Friday, February 10, 2017

Ecuador's High Country

The high elevation Paramo grassland is like nothing I have ever seen.  Vast expanses of cold humid grasslands with sporadic shrubs growing at an altitude over 14,000 ft.  We drove up a mountain road to  Antisana Ecological Reserve located on the oriental slope in the Andes Mountain range.  The Andes mountains are spectacular even on a cloudy day.  Each range seems to go on forever.  We saw wonderful birds,  Carunculated Caracaras,  Southern Lapwing,  Silvery Grebes on Mica Lake, Chestnut-winged Cinclodes, and many more.  The most exciting was seeing the Andean Condor soaring over a valley.  After a hike, and more birds, we headed down the road and stopped at an observation platform.  The Andean Condor was across the valley sitting on a cliff ledge.  Two spectacular hummingbirds were flitting in the brush, Sparkling Violetear, and Black-tailed Trainbearer.

Above, a Carunculated Caracara waits in the grass. They were fun to watch.

To the right, the Antisana Volcano comes out of the clouds for a few minutes.

The other high elevation area we visited was the Papallacta Towers, the site of an array of tall antennas in the Pacque Nacional Cayambe - Coca. This ecological reserve has very high biodiversity and includes the Cayambe volcano at nearly 19, 000 ft.  This area is amazing. Tundra plants are not like anything I have ever seen.  Pointed leaf rosettes arranged in dense round mats so thick I could sit on one, and it did not compress under my weight.  We saw Sierra Finches, Stout
 billed Cinclodes, and a small rufous bird that may have been an Andean Tit Spinetail.
     We walked down a steep hillside looking for Seedsnipe.  At the elevation was near 14,000 ft. I had to stop several times to catch my breath walking back up the hill to the road.   I marveled at small flowers and these unusual high altitude adapted plants.
 Photo below.











The views were spectacular despite the oncoming rainstorm.








One of my few good bird photos, a Chestnut winged Cinclodes, a relative of the Ovenbird.


2 comments:

  1. The high altitude-adapted flora resemble Middle Earth, as I envision it. Marveling, indeed. This Texas girl has to ask, is that a blue lupine, looking very much like Lupinus texenesis, the Texas bluebonnet? And is it amount the rosettes you mentioned?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The purple flower could be Lupinus pubescens. The dense mats of rosettes seemed to be a separate plant. It was my first visit to Ecuador, so much to learn.

      Delete