you reach the glaciers. we spent a day over 14000 ft learning the flora and fauna of the andean glacial valley









elfin forest! or the closest thing i´ve ever seen to it. actually a polylepis forest in the middle of the páramo. these trees shed their bark to rid themselves of epiphytes













a day in class in the páramo

oh, that beautiful smog of two million people, as seen from my apartment in quito

gabriel, the most photogenic kid i swear, playing with his homemade wooden truck. made of wood, a string, and nails.












the angel trumpet flower. beautifully deadly. if eaten one may die. the flower is also made into a powder which apparently causes one to lose their will power, therefore dubbed willpowder







a type of coral snake that found it´s way into my camera bag













one of my fav´s thus far. of a yound angel trumpet flower









this hen laid chicks when i was there, and every time his mom turned her back he could be found here. one died as it attempted to find the hen when she went to the ground. we gave it water and blew on it to cool it off for a good 30 min before giving up.











bean harvest in santa rosa, the nearest town, if you can even call it that, 15 houses) to la florida reserve in intag










near full moon from the bunkhouse in intag











the view of cotopaxi from my apartment in quito. usually it´s socked in by clouds, but some mornings it can be see in its full glory

guagua pichincha, the volcano that looms over quito to the west. it last blew fall of ´99. elevation 4784m or 15,692ft. we reached the summit the day before we leaft for the galapagos. the highest point i´ve ever reached thus far.

a look at the summit

a cave on the other side of the pass, and quito lurking in the background

INTAG cloud forest- NW Ecuador

with this program we have these things called drop-offs where each student goes out into the woods for a couple of hours and just observes, takes notes, and takes it all in. for this drop-off i chose to hike up a small stream as far as i could. it only lasted three hours, way too short, but it was unforgettable. this was when we were in Intag in the NW of the country (it most likely won't be on any maps you check out, so i'll have to point it out to you when i return)

here's a photo of one of the numerous cascadas (waterfalls) along the river which i hiked along for a couple of hours before taking a dip in the cool waters upstream.










a speckled colibrí (hummingbird for the english speakers) which we got on our first day of mist netting in intag

















the youngest of the six children in the family that i lived with near intag. living with this family was a life changing experience as i learned a new way of life. i only wish everyone could be exposed to the things i was living with them. i was fortunate enough to help out with the harvest of beans and corn as well as milking the cow everymorning, and each was very different than any way i've ever seen, or even thought of before.

helping the oldest of the brothers get the last of the dried up corn in a field on a very steep hill overlooking the valley below.

insect trap in intag. THERE ARE SO MANY MOTHS!!!! AWESOME!!!! as said by Martín, the smartest 16 yr old i´ve met and will never forget. he was the son of Carols and Sandy, who started a co-op and sustainable, organic farm in intag. we stayed at their place and had classes at their reserve.

and there were so many moths that night with the cloud cover. some beautiful ones as well.

the intag cloud forest seen from the classroom.

the cassroom.

i know that is isn´t much but it taks so long to upload pics that i´m just going to post it anways. more to come later