Photo by Nigel Simpson. |
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Photo by Doug Wechsler. |
This reserve was established to protect the type locality and only known range of the newly discovered Jocotoco Antpitta (Grallaria ridgelyi). The reserve, which protects an unusually wet area of temperate-zone forest on the east slope of the Andes, is located along the trail to Quebrada Honda below Cerro Tapichalaca. In addition to the Antpitta, the reserve is also home to other vulnerable restricted range birds such as the Bearded Guan, Golden-plumed Parakeet, Rufous-capped Thornbill , and Masked Saltator. The reserve is also home to the Spectacled Bear and Woolly Mountain Tapir.
The reserve, which includes Cerro Tapichalaca, encompasses approximately 2,000 ha, ranging from an elevation of 2000 m to 3400 m. It is adjacent to the southern part of Podocarpus National Park, which increases it's conservation value. The target size for the Tapichalaca Reserve is approximately 5,000 ha (12,000 acres). The Jocotoco Foundation recently built a small house for the visitors, researchers, and the reserve's guardian Arturo Leon. See the July 2001 news item . The house is an ideal location to see many marvelous animals and plants.
Photographs of some endangered birds and mammals taken in the Tapichalaca reserve.
Christopher Parsons Reserve
In 2003 a major expansion of the reserve to the west of Cerro Tapichalaca was created as a memorial to Christopher Parsons, the director of the epic “Life on Earth” television series. About a thousand hectares of land is protected, with habitat ranging from Paramo at 3500 metres on the Continental Divide, to sub-tropical forest at 2000 metres altitude. Globally threatened species which have been found there include Mountain Tapirs, Spectacled Bears, Imperial Snipe, Masked Mountain-tanager, Neblina Metaltail, and numerous special plants.
Photo By Nigel Simpson
Read about Fundación Jocotoco's other reserves in Ecuador
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