Birdwatching and Mud Stains

This is myself and park warden Henrry (with two R's) on the binoculars. I am following his lead, trying to spot what he sees. He is one of the most experienced rangers at the SNLMT.

On Tuesday, I got the chance to join him on the bird survey, along with Jose (park warden), two MEDA colleagues and some university students (pictured above). Early morning and low tide is the best time for spotting birds since they are out looking for crabs and fish to eat along the newly exposed banks of the rivers so we were on the river by 7 AM.


To the right is a Google Earth satellite image of the mangrove reserve, the SNLMT. The mangrove reserve is outlined in red and the international border is yellow. The right side of the picture is Ecuador, separated from Peru by the International Canal. At the top, the river flows into the Pacific.

On all sides, you can see that former mangrove habitat has been taken over by farms, rice and shrimp. A lot of products of human activity (plastics, mercury, petroleum, pesticides) find their way into the mangroves.

Despite the encroachment of human activity, the mangroves carry the heavy load, providing food and habitat for a diverse bird population. Monthly bird surveying is a way to keep tabs on bird populations.

The way bird surveying works is simple. The boat follows a set path every time. You identify and record the number of each bird species you see. If they are flying, you only count the ones flying in the opposite direction as you, to prevent double counting. Henrry does most of the identifying while another ranger, Jose does the recording. The rest of us point out anything in case he has missed it.


This apparently was the sighting of the day.
Not the white guy, that is a baby Snowy Egret, Garza Blanca chica, the most populous of the birds in the sanctuary. No, it's the grey blob I circled to the left, sitting on the branch and barely visible, the Bare-throated Tiger-heron. Despite the superhero name, this bird is not bloodthirsty, courageous and carnivorous. Rather, it is very shy and rarely sighted. So much so that I couldn't get a better shot of it. Though I admit I didn't know what was going on. I thought people were getting excited about the Snowy Egret.

Having an expert around opens your eyes. The first time I visited the mangroves, I saw a Blue Heron and a bunch of Snowy Egrets. This time I had a page full of bird names I scribbled down while trying to keep up with Henrry. Hundreds of sightings of herons, egrets, frigatebirds, cormorants, martin kingfishers, pelicans, blackbirds etc.

Most are waders, a loose categorization for birds adapted to shore areas and wading in pools. They have long legs for walking in pools and eat small crabs and other invertebrates. To the right is an example. He is the largest heron in these parts of Peru, Ardea cocoi or Garza Cuca.


Some were fast little guys zipping and darting around like the Ringed Kingfishers. Think hummingbird with hunting skills.


Some were big air floaters, like these Fregata magnificens to the left, just floating in the air taking it easy until doing precise dives for prey. They are also known as Man O'War for their rakish lines, speed and aerial piracy says Wikipedia. Air pirates. Gangsters.





After an hour, we had motored to Point A on the map, whose proximity to the ocean meant that a laguna was drying out from the last high tide. This dynamic makes it a favorite spot for some birds.

This is a Roseate spoonbill. When standing, he looks like a flamingo cause of the pink coloration but he can be differentiated by his long beak, the spoonbill.

I could pretend I took this picture if I had one of those cameras with the serious looking zoom. It's stolen from wikipedia.



It was still spectacular though. Here's my photo of a bunch of them taking flight.








To compare, here's a Chilean flamingo displaying a remarkable lack of spoonbill.
Both flamingos and roseate spoonbills derive their pink color from the betacarotene from the shrimp and crab in their diet. They are not related.








These are Black Necked Stilts, Himantopus mexicanus, local name: ciguenuela. The english name is pretty self explanatory. They look like they're walking around on pink stilts.

The day ended with a chance to get filthy and trek through the mangroves to Point B on the map.


Best mud stains I've had in a long time. Point B is another laguna that floods during high tide but by the time we got there it was dried out and the birds were gone.


I'm out of postcards. First one to point me out in the picture gets a pair of pants to wash.

So, that's it for my month in Tumbes, though I'll be back when the heat gets serious in January. Back to Lima and the big city life.