Life on the Ecuadorean Paramo

 

Andean Condor (Vultur gryphus)
Tambo Condor, Ecuador.

On a recent trip to Ecuador our group of birders landed in the capitol, Quito, at an altitude of about 9000 feet in the Andes.  We then went to over 10,000 feet into a unique habitat, the páramo.  Páramo occurs above tree line and is dominated by shrubs, grasses and low growing plants.  Páramo has much in common with tundra in the arctic with wide temperature variations, strong winds and fierce ultraviolet radiation.     

Páramo.
Pichincha, Ecuador. 

Small plants on the páramo.
Antisana National Park, Ecuador.

Andean Condor.
Tambo Condor, Ecuador. 

An iconic bird of the páramo in the Andean Condor (Vultur gryphus).  Andean Condors are the largest birds in the Americas and have a wingspan exceeding 10 feet.  Weighing in at an impressive 30 pounds, they are the heaviest of all flying birds.  Andean Condors are found in the mountain range that gave them their name, from Colombia to Patagonia. The adults of these gigantic vultures are black with white on top of the wings and a ruff of white feathers on the neck below the bare head.  Male Andean Condors have a fleshy crest on their head that the females lack, and juvenile birds are brown. They fly by soaring and cover large areas of the bare landscape looking for carrion.  The collective nouns describing Andean Condors include a kettle while in flight, a committee when perched and a wake when feeding.  We saw a group of 8 Andean Condors at our first stop, soaring over a gorge and perched on cliffs.  

Carunculated Caracara (Daprius carunculatus).
Tambo Condor, Ecuador. 

Another carrion eater we encountered on the páramo was the Carunculated Caracara (Daptrius carunculatus).  The adults of this member of the Falcon family are black with a white belly and a black-and-white striped breast.  They have long legs, black crests and bare, orange skin on their faces.  Juveniles are brown and streaked with white.  Carunculated Caracaras are found only on the páramo of Colombia and Ecuador.

Yellow-billed Pintail (Anas georgica).
Antisana National Park, Ecuador. 

Yellow-billed Pintails (Anas georgica) are found throughout southern South America but have a small population in the páramo of Ecuador and Colombia.  These medium-sized brown ducks do indeed have a yellow bill and nest on the ground near water. 

Andean Teal (Anas andium).
Antisana National Park, Ecuador.

Another duck we saw on the páramo was the Andean Teal (Anas andium).  This small duck is brown with lighter spots on the breast and a dark gray bill.  They are found in the highlands of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.  

Andean Lapwing (Vanellus resplendens).
Antisana National Park, Ecuador.

Andean Lapwings (Vanellus resplendens) are large shorebirds related to plovers.  They inhabit the páramo stretching from Colombia down to Bolivia and Argentina.  These birds stand upright on pink legs, have a white belly, greenish-brown back and gray head and neck.  They have pink eyes, pink and black bills and a dark smudge through their eyes.  

Tawny Antpitta (Grallia quietensis).
Antisana National Park, Ecuador.

Antpittas are usually shy and secretive birds of the forest, but the Tawny Antpittas (Grallia quietensis) living on the páramo are quite easy to see.  They are found in the high mountains of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru and will frequently come into the open.  Like all antpittas, the Tawny Antpitta is a weak flyer and spends much of its time running on its long legs catching invertebrates and other small animals.  Tawny Antpittas are tawny brown in color with black legs, eyes and beaks.   

Black Flowerpiercer (Digloass humeralis).
Tambo Condor, Ecuador. 

Black Flowerpiercer piercing flowers.
Tambo Condor, Ecuador.

The tanager family is large group of birds native to the Americas.  While not a typical member of the family, the Black Flowerpiercer (Diglossa humeralis) is an interesting one.  It is found only in the northern Andes, and we saw them at the lower limits of the páramo.  The Black Flowerpiercer has a black body, black legs and an odd black beak with a hook at the end. 

Flowers of Psammisia eduadorensis
that have been tapped by a Flowerpiercer.
Cabanas San Isidro, Ecuador. 

Hummingbirds insert their long beaks into the mouth of the flower to collect nectar and get showered with pollen.  Hummingbirds will then carry the pollen to the next flower and pollinate the plant. In this way both the hummingbird and plant benefit.  Black Flowerpiercers sip nectar to but they use their hooked beaks to cut a hole in the base of  a flower and “steal” the nectar without carrying out pollination. 

Cinerous Conebill (Conirostrum cinereum).
Tambo Condor, Ecuador.

Cinerous Conebill (Conirostrum cinereum) is another tanager we found at high altitude.  This small bird has a gray back, buffy breast and white line above the eye.  The name of the bird comes from its sharp, conical beak.    

Spectacled Redstart (Myioborus melanocephalus).
Tambo Condor, Ecuador.

The Spectacled Redstart (Myioborus melanocephalus) is a warbler found in the northern Andes.  It has a gray back, black head with yellow spectacles, a yellow breast and belly, a red crown and white under the tail.  These small birds are very active, feeding on insects in low vegetation and constantly spreading their tails. 

 From the highlands of the Andes with its plants and animals adapted to the cold, our group travelled east and downhill into warmer and wetter climes.  We will explore these ecosystems in future blogs.  

The Small Things

 

Red-banded Alinote (Actinote dicaeus) and moth.
Cabanas San Isidro, Ecuador.

On our recent trip to Ecuador, we saw lots of big things; snow-capped volcanos, the world’s largest bird and trees that towered above the Amazon rainforest canopy.  These were all impressive, but many small things vied for our attention too. 

 

Bess Beetle (Passalidae).
Sacha Lodge, Ecuador. 

Some of these small things were insects.  They were everywhere we went and just about everywhere we looked.  A Bess Beetle (Passalidae) was crawling across the deck at one of the lodges before sunrise. These black beetles are about 1-2 inches long and are found across the Americas, Africa and Asia. 

 

Ferocious Polybia Wasps (Polybia rejecta) on nest.
Sacha Lodge, Ecuador. 

One day while canoeing on a creek in the Amazon basin we found a nest of Ferocious Polybia Wasps (Polybia rejecta) hanging from a tree.  They build a conical nest of paper that is about 2 feet long. Their name is strikingly descriptive.  These small wasps protect their nests from any approaching predator. Ferocious Polybia Wasps exhibit sting autonomy where, like Honeybees (Apis mellifera), the insect dies when it stings.  This aggressive behavior leads to some interesting interactions with other animals.  Some bird and ant species nest near the Ferocious Polybia Wasps to gain protection by being near the wasps. 

 

Bullet Ant (Paraponera clavata).
Sacha Lodge, Ecuador. 

We saw another aggressive insect in the Amazonian rainforest, the Bullet Ant.  Bullet Ants (Paraponera clavata) are dark reddish-black, about an inch long with a thin body and a large head that sports massive jaws.  These ants defend their nests by biting and injecting a neurotoxin that causes debilitating pain.  The pain is so great that people bitten by a Bullet Ant describe the experience as like being shot, thus the name. 

 

Polythore mutata.
Cabanas San Isidro, Ecuador. 

One day while hiking along a road in the rainforest we saw a black and white damselfly, Polythore mutata.  This beautiful damselfly is found only on the eastern slope of the Andes and nearby parts of the Amazon basin.  

Dobsonfly (Corydalus armatus) and moths.
Cabanas San Isidro, Ecuador.  

The cloud forest on the east slope of the Andes yielded a ferocious looking dobsonfly Corydalus armatus.  This large insect can grow to over 3 inches long.  They are dark brown with long wings and males have giant mandibles that give them such a dangerous look.  All the dobsonflies we saw were females with the smaller version of the jaws.

 

Leopard Moth (Pantherodes unciaria).
Cabanas San Isidro, Ecuador. 

Some of the lodges where we stayed had light traps.  It consisted of a white sheet with a light shining on it.  This attracted many insects at night and moths were abundant on the trap.  Moths are in the Order Lepidoptera that includes both moths and butterflies.  One of the most common moths at the cloud forest light trap was the Leopard moth (Pantherodes unciaria).  It is light brown with dark brown spots, each of which has a black dot in the middle. 

 

Cerodirphia mota.
Cabanas San Isidro, Ecuador. 

Amastus coccinator.
Cabanas San Isidro, Ecuador. 

Another common moth that showed up on the sheet was Cerodriphia mota.  This orange moth has black and white markings on the wings and a hairy body. They are only found on the eastern slope of the Andes.  Amastus coccinator is a large moth with orange wings and a red body with white stripes.  This is another species with a range limited to the Andes.

 

Amastus hyalina and Phaio acquiguttata.
Cabanas San Isidro, Ecuador. 

Two moths impressive moths at the light traps were Phaio acquiguttata and Amastus hyalina.  Both are in the Tiger Moth family.  Phaio acquiguttata has black wings with clear spots and a green, black and white thorax.  Its abdomen has black and yellow stripes and gives it the appearance of a wasp.  Amastus hyaline has a white body with yellow stripes and see-through wings. 

 

Red-banded Alinotes.
Cabanas San Isidro, Ecuador.

Orange-disked Alinote (Actinote stratonice).
Cabanas San Isidro, Ecuador. 

Butterflies, the other major group in the Lepidoptera, were abundant too.  Several Red-banded Altinotes (Actinote dicaeus) were drinking on a damp gravel road in the cloud forest.  This is a small black butterfly has two bright pink patches on each wing.  It was joined by a relative, the Orange-disked Altinote (Actinote stratonice).  It that also had black wings but with a bold gold patch on each wing.  Both these butterflies are found only in the northern Andes.  

 

Clearwing (Oleria sp.).
Cabanas San Isidro, Ecuador.

Another striking butterfly we found was a Clearwing (Oleria sp.) This small, delicate butterfly lacks the microscopic scales on their wings that give other butterflies their color, so its wings are clear.

Owl Butterfly (Caligo idomeneus).
Sacha Lodge, Ecuador.
Photo courtesy of Mr. Ron Zick. 

Owl Butterflies are among the largest Lepidoptera in the world.  We saw Caligo idomeneus with its 5 inch wingspan lives in the Amazon rainforest. They are dark, mottled brown and on the underside of the wings they have large eyespots that are probably used to startle predators. 

Apple Snail (Pomacea sp.) eggs .
Sacha Lodge, Ecuador. 

We found a pink mass of Apple Snail eggs (Pomacea sp.) on a plant stem a few inches above water level.  The snails were living in the lake at Sacha Lodge in the Amazon.  Pomacea is native to South America, Central America, Mexico and the southern tier of the United States.  

 

Fringed Tree Frog (Cruziohyla craspedopus) egg mass. 
Sacha Lodge, Ecuador. 

Fringed Tree Frogs mating. 
Sacha Lodge, Ecuador. 

We also found a jelly enclosed mass of Fringed Tree Frog  (Cruziohyla craspedopus) eggs on a pole that supports a tower leading to the top of a large Amazon rainforest tree.  The next day two frogs were mating while climbing the tower just above the eggs.  These brilliant frogs are green above, yellow and orange below.  Like all tree frogs, they have adhesive toe pads that allow them to climb vertical surfaces.  Female Fringed Leaf Frogs are larger than the males and when they mate, the male clasps onto the back of the female where he fertilizes eggs as they are laid.  

 

Gladiator Tree Frog (Boana sp.)
Sacha Lodge, Ecuador.

Another frog we saw in the Amazon was the Gladiator Tree Frog (Boana sp.).  This large tree frog was resting on the leaf of a water plant and seemed to be asleep.  The Gladiator Tree Frog was mottled brown on the back with yellow on the legs.

 

Proboscis Bats (Rhynchonycteris naso).
Rio Napo, Ecuador. 

Bats were flying around every night at our Amazon lodge.  One day while traveling on the Rio Napo we found a clutch of Proboscis Bats (Rhynchonycteris naso) roosting on the trunk of a large jungle tree.  The bats are only about 2 inches long and are mottled brown or gray.  They were resting head down on the tree waiting for the sun to go down. 

Our ten-day sojourn to Ecuador was educational, exciting and memorable. We saw giant trees, large mammals and the biggest bird in the world.  But the small things also captured our interest and were impressive in a subtle way.