March 27, 2003 (Day 15) - Tambopata Research Center
Today, we woke up at 4 am (our quarters were in the same wing as the researchers, so when they get up, we get up - wooden floors). It was important for us to arrive at the blind site before the macaws began to arrive at the clay lick, and they begin arriving just after dawn. We took a short ride in the boat for easier access to the blind area. The other group that was staying at the TRC set-up a watching post out on the shoals in front of the cliff-face, while the three of us (and Silverio) walked a bit off to the left hand side of the cliff-face, perhaps 20m from the feeding area. We had to slog through some very thick mud to get there, but it wasn't too bad. We set up a couple of chairs at our viewing location and waited for the birds to arrive. There was a lot of activity at the clay lick aside from the macaws, parrots and parakeets. The wading birds were out in full force, and we got a couple of nice views of a kingfisher perched on a deadfall near our position.
As the sky lightened, more and more birds began arriving at the clay lick. The parrots and parakeets tended to land on the trees at the base of the clay lick beforehand, while the macaws tended to lend on the trees at the top of the clay lick. Using a telescope/binoculars you could get a very good view of all the different kinds of parrots, parakeets, and macaws that visited the lick. Unfortunately, it was difficult to capture this level of detail with my camera. Definitely need a better zoom lens. There was a group of different species of parakeets in the trees to our left, just out of sight, that made a tremendous racket. For anyone considering buying a parrot or parakeet as a pet, I'd recommend going to the TRC clay lick and just sitting for about 20 minutes, the desire for a parrot or parakeet as a pet will disappear as having to listen to that everyday would be irksome.
Can you spot all the birds flying in the picture?
After watching the activity on the clay lick for about an hour to 90 minutes, we headed back to the TRC for breakfast. I'm still amazed at the quality of food this trip. After breakfast we headed back out to the trails around the TRC. We heard (rather than saw) a family of monkeys just off the trail we were on and picked our way through the undergrowth to investigate. Above us in the canopy was a family of capuchin monkeys accompanied by a group of squirrel monkeys. These two species of monkey apparently travel together regularly. It was interesting to watch the monkeys move about the canopy as they fed.
Capuchin Monkey
There seems to exist a stereotype of monkeys swinging gracefully from branch to branch, tree to tree. After watching these monkeys for awhile, that stereotype doesn't really hold true. If the branches of one tree weren't close enough to the tree that the monkeys were on, they would launch themselves towards the other tree, crashing rather loudly into the lower branches. Even when the branches of two trees were close together, the monkeys occasionally had problems, as sometimes the monkeys would grab a branch that wasn't sturdy enough to support their weight and the monkeys would again crash into the lower branches. For the most part, the monkeys didn't pay all that much attention to our presence.. However, when we got too close to the tree that a monkey was feeding in, we would be showered with fruit, twigs, and brances from above, combined with loud screeching.
We spent most of the morning hiking along a series of trails around the TRC. Bill must've really enjoyed himself as there were lots of different types of birds to be seen as well as the occasional hummingbird. We saw a really interesting butterfly on one of the loops, the wings were translucent and blue/purple/green irridescent. On the way back to the lodge for lunch, we spotted a caymen in one of the rivers adjacent to the trail.
Caymen in the river
We spent the early afternoon lounging around the lodge to avoid the midday sun, and the majority of the wildlife wasn't active during the midday hours. I wasn't finding the temperature/humidity too bad, even though we had to wear long pants and shirts to minimize mosquito bites. Richard was thoroughly enjoying the weather, as it wasn't nearly as humid as his home in Miami.
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About ten minutes before we were scheduled to go out in the afternoon, it started to absolutely pour rain. It rained harder than even in the rainforest in the South Island of New Zealand. We sat in the lounge of the lodge and watched the rains come down for about an hour.
When the rain stopped, we headed back out to the trails, this time along a trail to an observation tower where apparently you can get some good views of blue and yellow macaws returning to their nests at dusk. Because of the recent storm, Silverio wasn't optimistic that we'd see anything, but we set out regardless. The observation tower at the TRC was a lot shorter than the tower at Posadas Amazonas, and rather than a staircase up the tower, one had to climb the tower like a scaffolding. Due to bad experiences in the past with this kind of ladder, coupled with the slippery conditions from the rain, I decided to stay on the bottom. We stayed at the tower for about an hour, with no sign of macaws. A little disappointed, we walked back to the lodge in the fading light. As we were walking back, there was an explosion of noise from right beside us on the trail as a large animal crashed through the undergrowth away from us. It was a tapir (apparently) and had been resting not far from where Richard was standing. We didn't get a good glimpse of it, but definitely made us feel that the hike wasn't a waste.
After dinner, we went out on a night hike, hoping to catch a glimpse of some of the nocturnal creatures around the lodge. We headed out on the same trail that we did in the morning, making our way as quietly as we could through the jungle. In addition to the four of us, one of the researchers at the TRC tagged along for the hike. We saw a couple of Wallos (giant frogs that were about 8 inches long and 4 inches high), a couple of very interesting spider colonies. The spiders were very tiny, but had built an intricate series of webs across branches of a shrub and would wait for an unfortunate insect to land on the web. Our presence (and flashlights) attracted a lot of insects to the area and it was interesting to watch as an insect got tangled in the strands, a horde of tiny spiders, smaller than their prey, would swarm over the hapless insect. We also were dive-bombed by bats attracted to all the insects congregating around our flashlights. There were a few dozen bats, with wingspans about a foot, flitting about our heads, perhaps 2-3 feet above our heads, and you could clearly hear the leathery flap of their wings. We stood and waited awhile near one of the rivers that passed by the trail waiting to see if anything would come to the river for a drink. While passing the time, we used flashlights to illuminate the water, watching the passing small fish. Unfortunately, nothing showed up to the river while we were there.
We headed back to the lodge for another early morning at the clay lick, and then, because of the aforementioned plane issues, we'll be heading back to Posadas Amazonas, to return to Puerto Maldonado the following day.
