July 30, 2007
After siesta, we headed down to the lower trails from which we would begin our journey back up the mountain searching for the ranitas (little frogs). On the way down to the lower trails we stopped and moved the infrared camera down Puma Trail a bit in hopes to collect some exciting images. There have been many strange and unidentified calls on and near this trail from creatures we hope to capture on film.
We had dinner down at the lower cabin that night. Beatrice, the RLG chef, had made us a wonderful packed meal of cucumber sandwiches (YUM!) and lemon cake, not to mention, chips, cookies, crackers, and fruit (strangely enough, I tend to GAIN weight when visiting RLG, even when hiking several miles a day). After dinner, we walked over to where Charley had found an endangered plant , called "Podandrogyne brevipedunculata," that was flowering.
Some of the stalks also where bearing fruit at the time. Jane hasn't figured out what pollinates this plant, but we will have to put one of the infrared cameras there to see if it is a warm blooded creature that does. Charley had also shown us some other endangered plant species along the trail on the way down that night. It is nice to see some of the flora that helps to weave this ecosystem together being protected. Upon nightfall, we began our amphibian hike. The forest was very quiet this evening. Not many frogs calling. That was probably due to the fact that it wasn't raining as usual. It was nice to hike in dry clothes, but I would happily give them up for a sighting of the unknown Eleutherodactylus frog we call "The Punk Rocker." We named this little guy this because of his many spiky tubercles covering his body. We hope to collect a specimen for Dr. Luis Coloma to help us describe.
The forest was so quite this night that you could hear the sounds of the trucks on the highway, unfortunately pretty close by. It is one thing to hear the sounds of airplanes overhead while standing in the forest, but it is much more depressing to hear the trucks. So to distract myself from this depression, I bet Ed $10 that he wouldn't lick one of the giant slugs (underside of course). Apparently this was something that Ed had already been contemplating, so now I owe Ed $10. And for those of you wondering, no, he didn't have any odd sensations following the dare, no paralysis or hallucinations. Ed is very selective about the creatures he will lick. On the previous night, I tried to get him to lick the spittle which a little butterfly was exuding as Tim held her between his fingers. That, Ed decided against, though he did say if the offer was increased, he might think about it. Substances exuded as defense are probably not something one should sample. We hiked Lucy's Creek Trail and had the opportunity to explore the streams along the way. Tim and Charley would head up stream and Ed and I headed downstream. Tim found a new species for the reserve, Eleutherodactylus wnigrum. We had thought that we had this little frog before, but hadn't kept our hands on the slippery little bugger long enough to get a good photo for keying him out. So now we are up to 17 known species and 3 unknown species for the reserve. On our way back up what seems like a never ending trail (Brothers Trail) we also found the threatened Large-Snouted Cutin Frogs, the endangered Dink Frog, the Pinchincha Robber Frogs, and several of our unknown Eleutherodactlyus #1. This unknown frog has the most beautiful dark bronze eyes, orange washed sides and tiny bumps all over its body.
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