Tufted Capuchins

This week my monkey spotting has been pretty successful, I've seen them 4 times in the last 4 days which apparently is pretty good going. The tufted capuchin (Cebus libidinosus paraguayanus) project that I am involved with is still in the process of habituating the monkeys to human presence so that they can be observed more easily and for longer. At the moment they make alarm calls as soon as they spot us (which usually happens before we spot them)  and then move off or 'melt' into the forest, often into patches where there are no trails so extending and maintaining the trail networks has been is a big part of the project. Every time we spot them we use the GPS to note down the coordinates then mark them on the map of the forest courtesy of monkey intern Georgia. Like most wildlife the best time to find them is dawn and dusk. I've been getting up just before 6, taking the puppy for a walk and watching the sunrise then heading into the forest for about 6:30. Usually they are seen alone or in pairs, the largest group sighting was 9 individuals and today I saw 8 although there could have been more - they dispersed pretty quickly. When in these large groups the dominant male usually draws your attention by jumping into the tree above your  head to allow the other members of the troop to get away. This is a picture of the dominant male mid-flight as he attempted to distract me from the others. It worked.

The trails in the South side of the forest are becoming really overgrown and since last weeks storms a lot of trees have fallen down onto them. I had to machete through 4 trees and make new trails around 2 in the last few days. Unfortunately for me one of these had a wasp nest in it and before I new it I had 2 wasps fly at me like miniature darts and sting me in the neck. Georgia has had  4 wasp attacks in the last 4 days so I'm feeling pretty lucky overall.

The reserve owner has a small ranch for tourists to take horse rides through some of the trails. So far I haven't seen anyone riding any horses, they all see to be free range and go where they want. This morning a mare and foal where grazing just outside the house. Most the horses are pretty wild but as I came out of the forest a few days back a stallion came over to see If my rucksack was edible. His herd followed closely behind him inquisitively.

Here is the common potoo (Nyctibius griseus) that we spotted on our night walk last week.

In other news - the camera traps are being placed in the Cerrado in hope that we catch some images of the maned wolves. We now have two Dutch girls who arrived on Wednesday to do a study on opposum and the Hilux broke down in the river just outside the house. Apparently it's not so hardy after all.

Yesterday it got to 34 degrees and the heat was stifling, today it's supposed to reach 37! So I'm off for a swim in the lake.

Snakes

The rain held off long enough for us to go out looking for the monkeys for a couple of hours on Thursday night. We didn't find the monkeys but Jonny kindly pointed out lots of spiders and we did see a very cool potoo (pictures coming soon). Like the night-jar they are dazzled by bright light so we could get pretty close.

So far I've only caught a brief glimpse of the monkeys in the distance. They are proving pretty illusive at the moment. The plan now is to sit and wait for them to cross a corridor in the trees that team leader Jonny suspects they are using regularly.

Last night we had a huge thunderstorm and a lot of rain. We've been without electricity and internet for the past day and a half which has meant candle and head torch light dinners.

Today was trail cutting and snake day. We had one caught and brought to the reserve to be identified and photographed. This one is a non venomous (but very aggressive) Rio tropical racer (Mastigodryas bifossatus)

The second one was on one of the paths in the forest. It was acting very stick-like on a  log but I spotted it out of the corner of my eye. We stopped and took pictures before it slithered silently into the undergrowth.

We think it was a Patagonian Racer (Phiodryas patagoniensis). These are non-venomous bite but have toxic saliva. Since it's capable of rapid bursts of speed, it's a good idea to give it a wide birth. It can be very hard to tell some snake species apart and some snakes here are deadly, so like all snakes we come across we stayed well out of striking range.

We've also had some cururu toads (Rhinella schneideri) hanging about the front of the porch.

Tomorrow will involve more trail cutting (hopefully my machete blisters will have subsided by then), looking for the monkeys and almost certainly some more surprise wildlife. A pair of coati were spotted in the forest today so I'm hoping I'll get to see them eventually too.

White-winged nightjars

The reserve has a big lake in the middle, to the North of the reserve is the Cerrado which is like savannah and to the South is the North Atlantic forest habitat. The Capuchins that I‘ll be studying live in this patch of forest which is about 3miles ^2.  The reserve is surrounded by farm and bush land which is land designated to the native people who share it between them. 

At around 8pm last night we headed North beyond the Cerrado to an enormous eucalyptus farm. We met up with Paul Smith, a naturalist and expert on Paraguayan fauna, who was taking a group of nature loving OAP’s to look for some white-winged night jars.

There are only 3 known breeding places in the world for this species of night-jar and we were in one of them. Their numbers suffer due to extensive habitat loss but they are also very picky about their breeding sites. They need the grass to be the right height to enable them to lek, which for this species involves the males jumping into the air and making themselves look attractive to any available females that may be watching. This pickiness along with their slow response to oncoming vehicles such as tractors doesn't do their numbers any favours. On the road out to find them there was evidence of forest clearing. A line of tree roots, stumps and snapped branches. On one side was forest, the other mostly sand with patches of grass. It looked like a tornado hit but this particular desert we can accredit to a farmer and his bulldozer. The night-jar habitat we visited, one of only three in the world! Only exists because it conveniently acts as a fire break between the patches of eucalyptus crop.

An hour earlier whilst eating dinner we had received a message from Paul saying he had just spotted a pair or maned wolves with his tour group (which just happens to be the animal I most want to see whilst I'm here.. other than the monkeys obv). So as the other volunteers and I sat in the back of the Highlux on our way to look for the night jar  we eagerly scanned the surrounding grasslands for any signs of the wolves. The stars were out and the air smelt of eucalyptus as we passed through a clearing in the forest where the trees towered either side of the road.

Eventually we caught up with Paul and his possie. They had a huge lamp that shone for miles which they were using to look for the glowing eyes of the night jars in the grass. It took us 10 minutes or so to find a night-jar that stayed still long enough for us to get a close look at it.

We watched and took pictures for about 15 minutes or so before it took off into the night. So here you go, some pictures of one of the rarest birds in the world.

This little guy is sat on a termite mound where he has a slightly better view of any passing predators.

We headed out this morning to search for the monkeys but no sign of them today. The plan was to do a late night search in order to observe their sleeping sights but a storm has rolled in so no monkeying around tonight.

Presently I’m sat in the cabin waiting for the storm to pass. The last storm ripped the hatches off the windows so myself and fellow monkey researcher Georgia had to quickly put up a make shift screen using a bin liner I brought from home (there are none here) and a wooden board. Fingers crossed it work otherwise I’ll be getting a wet head tonight. The closest thing I got to a wolf encounter so far is the puppy that is currently nipping my ankles under the table. He’s no maned wolf, but he is cute. 

Here are some pictures of the lake and one of Rubie's bats collected for her bat inventory.

Oh and one very cute puppy..

The route to Laguna Blanca

 After about 29 hours of travelling and almost no sleep, I arrived at Laguna Blanca. The bus journey from Asucion to Santa Rosa - the nearest town to the reserve  was an experience in itself. After some very poor Spanish and lots of confused faces I had bought my ticket and was waiting for the bus at the Terminal de Autobus. The air conditioned double decker set off through Asucion and since Asuncion is about 117km squared (about 72miles) you can imagine it took a while just to get out of the city, around 1 and a half hours. The bus picked up a few locals on the way stood at bus stops and casually stopped and let on men selling a range of items from neatly pealed oranges and the biggest apples i've ever seen, to home made breads, chewing gum and torches, mobile phones and even socks.

The city centre has a few posh looking hotels but mostly looks run down. As you move further out of the city centre you find cows grazing on football pitches and a few timber yard. Further out still is more rural residence and people growing food and keeping sheep and goats  in their gardens. There are amazing pink and purple trees and lots of colourful birds flitting in and out of bushes, not forgetting chickens and dogs that walk themselves across the highway. 

I'd been told that the journey could take anywhere between 4-6 hours so 4 hours into the journey I attempted to ask him how long it would take to get to Santa Rosa. The thing about Paraguayans is that you never get or yes or no answer. I handed the bus conductor a pen and he wrote 3:30 on the back of my ticket. By this time the lady sat next to me was eager to get involved in the conversation and she looked eager to tell me something, I handed her my translation book and after an hour and a half of more bad Spanish and confused faces, she had reconfirmed that the journey would infact take another 3 and a half hours.

The translation book lacked most essential words for small talk but by using some basic English the she knew, I found out she was a Teacher from Concepcion - a city about 2 hours North West of Santa Rosa. She taught art and dancing. I used pictures to explain to her that I was studying monkeys at a reserve, that I had worked as a zookeeper and showed her some pictures from YWP. She had a son with her who looked to be about 7 years old. He had a cheeky smile and found the whole thing very amusing. Surprisingly he could count up to 10 in English so spent about 2 hours of the journey doing just that.

5 and a half hours in, She indicated for me to go downstairs to get off for Santa Rosa. I was let off at the side of the road and that was it, I was at huge cross roads in the afternoon heat. I recognised the Bus terminal from a picture on Google but I had no phone and their seemed to be none around who was expecting me to have arrived. I went to the bus ticket booth somehow convinced a guy on the booth to let me borrow his phone. About 2 minutes later my lift had arrived in the form of a Toyota Hilux. Anyone from YWP will understand why I felt strangely at home in this Hilux and despite being driven down 2 hours of dirt and sand track on a weekly basis, it's still in better shape and sounding a lot better than WYP's Hilux on a good day. 

As we ventured down the dirt track toward Laguna Blanca we were flagged down by an old man by the side of the road who wanted a lift and he explained that he would tap on the roof when he wanted to get off. Half hour in we stopped to let a cattle rancher take his steer across the road. We saw burrowing owls sitting along the fences and the sun was setting when we arrived just in time for dinner. 

After meeting the team, I went outside to use the wireless out on the porch and narrowly avoided being hit in the head by a 3inch longhorn beetle. Finally I put up my mosquito net around my bed, brushed my teeth and crapped my pants when I noticed that the moth sitting on the toilet roll was bigger than the toilet roll itself!

My last post before I fly

Bags packed, I headed to London..

Friday night my Dad, my sisters and I went for an amazing Chinese in Highgate.

Saturday we visited Camden town and had a mooch around the market. If you fancy experiencing a rave in a shop then Cyberdog is not to be missed!

Sunday we met up with Jo's bf Jack and his mate Alex. We intended to visit the rain room exhibition , the 2 hour wait put us off and instead we wondered  from Waterloo to Southwark and dropped in on a few exhibition on the way.

Preparing for Paraguay with good company

Some cute faces helping me pack. I say helping, in reality their contribution is mostly ad lib deposits of small brown presents and chattering their teeth which usually means 'I want more lettuce' or 'I've dropped my lettuce on the floor'.

And If you really want to submerge yourself in my packing experience; grab yourself a nice brew, some digestive biscuits (chocolate is optional but recommend), plug your speakers in and stick on some of this magic - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVMdZeww2W8&feature=endscreen&NR=1