Day 9—El Cajas National Park

SUNDAY JANUARY 27, 2013

6:00 am buffet breakfast; 6:30 am leave for high altitude (13,000 feet) birding at El Cajas Park; Picnic lunch in the Park, tour of Cuenca and then fly to Quito
Night at Quito Sheraton Hotel

Today we had a local driver for El Cajas Park and, after a morning of birding, we toured historical Cuenca with guide Eduardo before flying to Quito late in the day. We were in a smaller bus, somewhat like an airport shuttle bus all day today. 

The day dawned beautifully sunny (hooray!); however, neither Iris nor Harvey greeted the day happily. Both were ill and rested at the hotel today while we birded El Caja. We ate breakfast at the hotel breakfast buffet—where a chef cooked eggs to order—and then we loaded our unneeded gear onto Edgar’s bus, and he left for Quito. 

Our birding began in a small city park behind the hotel, where we saw Line-cheeked Spinetails in a vine-covered tree (below) and a few other species from a path near the river. 

Line-cheeked  Spinetail; photo by Dider Perrocheau

We were then driven to El Cajas where we spent the morning at high altitude in beautiful surroundings with some fascinating birds and plants.

(Lto R) Willy, Jim, Sally, me, Susan M., Bev, Mike, Margaret, Lynn, Rose Ann

 

Laguna Llaviucu

Laguna Llaviucu; that's a covered walkway across the lake 

Laguna Toreadora--there are nearly 300 glacial lakes in the park

Sally took this photo from the other side of the lake; that's tussock grass inthe foreground

We birded first along a temperate-forest trail around Laguna Llaviucu where we saw Ruddy Ducks, Andean Coots, and got great views of a Virginia [Ecuadorian] Rail when it crossed a large open section of water in the marsh. In her end-of–trip report, Rose Ann described the rail as “a skulking rail that looks like but sounds very different from our own Virginia Rail (and is treated as a distinct species, Ecuadorian Rail, in Ridgely & Greenfield's Birds of Equador).” Over the rocky mountains around the lake Mike spotted a Black-chested Buzzard Eagle. There were also many hummingbirds feeding, including my favorite of the day, the Ecuadorian Hillstar. As its name implies, it was a bright star halfway up the hill feeding on its favorite bush, the orange-flowered Chuquiragua shrub.  



Black-chested Buzzard Eagle; photo by Juan Jose Bazan Hiraldo

Ecuadorian Hillstar; photo by Glenn Bartley



Sedge Wren,
photo by Robert Royse

We also got a good look at a Sedge Wren a.k.a. “Grass Wren,” in the marsh at Laguna Llaviucu. Rose Ann noted: “This is a complex taxon that may well end up being split several ways; the birds we saw at El Cajas were high-elevation, marsh-inhabiting birds.” Also, for the second day in a row, we got a good look at a Streaked Tuftedcheek, the bird shown in my last post that looks to me like a bearded Old Salt.  

Just before lunch, the group moved to another location at higher altitude (13,500 feet). Here the rocky Páramo—complete with llamas and lake—reminded me of Scotland. We ate lunch sitting outside of HQ overlooking  Lago Toreadora (photo below). It was Sunday so the locals were here too, enjoying the scenery and trails. Down the slope before our lunch spot we got a good look at a Tawny Antpitta. This species (or maybe just this particular antpitta) is not a skulker like its relatives. It paraded its comical cartoon-bird-body openly in the short grass.  

Lunch al fresco; though there were tables indoors, we couldn't stop birding long enough to go inside out of the wet and cold; that's me sitting on the wall in the background with green down vest on

Tawny Antpitta;
photo by Glenn Bartley

In the early afternoon, we birded along a nearby trail next to old Polylepis groves and found a Giant Conebill lifting the loose bark in search of insects (below). The Giant Conebill (Oreomanes fraseri) is a high-elevation Polylepis forest specialist. It probes among the layers of Polylepis bark, and also nests within Polylepis trees, underlining the strong tie between this species and its patchily distributed habitat.

Giant Conebill in Polysepsis tree; photo by Glenn Bartley

The plants in this area were very unusual and fascinating. The Polyepsis tree, for instance, holds the world record for growing in the highest altitudes in the world—9,800’ to 16,400’ throughout the Andean highlands. Some are stunted, but most Polylepis grow 33 to 49 feet tall. This tree is also one of the most threatened in the Andes because it is often harvested for firewood. Scientists are certain that the high Andes were once covered in dense Polylepis forest, but deforestation has drastically reduced this. In Ecuador today, it is a federal crime to cut Polylepis unless it threatens a dwelling. The largest stand of Polylepis in Ecuador is contained within the highland portion of the Cayambe-Coca Biological Reserve, and estimated to be several thousand years old.

Polylepsis trees

I pause from birds for a moment to show some of the amazing plants we found on the high paramo. If you are a "bird-only person, scroll down.


If I can have a favorite bird of the day, so may I also have a favorite flower of the day. This is it: Gentianella hirculus. Its very small balloon-shaped flowers caught everyone's eye and we all tried to photograph them, but these internet photos are better than anyof our attempts I think. Left photo by Thomas van Hengstrum; right photo by cuyabelodge.com

Some of the cushion plants of the high paramo

The “cushion páramo” plants, found in the most humid sites, are so close to each other that they form cushion-like mounds. They can be formed by a single individual or by several individuals of the same or different species. Most noticeable are Plantago rigida and Azorella pedunculata. These páramo species have adapted to the cold conditions, extreme solar irradiation, low atmospheric pressure, dramatic daily temperature fluctuations, and seasonal rains at Caja. Many plants grow very close to the ground, forming rosettes and cushion-plants, have reduced hard leaves, or are covered with a dense layer of white or silvery hairs. The cushion plants are “springy” to step on.

Close up of Valeridna rigida and Iisoletes novo granadensis, two cushion plant species; Many of the Caja plants looked like ocean plant and animal species to me.

Plantago rigida; closeup and photo, mobot.org 

Red and yellow Angel's Trumpets, photo cuyabenolodge.com; the white trumpet is my photo. Willy told me not to touch it; told me it was highly poisonous, the poison used in "date rape" drugs

Giant Hercules Club, photo by cuyabenololdge.com

Azorella pedunculata (top with coloseup of its flowers) and Chuquiragua (bottom), which has very stiff, almost cactus-like leaves. It is the flower most loved by Hillstar hummingbirds

Back, briefly, to birding. The little bird below is a Stout-billed Cinclodes. We also saw the Chestnut-winged Cinclodes (Cinclodes albidiventris) today. Rose Ann reported: “Bar-winged Cinclodes was split three ways, the chestnut-winged being the northernmost of the three, occurring from Venezuela & Colombia to N. Peru. We saw it well at Cajas." I think the Many-striped Canastero was my second favorite bird of the day after the Hillstar.  

Stout-billed Cinclodes; photo by Nick Athanas

Chestnut-winged Cinclodes; photo by Bob Gress

Many-striped Canastero; photo by Ian Maton

Mid-afternoon we returned to Cuenca, picked up Iris and Harvey, who were both feeling better, and then Eduardo took us on a short tour of old Cuenca (largely closed on Sunday, though the central park and ice cream shops were open). We flew to Quito that evening, arriving for a later-than- normal dinner, which we ordered in as room service. I liked today’s mix of birding and culture. The day was quite leisurely and fine. Following are some photos taken in historical Cuenca. 

This was a lovely but nearly empty park in the center of the city. The man with the sombreros rented the hats to the children who rode one of his horses graduated from tiny rocking horse to adult sized. He then took their photo and charged for the photo. The mother of an adorable little girl chose the smallest horse for her daughter, but when she tried to put the sombrero on her daughter's head, the kid threw a fit. I was going to take my own photo but decided not..

It has been a long but wonderful day. Our flight back to Quito went off without a hitch. The hitch occurred when we returned to the Sheraton. We were all eager to check-in and get to our rooms, but the front desk personnel were unorganized . . . again (they have been inept and very slow each time we stay) and declared that our rooms were “not made up yet.” Not made up at 7 p.m.? The hotel was remodeling and all was chaos. I took Rose Ann aside and near tears explained about my swollen feet and legs and asked what she would recommend. I’d been suffering for 10 days now. She walked me over to Susan Marsdon, a woman nearly my age and a near look-alike, and Susan said she had an extra and clean pair of compression hose I could borrow. Yes. Why didn’t I think to ask the group if anyone had compression hose? 

When rooms were finally assigned—sometime after 7 PM—Iris took a shower while I ordered room service. Her stomach was still delicate so she ordered soup and crackers (though the kitchen could not understand crackers so sent rolls) and I ordered a Caesar salad and grilled salmon—this menu and the regular d.r. menu are not the same kitchens. Because of this, my meal was absolutely tops, and Iris enjoyed her meal also. We’re on the third floor for this our third Sheraton night. Our room is reversed from our first stay however, and Iris “got lost” searching for the bathroom in the night. 

After our dinner, Iris and I once again reorganized our gear for the next four days which will be subtropical warm and humid. No worries. The bus will be with us whole time so we can take camp stool, rain gear, rubber boots, and walking stick and leave on the bus what is not needed.