In February twelve
travelers from the North Branch Nature Center ventured to Nicaragua with the Montpelier-based
organization Planting Hope.
I was just thinking how comfortable our young Nicaraguan
companions were in the woods, when one little girl in flip-flops tumbled head
over heels down the steep trail. Led by Marvin, our host at La Hermandad, along
with four Planting Hope staff and a small gaggle of young children, we were
exploring the coffee plantation and cloud forest habitat on a windy, misty
afternoon. The little girl, who had just taken a spill in front of me, bounced
up with a smile on her face and kept marching right along.
Soon we stopped to listen to Long-billed Hermits lekking
unseen in the dense undergrowth. Male hermits, a type of tropical hummingbird
with relatively dull plumage, but with long curved bills and long white tips
tails, often gather in loose groups to “serenade” prospective mates. We
couldn’t see any of the calling males, but I was able to show the children (and
the rest of the group) a photo on my iPod and play its call. A good use of
technology in such a unspoiled setting?
I had also lugged my heavy spotting scope along, trusting
that something special would appear to show the group. So far there was no occasion
to use it. It was too windy and birds were keeping a low profile. Soon,
however, I was glad I had made the effort. Marvin, our eagle-eyed guide, had
spotted a sloth nestled on a branch in a tall tree. Even with binoculars, the
sloth just looked like a hairy gray mass. With the scope we could distinguish
its claws and occasionally its face as the sloth turned his head. I even
spotted a moth on the sloth’s fur – could this be the fabled sloth moth that is
only known to live on sloths? Best of all, we were able to share this strange
and beautiful creature with children that were with us.
The community of La Hermandad, with its coffee farms and
intact cloud forest, is looking to establish itself as an ecotourism
destination, much like El Jaguar which we visited earlier in our trip. Planting
Hope is working to help them along that path and the North Branch Nature Center
is hoping to establish some kind of “sister nature center” relationship. To
that end we brought our hosts a nature center “care package” with hand lenses,
bug boxes and butterfly nets, to use with local school children and visitors to
La Hermandad. One member of our group even brought a pair of binoculars to
donate.
Planting Hope is known for its service projects, and birding
was ours! We started to put together a checklist of resident and migrant birds
for La Hermandad. That list already includes three species of trogons,
Keel-billed Toucan, and a wide variety of overwintering species from North
America (including Vermont) – American Redstart, Chestnut-sided,
Black-and-white, Black-throated Green and Golden-winged Warblers.
Red-winged Blackbirds are already back in Vermont and soon
our migrant warblers will be returning. I can’t help but wonder if the
Chestnut-sided Warblers and the American Redstarts that frequent the riverside
habitat along the North Branch have visited some of the same beautiful places
we did while in Nicaragua.
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