Finally I have time to write a bit again! Our new volunteer, Giulia from Italy and 23y, arrived last Thursday, and is settling in to life at the field centre. It's good to have someone else around to help cook and for the odd game of cards (usually Canasta) in the evenings. I'm sure its good for Nic too to have younger company!
Friday we had a southern storm bringing strong wind and a lot of rain so most of the day was spend inside doing translations and a bit of cooking for consolation. We decided to do a pizza for lunch, much appreciated all round I think! I certainly enjoyed it.
I was also preparing for a 2 day field trip with José so getting out the tent, filling the necessary water bottles and sorting out suitable food. José seems to live on sardines, tomatoes and bread rolls,with a few peanuts too but he certainly appreciated some of my nutty flapjack and wants the recipe!! I took some apples and carrots to munch as well.
The plan changed last minute ( as usual) meaning I could leave to go to Trinidad at 8am instead of 5.30am, so much relief there. I arrived with enough time to do the shopping tasks required for the centre and get some new batteries for my head torch before meeting at José's apartment. We ended up leaving late at about 2.15pm due to extra jobs he had to do, and snatching a chicken sandwich for lunch with Gatorade (erghhh...), not ideal before a camping trip! The 2h drive was fine, with a ferry crossing where the bridge scheduled for completion 2 years ago is only just started! The ferry consisted of six metal barges strapped together, powered by a small wooden boat with a tiny outboard. But it managed the job, if somewhat slowly. The guys had the planks for driving on and off plus the winching to tie the boat fast down to a fine art, all for 20p a vehicle!
At the entrance to the property our horses were waiting along with the ranch hand, a lad of about 18 to accompany us. We loaded all our gear and set off, I was given the slowest horse so had trouble keeping up. He also jibved at anything unusual especially the telescopic pole for mounting the camera I was carrying when it Vought on a tree!! So the lad carried it for me after that. We arrived at the ranch house about 4.30 with a 2h ride to continue on to reach our isolated destination, la Verde.
Since it gets dark at 6 here and the route is not that easy to follow I was surpised that José wanted to press on that evening. But we set off, seeing amazing flocks of ibis and ducks, herons and egrets, plus countless other birds I can't name, amazing. Also some green winged macaws and orinoco geese, beautiful! But we managed lose the track after about an hour and ended up backtracking to the ranch house for the night, arriving after 3h riding, in the pitch dark, with a close encounter with a black caiman of about 2m whose eyes shone red in the light of our headlamps!!!! The horses gave it a wide berth as you can imagine!
We camped in our tents on the terrace as the house was locked in the owner's absence, an early night after our sardine supper, though we did a little exploring and found an interesting cavity with tiny bats. I was woken by pigs and piglets snuffling under the raised deck we were on, thinking it might be something !ore fearful!
Alarm set for an early start 4.30 to make for lost time, when it went off José realised the night was far too dark to go so we had an extra hour, and left at 6 am. Another ride surrounded by magnifent birds that you rarely see singly, yet here they were in huge flocks. It was the earliest in the year that José had done the trip and water levels were still very high, hence the need for horses, often wading up to their bellies. The track normally made by the vehicles in the dry season became invisible again and it proved impossible to find a way through the thick growth of the forest island, where the mosquitoes were equally denseand I resorted to putting on my head net, a welcome defenseman at least for that part of me! So after circling for 3h we had to admit defeat and return to the ranch again. José had forgotten to bring the GPS with track to follow on it which might have helped...
We got back there at 11am and spotted a pair of blue and gold macaws so decided to check their nest with the camera. They had a chick about to fledge, lovely to see! After 5 hrs in the saddle it was good to dismount and have an early lunch (yes sardines!) Followed by a siesta in a convenient hammock while Jose went nest hunting with the ranch hand.
Their were blue and gold macaws, various green parakeets and several birds of prey around. Plus a tiny wren who came very close and I watched for quite a long time. There was the usual troop of dogs and a cat that didn't stop miaowing, hens and chicks and ducks with half grown ducklings all wandering loose, like the horses and pigs!
We left in mid afternoon to ride back to the entrance, stopping en route to do a transect of a forest island - again horrendous clouds of mosquitoes so the protection came out again.
I was far less sore after the 9 h in the saddle total as the horses were bigger and more comfortable, plus the horses carried some of our supplies so we had less on our backs.
On the return trip we just made the last very crossing of the day - it was also local election day and everyone here HAS to vote so not many people were on the road. I saw my first capybara, then my 2nd... I saw 9 in total on the way back. The sunset was magnificent too across the wetlands, we also saw 3 horned owls out hunting in the dusk.
By the time we reached Trinidad we were both hungry - not for sardines, so we stopped at a little kiosk style restaurant that did steaks with chips and rice. The only drinks available coca cola or fanta - not even water or beer, let alone coffee or tea! But the food was good and very welcome. We headed back to José's apartment, as it was too late for a taxi back to Sachohere. José was taking the night bus to Santa Cruz for a meeting the following day, so I was able to sleep in his bed which was bliss! No rush the following morning as Rafa had still not returned from la Paz where he had to fly back to for voting. But I headed back after breakfast and dropping off the keys with a friend for José to collect after another night on the bus back to Trini!A somewhat quieter week with general work on the new aviary, collecting different fruits for the birds that are now coming into season, and continuing translation scientific papers into Spanish. Until yesterday when I had a phone call at 12 noon to say all hands on deck as the government inspectors had decided to come that afternoon at 3pm. Nic was on his day off, Rafa and Giulia were working in Trini so had to return to help make the place look really good. José arrived too and by the time the inspection party arrived everything was looking really good! I'm not sure if they were impressed as they have doubts about the project's aims to release the offspring of our birds into the wild. There is a huge amount of politics and red tape blocking everything we are trying to achieve to protect the species.
My last day off on Friday as I leave the project in a week's time - its amazing how fast the time has passed!
Wednesday, 1 April 2015
Thursday, 26 March 2015
26th March
Last week was spent mainly in preparing the new aviaries for the captive blue throated macaws we have on site. These 6 birds were originally bred in England at Paradise Park, and donated to Bolivia as part of a programme to increase the wild population from captive born birds. Our 6 are too closely related to interbreed but we hope to pair them with other birds from zoos such as Santa Cruz, a nearby city in Bolivia.
Our project is run by the World Parrot Trust (their Facebook site Savetheparrot is worth a look). Our site in Sachokere near Trinidad, Bolivia, is privately owned by a local person who is interested in this flagship species, as the blue throated macaw is endemic to Bolivia but is only found in this department of Beni so it is important that locals get to know about it and take pride in it.
We have completed the wiring of the 2 aviaries, and have been cutting branches of ficus trees to plant in them. These should root easily and grow away, producing fruit that the birds can eat. We are also planting other tree species such as motacu, their staple diet which is available year round so they can learn about what to eat in the wild. The young our birds produce should be able to be released into the wild with a good chance of survival to augment the current population.....only about 200 birds total!
A bit of work to complete double entry doors and feeding arrangements and I'm hoping to still be around for the transfer of our macaws to their new surroundings. Their current aviaries (2) will then be available for breeding pairs to occupy.
As new fruits come into season that are suitable we are starting to introduce our birds to them. Current we collect motacu (palm fruit) for them and have been supplementing with sliced banana and Brazil nuts, ready shelled which they love. We've now stopped the Brazil's and tomorrow will give them their first taste of chontillo fruit (another small palm fruit) , lucky birds!
I spent my last day off visiting a village on the river Ibare, about 12km from Trinidad, so after the taxi to reach Trini I took a mototaxi (motorbike) to get there. The first one broke down after about 100m so I found another who was even cheaper 10 bolivianos or about £1. It was a lovely day so very pleasant way to travel, keeping cool and mosquito free! He took me to the village and drove through to the river pointing out the comedors where you can eat lunch. It's a quiet place with a naval base (interesting for a landlocked country, but they hope to regain some coast from Chile which they lost at some stage of history!). As much traffic in the forest goes by river they have quite a lot of work on the river for their men to train on.
There were 3 macaws being kept as pets in the comedors, blue and yellow macaws and a scarlet, both found locally. Often they poach the young birds from nests just before fledging to keep as pets or sell commercially, one of the reason so many species are threatened. At least the CITES convention no longer permits imports of wild birds into most countries but much smuggling continues locally.
The other main cause of low populations of many macaws is habitat loss, in part due to cattle ranching, clearing forest for grazing and the cattle eat new young trees so prevent regeneration and renewal of the forest.
It was lovely sitting eating my lunch in the restaurant by then river watching the floating clumps of grass and plants pass by, though I didn't see any more dolphins. Some cold beer and a huge plate of fried local fish with rice and plantain followed by a home made passion fruit ice cream - yum!
A pleasant stroll around the village chatting to a few locals and seeing lots of birds, then I made my way to the main road back to Trinidad. It was really hot walking so when there were no mototaxis in sight I was glad when a motorbike stopped to give me a lift - fortunately hitch hiking is pretty safe in this area. The guy was interested in where I came from and the work I'm doing here so it was a great trip back and he wouldn't take any money either!
Then I bought my goodies for the week - local cocoa solids to make choclte and a couple of bottles of wine plus some items for the other volunteers before getting the taxi back. I'm certainly having some different experiences here!!
On Tuesday I finally had a day out in the field with José on horseback, long promised! He picked me up at 7.15am and we drove to Loreto to pick up our rented horses, small but very sturdy and patient, with small western style saddles, though pretty hard despite the sheepskin cloth! We had to carry all our equipment in our backpacks plus waistpacks and I also had the extending pole which we mount the mini camer a on to look inside the nest cavities. It was about 2.5h ride to reach the remote property, la Cantina, inaccessible by vehicle due to swamps at this time of year. We crossed through swampy grassland and forest islands seeing hundreds of birds, huge groupsmod egrets and herons, ibis and southern lapwing plus some enormous southern screamers (well named!).
In parts our horses were in water up to their chests, weaq had to raise our feet to prevent them getting wet despite our wellies!
On arrival a quick lunch before checking various nests, mainly purpose built nest boxes on this property which is helping to conserve the blue throated macaw. We saw several adults and some eggs and young. Some nests had ducks, others wasps and bees so care was required before inserting the camera not to get stung! All went well and were finished in time to get back just as dusk fell, though the last hour jogging with all that weight on my back certainly left me with a sore backside! It was a long day but very satisfying, with an encounter with a caiman in the swamp on the return journey - fortunately only a young one about a metre long....
Another trip to prepare for on Saturday, a new volunteer started today too ,but more about that next time. A bientot!q
Our project is run by the World Parrot Trust (their Facebook site Savetheparrot is worth a look). Our site in Sachokere near Trinidad, Bolivia, is privately owned by a local person who is interested in this flagship species, as the blue throated macaw is endemic to Bolivia but is only found in this department of Beni so it is important that locals get to know about it and take pride in it.
We have completed the wiring of the 2 aviaries, and have been cutting branches of ficus trees to plant in them. These should root easily and grow away, producing fruit that the birds can eat. We are also planting other tree species such as motacu, their staple diet which is available year round so they can learn about what to eat in the wild. The young our birds produce should be able to be released into the wild with a good chance of survival to augment the current population.....only about 200 birds total!
A bit of work to complete double entry doors and feeding arrangements and I'm hoping to still be around for the transfer of our macaws to their new surroundings. Their current aviaries (2) will then be available for breeding pairs to occupy.
As new fruits come into season that are suitable we are starting to introduce our birds to them. Current we collect motacu (palm fruit) for them and have been supplementing with sliced banana and Brazil nuts, ready shelled which they love. We've now stopped the Brazil's and tomorrow will give them their first taste of chontillo fruit (another small palm fruit) , lucky birds!
I spent my last day off visiting a village on the river Ibare, about 12km from Trinidad, so after the taxi to reach Trini I took a mototaxi (motorbike) to get there. The first one broke down after about 100m so I found another who was even cheaper 10 bolivianos or about £1. It was a lovely day so very pleasant way to travel, keeping cool and mosquito free! He took me to the village and drove through to the river pointing out the comedors where you can eat lunch. It's a quiet place with a naval base (interesting for a landlocked country, but they hope to regain some coast from Chile which they lost at some stage of history!). As much traffic in the forest goes by river they have quite a lot of work on the river for their men to train on.
There were 3 macaws being kept as pets in the comedors, blue and yellow macaws and a scarlet, both found locally. Often they poach the young birds from nests just before fledging to keep as pets or sell commercially, one of the reason so many species are threatened. At least the CITES convention no longer permits imports of wild birds into most countries but much smuggling continues locally.
The other main cause of low populations of many macaws is habitat loss, in part due to cattle ranching, clearing forest for grazing and the cattle eat new young trees so prevent regeneration and renewal of the forest.
It was lovely sitting eating my lunch in the restaurant by then river watching the floating clumps of grass and plants pass by, though I didn't see any more dolphins. Some cold beer and a huge plate of fried local fish with rice and plantain followed by a home made passion fruit ice cream - yum!
A pleasant stroll around the village chatting to a few locals and seeing lots of birds, then I made my way to the main road back to Trinidad. It was really hot walking so when there were no mototaxis in sight I was glad when a motorbike stopped to give me a lift - fortunately hitch hiking is pretty safe in this area. The guy was interested in where I came from and the work I'm doing here so it was a great trip back and he wouldn't take any money either!
Then I bought my goodies for the week - local cocoa solids to make choclte and a couple of bottles of wine plus some items for the other volunteers before getting the taxi back. I'm certainly having some different experiences here!!
On Tuesday I finally had a day out in the field with José on horseback, long promised! He picked me up at 7.15am and we drove to Loreto to pick up our rented horses, small but very sturdy and patient, with small western style saddles, though pretty hard despite the sheepskin cloth! We had to carry all our equipment in our backpacks plus waistpacks and I also had the extending pole which we mount the mini camer a on to look inside the nest cavities. It was about 2.5h ride to reach the remote property, la Cantina, inaccessible by vehicle due to swamps at this time of year. We crossed through swampy grassland and forest islands seeing hundreds of birds, huge groupsmod egrets and herons, ibis and southern lapwing plus some enormous southern screamers (well named!).
In parts our horses were in water up to their chests, weaq had to raise our feet to prevent them getting wet despite our wellies!
On arrival a quick lunch before checking various nests, mainly purpose built nest boxes on this property which is helping to conserve the blue throated macaw. We saw several adults and some eggs and young. Some nests had ducks, others wasps and bees so care was required before inserting the camera not to get stung! All went well and were finished in time to get back just as dusk fell, though the last hour jogging with all that weight on my back certainly left me with a sore backside! It was a long day but very satisfying, with an encounter with a caiman in the swamp on the return journey - fortunately only a young one about a metre long....
Another trip to prepare for on Saturday, a new volunteer started today too ,but more about that next time. A bientot!q
Tuesday, 17 March 2015
16th March
Sunday we took a taxi into Trinidad to meet up with José, then another one for the 12 km trip out to the beautiful river Ibare, surrounded on both banks with forest. There we had a motor boat hired with pilot and his 2 young sons to help bail out the bilge water just for our group.
It was a lovely tranquil cruise, watching the many cormorants who nearly always took flight just before we reached them, perching in the next group of trees to repeat the sequence as we approached them again. Keeping our eyes peeled for the dolphins was not so easy as the water is a muddy brown - the dolphins can't use vision to find their way in the turbid water, they use a type of sonar. There were not many other species of birds visible in the mid morning, and no monkeys either. By the time we had spent an hour and had to turn round we hadn't had any sightings of the dolphins and were beginning to think they were in another part of the river. But suddenly I spotted one break the surface, and after that we kept sighting them, each one for just a second as they don't leap out, just surface enough to breathe. We could see their pink colouration and their strange narrow angular beak, I even caught one on film as evidence! So an inspiring trip, followed by lunch at another of the 4 restaurants managed by the owner of the land where where our Centre is situated. Caiman casserole with rice and plantain, washed down with 2 huge jugs of natural fruit juice (cant remember the name of the fruit, with added sugar, but very refreshing!), very nice and too much to finish all of it.
As we waited by the church for the taxi back it was interesting to see a cow in the side aisle eying us with suspicion, eventually she leapt over the wall to return to her grazing outside! There were lots of colourful butterflies and quite a few macaws and parakeets flying overhead, all of which José could identify by sound alone, he has amazing knowledge about parrots, a real addict.
The week settled to a rhythm of training with Rebecca, and waiting for the planned field trip to materialise, with problems hiring horses, sudden work commitments cropping up for José and torrential rain (glad we didn't go that day!). On Wednesday we usually do our weekly shop as the fresh fruit and veg come in by boat that day. However this time they were on strike, and as Rafa was too busy to go till the afternoon, by then there was nothing left. So we have had a week of surviving on tins, bread meat, rice and lentils and my cake.
Eventually José Nic and I set off on Sunday morning in the car with the intention that we would do a day's work with the wild blue throated macaws together, then leave Nic to take a taxi back whilst José and I took the two horses available to ride for 2.5h on to the next property and camp there for the night. We would then check the nests in that area before returning on the horses and drive back in the afternoon. As it turned out to be one of the hottest and most humid days so far, the long walk was quote a challenge for us all, and by the time we reached the nest area we were glad of the break in a lovely shady woodland glade for our picnic lunch of bread rolls with tuna and tomato, plus an apple. Even the mosquitoes didn't bother us too much!
Then we spotted our first pair of wild blue throated macaws, a magic moment, having seen the captive ones in our aviaries, it was wonderful to see what our work is striving to achieve - to keep them free in their natural habitat! We checked various nests, most of which are man made boxes at this site: one had 3 eggs, the next 2 chicks which were fully feathered and almost ready to fledge. Those we needed to weigh and take blood samples from (with the necessary permit of course) so José climbed up the palm tree using ropes, very tiring, then he had to avoid very strong beaks and claws in manipulating the chicks.
All completed, but we needed permission to ring the chicks and take the moulted adult feathers (very important genetic information for our study) that were in the nest boxes. After checking the final nest box to find 3 chicks, José decided it would be better to return later in the week to get all the information we needed from this site, and postpone the horse ride to the next property. So we all returned to the car and drive to nearby San Lorenzo to cancel the horses and speak to a local guy about the problems facing the macaws (political and social as well as habitat loss)
We bought coca cola for us all, as there were no tamarind ice creams to be had! We certainly needed to rehydrate! He then gave us fresh cheesy bread rolls still warm from the oven, yum! And his son hitched a lift with us to Trinidad, dropping Nic and I back at the Centre in Sachojere en route. A cool shower and clean clothes enabled us to enjoy some local beef with the few veg we had remaining, and a glass of wine to end a very special experience.
It was a lovely tranquil cruise, watching the many cormorants who nearly always took flight just before we reached them, perching in the next group of trees to repeat the sequence as we approached them again. Keeping our eyes peeled for the dolphins was not so easy as the water is a muddy brown - the dolphins can't use vision to find their way in the turbid water, they use a type of sonar. There were not many other species of birds visible in the mid morning, and no monkeys either. By the time we had spent an hour and had to turn round we hadn't had any sightings of the dolphins and were beginning to think they were in another part of the river. But suddenly I spotted one break the surface, and after that we kept sighting them, each one for just a second as they don't leap out, just surface enough to breathe. We could see their pink colouration and their strange narrow angular beak, I even caught one on film as evidence! So an inspiring trip, followed by lunch at another of the 4 restaurants managed by the owner of the land where where our Centre is situated. Caiman casserole with rice and plantain, washed down with 2 huge jugs of natural fruit juice (cant remember the name of the fruit, with added sugar, but very refreshing!), very nice and too much to finish all of it.
As we waited by the church for the taxi back it was interesting to see a cow in the side aisle eying us with suspicion, eventually she leapt over the wall to return to her grazing outside! There were lots of colourful butterflies and quite a few macaws and parakeets flying overhead, all of which José could identify by sound alone, he has amazing knowledge about parrots, a real addict.
The week settled to a rhythm of training with Rebecca, and waiting for the planned field trip to materialise, with problems hiring horses, sudden work commitments cropping up for José and torrential rain (glad we didn't go that day!). On Wednesday we usually do our weekly shop as the fresh fruit and veg come in by boat that day. However this time they were on strike, and as Rafa was too busy to go till the afternoon, by then there was nothing left. So we have had a week of surviving on tins, bread meat, rice and lentils and my cake.
Eventually José Nic and I set off on Sunday morning in the car with the intention that we would do a day's work with the wild blue throated macaws together, then leave Nic to take a taxi back whilst José and I took the two horses available to ride for 2.5h on to the next property and camp there for the night. We would then check the nests in that area before returning on the horses and drive back in the afternoon. As it turned out to be one of the hottest and most humid days so far, the long walk was quote a challenge for us all, and by the time we reached the nest area we were glad of the break in a lovely shady woodland glade for our picnic lunch of bread rolls with tuna and tomato, plus an apple. Even the mosquitoes didn't bother us too much!
Then we spotted our first pair of wild blue throated macaws, a magic moment, having seen the captive ones in our aviaries, it was wonderful to see what our work is striving to achieve - to keep them free in their natural habitat! We checked various nests, most of which are man made boxes at this site: one had 3 eggs, the next 2 chicks which were fully feathered and almost ready to fledge. Those we needed to weigh and take blood samples from (with the necessary permit of course) so José climbed up the palm tree using ropes, very tiring, then he had to avoid very strong beaks and claws in manipulating the chicks.
All completed, but we needed permission to ring the chicks and take the moulted adult feathers (very important genetic information for our study) that were in the nest boxes. After checking the final nest box to find 3 chicks, José decided it would be better to return later in the week to get all the information we needed from this site, and postpone the horse ride to the next property. So we all returned to the car and drive to nearby San Lorenzo to cancel the horses and speak to a local guy about the problems facing the macaws (political and social as well as habitat loss)
We bought coca cola for us all, as there were no tamarind ice creams to be had! We certainly needed to rehydrate! He then gave us fresh cheesy bread rolls still warm from the oven, yum! And his son hitched a lift with us to Trinidad, dropping Nic and I back at the Centre in Sachojere en route. A cool shower and clean clothes enabled us to enjoy some local beef with the few veg we had remaining, and a glass of wine to end a very special experience.
Saturday, 7 March 2015
7th March
Another week gone, and I hardly know where the time goes! Our new volunteer Rebecca, from England, arrived on Monday, and with her extrovert character and love of music, she has livened up the centre. On Tuesday we started another project, a phrenology study, of the trees that provide food for the localarrot species. This is an ongoing study, where 223 trees of around 12 different species have previously been tagged and their stage of flowering/fruiting, or not noted. We now had to repeat the rounds and update the information to learn about food availability for the birds in the wild. Nic and Rafa did the first day, and I did the second with Rafa ( he did the initial round and can identify the flowering/fruiting stages) - 7h walking through marshland and flooded forest with some drier paths, pretty tiring with water levels over the tops of our wellingtons so wet feet all day too. But I made it, and learnt a lot about the species of trees, and we saw some interesting birds, monkeys and insects, plus tadpoles, bright pink frog's eggs and an amazing spider. I've just come back from my second day and we finished the last trees, so very satisfying, having logged the last of the data in the computer.
Thursday it rained all day so it was a quiet day at the centre, as was Wednesday for me as the others all spent the day in
Trinidad at meetings and doing the weekly food shop, along with exciting things like visa renewals! So I communed with the macaws and gave them lots of fresh branches to chew their way through. Friday was my day off, time for a haircut and a good lunch at a fish restaurant, very tasty! And some exploring of parts of Trinidad I hadn't been to.
Tomorrow there's a possibility of a trip to see the pink river dolphins which would be great, but it depends on weather and availability of the boat. José is back on town after a week of meetings in La Paz, so we should be doing more field work this week with him, and see blue throated macaws in the wild. Looking forward to that!
Thursday it rained all day so it was a quiet day at the centre, as was Wednesday for me as the others all spent the day in
Trinidad at meetings and doing the weekly food shop, along with exciting things like visa renewals! So I communed with the macaws and gave them lots of fresh branches to chew their way through. Friday was my day off, time for a haircut and a good lunch at a fish restaurant, very tasty! And some exploring of parts of Trinidad I hadn't been to.
Tomorrow there's a possibility of a trip to see the pink river dolphins which would be great, but it depends on weather and availability of the boat. José is back on town after a week of meetings in La Paz, so we should be doing more field work this week with him, and see blue throated macaws in the wild. Looking forward to that!
Saturday, 28 February 2015
Sat 28 Feb
Finally reconnected to the internet after 5 days - all due to a power cut that somehow broke our hardware. To return to last Friday, heavy rain meant we couldn't check the nests of the wild macaws to weigh the chicks and monitor their progress for our study. So that was delayedmtill Saturday, putting back the planned 3 day field trip I was going on with José. We did manage to find some building rubble to fill in the dips in the paths between our cabins when it stopped raining, so at least it's less muddy there now!
On Saturday I took a taxi to José's apartment in Trinidad. The taxi service is interesting - there are about 8 taxis which are all old estate cars and they leave Trinidad only when there are enough passengers to fill them i.e.6 (yes it is a squash!). It's then a 40 minute drive up to Sachojere village up a diet road which is closed if there is too much rain. The taxis go on beyond to San Lorenzo, then turn round and come back to Trinidad picking up as many passengers as they can en route. So you just have to wait for a taxi to turn up...... And wait.... This time 2 hrs! Then a mototaxi (motorbike passenger - the only taxis in Trinidad) to José's for a welcome cup of tea. By the to!e we had purchased a couple of items we needed not was lunch time so José took me to a Brazilian restaurant, which was like a self service salad bar and wide choice of main courses and vegetables, you fill your plate and then pay according to weight (great for carnivores!). Very nice food too with a jug of fresh fruit juice, a little saweet but very tasty. Back to the apartment for a half hour siesta that José insisted on.
The car still wasn't repaired so we decided to take the centre's motorbike to to to the nest site, a lovely ride, though made interesting with wearing the wellies necessary for negotiating the flooded areas, and carrying all the equipment! All our work requires a permit as the birds are protected by law. We found one nest had a parent bird sitting in it, incubating the remaining egg with one chick hatched. So we didn't disturb it. Another nest the chick had been poached from - one of the main dangers they face for the pet trade - very sad. We then found talking to one of the workers on the ranch that he had poached the chick and was raising it in a cage: education is a vital part of our work too, and much needed as you can see!
The taxi broke down on the way back to the centre so I was late back but everyone remains so cheerful here as this is the norm, and time is not important, he got the car going again in the end!
The forecast was bad for Sunday so our field trip was delayed till Mon, and as the horses we needed were not available then, José decided to take Nic on Mon afternoon, then he and I would go Tues and Wed with the horses. So they set off with all the ropes and gear for tree climbing and abseiling, reached the first nest site and the heavens opened. So they were only able to check that nest (at least it was a blue throated macaw nest!) And got soaked on the half hour walk back to the car. They then got stuck in the mud because the 4 wheel drive was not working 3 times, luckily locals helped push them out so they got back safely.
But that meant cancelling our trip while the car returned to the garage to get the 4 wheel drive fixed!
In the mean time we have started another project on parrot feeding, cycling out each morning from 6 - 8 am to find parrots feeding and check parrot species, food (tree species, whether
Eaves, flowers or fruit) etc. It's a lovely time to be out, with so many different birds around, and sometimes other animals too - Nic saw monkeys and a peccary, and I saw toucans yesterday.
My day off again today and I had a lovely guided tour of the Kenneth Lee ethno archeological museum, really interesting showing the early civilisations of the area going back to 800 B.C. and only recently discovered. The patterns of the raised fields and irrigation canals from the air caused Ken Lee to spend 30 years researching it, along with the rectangular reservoirs and artificial mounds they built as refuges from regular floods, where they lived. The higher the mound the older it is, and the higher up you live the more status you have - fascinating.
And I arrived at the taxi to find I was the last person required to fill it so we left immediately - a good end to the day!
On Saturday I took a taxi to José's apartment in Trinidad. The taxi service is interesting - there are about 8 taxis which are all old estate cars and they leave Trinidad only when there are enough passengers to fill them i.e.6 (yes it is a squash!). It's then a 40 minute drive up to Sachojere village up a diet road which is closed if there is too much rain. The taxis go on beyond to San Lorenzo, then turn round and come back to Trinidad picking up as many passengers as they can en route. So you just have to wait for a taxi to turn up...... And wait.... This time 2 hrs! Then a mototaxi (motorbike passenger - the only taxis in Trinidad) to José's for a welcome cup of tea. By the to!e we had purchased a couple of items we needed not was lunch time so José took me to a Brazilian restaurant, which was like a self service salad bar and wide choice of main courses and vegetables, you fill your plate and then pay according to weight (great for carnivores!). Very nice food too with a jug of fresh fruit juice, a little saweet but very tasty. Back to the apartment for a half hour siesta that José insisted on.
The car still wasn't repaired so we decided to take the centre's motorbike to to to the nest site, a lovely ride, though made interesting with wearing the wellies necessary for negotiating the flooded areas, and carrying all the equipment! All our work requires a permit as the birds are protected by law. We found one nest had a parent bird sitting in it, incubating the remaining egg with one chick hatched. So we didn't disturb it. Another nest the chick had been poached from - one of the main dangers they face for the pet trade - very sad. We then found talking to one of the workers on the ranch that he had poached the chick and was raising it in a cage: education is a vital part of our work too, and much needed as you can see!
The taxi broke down on the way back to the centre so I was late back but everyone remains so cheerful here as this is the norm, and time is not important, he got the car going again in the end!
The forecast was bad for Sunday so our field trip was delayed till Mon, and as the horses we needed were not available then, José decided to take Nic on Mon afternoon, then he and I would go Tues and Wed with the horses. So they set off with all the ropes and gear for tree climbing and abseiling, reached the first nest site and the heavens opened. So they were only able to check that nest (at least it was a blue throated macaw nest!) And got soaked on the half hour walk back to the car. They then got stuck in the mud because the 4 wheel drive was not working 3 times, luckily locals helped push them out so they got back safely.
But that meant cancelling our trip while the car returned to the garage to get the 4 wheel drive fixed!
In the mean time we have started another project on parrot feeding, cycling out each morning from 6 - 8 am to find parrots feeding and check parrot species, food (tree species, whether
Eaves, flowers or fruit) etc. It's a lovely time to be out, with so many different birds around, and sometimes other animals too - Nic saw monkeys and a peccary, and I saw toucans yesterday.
My day off again today and I had a lovely guided tour of the Kenneth Lee ethno archeological museum, really interesting showing the early civilisations of the area going back to 800 B.C. and only recently discovered. The patterns of the raised fields and irrigation canals from the air caused Ken Lee to spend 30 years researching it, along with the rectangular reservoirs and artificial mounds they built as refuges from regular floods, where they lived. The higher the mound the older it is, and the higher up you live the more status you have - fascinating.
And I arrived at the taxi to find I was the last person required to fill it so we left immediately - a good end to the day!
Thursday, 19 February 2015
Thurs 19 Feb
Well, another week passed, time seems to be passing fast! Last Friday Rafa managed to slide the car down the bank in the wet slippery mud while trying to turn around. We had fun trying to get it back up, and found it wouldn't go into 4 wheel drive or lock the wheels together so impossible task. In the end the car had to go forwards, moving various obstacles and ruining the neighbour's grass! But at least we got it out safely.
Saturday I started on translating a paper written by staff at the centre into Spanish - quite a task given my Spanish is far from fluent! But google translate came to my rescue and made it feasible and enjoyable, plus learning more about the blue throated macaw's problems in the wild. It took me several days to do, in fact still not completed the tables of data yet.
The left over bananas needed using so I cooked a banana cake, which went down well with everyone too. I do a fair bit of the cooking, often using fruit to make ice cream or fruit fool - yum! Also had time to enjoy the hammock, definitely a good investment!
Saturday night the locals were celebrating the fiesta, which lasts several days in Trinidad. The music went on for most of the night, stopping at about 4 am but restarting about 20 minutes later. Then the morning bird chorus took over so not much sleep. Have seen several new birds over the week end including red headed cardinals, and red and yellow headed wood peckers, plus a third one with green speckles. The red one wakes us us most mornings tapping on a nearby tree! It's been raining on and off most days recently, heavy rain Sunday afternoon sent us all indoors, but the stallion roaming near our cabin sheltered right up against the cabin to keep out of the wind and wet, poor thing.
Monday we were nest checking again, and I helped take my first blood sample from one chick, for genetic checks later. An interesting experience! Feathers are also important to collect from nests for genetic checks of parentage from year to year. On the way back, Rafa stopped for a coke, and I was offered a local fruit drink made from a fruit similar to peach (durazno?) Which was delicious and far preferable to coke! Curried vegetables for dinner with rice, very tasty. Rained heavily from 8pm.
Tues neither Nic's nor my alarms went off so we both were late up, but not by much as the birds still woke us. It was still raining and continued till about 2pm! So translating in the morning then in the afternoon a joint effort cleaning up around and under the two bird aviaries, removing all the dropped motacu nuts they feed on, straightening up the anti- predator barriers (mainly against snakes, so far I haven't seen any), and replacing the rain screens made of palm leaf thatch. All looks much neater now and the birds should keep drier too.
Wednesday we finally met the centre manager Jose (should be an accent on the e...) who had been on holiday in Spain. He's very enthusiastic and can inspire you with his ideas, so I think will be good to work with which is lucky. He has already given us projects to work on in any moments we have no alotted tasks, so our time will be better used from now on. And our roles are now clearer, with explanation of all the projects the centre is engaged with and we will be working on, exciting! He's taking me on a 3 day field trip, camping this Saturday, on horseback,which should be really interesting, and good fun if not too wet!
Today I had my day off, so went to Trinidad to stock up on wine and have a restaurant meal, a treat of fish in an almond cream sauce - delicious! I'm getting to know the taxi drivers on the Sachajere road quite well now, and get asked lots of questions about the work with the macaws, good publicity for them! Nice swim on my return before the rain started again, time for a glass of wine...
Saturday I started on translating a paper written by staff at the centre into Spanish - quite a task given my Spanish is far from fluent! But google translate came to my rescue and made it feasible and enjoyable, plus learning more about the blue throated macaw's problems in the wild. It took me several days to do, in fact still not completed the tables of data yet.
The left over bananas needed using so I cooked a banana cake, which went down well with everyone too. I do a fair bit of the cooking, often using fruit to make ice cream or fruit fool - yum! Also had time to enjoy the hammock, definitely a good investment!
Saturday night the locals were celebrating the fiesta, which lasts several days in Trinidad. The music went on for most of the night, stopping at about 4 am but restarting about 20 minutes later. Then the morning bird chorus took over so not much sleep. Have seen several new birds over the week end including red headed cardinals, and red and yellow headed wood peckers, plus a third one with green speckles. The red one wakes us us most mornings tapping on a nearby tree! It's been raining on and off most days recently, heavy rain Sunday afternoon sent us all indoors, but the stallion roaming near our cabin sheltered right up against the cabin to keep out of the wind and wet, poor thing.
Monday we were nest checking again, and I helped take my first blood sample from one chick, for genetic checks later. An interesting experience! Feathers are also important to collect from nests for genetic checks of parentage from year to year. On the way back, Rafa stopped for a coke, and I was offered a local fruit drink made from a fruit similar to peach (durazno?) Which was delicious and far preferable to coke! Curried vegetables for dinner with rice, very tasty. Rained heavily from 8pm.
Tues neither Nic's nor my alarms went off so we both were late up, but not by much as the birds still woke us. It was still raining and continued till about 2pm! So translating in the morning then in the afternoon a joint effort cleaning up around and under the two bird aviaries, removing all the dropped motacu nuts they feed on, straightening up the anti- predator barriers (mainly against snakes, so far I haven't seen any), and replacing the rain screens made of palm leaf thatch. All looks much neater now and the birds should keep drier too.
Wednesday we finally met the centre manager Jose (should be an accent on the e...) who had been on holiday in Spain. He's very enthusiastic and can inspire you with his ideas, so I think will be good to work with which is lucky. He has already given us projects to work on in any moments we have no alotted tasks, so our time will be better used from now on. And our roles are now clearer, with explanation of all the projects the centre is engaged with and we will be working on, exciting! He's taking me on a 3 day field trip, camping this Saturday, on horseback,which should be really interesting, and good fun if not too wet!
Today I had my day off, so went to Trinidad to stock up on wine and have a restaurant meal, a treat of fish in an almond cream sauce - delicious! I'm getting to know the taxi drivers on the Sachajere road quite well now, and get asked lots of questions about the work with the macaws, good publicity for them! Nice swim on my return before the rain started again, time for a glass of wine...
Saturday, 14 February 2015
Sat 14/2
So, back to Wed and our shopping trip to Trinidad, this week in the Mitsubishi Pajero with Rafa, which copes well with the muddy unmade road. We left at 8.30, with Nick in charge of the birds and homestead. After a stop at the mechanics to sort out a loose wire in the vehicle causing some light on the dashboard to come on, Rafa took me to the veg shop, then the fruit market, and finally the supermarket (the size of a corner shop back home) to which in future I shall be doing the rounds on moto taxi and returning with it all by car taxi. Could be interesting with about 10kg fruit and veg for us and 7 dozen bananas for us and the macaws, before you start on the dried and tinned food! At least it was in the car this week though.
Rafa then took me to meet the owner of the land who he needed to talk to, who is very nice and friendly, and we had a drink, then lunch in his restaurant. They specialise in caiman so I had to try it - very tasty! It started raining over lunch, then pouring, quickly flooding the streets and leaving many motorbikes (very numerous locally) up to their axles in water. Despite the deep gullies each side of the road the rain was so heavy they couldn't cope, and in places the pavements were flooded too, no doubt somererties too. Small wonder most people wear flip flops, then no worries about your feet at least!
Once all the tasks were complete we headed back, hoping our road to Sachajere would be open, as rain often causes the police to close it. We we're in luck, they let us through, to relieve Nick of his responsibilities. Quote a tropical rainstorm, but it eventually stopped around 4pm and the evening was pleasant.
Rafa and Nick then set off nest checking, I started getting concerned when they were not back by dark, but guessed Rafa had stopped off for a drink with friends- they eventually returned about 8pm, 3h late! Apparently they phoned but didn't get through.
Thursday it dawned fine, so I decided to risk going into
Trinidad by taxi for my day off. I managed to get one after only waiting by our gate for 20mins (reading a book to pass the time!)
Not having done much excercise recently I decided to enjoy exploring the town on foot, first heading to the market, and then on to a local park which used to be a zoo. They still had a few animals, large tortoises and turtles, caiman and collared peccaries, and lots of wild waterfowl on the lakes which made it quite interesting, and a pleasant walk. Then back into town to find almuerzo at a recommended restaurant - good soup followed by chicken leg with rice and really nice mixed veg, so VG. By then it was raining but fortunately only for about an hour so out came my book, then more exploring on foot.
I finished back at the market to purchase the hammock and the mugs (both lacking at the centre) that I had spied in the morning. Plus another bottle of wine...Then to the taxi stop which hardly looks like one - a delapidated estate car or two, waiting with boot open ( they take goods without passengers too). And a table with fruit drinks and some big log seats and a bench to wait on. Usually a group of men sitting around chatting with the taxi driver who's next to go out and this time one guy, Raul, had a guitar and they were all singing songs. I chatted to him about my work and he was amazed about the dedication for saving the macaws when mostly the locals don't understand the need or the consequences of not preserving the habitat. He wanted to ensure we spread the word, embarrassed that it took foreigners to ome to save their endemic species!
You have to wait until there are enough passengers to fill the car, at least 6 in the 4 seats (luckily most Bolivians are small). I had a long wait this time but shared their bottle(s) of red wine with ice and their sing song, so time passed very pleasantly!
Once on route the car stopped, a breakdown? No, just a change of gas bottle - the fuel they use! Shame they can't harness the methane from all the cows locally, as ranching is the main commercial activity and the major cause of habitat loss for the macaws!! A good day out and with lots of new friends at the taxi rank for my next trip ...
Rafa then took me to meet the owner of the land who he needed to talk to, who is very nice and friendly, and we had a drink, then lunch in his restaurant. They specialise in caiman so I had to try it - very tasty! It started raining over lunch, then pouring, quickly flooding the streets and leaving many motorbikes (very numerous locally) up to their axles in water. Despite the deep gullies each side of the road the rain was so heavy they couldn't cope, and in places the pavements were flooded too, no doubt somererties too. Small wonder most people wear flip flops, then no worries about your feet at least!
Once all the tasks were complete we headed back, hoping our road to Sachajere would be open, as rain often causes the police to close it. We we're in luck, they let us through, to relieve Nick of his responsibilities. Quote a tropical rainstorm, but it eventually stopped around 4pm and the evening was pleasant.
Rafa and Nick then set off nest checking, I started getting concerned when they were not back by dark, but guessed Rafa had stopped off for a drink with friends- they eventually returned about 8pm, 3h late! Apparently they phoned but didn't get through.
Thursday it dawned fine, so I decided to risk going into
Trinidad by taxi for my day off. I managed to get one after only waiting by our gate for 20mins (reading a book to pass the time!)
Not having done much excercise recently I decided to enjoy exploring the town on foot, first heading to the market, and then on to a local park which used to be a zoo. They still had a few animals, large tortoises and turtles, caiman and collared peccaries, and lots of wild waterfowl on the lakes which made it quite interesting, and a pleasant walk. Then back into town to find almuerzo at a recommended restaurant - good soup followed by chicken leg with rice and really nice mixed veg, so VG. By then it was raining but fortunately only for about an hour so out came my book, then more exploring on foot.
I finished back at the market to purchase the hammock and the mugs (both lacking at the centre) that I had spied in the morning. Plus another bottle of wine...Then to the taxi stop which hardly looks like one - a delapidated estate car or two, waiting with boot open ( they take goods without passengers too). And a table with fruit drinks and some big log seats and a bench to wait on. Usually a group of men sitting around chatting with the taxi driver who's next to go out and this time one guy, Raul, had a guitar and they were all singing songs. I chatted to him about my work and he was amazed about the dedication for saving the macaws when mostly the locals don't understand the need or the consequences of not preserving the habitat. He wanted to ensure we spread the word, embarrassed that it took foreigners to ome to save their endemic species!
You have to wait until there are enough passengers to fill the car, at least 6 in the 4 seats (luckily most Bolivians are small). I had a long wait this time but shared their bottle(s) of red wine with ice and their sing song, so time passed very pleasantly!
Once on route the car stopped, a breakdown? No, just a change of gas bottle - the fuel they use! Shame they can't harness the methane from all the cows locally, as ranching is the main commercial activity and the major cause of habitat loss for the macaws!! A good day out and with lots of new friends at the taxi rank for my next trip ...
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