Cover

Meet the Scientists

On the Expedition
With experienced field team leaders, you'll hike in a tropical rainforest, with towering, 50-meter-tall trees, lianas, and epiphytes. To get to some research sites, you will travel by riverboat. At the sites, you will observe scarlet, blue and gold, and red and green macaws at clay licks, and record their daily behavior and reactions to visiting tourists. You will also observe macaw nesting sites to record data on when the parents are present, what kind of foods they bring their chicks, and activity in the nests. The information you collect will help Matsufuji mitigate the impacts of ecotourism and ensure the long-term conservation of macaws and their habitats. In your free time, there's great birdwatching to be had or you can enjoy the monkeys and other large mammals that frequent the research area.

Meals and Accommodations
On this expedition, you'll stay at two different places: Tambopata Research Center and the Refugio Amazonas. Both have shared rooms, flush toilets, and unheated showers. Professional cooks will prepare three buffet meals a day. Tambopata is one of the richest rainforests in the world, with more than 500 recorded species of birds.

Research Summary
Tambopata Research Center, Madre de Dios, Peru — Macaws, the brilliant, long-tailed parrots of neotropical forests, are seriously threatened both by forest clearing and by poaching for the pet trade. Young macaws fetch thousands of dollars, if they survive. To catch them, poachers cut down their nesting trees for chicks and lurk at clay licks, where macaws and parrots congregate by the hundreds. Although increased ecotourism focused on watching macaws has helped reduce poaching, it may be causing its own problems by disturbing the birds that require century-old trees for nesting and have a slow reproductive rate. Join Alan Lee and Daphne Matsufuji, lead by Dr. Donald Brightsmith, in collecting data that will help these magnificent birds from being loved to extinction.

MEET THE SCIENTISTS

Dr. Donald Brightsmith

Duke University

Welcome to the Peruvian Amazon! This area holds the world record for the most species of birds, frogs, butterflies and tiger beetles, and has among the highest tree diversity as well (over 200 species per hectare). Our field site is right next to the world's largest clay lick, where up to 15 species of parrots and macaws come to eat clay every morning. During this trip you will get ample opportunity to observe and enjoy this wonderful biodiversity and do your part to help preserve it.

Mr. Alan Lee

Manhester Metropolitan Univ.

Alan Lee joined the Tambopata Macaw Project under Don as a volunteer in 2002. AftTambopata Reserve Society for 2 years (TReeS), he decided to get the most of his Peruvian experience and join Don working on the project with the aim of completing his er working on a research project for the MPhil / PhD. Alan directed research at Posada and Refugio during 2006 and 2007 to this end and is now based between the UK and Peru. Alan loves snakes
Donald Brightsmith was engaged elsewhere, so Alan Lee stepped in to lead this last group of Earthwatchers for the season. Alan’s website and his own macaw research can be found at http://www.macawmonitoring.com Many of the photos I’ve included in my expedition booklet are from Alan’s site or from other Earthwatchers. I have given credit with each of these photos. 

Daphne Matsufuji 

Lima

Peruvian researcher Daphne Matsufuji, under the direction of Dr. Donald Brightsmith, is collecting data that will help these magnificent birds from being loved to extinction. 

Meet the Earthwatchers

The Earthwatch gang and their guides, minus Fino and Alice Chaung: (Back L to R) Susan Walker, Sheila Champion, Richard Amable, Kathy Schroer, Dean Bloodgood, Diana Foster, Jhin Solis, Joan Chatterton. Dean Bloodgood, the husband of my good friend, Valerie, flew down and back with me. He was the oldest on the Expedition at 74.

Puerto Maldonado, a short distance from Cusco at the beginning of the eastern slopes of the Andean Mountain range, is where the tropical Amazonian jungle begins. It is in a region bursting with biological  life. This explosion of animal and vegetable life is caused by the proximity of the Andes range, which, on one hand ,offers a certain protection owing to the relative inaccessibility caused by the wall of mountains and, on the other, provides a large quantity of nutrients gathered in the highest parts and carried by the rivers, providing the enormous food chain that begins in the Amazonian basin almost a thousand meters below. This tropical Amazonian Basin adjacent to the Andes is the region of the world in which can be found the greatest numbers of animal and vegetable species, which concentration by square mile reaches unique levels.

Day 1--Flight to Lima, Ecuador

Monday, February 4, 2008

Jeff could not take us to the airport because he had classes, and Valerie could not take the time off from work either, so Dean came by at  10 am to gather me and my equipment for the 1 pm flight out of OKC to Houston and thence to Lima Peru. We parked in long-term parking. Valerie planned on coming down to pick up the car the following day.

When we arrived in Lima at 11:30 p.m., a representative from the Manhattan Inn Airport Hotel was waving a large sign that read “Susan Walker,” so was fairly easy to spot in a the very large group of jostling people waiting for passengers to clear customs. The man carrying the sign grabbed our bags and hustled us to the parking lot and his hotel shuttle—a small Toyota car. He stuffed us and our baggage in, and off we went through absolutely crazy traffic with motocarros (three-wheeled motorcycle rickshaws) vying for space among all types of cars, trucks, bicycles, and buses, the buses stuffed with passengers—might be 20 or so passengers in a bus designed for 8 or 10, for instance—all drivers swerving around each other and beeping their horns continually. The smell of airplane fuel mixed with the visible vehicle emissions was very strong, particularly as the driver drove with the windows open, and made me feel nauseous. 

One of our first sights—other than the pedestrian and traffic congestion at nearly midnight—was large billboards advertising Clarō (a dominant cell phone company), as well as the usual cars  hotels, and clothing stores. There were Clarō reps in the airport, too, pushing us to rent a phone for our stay.

When the taxi turned off the multi-lane highway about five minutes from the airport into a run-down section of town, I had my doubts about the safety of our Manhattan Hotel, which was not near any others and opposite a park. It certainly did not live up to its name, but at a mere $39 a night (as opposed to a couple of hundred in the Miraflores tourist district), it was clean and adequate—though not air conditioned. The woman at the front desk spoke very good English and was accommodating. We immediately booked the airport “shuttle” and a room for our return day. Though we would not spend the night in it, we wanted a place where we could leave our luggage, rest, and shower before our 12:40am flight to Houston, February 17.

And, this day, too (now the 5th) we were to occupy our rooms for mere hours. At 3 a.m. we were hyped up and sitting at the little table in Dean’s room having a nightcap.

Day 2--Flight to Puerto Maldonado

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

The next morning (or later that morning), we id’d our first bird, an eared dove in the park opposite the hotel. Then, after a hasty complimentary breakfast of scrambled eggs, rolls, jam, and coffee, we took the hotel shuttle (this time a van) back to the airport at 6am to check our bags for the 8am flight to Puerto Maldonado.

This flight, which stopped for about an hour in Cusco, 11,500 feet high in the Andes, was uneventful. The Andes mountains out of Lima enroute to Puerto Maldonado were dry, devoid of any vegetation that could be seen from the air, deeply scarred on their flanks, and sharply defined with knife-edge arêtes (below).

But a bit further southeast they became the huge, snow capped Andes of picture books (above right).

Nearing Cusco, I could look from the plane and see some green and an occasional tiny village that I imagined  housed an indigenous people and their llamas and alpacas.

We spent about an hour in the Cusco airport while passengers disembarked and others boarded for the flight to Puerto Maldonado. Dean and I got out of our seats, stretched, and took pix from the open airplane door (below).

As we neared PuertoMaldonado, once again the terrain below changed. Now we were seeing a vast unbroken ocean of trees, snaked with coffee-and-cream colored rivers—the Madre de Dios (Mother of God), the Tambopata (which we would soon be boating on); the Rio Inambari, Rio de Los Amigos, Rio de Los Piedras, Rio Torre, Rio Malinowski, and others.

We deplaned in Puerto Maldonado—which sits at the junction of the Madre de Dios and Tambopata rivers—to a wall of heat and humidity. On entering the small airport, we saw the Rainforest Expeditions office but found no one from Rainforest Expeditions waiting for us. It turned out they were in one of the RE buses in the parking lot and had already boarded some Earthwatchers.

Passengers debarking in Puerto Maldonado; the bus that would carry us to the "puerto" for our ride upriver

We lugged our luggage over and climbed aboard, quickly meeting five others: Alice Chuang, Joan Chatterton, Diana Foster, Sheila Champion, and our Rainforest Expedition guide, Richard Amable. Kathy Schroer was to meet us upriver at Posadas Amazonas Eco Lodge where we’d spend our first night. Rainforest Expeditions operates three award winning Amazon lodges: Posada Amazonas , (30 rooms), Refugio Amazonas (24 rooms), and Tambopata Research Center (18 rooms).

Our bus ride to RE Hdq. took about five minutes. At Hdq., we had a chance to meet our PI, South African Alan Lee, to go to the bathroom, and to have our last ice cream bar. We also gave our flight information to Yesmi Hualla (below), Rainforest Expeditions project liaison, and got better acquainted with the members of the team.

Alan and Dean getting acquainted at HDQ

L-Dean Bloodgood and Sheila Champion giving Yesmi their return flight information; R - Cold water, ice cream, a TV . . . all the comforts of home.

Yesmi Hualla,
Rainforest Expeditions
project liaison

Then we hung out for a bit and admired the tarantula on the ceiling. When the bus returned, we learned that the road had washed out between us and our river port of embarkation, so we needed to take a detour further down the river to another landing—euphemistically called a port.

Alan told us that this was the first sunny day in a week. The detour was a VERY rough and rutted, deeply potholed dirt track, which wended at first past shacks advertising themselves as bars or motels (our guides told us that these motels were the type that rented by the hour to jungle weary gold miners and explorers back in town for a bit of R&R) and over rickety makeshift bridges.

When, after about an hour, we got to the “port,” we walked a narrow trail through the jungle for a bit and came out on a bank high above the river with a little thatched hut on it. Here I took photos of two different cracker butterflies while we waited for the boat to arrive.

Then we walked down a flight of narrow wooden stairs to the Tambopata River and entered a long, canopied, blue canoe with wooden benches along each side. After donning the mandatory life vests, we settled in for the exciting two-hour ride upriver to Posada Amazonas, our binoculars and cameras at the ready. “What’s that?” always on our lips.

Hanging on the canopy posts were little yellow bags with Rainforest Expedition logos on them. These turned out to be snack bags and contained an orange or an apple, a packet of saltines, a packet of cookies, and a small square of chocolate. We were all ravenous so made short work of the snack bag contents. Then Richard passed back neatly wrapped leaf packets and a fork—our lunch. Yummy.

Day 2 - Posada Amazonas

We got to Posada Amazonas, a tourist lodge, in late afternoon, but after a cold shower and quick cleanup had enough time to take a nature walk with our guides Jhin Solis, from Puerto Maldonado, who was learning the birds; Fino a Brazilian cowboy turned Pantanal naturalist and now learning the birds, too, to become a guide for Rainforest Expeditions, and Richard Amable our main RE guide.

L - Stairs leading up from river to the muddy trail to Posada Amazonas;

R - Walkway at Posada Amazonas; uncovered area very slippery when wet, which it was frequently

 Boot rack near boot cleaning station at Posada Amazonas; R - my bed with  mosquito netting above and  unscreened outdoor wall

The "ensuite" bathroom, no tp because toilet tissue is never thrown in the toilet; my bag in the room's "closet" space

On our nature walk we saw a red brocket deer, spider monkeys, a group of white-lipped peccaries (maybe 20 or 30). First we heard and smelled the peccaries: Very loud nut cracking noises, grunting from adults, retching from juveniles, and indescribably musky odors accompanying them. The adults grunted angrily and stared hard at us when they thought we were too close.

Red Brocket Deer and Spider  Monkey

We also saw a flock (covey?) of Pale-winged Trumpeters, a large (17 to 20+ inch) bird of the forest floor with a loud booming vocalization described in the books as “a deep booming series of rolling and puttering notes.” As they approached, I heard their vocalizations as a combination of high wind and distant thunder.

Jhin showed us a chicken spider, and then poked a twig into another hole at the base of a buttress root and showed us another large tarantula, which was holed up with its young—about half its size.

Next we came upon a huge cane toad. Dean reached out and casually touched the toad. Jhin moved back and cautioned us about this toad’s habit of shooting poisonous liquid at its enemies. Then he squeezed the toad a bit and it released a narrow three-foot stream of white poison from the lump near its head. It’s skin is also poisonous.

Pale-winged Trumpeters

Jhin holding a cane toad

The guides also helped us identify some of the jungle trees, particularly the tall canopy trees such as the ceiba (kapok) tree, ironwood trees, the brazil nut trees, giant fig trees, strangler figs, cecropia, walking palms, banana palms, swamp ariod, bamboo, and acacia trees, the last favorites of sloths.

The ironwood trees at Posada Amazonas and TRC were very tall, smooth-trunked trees. Most of the macaw nest boxes at TRC were suspended in ironwood trees. Jhin told us that the powdered inner bark of a pink-flowered species of ironwood tree, pau d'arco, is sold as a popular herbal remedy that reportedly stimulates the immune system.

Brazilnut Tree from the tower at Posada Amazonas with the Tambopata River in the background; R - Ironwood Tree with PVC macaw nest box in it

Then there were the fig or ficus trees. One was a very large canopy tree; another the infamous strangler fig, that slowly killed all trees it embraced. Strangler figs sprout in the crotch of another tree and then send down roots to the forest floor. Eventually the fig grows so large it strangles its host, which eventually rots, leaving the strangler in its place.

L - Internet pic of a strangler fig at TRC that has engulfed the original tree and gradually killed it, R - young strangler fig just getting a chokehold

   The Kapok tree, is an emergent tree that can grow to a height of 150 feet or more, towering over other trees in the rainforest. When young (and struggling for light) large spines protrude from its trunk to discourage climbing vines (such as strangler figs) and damage to the trunk. Thin, plank type buttresses stabilize the giant and can extend to 30 feet.

Internet pic of the buttress roots of a Ceiba or Kapok tree

Before being replaced by cheaper synthetics, the kapok fiber—which is eight times lighter than cotton and five times more buoyant than cork—was used as the floatation for life preservers worldwide. In addition to these attributes the kapok fiber is totally water repellent and resistant to rot. My mother used it in the 50s and 60s to stuff rag dolls, one of which I still own.

And, of course, I must tell about the “walking” palm trees. Their lower trunks and older roots rot away and are left behind when the tree sends out new roots and slowly “walks” away from its germination point or toward a sunny area.

The stilt roots of the Walking Palm Tree

Then there are the familiar bamboo thickets and acacia trees, acacias being a favorite hangout for sloths Richard told us, but alas, though I searched ,I never saw a sloth.

Balsa trees were also found in the rainforest. Balsa needs a warm climate with plenty of rainfall and good drainage. For that reason, the best stands of balsa usually appear on the high ground between tropical rivers. The word balsa itself is Spanish meaning raft, in reference to its flotation qualities. In Peru, it is known as boya, meaning buoy. The blossoms of balsa trees are a popular drinking spot for parrots and parakeets.

The last tree on my list—the cecropia—is a relatively short tree most obvious at TRC along the river’s edge and on the island opposite the colpa. The cecropia is adapted to succeeding in cleared areas. To avoid the entangling vines of new undergrowth, it grows 15 to 35 feet before extending any branches. As it grows higher, it discards the lower branches, giving creepers no hold. At this point its large leaves shade out the undergrowth, allowing slower, shade-tolerant canopy trees to grow.

L- A cecropia tree from the Posada Amazonas tower; R - The large leaves of the cecropia may sometimes be so riddled with insect holes that they appear to be lace against the sky. This photo was taken in 2006 of a cecropia in Ecuador.

Speaking of leaves, many of the rainforest’s plants contain a drip tip on their ends. This pointed tip promotes drainage from the surface of the leaf and thus helps keep the leaf surface clean of epiphytes and fungi in the humid forest.

Leaves with "drip tips"

Okay, enuff about trees. Also on our walk we saw and heard red howler monkeys (see below). They are the loudest mammal in the world, Their deep, booming, echoing roars can be heard nearly 2 miles away. We saw them seldom but heard them nearly every day at TRC.

Internet photo of a red howler monkey

As for insects, on our evening Posadas Amazonas nature walk we found a BIG rhinoceros beetle (or it bumbled into us), so called because of its large rhino-like horn.

Rhinoceros Beetle 

We also saw leafcutter ants and army ants, the first of many of the literally thousands of ants in the jungle. Some researchers estimate that ants make up 30 percent of the rainforest’s animal biomass—an incredible statistic. One study of insect species in a single rainforest tree revealed over 40 different species of ants.

We saw three or four species of ants with regularity: Leafcutter ants, bullet ants, army ants, and red fire ants.

Leafcutter ants (Atta) consisting of about 190 species in 12 genera—farm gardens of fungus in protected chambers and are known as fungus growing ants or gardening ants. They spend much of their time in the canopy snipping large sections of leaves (30 times their own body weight), which they carry back to their chambers protected by guard attas that are much smaller. The workers are adept farmers, fertilizing their crop with fecal droplets and meticulously weeding out nondesirable species of fungi. As gardens mature, the fungi hyphae develop swollen tips, called gongylidia, which the workers harvest for food.

 Bullet ants (Paraponera clavata) are another interesting species best known for its giant size and unusually severe sting. Workers are 18-25 mm (up to 1 in.) long and look like stout, reddish-black, wingless wasps. Their stings, not bites, are the most painful and debilitating known for any insect. Intense pain (being stung by one feels like being shot by a bullet—hence their name) typically lasts 3-5 hours then lessens over the next day but can remain for days. Severe pain may be accompanied by trembling, perspiration, nausea, and inability to use an injured arm or leg.

Army ants (Eciton burchelli) colonies consist of the queen, the queen’s brood (her eggs), soldiers, and the workers. Army ants are nomadic, which means that they must make temporary nests as they travel. The nest is made up of army ants themselves. They form walls and fasten onto each other by using their mandibles (jaws) and their claws. This way they can hang from a log or another surface, while the nest encloses the queen and her brood. These nests are referred to as bivouacs. Chambers and corridors exist in army ant nests. Also, prey is being brought inside the nest and the eggs are being transported to other areas in the nest as well.

We saw two different army ant colonies on the move in wide ribbons across the trails. While I never saw a fire ant mound similar to those of the red imported fire ant (RIFA) mounds of the southern USA, red fire ants were frequently found on rainforest trees and shrubs. Another reason not to grab a tree or the trailside foliage.

After our nature walk it was great to take another cooling shower and to sit down with the group over an excellent dinner. There is no electricity so meals are eaten by candle- or lantern light.

Dean waiting for the dinner bell and across the dinner table from me with a soulful look on his face

Alan L, our PI; Jhin our guide, Joan Chatterton, Alice Chaung, and Kathy Schroer at dinner table

Our delicious meal of chicken, cabbage salad and carrots; the classroom at Posada

Day 3 -- Trip Upriver to Tambopata Research Station

At 5:30am, before we left for the rest of our boat trip upriver to the Tambopata Research Center, our guides took us to Posada’s 30-meter (ca 100 ft) Observation Tower. Though I have a fear of heights that makes my knees go weak and my stomach rebel, I was determined to climb this tower. But, just looking up to the top of it made me woozy. I managed to get up two flights but then had to back down. The following are some photos Alice took from the top of the observation tower.

Our Posada Amazonas tower experience was very early in the morning, so Alice was able to get some shots of the sun rising above the Tambopata River and the morning mist as it filtered from the river through the canopy. The tree directly above is a cecropia

While everyone else was up in the tower, Jhin took me on a solo nature walk. He was very knowledgeable of plants and insects, so I really enjoyed this one-on-one. He and I saw brown capuchin monkeys, squirrel monkeys, and dusky titi monkeys. The dusky titi monkeys were my favorites.

Jhin told me about the chickenfoot tree, named because it is orange striped and puts out three surface roots and a smaller root at the back similar to a chicken’s foot. We also saw a White-fronted Nunbird, a Blue-crowned Trogan, and a Blue-crowned Motmot among other birds.

Dusky titi monkey mother and babe (Alan Lee’s photo); Chicken foot tree

L - Brown Capuchin monkey (Alan Lee’s photo);  R- Squirrel monkey—they would clamber through the treetops in large groups

White-fronted Nunbird, Blue-crowned Motmot with ratchet tail; Blue- crowned Trogon

After our tower experience and my solo nature hike with Jhin, we ate a hardy breakfast (mine was yogurt on very crunchy rainforest granola, plus coffee, juice, and a fresh, homemade roll I couldn’t resist). We then packed up our things and gathered in the “lobby” at 9:30am for our trip to the Tambopata Research Center (TRC), which was another 5+ hours upriver in the protected Tambopata Wildlife Refuge.

Those who had not brought their own boots (including me) selected a well-fitting pair from the boot rack. These boots were then ours for the duration. I chose the same ones I’d worn from the river to the lodge and on our nature hikes. We all donned our boots to hike back to the river.

This boat was much more comfortable than the one we’d come from Puerto Maldonado on. Whereas the P.M. one had wooden benches along the sides, this one had backed, cushioned, single seats along each side facing forward. Even so—and even with many wildlife sightings and three checkpoints where we could get out and go to the bathroom and stretch—we were all very glad to see the TRC landing nearly 6 hours later.

Capped Egret; Oropendola nests 

Capybara with Giant Cowbird; the cowbird picks parasites off the backs of herbivorous animals;  Oropendola, builder of the pendulous nests above

Oronoco Goose—several small groups of these on the islands; R- White-throated Toucan 

White-wiinged Swallow; Drab Water Tyrant —these little birds were plentiful and would flit from branch to branch near  the waterline

Ringed Kingfisher nest burrows in side of bank

Male (left) and female Amazon Kingfishers; R: the Ringed Kingfisher, builder of the nest burrows above

Chestnut-eared Aracari

Pair of Tropical Kingbirds; Great Black Hawk

Crimson-crested Woodpecker; Great Kiskadee

Gold mining on the Tambopata; nearly two-thirds of Peru's rivers have higher amounts of mercury than is allowed by the EPA in the USA. There was no mining in the reserve, fortunately, but we saw many such makshift operations on the way  upriver.

It took a bit of extra time because of the recent rains. The river was at flood height, and the current our 20-foot canoe with its peque-peque (16HP Briggs & Stratton lawnmower engine with a 6- foot propeller shaft coaxial with the flywheel) had to push against was running at 9 or 10 knots.One of the Earthwatch staff sat in the front of the boat and kept an eye out for driftwood and other dangers.

Broad-billed Motmot (We saw the bbmm at the river boot racks before we left Posada Amazonas and the Rufous Motmot on our walk that morning); Rufous Motmot 

Greater yellow-headed vulture 

Turtles at riverside

Our first comfort stop was at Heath, a checkpoint at the confluence of the La Torre and Tambopata Rivers — the entrance to the 274,390-hecacre Tambopata National Reserve on which TRC was located.

Our second comfort stop was at the World Wildlife Federation (WWF) Research Center. Many of its researchers were doing radio-collar studies of the area’s fauna. WWF had a small explanatory museum. I took some pix of the skulls in it (below).

Left: Roadside Hawk (more appropriately riverside hawk in this instance)

L - WWF Research Center on the Tambopata; R- Malinowski River

Our last checkpoint was P.C. Malinowski. Here we climbed up the muddy bank on a series of backward facing stairs (one had to walk on the edges of the steps rather than the steps themselves) to a couple of buildings. The two bathrooms had regular toilets but flushed with buckets of river water. There were many Amazon racerunner lizards at Malinowski.

Amazon racerunner (Ameiva ameiva) lizard