From Jungle to Lakes and back again...

Monday morning, Lee was at New Farm Platform doing observations while Rachael was at the farm helping with feeding the guinea pigs and goats. Oddly enough it was Rachael that spotted a new bird species, walking around the farm was a type of wader, which she identified it as an Upland Sandpiper. However, Stuart, a new member of staff who had just returned this week, told us you don´t get that type of bird here! Confused Lee and I headed back at lunch to get a better look and take some photographs. Turns out it is an Upland Sandpiper (no doubt from the photos) and this means we have found a first for Taricaya i.e. a bird thats never been seen there before!

Monday also saw us both taking a dip in the creek, a very muddy dip I might add, in order to try and remove the recently constructed fish enclosure, which due to the drop in the water levels was sitting miserably on the bottom of the creek.

Early Tuesday morning we took another couple of volunteers mist netting again, with the nets in a new location we were hoping to catch a different niche of birds. It was a great mornings session, the pick of the bunch being a beautiful male Red Headed Manakin. The afternoon session was not quite as productive although we managed to catch one Hummingbird and they are always pretty to look at!
That evening we went on our second Caimen hunt, this time Alex managed to catch a Spectacled or White Caimen, and Rachael got to hold it! Hope fully some photos will follow once downloaded from the camera! The nights wildlife watching did not end there however, heading along the board walks to bed we saw a Paca - a large rodent with no tail, brown fur and white spots down the sides, actually pretty cute!

Wednesday and we had another early morning mist netting session, however again it was really slow, we only caught 4 birds however one of these was a new species for us called a Swainson´s Thrush. Plus a Pygmy Kingfisher flew into the net, then managed to escape right before our eyes! The one that got away...
That afternoon Lee was back in the creek putting the fish enclosure back in, on the other side of the dam, while Rachael headed to New Farm Platform for observations. She got a really good view of a Dusky Titi Monkey in the trees and spotted 23 different species of birds!

Woke up on Thursday to the sound of Squirrel Monkeys crashing through the trees outside our room, went out to watch them feeding on bits of fruit twice the size of their heads! THey would then drop them with a loud crash onto the roof of one of the other rooms, scaring the life out of themselves!! Very funny to watch!

After a morning collecting the mist nets in, the volunteers all had a special treat - we headed for a place called Lake Sandoval. This magical oasis in the middle of the jungle is a haven for birds, monkeys and most special of all a family of Giant Otters! An hour up river in the boat, we then walked for 5km into the jungle before finally arriving at the lodge by the lake, only to be greeted straight away by 4 Dusky Titi Monkeys! After a brief swim, the water was suprisingly warm, we headed out in a canoe for an evening meander on the lake.
It was a beautiful, tranquil evening, first to be spotted was a very large Caimen just ahead of the boat and only a few hundred yards from where we had just been swimming! Next there were Brown Capuchin monkeys, not to mention the hundreds of birds most of them ones we have not seen before. After a beautiful sunset out on the lake we headed in for dinner and an early night.

Early Friday morning we headed back out in the canoe in search of the otters. We circled the lower part of the lake, finding lots of birds and sooner than any of us expected Stuart spotted a group of otters in the distance! We slowly made our way over and sure enough up ahead there were 12 GIANT OTTERS! Feeding all together their heads would pop up sometimes with a fish, chew on it for a while before diving back down. They were beautiful! Although they did not come really close, it was enough to watch them in the binouclars and take some distant photos.

After the otters had moved off we continued around the lake, spotting more birds and even some Long Nosed Bats clinging to a tree trunk. We then heard some crashing in the nearby trees, classic sign of monkeys but which ones? We moved in closer and soon realised they were Red Howler Monkeys! There were 5 including a young one feeding in the trees by the lake bank. We have often heard Howler monkeys near Taricaya, they sound like the wind rushing through a canyon, but none of us had ever seen them until now! The trip was over all too soon and after breakfast we headed back to the boat and Taricaya.

Friday afternoon and for the third time this week, for Lee and the second for Rachael, we were back in the creek removing the fish enclosure, which now had sunk!

We then had a meeting with Stuart to discuss some of the birds we had caught in the mist nets, it turns out that four of the birds were new species for Taricaya! Both Lee and I felt really pleased to have found these birds, the photographs of which are going to be published in a book describing the Birds of Taricaya! We both feel we have really achieved something and contributed to the research at Taricaya.