Bellavista reserve, Ecuador.

We returned to Quito from the Galapos, finding the city easier the second time round. Did sone shopping, taxied around like old timers. Then tey another early morning pickup at 6 am, to drive to Bellavista reserve, a cloud forest location nw of Quito. We drove north, up the avenue of volcanoes as we heard the valley described, then turned west into the hills. The drive was windey and it wqas raining. Theterrain became precipitous with time and the corn plots gave up in favour of forest. Then we swung into a narrow unsealed road and began a climb upwards. The forest became wetter and lusher and soon we were in mist. The Bellavista lodge is at roadside, but its in the wop wops with nothing much near it. Its in cloud forest but much higher elevation than we saw at Monteverde, Costa Rica, so is much cooler even cold at night. The lodge is quite something its on a short ridge perhaps 75m long, narrow, dropping down steep slopes on both flanks. At the start of the ridge its wideenough for a car park and a few small buildings, but the final building a geodesic dome at the end of the ridge is approached by a narrow covered path with steep banks either side. So the buildings in effect dot along aridge top and are enclosed in forest. We have a 2nd storey room with windows that slide open to a view over the canopy. That view starts with blue sky in the morning but the mists soon roll in. They create a sense of being closed in, and a silence you get with snow. The canopy drips constantly in the wet with an audible patter. It sound wet and miserable but somehow its not. The buildings are timber and bamboo, with even some floors split sections of some huge bamboo stems. Facitities are fine for the location but fairly basic, and very poor computer facilities and reception hence the delay in getting this out.
What is special about the place is the wildlife, it is extravagent to say the least. There are hummingbirds everywhere, squeaking and tittering constantly like a mouse party. We can hardly get away from the feeders where they squabble and dash about in perpetual excitement and activity. A handsome squirrel is about. We cannot understand how they stay so fluffy in the damp environment, perhaps its because they sit with the tail fanned over them like an umbrella, then dash like a sprinter up or doen a vertical tree trunk. Other birdlife is everywhere, its almost impossible to stop looking or hearing a call and wondering whats that.
On arrival we took a familiarisation walk of maybe 3 hours, to learn about the forest. We had a terrific guide who knew his flora and fauna well. By midafternoon the energy reserves were low, its these early morning starts they never stop. Plus the news that the next morning we were for a 4 am wakeup call to drive 1.5 hrs to make a locatrion by 6 am, to view a very special bird the so called Cock of the Rock. Shanti went to bed about 4pm, decided against dinner and slept through to the 4am buzzer. We drove in the dark then walked iun the dark, down a greasy track in the forest biut at least not raining. By 6 am we were parked on the boarded hide deep in the forest a first light. The Cock of the Rock is a strange but beautiful creature, The males gather at a lek, a communual gathering point that doesnt change unless disturbed. They dance, or shuffle would be more accurate, and called in loud churring noises. The purpose is to attravct receptive females, which is not most days. Following about a 40min session the ,males disperse to feed for the day while any females in the population solo parent their nests. Every morning and evening, every day, this gathering is repeated. What tyhe birds look like is the main surprise. They have a bright tangerine red cape covering head and upper parts, which is shaped over the head to create a high, rounded narrow hood. Tiny eyes peer out but the beak is almost completely covered by the cape, giving the bird a most unusual look. The photographic conditions were poor but I got some fictures that give a rough idea. After they dispered we were met by the land owner, a man obsessed with the local birdlife, who has a reputation for his ability to call them in. Over the next 3 hours he called in three species of Pita, a secretive ground bird that treminded us in manner of our bush robin. Able to fly but preferring the ground, it bounds around then stops, frozen, with its head slightly turned so as to see you better. The birds were known by individual name, one being Maria. So we sit about and follow this fellow calling Maria, Maria, then finally she appears.
A very fascinating and absorbing experience, another world really. We finished by having lunch, cooked by the family, sitting on benches under a covered platform back up on the ridge top. In the afternoon we went hunting various other birds, animals, and viwing other aspects of the forest regions. We finished with afternoon tea although it was more substantial, in a guest house restaurant again in the middle of nowwhere, looking down a steep bank o n a river, perhaps 100m below. Again it was dripping with birds so we could hardly sit still. At tyhe end of the day we added them up and agreed we had seen over 50 new species in the day. Wonderful things like toucans, woodpeckers, eagles, many totally unfamiliar species and the list goes on. Thr one that had me shaking my head was the Manakin. Believe it or not thids small non ndescript bird vibrates its wings at 300 beats per second, yes per second, to produce a strange, penetrating noise. The noise is electronic sounding, treminding me most of one of the lower pitched beeps that a reversing truck makes. The beep is a bit longer and has a rough edge, like the squawk of blowing a grass blade. But its thge stragest sound, pepea6ted at 10 to 15 second intervals. We spent ages trying to track the little buggers down but in dense and mozzie ridden bush we only got the merest flicker of movement as they shifted away from us. Now I know how they invented the electronic beep they heard this bird.
Today, the following day, we slept in and messed around the lodge. There is so much here you cannot really ignore it. Beautiful toucans have been coming in all day to a tree in fruit beside us, I dont know how many frames I have blasted on them. Not to mention the hummingbirds. Apologies for all the hummingbird shots on flickr but they are a constant source of interest and a constant battle to get a good photo of these tint flickering creatures. They have wonderful names like Woodstars, Brilliants, Emeralds, Incas, Coronets and Sun Angels.
The mists drift through in wafts most of the day, sometimes clagging in o near zero visibility. It is a way to stay in that environment in reasonable comfort with the feeling that you are somewhere remote, evem tnough we are anly 2 hrs drive from Quito. It reminds me a little of being in a mountain or a forest hut, far from antwhere.