Follow the Money Food
This past week brought a new generation of Smooth-billed Anis to Parque Las Vegas. Residing in a small tree that grew along a lower area along the rio, it was easy to observe from almost eye-level vantage point from afar.
I shared the images with a few friends and invited them to meet the new babies the next day.
Life can change quite fast, and in 24 hours’ time, the park maintenance crew had altered the scene. I was probably the only person who noticed, but oh, it was a visceral blow to the senses.
Wondering where they might have gone – or if they’d been hauled away with the debris, I watched for a while and saw one adult Ani with an insect in its mouth. It perched for ten or so minute while calling often. Eventually it flew to the muddy area along the rio. Yes! The babies found shelter along the rio at ground level, but their chances seemed slim. They had little ‘refugio,’ for safety.
The next day the adult birds with insects led us to the new hideaway. Four grown anis shared responsibility for the babies and took turns delivering insects. An impressive distance away, the babies were well hidden in tall grasses at the corner of the park. Ah, I felt better about their survival, unless a cat or snake found them.
The next day they were AWOL again, and no sign of adults. One appeared and perched along the rio. With insect in mouth it called, then flew to the far side of the rio, called and moved from point to point, and finally ate the insect. A second ani guarded the area of tall grasses, but never doted on a young bird.
I returned to the butchered tree and peered to see if by chance the young ones were there. No, but there was a second smaller nest that I had assumed was abandoned — yet there was a small dark splotch when I looked skyward through the nest.
Yes! A very young bird was there, and it appeared weak and extremely hot. Soon enough the parents arrived – Tropical Kingbirds, owners of one of the sweetest dawn songs I’ve ever heard here in Ecuador.
The nest is now exposed to the skies, and the baby gapes at the sky when a vulture or bird or even a large insect flies over, I want to warn it, ‘NO! Don’t open that huge colorful mouth and show your location!’
One parent appears to do all of the work, searching for insects and feeding the baby. Today it sat on the nest for about a minute, which gave the baby respite from the sun. The baby appears to be getting stronger, and if it will surely pass on strong genes of survival – if it continues to adapt and survive.
After an absence for a day, one fast-growing ani re-appeared on the scene – back along the rio near its original position. One adult doted on it frequently. Yay!
The extra extra good news is that the organization responsible for the park has had several meetings recently about the birds in the park. They were shocked that my list has grown to almost 80 birds, and they hope to do more plantings for the birds. This week – because of the ongoing butchering of some of the trees – they have asked me to give a presentation about pruning.
I find myself often saying, “Esperanza. Hope.”
There’s hope for the future when people become proactive in nature’s defense. I look forward to introducing you to some of them, but for now the internet options are very few. Covid infections and deaths remain quite serious, we have a curfew again of 8 pm until dawn, the museo is again closed, and the park wifi is so slow that it takes half an hour to load the yahoo email page for the day! Alas, my time is best spent in nature.
I’ve also spent five days in a holding pattern while another friend waited for a Covid test. All negative, so we move forward slowly – and cautiously into year two of Covid.
While working on the photos, I thought, ‘This baby makes a good spokesperson for Earth Day. We often think about what makes our world better without considering how those choices affect the natural world.”
Stay well and safe, and may we all remember to dote on Mother Earth in this next year. I plan to pick up trash along Rio Portoviejo on the 22nd. Do you plan to do anything special in our planet’s honor?
Two minutes before curfew, I publish this (without the first edit) and scram!
Sending you all love – all the way ’round the world.
Lisa
Zeebra Designs & Destinations 
Every year when Earth Day rolls around, I think of you! Your love of the natural world still shines, despite everything. I smiled to see your birds and the caterpillars today. Last weekend, I was out at one of our refuges, and it was raining caterpillars. There were dozens and dozens — hundreds, maybe — of inch worms and another small species falling from the trees. I remembered hearing from Doug Tallamy that seven thousand caterpillars, give or take, were necessary to nourish a nest of babies. I couldn’t imagine there were that many caterpillars in the world–but there certainly are.
I hope reports of stabilization following Lasso’s election are true; at the very least, having the election completed should be helpful. It so good to see a post from you — stay safe and healthy!
Dear Lisa: Wonderful, exciting photos as always! And so much drama! I can absolutely feel your pain about the butchered tree, because we have the same problem in Jamaica. It is agony sometimes…and in nesting season (but the gardeners don’t seem to know or care about the nesting season!) Smooth-billed Anis are one of my favorite birds (I call them “the uglies” but I love them so much) but perhaps the fact that they build communal nests might have helped them, in this situation.
Our COVID situation is much the same as yours, I think. We have curfews from 8 pm until dawn and tighter curfews on weekends. It has hardly made much difference to our numbers of new cases. And we have too many deaths.
I am planning to write and attend some webinars on Earth Day – nothing active outside, unfortunately. BirdsCaribbean has a webinar on the Sharp-shinned Hawk and a whole series of weekly webinars and online events for our Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival. I will post the information on my blog, or you can check our website.
By the way, we are planning to step up our coverage of environmental issues at Global Voices and are putting a “Green Club” together. If you are ever interested in writing – or sharing/reporting on some issues that we could follow up on – please let me know.
We have been doing quite a lot in the Caribbean recently (we have a volcano eruption and threatened parrot, etc) but I feel environment/climate change issues in Latin America generally are not getting much coverage.
All the best to you. I would love to come and sit in the park with you one day! Stay safe and well (we just got our first dose of vaccine!)
Oh, Lisa. My heart ached at seeing the tree on the ground… But by the end of your piece I too was filled with “esperanza”. Hope for the park and its trees and its birds. Hope for the planet’s natural cycles. Hope for you and your friends and family, and us and our friends and our family, in this pandemic. Thank you.
Echoing the sadness of seeing the tree on the ground but of hope as well. As much as I enjoy the bird sightings, a Lisa sighting is even better. I think we saw a king bird this weekend, at least based on what some experienced birders nearby said. Probably wasn’t the same type, but still…
Hope all’s well there. Stay safe and healthy.
janet
Without a doubt, survival of the fittest! Not an easy life being a parent. We pick up trash from the beaches but there are so many issues ‘out there’, it all seems very bewildering. Glad you’re safe and active, Lisa 🙂 🙂
Stay well and safe, you too and “may we all remember to dote on Mother Earth in this next year.” I I too plan to pick up trash, but along our roads in my little village. We always do when we are out walking.
So much sadness in the world, and so much love needed. Thank you for all the love you are giving.
Sending you some back too – all the way ’round the world.
Ann-Christine
Wow, those are stunning photos, Lisa!
Hey Lisa: Your little bird makes a great ambassador for Earth Day. Stay safe and have fun. I hope your pruning presentation is well received.
Reblogged this on Jude's Threshold and commented:
So beautiful!
What patience, Miss Z. And what photos! Congrats on getting the park board to listen. And so happy to your friend’s test was negative.
How very sad about the trees, and the families that lived there! I’m glad you’ll be doing a presentation and hopefully that will change the “pruning” future.
What a sad story, and hopeful at the same time. What were they thinking cutting all those branches? I was heartbroken, but maybe one has survived.
That last shot is so beautiful!
Stay safe Lisa.
Much love
Alison
It’s good to hear from you, amiga, and good to hear about the parks people asking for you to help – that’s huge! Thank you for all that you do. It’s so easy for people to get carried away with pruning – now they will learn a little more and hopefully they’ll be more aware next time. I’m sorry to hear about the curfew and restrictions. I hope you have access to a vaccine. Take care my friend and keep the good work up!
yes, and on tuesday there’s another meeting.. laptop battery is almost gone but i wanted to say hi, and thanks… keep being that positive and beautiful person that you are!
I only wish the park staff had consulted with you before they decimated those life-bearing trees! This was painful to read, but I hope the resilience of the birds won out.