Sponsored in cooperation with the Earthwatch Institute

Ecuador Forest Birds

Staging Area: Guayaguil, Ecuador, US$1395

Dr. Dusty Becker

Loma Alta Ecological Reserve

Colonche Mountains, Ecuador

Two years ago, Dr. Dusty Becker made a surprising discovery at the Loma Alta Ecological Reserve, which she and Earthwatch volunteers helped establish. Becker and her colleagues found a spectacular and wholly unexpected concentration of bird species that had descended on Loma Alta’s forests—a bright explosion of biodiversity. This colorful invasion included seven globally threatened and five near-threatened bird species, some of them known from dry forests and others from the Andes 250 kilometers away (and twice the altitude), and hummingbirds of 18 different species. When she repeated the study five months later, many of these species had left the reserve, baffling ecologists still further. Becker now needs your help making surveys in several deep tropical forests in western Ecuador to find out where the birds came from, where they went, and why.

Becker is at home here among the giant buttressed trees and howler monkeys, and has always been passionately committed to the conservation of tropical habitats and wildlife. She has 14 years’ experience as a field researcher in conservation biology and ecology, and is cofounder of the nonprofit People Allied for Nature. She has served as bird ecologist with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and surveyed birds in such diverse habitats as Ethiopia and Connecticut. But now her research "home" is in Ecuador, only 1.6 percent of South America but containing more than 50 percent of the continent’s bird species. The forests of western Ecuador, where Becker has worked in recent years, are some of the world’s most threatened ecosystems. So when she stumbled upon such a host of rare birds right in those endangered forests, Becker focused her not-insubstantial energies there.

1999 and 2000 TEAMS
Max team size: 8

V: Dec 21,1999 - Jan 3, 2000

I: Jan 13 - 26, 2000

Max team size: 10

II: Jul 16 - 29, 2000

MEMBERS SHARE OF COST
from US $1,395 • £850 • Aus $2,145 • Yen ¥163,700

RENDEZVOUS SITE

Guayaguil, Ecuador

RESEARCH AREA

Becker’s teams are working at several sites in Ecuador, ranging from Loma Alta (Teams II & V) in the coastal hills to Bellavista (Teams III & IV) high on the western flank of the Andes at 2,400 meters. She is excited to bring a team to the Machalilla National Park (Team I) in the coastal hills, a new study site for her. Becker wants to gain a clear understanding of vertical migrations and gene flow between the coastal and Andean sites, and whether they are seasonally driven by food resources or more sporadic. At Loma Alta teams will investigate the behavioral ecology of the endemic and endangered Woodstar hummingbird and its interactions with other hummingbirds. Teams will also collect data to compare bird communities in degraded and more pristine patches, to determine which species are more vulnerable to habitat change. At Bellavista, hummingbirds and the flowers they use are a growing research focus. All findings will be supplied to local decision-makers to improve their land-use management, a crucial step toward protecting both the birds and their forest habitat.

VOLUNTEER TASKS

You’ll rise at 5:00 a.m. and set up 12-meter-long mist nets by first light. You then check them every 20 to 30 minutes, extracting birds from the nets to weigh, measure, band, sex, age, identify, and photograph each one, using skills Becker teaches you when you first arrive. You will also help take a blood sample and assess body fat and molting status before releasing the bird near the spot where it was caught. Afternoons you will observe birds in the forest, taking notes on species, vocalizations, breeding activity, and other factors, or help collect data on forest structure and availability of flowers and fruits. Throughout the project you will experience deep tropical forests, home to some of the most colorful, exotic birds you’ve ever seen.

FIELD CONDITIONS • RIGOROUS
Expect very rugged field conditions, with steep slopes climbing through deep remote forest. You will sleep in bunks at a research station (III & IV), on your own camp mat in a simple thatch cabin (II & V), or in your own familiar tent (I). Team locations may vary with local climate change. All sites have pit latrines and stream water for bathing. Teams share in the joys of cooking and clean-up, preparing feasts fit for hungry field-workers.