Andean Cock of the Rock

While in Mindo we hired a birding guide, the only way to see the Andean Cock of the Rock -- Steve calls it the Sean Connery bird.  We met William at 5AM, drove 20 minutes out of town to private property, walked a  mountain path in the dark for about 30 minutes and arrived at a blind in front of the lekking area.  Soon there was a rustling, and then the noise: a screeching, screaming, cawing that rose and fell, ended with a question mark close, and began again.  And then another voice entered, and another and another and another.  There were 5-6 of these cocks (about 12") working it -- yelling, screeching, questioning, jumping and flitting around, mostly out of sight but only about 30 feet away -- an ungodly racket.  They did this for an impressive hour, then apparently went off for breakfast.  These boys do this every day of the year to keep up the skills, to be ready for the 20 days or so when it’s important, when the ladies are interested and come to see, judge and make their choices among the biggest, flittiest, loudest cocks of the rocks.   

The photo below is the best of my bunch, the one that follows is from the web. Their head feathers make them look beakless, but their beaks are tiny and yellow, in the normal place, hidden from sight by their massive head feathers, but open for the mighty, unsettling, impressive sounds to come out.    

Street food

The street food of most countries is pretty wonderful, and Ecuador’s no exception.  We didn’t see much in Quito, but here in Mindo it’s been available and delicious.  The corn that shows up here is called choclo, and is this white, big, uneven type that seems more like what's used in the states for hominy.  It’s served here grilled, spread with a light mayo, and a fluffy, lightly flavored shredded cheese packed onto it.  The cheese melts, it’s delicious and the eating is easy, the kernels are loose, and pop off one by one.   $1 per cob.  That’s chicken on the grill next to it.

The photo below is of stuff Steve collected the day we’d ziplined and taken a 10k walk to the butterfly gardens – I was tired, he walked the 8 minutes into town to gather dinner.  It’s a bad photo – we were hungry.  On the left is a cheese empanada $0.40, next is a spiral cut sausage with a potato on the end of the skewer (they normally serve the sausage with mayo; Steve declined) $1, a chocolate bun $0.35, two varieties of bread $0.25 each, and a fantastic sweet cornmeal disk filled with melted cheese, honey poured over, and a sweet shredded cheese on top, $0.75.  Supplemented with two Ecuadorian beers ($1.25 each) which are big, 22 oz, but only 4.2% alcohol.   $5.50.

Last night’s dinner, below, was local trout grilled in banana leaves, potatoes, fried plantains, cabbage with mayo, and beer, $4.75 total.  The portions are so big, we tend to share an order most of the time.  Two views of the "restaurant" follow.

My main disappointment with eating in Ecuador -- as always when traveling -- is the absence of a nice variety of fresh vegetables.  We did run into lightly cooked broccoli and cauliflower one night, but mostly its just a small serving of iceberg lettuce or cabbage in salad form, with pappas, their fantastic potatoes, and fried plantains. 

Today we return to Quito for a few days.  We’ll be trying our hand in the hostel’s kitchen this time, instead of eating the meat-heavy meals that are most of what’s available.  Should be a nice change, and interesting.

hummingbirds

A couple of days ago Nancy mentioned my enjoyment of the hummingbirds, and since so far she has been carrying the whole load of these blogs, I thought it past time I followed through with some comments.  It’s true; I find the hummingbirds incredibly fascinating.  They are elegant and delicate, yet with a powerful energy - like dancers with their combination of strength and grace.  The three pictures of hummingbirds at feeders are from the porch of the main house where we are staying in Mindo.  Unfortunately, still pictures don't really capture them well.  I hope to attach a short film of them flying and feeding in the future.

Interesting plants and spiders

Thunbergia and impatiens among our other "exotic" plants grow wild in the forests and countryside here.  Other stuff grows to extremes.  A few examples:

 Even the biggest of these mushrooms was less than a centimeter in diameter.  Fairy mushrooms.  

 This fungus (?) was almost transparent -- the clump was about 2 inches long.

 This beautiful limb-full was of foamy white, flowery fungus.  The only batch of it we saw on a 4-hour hike.  

It's been my year for four-leaf clovers -- I found one in Central Park, along Salt Creek Trail, and another in Maple Park this year.  When one's there, there is often another, occasionally three.  I was beyond surprised to see this huge patch, and realize the ground was covered in them.  But it's not actually clover.

On a bird hike in the wee hours today, we happened across these spider webs, 

which were about 6-10 inches in diameter.   

What was especially interesting was that the webs were so different from anything I've seen in North America -- they weren't round, orb-based, but appear to have been woven like fabric.  I have no idea how it is accomplished.