Rainy Mountain Days

Following the devastating dry season earlier this year, we saw the forests begin to sing again with the April showers. And now, in August we are seeing rainfall to make up for all the deficits of the dry season! At the Asa Wright Nature Centre the rainy season brings a different ambience to the forests. Mostly, the early mornings are fine, with stars shining bright in the pre-dawn sky. Our birds sing loudly with the daybreak, the antshrikes and mocking birds being the first to serenade. Clouds of mist rise out of the valley, different hidden streams sending up their mist at different times, like alternating puffs of steam. But as beautiful as this rising mist is, it is going up to become the afternoon clouds, and to bring the afternoon rains. And these come in over the ridge to the east, roaring as loudly as waterfalls, until they arrive at the Centre, pounding on our roofs for a while until they move on, far more silently than they arrived. In the wake of each passing shower, the birds begin to sing again, and the elusive Mot Mots come out to the feeding tables below the verandah, joined by noisy Oropendolas with their young, now learning to feed themselves. Above them flit half a dozen Jacobin Hummingbirds, flashing their green, blue and white iridescence in the sudden sunlight. An after-rain walk along the driveway will see you regularly challenged by the red mountain “manicou” crabs, which come out to forage. These are aggressive creatures who will snap their claws at you. However, they are also the favourite food of the Great Black Hawk, so you should be on the lookout for these raptors, perched close by, or even feeding along the road!
Along the trails the raindrops continue to fall from the treetops long after the shower has passed. The sunbeams which filter through holes in the canopy focus on the sights you should see — spotlighting brilliant red Chaconia flowers set amidst the shades of green; a tight geometric spider web, with rainbows shining in its glistening raindrops; or a brilliant blue marbleu butterfly, sparkling like a sapphire in the sunbeam!
And sometimes the afternoon showers spring forth brilliant rainbows across the valley! Persons lucky enough to be on the verandah at these times may see a flock of Orange-winged parrots flying home across a rainbow! And Rainy Mountain nights… when the full moon wears a faint rainbow halo, or if the night is cloudless, the stars shine brightly through the rainwashed sky.
Nights when you see the lightning dancing in the distance beyond the valley, or when you lie, half awake in your cottage, listening to the night, the streams below chattering to you, and the passing rains quietly pattering upon the roof! Most people visit us in the northern hemisphere winter, our dry season.
But Asa Wright has many moods, and the Rainy Mountain time is a mood you should experience.
August 2010