On this Day, 10 August, Ecuador Independence Day; El Cajas NP

Just recently I chose to celebrate Peru's national day here - how could I do less for Ecuador?! There is some confusion - though of course not in Ecuador! - about the actual day, as 24 May is also often mentioned. This was the day in 1822 of the brief, chaotic and crucial Battle of Pichincha on the volcano above Quito, where armies from the newly independent Gran Colombia to the north and Argentina to the south joined with Ecuadorian forces to defeat the Spanish garrison. A brigade of Scots, Irish and English volunteers played an important role. The anniversary of that victory, which marked true independence, is certainly celebrated, but 10 August is officially Independence Day. This celebrates an earlier, though short-lived, declaration of independence by the citizens of Quito in 1809.

As I did on Peru's day, I won't attempt to give a national overview - that would be silly and superficial - but will introduce you to a very special national park high in the Andes above the lovely old World Heritage town of Cuenca in the south.

Mountain peaks, lakes and heathland of El Cajas NP.
This landscape is 4200 metres above sea level; for those of us from lower down, this is high enough for our lungs to know that things aren't normal!

It protects some 30,000 hectares from 3000 to 4500 metres above sea level, of montane forest, páramo (near-treeless tundra) and around 300 lakes. It straddles the continental divide, with some water running to the Pacific, with the rest, including the Tomebamba River which provides Cuenca's water supply, ending up in the far distant Atlantic. 

While cajas means boxes in Spanish this seems to be a red herring here (or 'false friend' as the etymologists would say), as the word is from indigenous Quichua, though surprisingly its actual meaning is debated.

It is a remarkably biodiverse park; it protects 19 endemic plant species (ie endemic to the park itself!), two endemic mammals (a mouse and a small marsupial) and the Violet-throated Metaltail, a hummingbird which is actually found in adjacent valleys too. 

The lakes are generally part of the páramo landscape, but of course have their special fauna too. 

Lake below the visitor centre.

Andean Ruddy-Duck Oxyura ferruginea, above, and
Andean Teal Anas andium below, are both restricted to the high Andes.
While the ruddy-duck is found all the entire length of the range,
the teal is only found in the north.
Both belong to groups found throughout much of the world.

 

The montane forests range from diverse cloud forests lower down, to simpler Polylepis forests higher up.

El Cajas cloud forest.

Creek in the cloud forest.

Polylepis forest is found in stands at high altitudes - here at 4200 metres, though they are found as high as 5000 metres, where they are the highest known flowering trees. Members of the rose family, they are wind pollinated - too cold for many insects up here. Their shaggy red bark, up to 2cm thick, helps with insulation but in general
we don't really understand the secret to their survival up here. We do know however that they provide key habitat for a range of plant and animal species.

As everywhere in the Neotropics, hummingbirds are always present.

Sapphire-vented Puffleg Eriocnemis luciani, above and below (on Passiflora flowers)
at the edge of El Cajas cloud forest. The lovely fluffy 'trousers' which give its name can be seen in both pics.

Great Horned Owl Bubo virginianus, roosting in big old Polylepis.
This owl is found throughout much of the Americas;
this one was a most exciting find on our most recent visit to El Cajas.

Orchids are most prominent in the forests, compared to the Páramo.

Elleanthus sp. above, and
Epidendrum sp. below, El Cajas cloud forests.
(As ever, any help with more specific identification appreciated.)

Odontoglossum sp. above, and unidentified (by me) orchid below.

Pleurothallis sp.; I love this genus, with the charismatic little flowers apparently growing
out of the huge leaf.

There are of course other interesting plants in these high forests too.

This epiphytic lycopod - which I think is Huperzia sp. - is a representative
of an ancient lineage which long predates the flowering plants around it, including those on which it grows.

Bomerea sp, family Alstromeriaceae.
This lovely vine is in the same general group as lilies.

Then there are the wonderful open spaces of the páramo, rich indeed when we start to look more closely at it. One of the features of South American birding is the shock to outsiders of finding that most of the passerines don't fit into any group that we're familiar with. One of the two major groups of these special songbirds is the ovenbirds, or funariids, and they are well-represented on the páramo.

Both Many-striped Canastero Asthenes flammulata (above)
and Stout-billed Cinclodes Cinclodes excelsior are ovenbirds
which specialise in these high cold wind-swept grasslands.

Flowers tend to be flatter to the ground out here than in the relative shelter of the forests.

Valeriana rigida; valerians are found throughout the Americas and Europe.

Gentian, Gentiana sp.

Finally, perhaps my personal highlight of this superb park. Chuquiraga jussieui, a daisy known as Chuquirahua or Flower of the Andes, is often cited as the National Flower of Ecuador. I'm not certain how official this is, but it's good enough for me!

National flower? Maybe it's not official, but I reckon it should be!

But there's even more to the Chuquirahua than that. Hillstars, high mountain hummingbirds, are specialists on Chuquiraga, and one, the Ecuadorian Hillstar Oreotrochilus chimborazo, is particularly attracted to Chuquirahua. And we saw it!

Ecuadorian Hillstar on Chuquirahua. This tough little hummer doesn't deign to descend below 3500 metres.
Until recently it was regarded as an Ecuador endemic, but perhaps annoyingly it was recently recorded
just across the Colombian border.

So, happy day Ecuador! I look forward to getting back there in the fairly near future, and El Cajas is certainly high up on my must-go-back-to list.

BACK ON THURSDAY, WHEN WE'LL RESUME THE POLLINATION STORY

Ormiston - one of the great walks

I had the privilege of redoing one of my favourite walks recently, during our trip to central Australia. Ormiston Pound and Gorge walk is one of the most spectacular half-day circuits in the entire country, and readily accessible to most people - unlike some other red centre walks it is reached by bitumen road, and the 7km walk itself is well within the capacity of anyone moderately fit person.

It's 130km west of Alice Springs along Larapinta and Namatjira Drives, involving a drive along the southern face of the superb West MacDonnell Ranges. You can do it as a day trip from The Alice but the drive itself warrants a day of your time, and you can either camp at the start of the walk (in the Parks Service camp ground) or stay in basic units at nearby Glen Helen Resort (don't think of planted palm trees and waiters - it's actually quite nice!).

Typical roadside panorama of the West MacDonnells from Larapinta Drive, en route to Ormiston.

The circuit walk starts in the (mostly dry) bed of Ormiston Creek, and begins with a steady but well-graded climb to a spectacular lookout over the Ormiston Pound, a broad sandy plain ringed with sandstone hills. It descends to the pound and crosses it through open woodland and spiky hummock spinifex grass, before entering Ormiston Gorge and returning to the start with some rock-hopping, depending on the water level. This was the fifth time I've done the walk, and the only time the gorge has actually been closed because of high water; on each other occasion I've avoided even getting wet feet. 

Taken just after the start of the walk, looking back at the dry bed of Ormiston Creek.
The grass in the foreground is spinifex, Triodia spp., which dominates much of arid Australia.
Below is typical of the hillsides for the first part of the walk

The gullies in particular - which the path follows and crosses - support a variety of plant and associated animal life. 

Curry Wattle Acacia spondylophylla (above) really smells wonderfully of curry spices;
it and Red Wattle A. monticola (below) thrive on the exposed rocky slopes.

 

Native Cotton Gossypium australe family Malvaceae; a true cotton.

Butterfly Bush Petaloystylis cassioides Family Caesalpinaceae.
A far more abundant genus in this family - which is sometimes now included in the huge pea family Fabaceae -
is Senna (formerly included in Cassia). It can also be found along the walk, as with everywhere else in inland Australia.

Senna artemisioides; this is an extraordinarily variable species, with at least nine named subspecies in central Australia
all with entirely different foliage and many of them co-existing and forming hybrids...

Spinifex Pigeon Geophaps plumifera, one of the delights of the far inland, where
it can be found on any rocky, spinifex-clad habitats. This one was enthusiastically displaying
to his intended, hidden behind the spinifex clump; neither party was at all interested in us.

Grey-headed Honeyeater Lichenostomus keartlandion Corkwood Hakea lorea.

Little Woodswallows Artamus minor, the smallest of the six Australian woodswallow species - all are
closely related to Australian magpies and currawongs, and not at all to true swallows.
This species is sometimes regarded as hard to find, but its apparent scarcity is simply
a function of its remote habitat. Like all woodswallows they huddle endearingly
in between aerial sorties.

Panther Skink Ctenotus pantherinus.This robust skink was hunting insects while staying close to the safety of the spinifex clump.

After all this excitement - and the climb - the short detour up a narrow ridge to sit and look out over the panoramic pound is very welcome.

Ormiston Pound, ringed by the rugged folded sandstone hills of the West MacDonnells, above and below.

The view back to lovely Mount Sonder, made famous by sublime Arrernte artist Albert Namatjira,
is pretty splendid too.

From here we descend to the open plains, passing through spinifex and low rocky ridges.

Sharp-capped Mallee Eucalyptus oxymitra in spinifex grassland.
'Mallee' is a term for multi-stemmed shrub-form eucalypts found in drier low soil nutrient situations.

Finally we enter the deep shady gorge, with tumbled boulders on the sandy creek bed. It is a truly beautiful section of the walk- and the shelter is welcome on a hot or windy day.

Ormiston Gorge; the trees in the creek bed are River Red Gums Eucalyptus camaldulensis,which have managed to establish themselves despite infrequent but severe floods.

Determined River Red Gum seedlings.

The tumbled boulders in the bed are comprised of purple quartzite, formed from sandstone under immense pressures, often those associated with orogeny - mountain building.

I'm no geologist, but I find these exquisite.

Up on the rock walls are plants clinging to life but above the floodwaters.

Variable Daisy Brachycome ciliaris.

Ghost Gum Eucalyptus aparrerinja.
These are wonderful trees at any time; this one is truly extraordinary and I have not tilted the camera!

Towards the end of the gorge pools appear, deep and cold.
If you're lucky you'll be able to walk around them - mostly you can.

 

These of course attract life and species not seen elsewhere on the walk.

Little Pied Cormorant Microcarbo melanoleucos.
One of the world's smallest cormorants, found anywhere in inland Australia.

Scarlet Percher Diplacodus haematodus; I am always delighted to find dragonflies in the far inland
(and indeed anywhere!).

Blue Skimmer Orthetrum caledonicum

Shortly after these pools we meet people pottering along for a short walk from the carpark - we feel a bit sorry for them, and what they've missed - and a nice formed path. It means lunch and shelters and seats are near to hand, but it's not quite the same as where we've been, with the butcherbirds fluting from the cliffs and emphasising silence, and the colours of rock, tree trunk and sky.

But please, don't just take my word for it....

BACK ON SUNDAY, TO CELEBRATE ANOTHER ANNIVERSARY

The Pollination Story, Part 4; the birds arrive, dream customers

If you've just arrived in this story, here's the most recent episode; you can follow back from there if you like.

Undoubtedly birds had long taken sporadic advantage of the nectar and pollen on offer from insect-attracting flowers, though the quantities available would scarcely have made it worth their while. However given their advantages over insects as potential pollen couriers - the ability to cover much greater distances carrying much more pollen, and bigger brains to recognise more complex cues and differences in flowers - it was inevitable that some plants would adapt their strategies and make bigger investments to employ them.

Brown Honeyeater Lichmera indistincta on Melaleuca viridifloris, Barkly Tableland, Northern Territory
(above and below).

 

The development of bilateral symmetry (see the link above) could progress further, to produce flowers that only a bird could probe.

Eastern Spinebill females Acanthorhynchus tenuisostris  on Pityrodia sp.,
National Botanic Gardens, Canberra.

The characters of a bird-pollinated flower will be different from those of an insect-specialising one. They are likely to be red, pink or orange - this is more to hide them from insects, which see best at the yellow-blue (and beyond) end of the spectrum, as birds can see these colours perfectly well too. They will be tube-shaped or have large protruding stamens, and must have strong stems and flower stalks. The corolla - the collective petals - must be strong enough to bear their weight, but without offering a landing platform that insects can use. Anthers and stigmas must be distant from the nectary, so that the bird's forehead is contacting them while the tongue is collecting nectar. And because birds need bigger rewards, the flowers not only produce more nectar,  but are often clumped or in spikes to increase their attractiveness.

Dusky Honeyeater Myzomela obscura, on Grevillea sp., Darwin.
Such flowers tick all the boxes to attract bird pollinators.

It would of course be no good for the plant to give a bird all the nectar it wants - the whole point is to send it off, with a pollen shipment, to another flower. In fact most bird-pollinated plants seem to produce approximately 5-20% of a bird's daily needs. A bird can dip into over 50 eucalypt flowers per minute, compared with a bee's maximum of about six. 

Important work done by David Paton of Adelaide University back in the 1970s, on New Holland Honeyeaters Phylidonyris novaehollandiae in the heathlands of central Victoria, showed the importance of nectar to such species.

New Holland Honeyeater with Calothamnus sp., Cape le Grande NP, Western Australia.
Note the pollen on its forehead.

Paton discovered that the birds relied on nectar as their key energy source; their abundance, breeding success and physical condition all depended on nectar abundance and distribution. They needed small flying insects as a protein source, but could get all they needed in ten minutes, even if at an energy loss. Their energy requirements however demanded several hours of foraging a day. Very good news for the plants!

Australia seems to have an inordinately large number of bird-pollinated plans compared with other areas. Over a thousand Australian plant species are known to be visited by over 100 bird species; in Europe and North Africa there appear to be none at all, and in North America just a handful. The honeyeaters, the largest Australian bird family with some 70 species (some 10% of the bird fauna), are predominant.

Eastern Little (or Brush) Wattlebird Anthochaera chrysoptera, on Banksia serrata,
south coast New South Wales.

Western Little Wattlebird Anthochaera lunulata on Banksia speciosa,Esperance, Western Australia.

Scarlet Honeyeater Myzomela sanguinolenta on bottlebrush, Callistemon sp.
Cape Hillsborough NP, Queensland.

Other groups are also significant however, notably the lorikeets, small brightly coloured nomadic parrots which often descend in flocks.

Musk Lorikeet Glossopsitta concinna, on Eucalyptus leucoxylon, Coles Bay, Tasmania.

Rainbow Lorikeet Trichoglossus haematodus, Rosedale, New South Wales.

Many other Australian groups take nectar to a significant degree, though are not as single-minded as honeyeaters and lorikeets; they include silvereyes, woodswallows, other parrots, thornbills and pardalotes. 

Silvereye Zosterops lateralis on Callistemon, Canberra.
(From the balcony outside my study window in fact!)

In Africa the obvious nectar specialists are the glittering sunbirds, 130 species of nectar-lovers (some of which are Asian, with one in northern Australia). They resemble some of the smaller long-billed Australian honeyeaters to a surprising degree - but we ought not to be surprised, given their very similar lifestyles.

Scarlet-chested Sunbird Chalcomitra senegalensis, Entebbe Botanic Gardens, Uganda.
This species ranges across most of Africa.

And of course in the Americas, especially the Neotropics, are the superb hummingbirds, nearly 350 species of superb aerialists, the ultimate hoverers. Some of them are specialists in just one plant species, or a few closely-related ones, to a degree not found elsewhere. This of course is a plant's dream.

Sapphire-vented Puffleg Eriocnemis luciani, El Cajas NP, high Andes, southern Ecuador.
This one is almost cheating by perching to feed! I can (after many attempts) offer you
a couple of examples of hummers feeding more typically, hanging implausibly in the air in front of the flower.

Green Violetear Colibri thalassinus on Nicotiana flowers, near Cusco, Peruvian Andes.

Bearded Mountaineer Oreonympha nobilis, also near Cusco, and also on Nicotiana.
This one is much less common, being limited to the southern Peruvian Andes above about 3000 metres.

While less bird species than insects are involved in pollination on the part of both plants and animals, in the southern hemisphere in particular they are a key part of the fabric. Keep an eye out for them - it really is a great story!

BACK ON WEDNESDAY