We were cleaning up the downstairs patio, sweeping, watering, and moving potted plants around, when we found this little guy. He was the size of a small grasshopper, maybe a cricket, I say was, because yes, Mike had to kill him. Scorpion, or alacran, as Fernando taught me.
This one was IN the house, gecko, lizard thing, probably 4" long. He is the biggest that we've seen at this house. We saw a bigger one at the San Alejo house one day we were there visiting. They eat Mosquitos and other bugs, so they can live. Don't really want them in the house, but hey, they were here first. After his picture was taken he scampered into the ceiling.
Plenty of doves, we have at least 3 nests, they make a mess, and are noisy flapping around all the time, but they probably eat bugs too, so they can stay.
These black birds love the orchard area, one of the AC units drips condensation in the plumeria tree, and it's a favorite showering spot for all.
Found this while I was looking for the black bird, yikes! Not a pretty girl!
The Common Potoo, Grey Potoo, Lesser Potoo or Poor-me-one (Nyctibius griseus), is a nocturnal bird which breeds in tropical Central and South America
This potoo is a large cypselomorph bird related to the nightjars and frogmouths, but like other potoos it lacks the bristles around the mouth found in the true nightjars. It is 33–38 cm long and pale greyish to brown, finely patterned with black and buff, camouflaged to look like a log; this is a safety measure to help protect it from predators, but its mode of perch is also a camouflage. It has large orange eyes.
The Common Potoo can be located at night by the reflection of light from its eyes as it sits on a post, or by its haunting melancholic song, a BO-OU, BO-ou, bo-ou, bo-ou, bo-ou, bo-ou, bo-ou, bo-ou dropping in both pitch and volume.It has special disruptive coloration so it camouflages into a branch, as shown on the picture.
It's been a rough week, we've had some bad news on residency, obtaining our container AND our rentals in the States. We are keeping our chins up, and trying to reach out to anyone who can help. Still working and writing while lounging in the hammock on the coast of a tropical place, so it could be worse! We will keep y'all posted, the adventure is by no means over! We are being FLEXIBLE.
Oh yeah, and probably headed to the beach and our favorite $3 lunch later, life is still good in Ecuador. Stay tuned.
Container.... has it arrived with all your goodies? Darn that was one ugly bird. Cooler weather headed our way which will be nice as it's been very hot. Late evening thunder storms. Cool haircut.
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