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.