Ayampe River delta wetlands

While initially searching for a place to take Spanish and surfing classes for a month on the Ecuador coast, Kaitlin and I thought it might be prudent to choose a place with minimal birding opportunities in order to better focus our efforts on the task at hand. In the end though, instinct took over and birding potential began to creep back onto the priority list, as we realized that a month of mediocre birding is a really long time.

Ayampe turned out to be the perfect marriage of our four primary objectives; Spanish learnin', surfin', birdin' and doin' it all in a place where old sea dog locals sleeping the day away in hammocks far outnumber bars and the attendant 'extranjeros' loudly returning from said bars at 3am (read: Montanita). Due to a mix of luck and expert research on Kaitlin's part, we also managed to book one of the cheapest long-term lodgings in town, which also fortuitously overlooks the river delta and wetland complex that define Ayampe.

The area around the Ayampe River delta preserves a small wetland and mangrove complex and teems with a large variety of waterbirds, crustaceans and reptiles. The mangrove ecosystem is in Ecuador (and really everywhere that it exists in the world) faces daunting challenges, much of it already having been destroyed to make way for shrimp farms and various forms of coastal development. Thankfully, perhaps due to its connection to the vast forest preserve inland from Ayampe, this small stretch of mangrove has remained somewhat intact.

On any given day from our upstairs window we can see over 10 species of waders including Great, Cattle and Snowy Egrets, Little Blue, Striated and Cocoi Herons, Black-crowned and Yellow-crowned Night Herons, White Ibis, Black-necked Stilts, Spotted Sandpipers, Limpkins and Whimbrels. Troops of Groove-billed Anis flop around in the wetland vegetation and then sit atop the mangroves to dry their wings. Each morning we awaken to the cheery songs of 'Mangrove' Yellow Warblers defending their personal mangrove tree. Technically considered a subspecies of the migratory Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petechia) which breeds over a large part of North America, the 'mangrove' subspecies are restricted to mangrove habitats in the Neotropics and sport a distinctive rufous cap. Just beyond the wetland, the Ayampe River (usually) flows into the ocean. The river widens here and for the better part of the day it serves as a giant constantly recharging bath for hundreds of Magnificent Frigatebirds. At any given time a group of 20-30 will be swirling around and then one by one (or two-by-two or 3-by-3) they begin swooping down to the surface of the water to quickly dip their bellies and underwings in the fresh water before circling again and repeating the cycle. Occasionally a bird will dip its bill in the water and appear to catch a small fish but it appears that the primary goal of this exercise is bathing, presumably to cleanse their plumage of salty water from a life spent at sea. This area is also popular with more diving oriented hunters like Neotropic Cormorants and Pied-billed Grebes and various plunge-dive feeders like Brown Pelicans, various tern species, and Ringed and Green Kingfishers.

Let's hope that tourists and locals alike continue to show appreciation for this vital and shrinking habitat to ensure its preservation in perpetuity.Read more