Another trip revisit, part 2 of ???

Yet more insomnia. At least the advantage is that it's quiet, and I can think. I think part of the insomnia is restlessness. I'm glad most of the time I don't own a car, but at times, like now, I feel trapped a little bit. The weather has finally improved here in Western New York, and the spring migrants are starting to trickle in.

For now, the goal of guiding is put on hold, a little bit, but not by my choice. I am starting to realize it will take time (I have to hope so, the flip side is too depressing) to make that my full time work. In the meantime, I get to finally get back to working in the mountains. I will be in Wyoming this summer, doing a lot of hiking, bird counting, backpacking, camping, and having a fun time. My biggest fear is loneliness, but I'll jump off that bridge when I get to it. I always seem happier while camping. Worries are always so much farther away when I am.

I am glad for the friends who encourage me to write a book. Right now, a stumbling block for that is how would I start it? I read voraciously, as many of you know, and as such have a huge library of books in my memory I am afraid I might sound stale, or something like it. But for now, I'll just write what I want to write, and see what comes of it.

I had two things I was considering writing about this time, origins or tropical experience. I decided tropical (it will be a bit easier for me to write about, for now).

Title this one something like "So THIS is the big deal about the tropics. Part 1, the lead up and the first day."
In 2007, it turns out I left my part time work at home for the last time. I was hired to work on a project in Hawaii, working on a project monitoring an endangered species on Kauai. This is not that story. While in Hawaii, though, I was getting my first little taste of the tropics, and some of the unique and vastly different avifauna the world has. Like during all field jobs, I spent a few hours every week browsing my job sites, and applying to work for the late season, namely July and after.

There aren't many jobs that only last during the July and August months, so I did not have high hopes for finding work. I was already doing a good job of hoarding money at the point, for the chance that I would have to live on savings for a while. One of the jobs I applied to was for some volunteer work in Ecuador. I didn't feel that I had a good chance for the job, but I figured, I can't get a job if I don't apply.

After spending 8 consecutive days in the field in Hawaii, from a Monday to the following Monday, I headed out from the field. Due to some weather related issues, we could not drive across one of our stream crossings, and so our boss and crew leader picked us up. While riding back with the crew leader, I learned that his girlfriend got a job in Ecuador, and it turns out it was the same project I had applied for. I think the direct quote from him was "Hey, maybe you'll have an e-mail in your inbox offering you a job." I didn't expect one. Prior to this, I had received an e-mail from the project asking what my specific dates of availability were.

After taking care of personal hygiene (shower!), I got down to checking my mail. And lo and behold, there was the job offer. I believe I nearly fell out of the chair in shock (seriously, I did not consider myself a strong candidate!). I checked my bank balance. And the price of tickets. Most jobs give you a few days to consider. This one did, but they offered it to me a week before I read the e-mail. Thankfully, I still had about 12 hours at the time to decide.

To this point, I had traveled to Australia for bird work, and a short trip to Mexico. As I had birded more though, I was learning that tropical birding, especially the neo-tropics (New World), was the place to be. So when I applied, I thought it would be a nice opportunity to pay for a plane ticket to South America, but have someone else foot the bill for my food and lodging, so I could get my foot in the door, so to speak.

So, the decision became a no brainer.

I finished my Hawaiian job, and flew to New York. About 60 hours later, I was waiting in the airport again, getting ready to leave. I do not recall any nervousness on my first trip to Australia, but I remember being full of nerves that day. For the first time, I was traveling somewhere that I didn't speak the language, to a third world country, and where I had to find my way, on my own, from point A to point B with the directions they gave me. I had no idea what to expect (this was before I learned to use that wonderful invention, guidebooks).

The directions they gave me worked semi well. I think the nerves I had made things mildly worse, but it all turned out well in the end. I took the wrong bus initially, and ended up god knows where, but eventually, through the patience of the locals, and my own, I found my way up to Tapichalaca Reserve, in southern Ecuador, which would be my home for about 7 weeks. I arrived after it had gotten dark.

I met one of my coworkers, and the person who was to train me (a Kiwi, Leigh) before she left for parts unknown. We chatted and had dinner, and had a short work session on what I would do, where to go, and what my schedule would be. Then it was to bed, to get ready for the next day.

So keep in mind at this point I had not been walking around in any kind of habitat yet. It was dark when I arrived, and I had pretty much been traveling for around two days straight (one day of flying, and one day of flights, taxis and buses).

So, I awoke the next day, feeling very refreshed and fairly excited to get going. I did my morning routine, and headed toward the path I was told to take.

I initially didn't see many birds. My ears weren't attuned in as well as they would be by the end of the project, but I did not hear the "jungle" sounds you hear in all the Africa and South America soundtracks. I attribute this to the fact that the birds, since they can nearly breed year round, do not call all day like they do here in the states, but sporadically, so you don't hear a really loud chorus except for a few minutes in the morning.

As I stepped onto the trail from the road, I saw a bird running along the trail. For the first time in a long time, I had NO IDEA WHAT I WAS LOOKING AT. I was beyond excited, while trying to figure out just what group of birds it belonged to! It was running along the ground, but I had no clue if it was flightless or not. The colors were drab and subdued, so my first thought was antbird (group). This was correct. The next step was trying to figure out which of 300 birds it was!

After I finished my time up there, the sheer diversity of birds would no longer faze me. But at this point, I was just excited to see something completely new, that I had no idea what it was. So, this was possibly the first sign I was in the tropics. I knew I was in the tropics a little further along the trail.

A large bird flew over my head, and perched. Though it was up sun a little, there was no mistaking what I was seeing. A trogon. I even said aloud, after the requisite 30 seconds of numb shock again: "You sure aren't home anymore. Welcome to the tropics." I have hardly ever been rendered speechless and motionless by wildlife in my life. This was one of those times. I don't think anything would have prepared me for seeing this kind of bird, that close. And it was nice to see a bird like that, so well, and have it perched in the same spot for a while. It took me a couple of minutes to remember I had a camera...and when I moved to use it, the bird flew. Later during my time there, I got some good photos, since I could do such a good rendition of the call to bring them in.


After this, I encountered Marco, one of the Guardaparques, at the worm feeding station for our study species, the Jocotoco Antpitta (picture at the beginning). I didn't see it that day, but I got a nice introduction to a few of the other birds I would have as neighbors for the next few weeks. After trying vainly to chat a little (Marco spoke no English, and I spoke little Spanish, poorly), I continued along and encountered Leigh, and then she began teaching me how to work on the study. I think she also helped point out a few species of bird, but I can't recall. We had only a couple of days to get me fully up to speed before she left me on my own.

I can't recall much of what happened the rest of the day. I do remember when going to be that night, that visions of the trogons and Antpittas [side note: that first bird I saw on the trail was a Chestnut-naped Antpitta] were going through my head. I knew I was going to have a fun 7 weeks!