Day 4 Cock of the Rock

 I missed a few things from our drive into the Sumaco Lodge so bear with me while I catch up.

We passed several groups of road workers who were clearing foliage from the roadside and the deep culverts that drain the water when it rains. It must be a never ending job based on how prolifically everything seems to grow.

We passed a checkpoint, that sort of resembled a border crossing, apparently to check for drugs, wildlife and illegal immigrants coming into Ecuador.

Here's where we are staying at the moment.

Blue dot = I am here

After a delicious dinner, we headed out into the rainforest in the dark to photograph critters.  I am the biggest chicken on the planet when it comes to creepy crawlies, but I put my big girl pants on and actually had fun.  We are using a macro lense with a hand held flash. This means holding the camera steady and focussing on tiny objects with one hand, and I found this really difficult.  When using macro, the focus is very unforgiving and having spent the day holding a big lens, my arms were tired and a little jelly like.  

We found a huge variety of critters.  Two types of frogs, multiple spiders, including two tarantulas (they scuttled away before we could snap those) all sorts of crickets and katydids, beetles.  We went right down to the creek looking for glass frogs but despite hearing them, we couldn't spot them.

Finally to bed just after 10pm with a plan to be up by 4.45am to head out in search of the Cock of the Rock.  We hope to see a local variant, which has an orange head rather than the usual red.

We need to leave early because they all come to the breeding ground to try and attract a mate, before heading out for breakfast.

We were lucky and saw about 5, and managed to get some photos while they were in the closer branches.  Apparently they female is dull and grey, they nest in rocky cliff faces near waterfalls etc and the female blends in with their habitat.  The males are really bright and very weird looking. 

Cock of the Rock

Once they had left in search of breakfast, we went to another humming bird viewing spot, hoping to see some other rare bird which I forget.  It didn't show up, nor was the owl in a good spot for photos. 

There was a neat butterfly though.

We headed back to the lodge by mid-morning and spent the rest of the day photographing a whole variety of birds, monkeys and small critters from the deck of the lodge.

The guys had set up a background and set of 4 lights, specifically for humming birds so we can capture them "frozen". 

 

Multi-flash setup

I was able to get some lovely shots.

Once everyone had got some shots, it was repurposed for a moth, a millipede and a walking stick. Frank, our local guide, also found a ground snake, only about 10 inches long, so he was set up on the table in the dining room.

Imagine washing all those socks

The bird photos in the blog are phone photos of the back of my camera screen and the colours are much richer on the camera itself.  Stunning colours in real life.

We had rain for the first time today, it has been a pleasant 23ish degrees with about 85% humidity. But when it rains, it buckets down. The noise on the roof is deafening. 

Taking a break due to the rain