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Thanks to everyone for sharing your pictures. Here are a few highlights…
This year’s Amazonia expedition has come to an end.
Highlights of the last couple of days are sightings of a tamandua (big anteater) sleeping on a tree, a coati, a huge group of perhaps 70 peccaries, crossing our survey path right in front of us. How exciting! During the review Alfredo added that he had not seen “the big” peccaries for a year or so.
The cameras took a few good pictures of red squirrel, tyra, collared peccary and tapir. Also a great series of “cappuchinos” – brown capuchin monkeys. To everyone’s amusement, Suzie renamed the species earlier this week. And finally, a cat. No, not the big one, but its little brother. A margay passed by one of the cameras set on the trail to Yarina lake documented in a series of three very good shots. As promised, they will all be shared once I’ve made it back home to my desk.
By the end of two expedition weeks, the species summary sheet is impressively long. Recordings (sightings & tracks) are of a total of 32 different mammal species, not to mention a great variety of birds, frogs, reptiles and insects. Ten different monkey species were spotted, one of which was seen for the very first time on expedition since the project started four years ago: the rare red uakari monkey. From the number of sightings – not individuals – saddleback tamarin is the most common species in the area (16 groups) followed by ‘cappuchino’ 😉 and squirrel monkey (13 & 12 groups). More details of all results will be published in the expedition report.
The total mileage walked is an impressive 160 km of forest trails on foot and about 60 km by canoe paddling up and down the Tahuayo river. Of these 57.27 km are actual foot and 30 km are canoe transect surveys. Statistically the sightings will be related to ten different cells of 2 x 2 km including seasonally flooded forest habitat, palm swamps, higher and lower restinga and terra firme.
A big thank you goes to the expedition team for performing the daily tasks enthusiastically and with great endurance. You never faltered – neither heat, nor humidity, nor tiredness, blisters or whatever held you back from going out twice a day, bringing back to base datasheets with valuable information. A special thanks goes to the local field assistants Gabriel, Julio, Manuel and Oscar for contributing their jungle skills and knowledge, whether it was by guiding teams on jungle trails, hearing, smelling, spotting and identifying animals, driving the boats safely through a labyrinth of logs and fallen trees, or paddling and stearing the canoes.
Thank you, Alfredo, for setting up an exemplary partnership between foreign researchers and local people. Even more for sharing your great knowledge, answering many, many questions and guiding teams day & night on “your patch”. Thank you Andy and Fredrik for joining us and multiplying the scientific input, not only of birds and frogs.
You all have put lots in – not only time & money, but also skills, good chats, ideas and comments. I trust you got lots out in return and enjoyed the project and our time at the ARC as much as I did.
All the best
Malika
P.S. Please don’t forget to share your pictures (instructions to be mailed soon).
The second week’s survey is in full swing. Completing the second week’s team, Christy, Stephen & Suzie arrived on Sunday and went through their training sessions on Monday. From Tuesday on four teams have been going out every day for transect surveys.
Anh, Ed, Neil & I had some spare time in the early morning on Sunday to explore Fredrik’s frog transect located in the forest behind the small village of San Pedro – the home of six families – up at the Blanco river about 45 boat minutes away from the main lodge. Due to very low water, it took us about an hour to get there – we would not have made it without Mario’s brilliant boat driving skills!
Not having been visited for more than a year, the path was completely grown over and hard to find. To everyone’s excitement quite a few poison arrow frogs (Ranitomeya flavovittata) and another even rares species of the same family (Ranitomeya ventrimaculata) were spotted – have a look at the picture. They are amazing little creatures no bigger than a thumbnail.
Back at our study site around the ARC, we add new sightings to our summary sheets every day. We have tuned in to the various monkey calls – at least when they are close enough for foreign ears to be recognised. Watching the monkeys while they are watching us from high up in the trees is an entertaining job. They make a lot of noise – not hard to guess what they want to tell us: go away!
A visitor of a different kind swung by on Tuesday evening during dinner time: a porcupine wandering about nibbeling the wood of the station’s balustrade. Very kind of him to pose for a few pictures before strolling away. An Emerald tree boa was also spotted – a rare finding.
Other rare sightings during the surveys are collared peccary (so far only tracks have been recorded) and an agouti family patiently sitting in front of a den to be watched for 10 minutes or so.
I will come up with a complete list of sightings and the results of the camera traps after the last survey day, which is on Friday already! Continue reading “From our conservation holiday volunteering with jaguars, pumas, ocelots, primates and other species in the Peru Amazon jungle (http://www.biosphere-expeditions.org/amazonia)”
Everyone on the team worked very hard over the last few days walking transect trails in the morning and doing canoe river surveys or track trap checking in the afternoon. I would never have thought we would beg for rain, but the river level has dropped constantly to an alarming level. And as it drops, the river reveals its secrets: logs and fallen trees making boat rides difficult if not impossible. Keep your fingers crossed that rain comes soon for some relief not only from the heat.
We exchanged SD cards of all ten camera traps yesterday, also checking battery levels and functions. The cameras are all good for working day & night out in the field until the end of the expedition. Alfredo, Fredrik, Gabriel and Anh opted in to do the long walk to terra firme to also check on both cameras set in the most remote area of the study site. My guess is that they were keen because they were also secretly hoping to come across the troup of red uakaris again on the way. Surprisingly they were sighted once more within the trail grid on Thursday. Neil & Doug accompanied by Gabriel were lucky enough to get a glimpse of the rare monkey species that only occurs in the northeast of Peru and some isolated pockets in Brazil.
Many more fascinating species were encountered during the first expedition slot. As regards the expeditions’ target species, results so far are sightings of nine out of fourteen present primate species, tracks of jaguar and jaguarundi, collared and white-lipped peccary, paca and red brocket deer. Other mammal sightings include tayra, three-toed sloth, river otter, red squirrel, pigmy squirrel and armadillo. And, of course, the ever so cute yellow-crowned brush-tailed tree rat!
Overall the teams have walked 44 km of transect trails in four survey days, the total walking distance is about double of it. 40 km of transect were surveyed from the canoes thanks to the local field guides Gabriel, Julio, Mario & Oscar paddling and steering the canoes up and down the Tahuayo river. Nine cells of the study area have been covered each measuring 2 x 2 km.
Anh, Ed and Neil (all staying for the second slot) & I said goodbye to Ana, Brenda, Doug, Imogen, Katie, Lanse & Mary today. Thank you everyone for coping with the heat & humidity, blisters and putting sweat into the project. You have helped collecting valuable data that are slowly but constantly adding up to a precious knowledge base of the area and its wildlife.
Red uakari monkeys sighted!
We’re on our third survey day and the list of target species sightings is getting long. Most excitingly a troup of about 60 – 80 red uakari monkeys was sighted on Tuesday, the first survey day after the training sessions.
It was on the long hike to ‘terrra firme’, the study area’s high grounds that never get flooded, when Manuel, one of our local guides, heard the monkeys call from further away off the trail. While he stood his ground with team members Katie and Lansing, Fredrik equipped with a camera and a 600 mm lens was sent off to hunt for some pictures. This primate species is most elusive, they travel at impressive speed and have only been seen in the area once this year in March. Fredrik did an amazing job – see the picture he brought back for everyone to enjoy.
Not even fresh jaguar tracks found on the same day on the trail connecting the Tahuayo and Tangarana river made it top on the list that day. In total ten camera traps have been set in various locations throughout the study area to capture their presence…hopefully! Other species being recordedsare brown and white capuchin monkey, Squirrel, titi, saki and owl monkey, as well as moustached and saddleback tamarins.
Although the local people say that there is no dry season in the rainforest, it’s been very dry over the last week. Only the odd rain shower cooled down the temperature ever so slightly. We’re sweating and drinking water and sweating and drinking – not even at night temperatures does it drop below 25-30 degrees Celsius. One benefit of the dryness is that all trails are much easier to walk, the palm swamps easier to cross, and there are far fewer mosquitoes.
Everyone arrived safely at the Amazon Research Center. After a speed boat ride of 2 1/2 hours from Iquitos, Alfredo, our scientists, and our scientific assistants Fredrik & Andy, and I welcomed the team at the Tahuayo Lodge and continued to the ARC after some brief introductions and having lunch. While I am writing this, Alfredo is delivering a presentation of the research’s target species such as jaguar, puma and more than a dozen different monkey species. It’s a lot of input on the first day after a comprehensive safety briefing to prepare everyone for the jungle research work. We’ll continue with training sessions on the research equipment and data sheets tomorrow morning, before we go out for our first training survey walk.
Friday 07:30 in Iquitos: I am at the A&E Tours office waiting for the shops to open. I was told that today everything would be back to normal after two days of general strike. All shops & markets were closed, the streets left abandoned. Only the odd motocar passed by. It was around the Plaza des Armes where the crowd assembled demonstrating against a government decision. When the shops finally opened again, I had 90 minutes left before the boat left…
All other preparations have gone well so far. Fredrik Tegnér, a Swedish biologist who will be assisting Alfredo Dosantos, head scientist on this expedition, arrived in Iquitos on the same flight as I. Fredrik spent three months at the Amazon Research Centre last year studying the Peruvian poison frog. Now with his degree under his belt, he will join us to support Alfredo with data processing for the report. Together we have set up some of the research equipment: the GPSs now have updated maps and trails on them and the expedition computer is waiting for the team to feed it with data.
We will meet Alfredo later today at the ARC and will then start discussing the work plan, schedules, etc. – I’ll keep you updated.
Saturday: Fredrik & I arrived at the ARC yesterday in the late afternoon. Alfredo & I have worked out a work plan and I am looking forward to meeting team 1 tomorrow. If you have any problems with getting to the assembly point in time please contact the A&E Tours office in Iquitos, by either phone or e-mail. Safe travels and see you tomorrow.
Welcome everyone, this is the first issue of this year’s Amazonia expedition diary. My name is Malika, I’m a senior member of the Biosphere Expeditions’ staff and I will be leading our Amazonia jaguar & primates project in the Peruvian Amazon again this year. My bags are packed, I’m ready to go… (almost ;)). If my flights are on time, I’ll be arriving in Iquitos on 1 Sep around noon after picking up some more equipment in Lima.
I have been in touch with Alfredo Dosantos, our Peruvian expedition scientist, who told me about massive spring flooding and renovation work at our base: the Amazon Research Centre. But before meeting him there, I will spend a few preparation days in Iquitos. Checking equipment, preparing paperwork and shopping for missing items will be on my agenda before diving into jungle life.
I won’t have a local phone number, but will be available on my German mobile (for emergency purposes only!) until I leave Iquitos on 4 Sep. After that you can e-mail the office (on this e-mail) and they will relay a message to me.
That’s it for now. I’ll be in touch again with some more detailed information once I have arrived on the ground.
So as we prepare at this end, please can you do some more preparation too. In addition to studying the dossier, have a look at the “Methods & equipment” playlist. The bits that are relevant to the expedition are our cell methodology (explained for another expedition, but the principle is exactly the same), GPS, compass & map, Garmin etrex 20, camera trapping, binoculars and machete use.
Enjoy and I’ll see you at base in due course!
Malika Fettak
Expedition leader
Due to poor internet connection in Iquitos I am writing this year’s final diary entry from my desk in Germany. It was on Friday night when a special thank you & farewell surprise cake from the kitchen was served by Daniel. He kept his secret so let’s guess that many, many camu camu fruits were squeezed to create the impressively pink topping!
The Peru 2013 expedition officially came to an end in Iquitos on Saturday. While Conny & Thomas, Kathy & Stuart went out for a drink (…or two) and Sven relaxed at his posh hotel pool sipping pisco sour, your hard-working expedition leader went through final equipment checks, packing up and storing the boxes… 😉
Again, a big thank you goes to everyone for your contribution, enthusiasm and input in many ways. We’ve walked more than 100 km of transects, canoed up and down river every single day, set up and collected eight camera traps, some of them at pretty remote sites. We collected a great amount of valuable data not only from the camera trap pictures. All of this could not have been achieved without you. The data will be analysed in detail by Alfredo and we’ll let you know as soon as the full report is available. Special thanks also goes to the ARC staff & helpers that supported, guided and fed us so well at base.
I hope you’ve now all arrived back home safely or are enjoying your onward journeys. You’ve been great team members and mates – I hope you’ve enjoyed the time out in the jungle as much as I did.
Take care, stay in touch and I hope to see you again somewhere…
Best wishes
Malika
For those of you waiting impatiently for the results of the camera traps, they are now on https://biosphereexpeditions.wordpress.com/ (apologies for only getting this out now, but my internet connection was virtually non-existent until today).
Without much further ado, we found three pictures of a jaguar. The pictures were taken on the trail grid on Saturday morning, only a few hours after the SD card was exchanged. It was on Saturday morning when our friend walked by – I guess he enjoyed the silence while we were on our way downriver to the main lodge. The camera was located at I9 so close to the footprint found a day earlier at G10. Unfortunately the pictures are blury due to a fungus covering the camera’s lense. Thanks to Photoshop, the result is not too bad, don’t you think?
Another thrilling result is a picture of a jaguarundi taken at terra firme. For the first time ever the presence of this speices has now been proved by a picture – you can imagine that Alfredo is very happy about it. His first conclusion is that the elusive cat possibly never comes down to the flooded areas.
A great number of other mammals were also potographed: opossum, red brocket deer, agouti… more agoutis, armadillo, paca and yes – you guessed it – a yellow-crowned brush-tailed rat! Considering that the camera traps have only been out for nine nights our work including long walks beyond the trail grid has already been greatly rewarded.
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