Tambarikosy

Happy Christmas to everyone, christian or not. Remember that the celebrated birthday of Jesus "happened" to coincide with many other festivals. I am atheist, but still enjoy the holiday! Iberian lynx composition by X O'Reilly, 2010. Original lynx photo © Lynx Ex-Situ .

Admittedly, I am very bad at birds. Their beauty and diversity fascinates me, though I am far more interested in their respiratory physiology and the fact their dinosaurian ancestors. However, I now think we know most of these guys, thanks to the help of fellow zoologist Terry Garner, who pointed me in the right direction for most of them, and University of Glasgow MSc student Carly Aulicky for confirming their identity – cheers guys! Image 1 - N octurnal curassow,  Nothocrax urumutum . © X O'Reilly

Many South American countries are famous for their coffee; Ecuador is not one of them. While neighbouring Colombia and nearby Brazil are renowned exporters of the bean ( Image 1 ) and brew, it's not often you hear of Ecuadorian coffee. Nor does it seem to be all that important culturally. Image 1 - Coffee bean. © X O'Reilly I'm not picky about coffee – instant or filtered, I'll drink it as long as it's not Nescafé's instant atrocity. However, here in Ecuador, unless I am in "New Town" Quito, I often have trouble finding somewhere that will serve coffee. When places do offer it, it is more often then not instant, something most European establishments would not dream of serving (and Nescafé, for some unfortunate reason unbeknownst to me, seems to be a popular pick). Coffee does actually account for a slice of the economy here, be it a sliver in comparison to the country's banana, shrimp, oil, and flower exports. Nonetheless, it's ...

In July I arrived in Ecuador to work for the Timburi Cocha Scientific Research Station, Payamino, for my year in industry. Fully prepared as I was to spend a year in the jungle, cut-off from civilisation, and living on rice and beans, I won't deny my delight in the fact the research station has flush-toilets, a cold shower (of sorts…), a satellite internet connection, and a kitchen. And the food has been far from your bog-standard rice and beans!

Unfortunately, my main research project while I'm in Ecuador does not concern bromeliads or involve climbing trees – that is a side project I'm doing as a way of continuing the work I started during the Tropical Biology field course this summer, out of personal interest. My principle project here is just about as interesting as well as probably providing information and materials more useful for conservation efforts, rather than simply sating my own curiousity. I'm studying the differences in mammal diversity between primary and secondary rainforests, using camera traps.

Every now and then, the community of San José de Payamino will get together to cut the grass of a communal area or the large dirt track that once was a road. Throughout a day of slashing grass and weeds with machetes, men, women, and youths down fresh and fermented  chicha  to give them strength. This communal work is what's known as a  minga  in Spanish, and it is not an activity unique to Payamino nor do they always consist in cutting grass. Throughout Latin America various forms of minga take place, although in Peru and Ecuador they do usually imply some kind of agricultural work, rather than any other communal labouring. In Ecuador a minga is almost inevitably followed by  chucheki  (Kichwa for hangover). Last Saturday, here at the Timburi Cocha Research Station we had a minga of our own, since the forest is apparently trying to reclaim our camp. We did hire three locals to come help us tend to the station's desperately overgrown state; however,...

For the last few weeks I've been in Quito, stressing about my visa and fearing being banned from Ecuador. Quito is alright – as far as cities go, I suppose: it's got most services you could need, taxis are dirt cheap, and it does have some beautiful graffiti murals along many of the main avenues. But it's filthy and smelly; you need lungs of steel to breathe in the thick grey air and ideally a narrow frame or a pushy attitude to be in with a chance of fitting on the buses. It's not really the best place to be, especially while waiting to return to Payamino and the rainforest. However, one thing I can say I've been enjoying whilst here (as well as Gabe and Tamara's wonderful company, of course!), is the food. Eating out can be pretty cheap – if you know where to go and aren't vegetarian, as I am... –, but mostly we've been cooking ourselves and in some cases just experimenting with new (to us) ingredients. We've tried fruits of all shapes an...