Time Flies When You Are Having Fun!
Blimey! Another week has just flown by! We are now a month and a half into our stay and only have two weeks left! Eeek! The weeks seem to be flying by, we have been really busy but are still having a fabulous time.
The week started off in a very soggy fashion, we are now getting into the proper rainy season after an "Indian Summer" through November.
Monday morning it poured down! This meant early morning observations were cancelled, however Rachael was down for Farm Maintenace which still had to be done. Guinea pigs, goats, sheep and donkey´s still need tending when its raining! It was still a good morning, I really enjoy looking after all the animals, which today included catching baby guinea pigs and goats!
After breakfast Lee was on Lodge Maintenace, where you go around and feed all the animals. The list is growing with new arrivals including a baby spider monkey, a young anteater and some young Saddlebacked Tamarins. As its Monday he also gave some fresh meat to the Jaguar. Rachael was on trail clearing, a tough job clearing plants and trees from the trails as it gives you sore blisters...
That afternoon it poured down again, which meant again that afternoon observations were cancelled but again the animals at New Farm needed tending. This time all the volunteers headed there in the rain =0) Despite coats we were all soaked as we fed the animals and then fixed a fallen fence. And thus ended the soggiest day...
Tuesday was much more promising and turned into a fine day. While setting up mist nets we both saw a large group of Saddlebacked Tamarins and had a very close encounter with a Gray Brocket Deer. These are usually very secretive and shy animals, but while setting up the final nets James pointed behind us and there less than 12 meters from Rachael, who was at the furthest end of the net, was an adult deer. It stood for what seemed like an age staring at us as we stared at it, and then ran off in a blur...
In the afternoon Lee was promoted to a member of staff! as he took two other volunteers to one of the platforms for observations! Good on him! Rachael was up amongst the tree tops of Canopy Walk Way. Both of us saw a fair number of birds including some new species we had not seen yet.
Wednesday morning was bright and clear, we had an early start as we took two volunteers mist netting. Although it was a slow morning, only caught 7 birds compared to 10-13 birds in other sessions, the bird of the morning had to be a beautiful Bluish Fronted Jacamar. A lovely bird with a long bill and vibrant colours on its chest and head.
Lunchtime, and the heavens opened once again... its absolutely bucketed down, the heaviest rain we`ve had by far. The wind bent the mighty trees as if they were made of rubber, and the thunder...it rolled across the sky with a rumble that felt like the earth was moving! Then as quickly as it arrived the rain slowed and the thunder stopped. The staff decided to go ahead with afternoon observations so while Rachael headed to HOB and had quite a quiet session, Lee went to New Farm and despite the persistent drizzle saw a multitude of birds including a Eastern Wood Pewee! Rachael had a good giggle at that name!
Thursday morning and another early start for another mist netting session, we were not sure how well this morning was going to go since yesterday was so quiet. However today it was overcast, which is sometimes better as sun shining on the nets makes them much more visible. The morning turned out excellent, 16 birds caught and at one point we had 7 birds in one go! Birds of interest included 3 colour ringed birds. These birds have been caught in the past by Stuart (the staff member), small colour rings placed on their legs and we then recaught them! One of the birds, a White Chinned Woodcreeper, was the same bird we caught on our first mist netting session on one of the other trails! We know this because it had four yellows rings on its legs, showing that birds are using quite large areas of the jungle.
A reoccurring theme of the week, it started raining really hard as we walked back to the lodge, and we arrived very soggy but very pleased at the same time =0)
The rain cleared up again by the afternoon and this time it was Rachael´s turn to be promoted to staff member as she took two other volunteers to New Farm for observations! Good on her! With numerous species of birds and 5 Dusky Titi Monkeys, it was a great afternoon. Lee spent the afternoon back at the lodge helping to build a new monkey enclosure.
That evening despite us both being pretty tired, we joined the other volunteers on a night walk. You never know what you might see and it can be a little scary walking in the jungle at night with only a head torch to guide your way, but we really enjoy them. This time Lee saw a Opossum and Rachael a Mouse Opossum, plus spiders, moths, fireflies and leaf cutter ants, busily carrying their leaves along the trail.
Friday we got up early again and headed to a place called Anaconda Colpa, a clay lick at the edge of the reserve. Here there is an observation platform set up overlooking the pool and if you are quiet and lucky you can see a range of mammals as they come down to drink the water and eat the clay. It took over an hour to walk there but on the way we saw a large group of Saddlebacked Tamarins. Then, as we continued along the trail, we heard a very loud crack and turned to our left to see a huge branch come crashing down ontop of a tall thin tree. It was a little scary and a stark reminder that its not just the snakes, spiders and insects you have to be wary of when walking in the jungle!
We arrived at the platform just before 8am and settled in for a 7 hour stint =0) The clay lick is quiet most of the time and then all of a sudden there will be a flurry of activity, which makes the waiting all worth while. First we saw an Agouti come down for a drink, then two Spix Gauns (type of bird that looks a little like a turkey), we heard some Howler Monkeys pretty close behind us and then the best bit, we looked up to see a male Peccary (wild pig) at the pool! He hung around for a few minutes, then disappeared. Five minutes later there were 6 of them drinking from the pool and nibbling the clay. It was brilliant to see them behaving naturally as they had no idea we were there! In the distance we could hear more peccaries crashing and grunting through the undergrowth, any moment we expected the place to be over run with them! (Peccaries often travel in groups of between 50 and 100!).
It was at this point however that Rachael turned to her left to see a massive swarm of Army Ants coming up the steps and posts of the platform! This was a little concerning, army ants basically travel in huge groups, swarming prey, killing and then devouring it. If they attack a human, and you get too many bites, they can kill! It was when staff Rachel turned to see ants coming round behind us, pinning ud in on both sides, that we decided it was time to evacuate! We rushed over the ants, down the rickety steps and made a getaway along the trail. It was a little frustrating to have to leave just as the peccaries were turning up, knowing they would not be there when we went back, but we all preferred to get away from the ants!
An hour and forty minutes later, the ants had gone from the platform and we were able to return for the final 3 hours. We didn´t see the peccaries again, but we did see a large lizard called a Golden Tegu, and quite a few birds.
The return journey to the lodge was much quicker, only just over an hour, but again we saw Saddlebacked Tamarins, plus a Red Throated Caracara, Olive Oropendular, a small snake half way up a tree and a Tayra - kind of black, fluffy weasel.
All in all its been a very good but very tiring week! We´ve seen lots of new species particularly mammals and are both looking forward to the next week.
Blimey! Another week has just flown by! We are now a month and a half into our stay and only have two weeks left! Eeek! The weeks seem to be flying by, we have been really busy but are still having a fabulous time.
The week started off in a very soggy fashion, we are now getting into the proper rainy season after an "Indian Summer" through November.
Monday morning it poured down! This meant early morning observations were cancelled, however Rachael was down for Farm Maintenace which still had to be done. Guinea pigs, goats, sheep and donkey´s still need tending when its raining! It was still a good morning, I really enjoy looking after all the animals, which today included catching baby guinea pigs and goats!
After breakfast Lee was on Lodge Maintenace, where you go around and feed all the animals. The list is growing with new arrivals including a baby spider monkey, a young anteater and some young Saddlebacked Tamarins. As its Monday he also gave some fresh meat to the Jaguar. Rachael was on trail clearing, a tough job clearing plants and trees from the trails as it gives you sore blisters...
That afternoon it poured down again, which meant again that afternoon observations were cancelled but again the animals at New Farm needed tending. This time all the volunteers headed there in the rain =0) Despite coats we were all soaked as we fed the animals and then fixed a fallen fence. And thus ended the soggiest day...
Tuesday was much more promising and turned into a fine day. While setting up mist nets we both saw a large group of Saddlebacked Tamarins and had a very close encounter with a Gray Brocket Deer. These are usually very secretive and shy animals, but while setting up the final nets James pointed behind us and there less than 12 meters from Rachael, who was at the furthest end of the net, was an adult deer. It stood for what seemed like an age staring at us as we stared at it, and then ran off in a blur...
In the afternoon Lee was promoted to a member of staff! as he took two other volunteers to one of the platforms for observations! Good on him! Rachael was up amongst the tree tops of Canopy Walk Way. Both of us saw a fair number of birds including some new species we had not seen yet.
Wednesday morning was bright and clear, we had an early start as we took two volunteers mist netting. Although it was a slow morning, only caught 7 birds compared to 10-13 birds in other sessions, the bird of the morning had to be a beautiful Bluish Fronted Jacamar. A lovely bird with a long bill and vibrant colours on its chest and head.
Lunchtime, and the heavens opened once again... its absolutely bucketed down, the heaviest rain we`ve had by far. The wind bent the mighty trees as if they were made of rubber, and the thunder...it rolled across the sky with a rumble that felt like the earth was moving! Then as quickly as it arrived the rain slowed and the thunder stopped. The staff decided to go ahead with afternoon observations so while Rachael headed to HOB and had quite a quiet session, Lee went to New Farm and despite the persistent drizzle saw a multitude of birds including a Eastern Wood Pewee! Rachael had a good giggle at that name!
Thursday morning and another early start for another mist netting session, we were not sure how well this morning was going to go since yesterday was so quiet. However today it was overcast, which is sometimes better as sun shining on the nets makes them much more visible. The morning turned out excellent, 16 birds caught and at one point we had 7 birds in one go! Birds of interest included 3 colour ringed birds. These birds have been caught in the past by Stuart (the staff member), small colour rings placed on their legs and we then recaught them! One of the birds, a White Chinned Woodcreeper, was the same bird we caught on our first mist netting session on one of the other trails! We know this because it had four yellows rings on its legs, showing that birds are using quite large areas of the jungle.
A reoccurring theme of the week, it started raining really hard as we walked back to the lodge, and we arrived very soggy but very pleased at the same time =0)
The rain cleared up again by the afternoon and this time it was Rachael´s turn to be promoted to staff member as she took two other volunteers to New Farm for observations! Good on her! With numerous species of birds and 5 Dusky Titi Monkeys, it was a great afternoon. Lee spent the afternoon back at the lodge helping to build a new monkey enclosure.
That evening despite us both being pretty tired, we joined the other volunteers on a night walk. You never know what you might see and it can be a little scary walking in the jungle at night with only a head torch to guide your way, but we really enjoy them. This time Lee saw a Opossum and Rachael a Mouse Opossum, plus spiders, moths, fireflies and leaf cutter ants, busily carrying their leaves along the trail.
Friday we got up early again and headed to a place called Anaconda Colpa, a clay lick at the edge of the reserve. Here there is an observation platform set up overlooking the pool and if you are quiet and lucky you can see a range of mammals as they come down to drink the water and eat the clay. It took over an hour to walk there but on the way we saw a large group of Saddlebacked Tamarins. Then, as we continued along the trail, we heard a very loud crack and turned to our left to see a huge branch come crashing down ontop of a tall thin tree. It was a little scary and a stark reminder that its not just the snakes, spiders and insects you have to be wary of when walking in the jungle!
We arrived at the platform just before 8am and settled in for a 7 hour stint =0) The clay lick is quiet most of the time and then all of a sudden there will be a flurry of activity, which makes the waiting all worth while. First we saw an Agouti come down for a drink, then two Spix Gauns (type of bird that looks a little like a turkey), we heard some Howler Monkeys pretty close behind us and then the best bit, we looked up to see a male Peccary (wild pig) at the pool! He hung around for a few minutes, then disappeared. Five minutes later there were 6 of them drinking from the pool and nibbling the clay. It was brilliant to see them behaving naturally as they had no idea we were there! In the distance we could hear more peccaries crashing and grunting through the undergrowth, any moment we expected the place to be over run with them! (Peccaries often travel in groups of between 50 and 100!).
It was at this point however that Rachael turned to her left to see a massive swarm of Army Ants coming up the steps and posts of the platform! This was a little concerning, army ants basically travel in huge groups, swarming prey, killing and then devouring it. If they attack a human, and you get too many bites, they can kill! It was when staff Rachel turned to see ants coming round behind us, pinning ud in on both sides, that we decided it was time to evacuate! We rushed over the ants, down the rickety steps and made a getaway along the trail. It was a little frustrating to have to leave just as the peccaries were turning up, knowing they would not be there when we went back, but we all preferred to get away from the ants!
An hour and forty minutes later, the ants had gone from the platform and we were able to return for the final 3 hours. We didn´t see the peccaries again, but we did see a large lizard called a Golden Tegu, and quite a few birds.
The return journey to the lodge was much quicker, only just over an hour, but again we saw Saddlebacked Tamarins, plus a Red Throated Caracara, Olive Oropendular, a small snake half way up a tree and a Tayra - kind of black, fluffy weasel.
All in all its been a very good but very tiring week! We´ve seen lots of new species particularly mammals and are both looking forward to the next week.
posted by Lee Barber at
7:50 AM
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