Hello to everyone,
My name is Luke and I am one of the recently appointed research scientists here at Laguna Blanca. I am also the intern coordinator and advisor. This first blog is a bit of an introduction about me and also what plans we have for the coming months concerning new projects at the site.
I am interested in all aspects of wildlife and natural habitats. However my research background is rooted in studying behavioural and biological aspects of social, group-living animals. Specifically im interested in individual strategies within multi-male/multi-female groups and how these strategies affect individual fitness and reproductive success. I am particularly focused on adult female reproductive, socio-sexual, and dyadic associative behaviour. More recently I have been combining these behavioural interests with the broader theoretical areas of Social Network Theory/analysis and Biological Market Theory.
I arrived at Laguna Blanca on March 23. The people who originally set up the site have done an excellent job. For a long term researcher such as myself this site provides an excellent platform to comfortably conduct projects, as well as offering the opportunity to have some fun and relax when not working. I have particularly enjoyed my daily dip in the crystal clear lake, which is on our doorstep.
Since arriving I have begun setting up the preliminary stages of three new projects we are planning to launch:
1. Social and ecological factors among Clyomys laticeps (broad-headed spiny rat).
These nocturnal and group-living rodents thrives in underground burrow systems on the Cerrado. Virtually nothing is known about these animals but there are already suspicions that they may be a keystone species of that habitat.
2. Grouping behaviour among Cyanocorax chrysops (plush-crested jays).
Plush-crested jays are a social bird species that inhabit Laguna Blanca. Recently question marks have been raised over what social system these animals are actually practicing. A previous volunteer observed groups for a short period and reported that group individuals appeared to be changing throughout the day. If indeed this species is practicing a fission-fusion social system then there is great opportunity for a multitude of long and short term studies into the socio-biology and behaviour of these animals that could provide useful information for the wider zoological and scientific community.
3. The Laguna Blanca brown capuchin project
This long term project will provide opportunity for volunteers and interns to gain firsthand experience studying and observing wild primates. The project will offer opportunity for study in a wide variety of behavioural and ecological areas as well as learning useful field techniques for collecting scientific data.
Ok, that’s all for now. I look forward to hopefully meeting some of you potential volunteers and interns in the near future.
Best wishes,
Luke Ward
Research Scientist and Intern Coordinator
viernes, 8 de abril de 2011
jueves, 31 de marzo de 2011
Introducing Helen
Hi everyone,
I’m Helen the new volunteer co-ordinator at Para La Tierra. I wanted to add a few lines to this blog to introduce myself and tell you a bit about my first few days at Laguna Blanca.
I’m passionate about wildlife, conservation and in particular herps (reptiles and amphibians). I have recently finished my Masters in International Wildlife Trade and Conservation in the UK. My thesis was on the chameleon trade in Madagascar where I interviewed chameleon exporters in an effort to make the chameleon pet trade more sustainable. That was my second trip to Madagascar; the first time was a research expedition where I learned a number of survey techniques which will be very helpful in this new role with Para La Tierra. I have also undertaken field work in Indonesia and have volunteered in Mexico a Burundi. In addition I worked for 5 years with a charity called Concordia International Volunteers where I organised volunteer projects and co-ordinated volunteers.
I only arrived at Laguna Blanca a few days ago and the first thing that struck me was just how beautiful it is. The photos I have seen really do not do it justice! I am writing this sitting in a hammock, the lake is to my left and the water is crystal clear and perfect for swimming (which I do everyday). I’ve been out to the cerrado a couple of times on armadillo hunts and best of all (for me anyway) I have been out frogging and we think we may have found a new species of frog – watch this space for more info on this. Over the next few months I plan to get together a concise inventory of the amphibians here so I can begin looking at different species community structures and habitat preferences so there will be plenty of work for anyone interested in frogs and toads.
I really hope that some of you reading this blog will have the opportunity to come and visit us at Laguna Blanca so you can experience for yourselves this amazing place and its wildlife.
Hope to see you soon
Helen Pheasey
Research Scientist and Volunteer Co-ordinator.
I’m Helen the new volunteer co-ordinator at Para La Tierra. I wanted to add a few lines to this blog to introduce myself and tell you a bit about my first few days at Laguna Blanca.
I’m passionate about wildlife, conservation and in particular herps (reptiles and amphibians). I have recently finished my Masters in International Wildlife Trade and Conservation in the UK. My thesis was on the chameleon trade in Madagascar where I interviewed chameleon exporters in an effort to make the chameleon pet trade more sustainable. That was my second trip to Madagascar; the first time was a research expedition where I learned a number of survey techniques which will be very helpful in this new role with Para La Tierra. I have also undertaken field work in Indonesia and have volunteered in Mexico a Burundi. In addition I worked for 5 years with a charity called Concordia International Volunteers where I organised volunteer projects and co-ordinated volunteers.
I only arrived at Laguna Blanca a few days ago and the first thing that struck me was just how beautiful it is. The photos I have seen really do not do it justice! I am writing this sitting in a hammock, the lake is to my left and the water is crystal clear and perfect for swimming (which I do everyday). I’ve been out to the cerrado a couple of times on armadillo hunts and best of all (for me anyway) I have been out frogging and we think we may have found a new species of frog – watch this space for more info on this. Over the next few months I plan to get together a concise inventory of the amphibians here so I can begin looking at different species community structures and habitat preferences so there will be plenty of work for anyone interested in frogs and toads.
I really hope that some of you reading this blog will have the opportunity to come and visit us at Laguna Blanca so you can experience for yourselves this amazing place and its wildlife.
Hope to see you soon
Helen Pheasey
Research Scientist and Volunteer Co-ordinator.
viernes, 28 de enero de 2011
Plenty of Adventures!
A lot has happened since my last blog so make your self a cup of cup, sit back, relax and enjoy your read.
Our intern Johnny has recently left Paraguay for the English snow but not without adding some valuable information about the reptiles which inhabit Laguna Blanca. The aim of Johnny’s project was to summarize the different species of reptiles found in 3 varying habitats, atlantic forest, marshland and cerrado. This involved daily searches at dawn, dusk and night. These surveys were always enjoyable as every day there was something new to see whether it be a lizard rummaging around in the undergrowth looking for breakfast or another bothrops (lancehead viper snake) soaking in the rays as it digests its dinner of frog. Apart from seeing all of these beautiful creatures going about their daily business it was particularly nice to “get to know” the reptiles too. There was one particular bothrops who was continuously spotted lounging about her burrow alongside a path in the atlantic forest. Almost daily she could be found hanging about in the foliage or slowly slithering along the path. Only at one occasion did she show any aggression and I believe it was purely because she was caught off guard as she went for her nightly amble. Unfortunately, the cerrado did not present many snakes although we did find evidence such as snake skins. However, it was alive with lizards, from whiptails (Cnemidophorus) and skinks (Mabuya) to Teius and the ground lizards (Tropidorus). We could not venture into the cerrado without seeing a flash of green as a Cnemidophorus dashed past us and into a burrow or spying Mabuya as it squeezed tightly between the bark of a fallen tree. On numerous occasions tree trunks seemed to riggle until on closer inspection you could see a Tropidorus running up the tree and stopping every few paces to bop its head warning everything that “hey I’m a big fella and this is my tree!.”
The Paraguayans who live on site and work for the tourist part of the reserve are interested in all aspects of our work and I think sometimes believe us to be a little loca when it comes to our excitement on spotting a snake, lizard or amphibian. But they are very helpful and more than once they have told us of a reptile sighting, this being mainly snakes as they have a fear over them and want them to be removed, which Johnny and I where more than happy to do. One beautiful snake which was found near their house was a Xenodon (false lance head viper snake), this snake has the most stunning patterns and colours and has some smarts too as it mimics the deadly bothrops (lance head viper snake) it does this so well that the locals even believed it to be venomous (which it is not). Just last night we got a call to say that they had a young neotropical rattlesnake (Crotalus). Now this snake is as deadly as they come and is one not to be messed with (as with all snakes) so they were quick to kill it as not to risk it harming anybody. This is the second time we have come across this remarkable snake. Just a few weeks ago we were clearing a path in the atlantic forest and this little beautie was coiled up in amongst the low dense vegetation. Phew, my heart stepped it up a few beats!
The end of October brought us intern Alex. His aim was to understand the daylight time expenditure of two group living species of birds found at Laguna Blanca. After spending a week or so stalking a range of birds he decided to study the smooth-billed anni (Crotophaga ani) and the guira cuckoo (Guira guira). Alex spends his days finding, observing and following (they definitely make him work for his study!) his birds and noting their behaviour, such as grooming, feeding, courtship displays and resting (which seems to be the anni’s favourite past time much to Alex’s frustration!!). This project is fascinating as it details the activity levels of these birds, where they spend their time during the day and their general behaviours. This project is still on-going and continues to show some very encouraging results.
Two interns from Germany and the Netherlands have recently joined us too and their small mammal project has brought us to both the atlantic and dry forest. Apart from a very interesting study it is also very exciting for us because up until now we have carried out little work in the atlantic forest. Intern Jip and Jakob are focusing their study on these two very different habitats in order to clarify the species diversity found within these forests. They are doing this by separating the forest into layers, ground, arboreal and canopy, this will aid in determining what small mammal species are found in which layers and because the study is based around the lunar cycle it will also indicate whether this affects the activity of small mammals. To date they have gathered some very exciting data on small mammals such the mouse opossum arboreal rat and woolly mouse opossum (Micoureus). Every day into these forests brings new adventures, whether it be stumbling across a caterpillar which looks like it belongs in the Alien vs Predators movie to spotting a black tegu (large lizard) ambling through the undergrowth on the hunt for its lunch. But the most exciting and thrilling natural event we witnessed was the hour long wrestle between a 4 foot long parrot snake (Leptophis ahaetulla) and a large mug sized tree frog (Trachycephalus). At first I thought I could hear a small baby crying but then I spotted this stunning snake latching onto the hind leg of this crying tree frog that was desperately trying to claw its way away from the slender coils of the snake. Everybody gathered around this amazing battle that you would only ever imagine seeing on a David Attenborough program. The snake won!
As PLT also welcome volunteers, we were joined by three volunteers who decided to stop by for a week or two as they travelled across South America. Alesha from New Zealand took part in helping establish the small mammal project and since she has a background in GIS she had a look through our data and brought us up to date which was an enormous help. Jon from France and Sophie from Wales dipped in and out of most projects. Our grasshopper inventory definitely increased during their stay! This project is still in its early days but we hope to have a clearer picture on the grasshoppers found at Laguna Blanca as they are literally everywhere. Splashes of colour can be seen flashing from one bush to the next particularly in the cerrado. Large gatherings tend to hangout on a single plant and fall to the ground like rain when disturbed.
We all took a well deserved break for Christmas and New Years and spent the time lounging by the lake, catching up with people back home, bird watching and playing some volleyball and football on the beach. Christmas weekend brought some very delicious foods, fresh lime infused chicken and pork, sopa paraguya, roasted vegetables, mashed spuds with squash, Christmas fruit cake and home made cookies. We brought New Years in sitting under a perfect star filled sky by the lake with the local people. It was a far cry from the New Years parties most of us are used to back home, so it made the night that bit more special.
2011 has brought us interns Joe from England, Raph from the US and volunteers Shane and Erika also both from the US and John from the Netherlands. Intern Joe is here to do an epidemiological study for his research Masters. He is investigating the endoparasite communities of small mammals in recently burnt and unburnt forests. This study has been very exciting thus far as no previous work has been done in this area before. Joe’s work in collecting helminths from small mammals is critical for conservation purposes and for establishing the health of the forested ecosystems. Although at times I think he takes a double look at his food especially after spending hours staring into a microscope at tiny nematodes and what not.
Raph has come to us during his college break, and is interested at the diversity of bats at Laguna Blanca. To date we have gathered a small inventory of the bats living here but Raph hopes to extend this. As Laguna Blanca is a mosaic of different habitats, atlantic forest, dry forest, cerrado and lake, intern Raph is aiming to sample them all. The fun part of this study are the very late nights. In order to gather as much information as possible two bats nets are set up at each site and remain open from 8pm until 5am. As you could guess our stores of coffee have decreased some what!
It is volunteer Shane’s second visit to Laguna Blanca in less than a year. He volunteered with us the winter of last year and has returned again to gain valuable field experience, particularly in the small mammal projects. He has also taken an interest in the cerrado flora. The warm weather has produced an array of stunning flowers which Shane did not witness during the winter months. Shortly after arriving he constructed a flower press and now spends his days trekking the cerrado in search of some beautiful plants and flowers.
As volunteers here at PLT have the opportunity to dip in and out of on going projects they have the chance to gain a vast knowledge on a wide range of animals, from mammals and birds to reptiles and insects. Volunteer Erika joined us initially with an interest in birds but since being here she has learnt an array of new skills from sampling small mammals and endoparasites to pinning and identifying butterflies and moths. Erika’s previous experience in birding has resulted in her gathering baseline data on the behaviour of burrowing owls found throughout the cerrado. As intern Emma’s bird project has moved onto its next stage (this involves mist netting the species of birds found feeding on the study fruit and taking relevant measurements such as weight and gape) this allowed Erika to make good use of Emma’s bird hide which had been her home for the past two months. Similar to Emma, Erika has spent hours braving the cerrado heat in the little hide watching not only the burrowing owls daily routines but also witnessing some other very interesting birds one of which is still a mystery and is yet to be identified. This work is still on going so I will keep you posted.
John is an expert in flies and has shown many of us a new side to these sometimes frustrating little creatures. I think sometimes people don’t think to stop and take a second look at these tiny animals before they swat them. After taking a closer look at some of the vibrant eye colourations and fascinating wing patterns I know I will definitely have a second thought before flicking a fly from me.
Mist netting last night and this morning has proven to be very success. Four species of bat were found not far from the house, one of which is the first time found in our mist nets, much to Raph’s delight. He has a busy day ahead of him taking measurements and photographing each individual. Alex, John, Emma, Erika and I were up before the birds this morning, 430am to be exact, setting up metres upon metres of mist nets. It is lunch time and so far we have managed to remove, two adults and one juvenile Chopi blackbird (Gnorimopsar chopi), two adult Rufus, one Southern Sparrow house wren and one tanager. To see these birds cruising the skies and hopping from bush to bush everyday is a joy but to see them up close and personal really adds to the experience. One can truly appreciate the colours and textures of each individual, even the single black tone of the Choppi blackbird.
Hasta la Proxima!
Loraine Grant: MSc, BSc
Our intern Johnny has recently left Paraguay for the English snow but not without adding some valuable information about the reptiles which inhabit Laguna Blanca. The aim of Johnny’s project was to summarize the different species of reptiles found in 3 varying habitats, atlantic forest, marshland and cerrado. This involved daily searches at dawn, dusk and night. These surveys were always enjoyable as every day there was something new to see whether it be a lizard rummaging around in the undergrowth looking for breakfast or another bothrops (lancehead viper snake) soaking in the rays as it digests its dinner of frog. Apart from seeing all of these beautiful creatures going about their daily business it was particularly nice to “get to know” the reptiles too. There was one particular bothrops who was continuously spotted lounging about her burrow alongside a path in the atlantic forest. Almost daily she could be found hanging about in the foliage or slowly slithering along the path. Only at one occasion did she show any aggression and I believe it was purely because she was caught off guard as she went for her nightly amble. Unfortunately, the cerrado did not present many snakes although we did find evidence such as snake skins. However, it was alive with lizards, from whiptails (Cnemidophorus) and skinks (Mabuya) to Teius and the ground lizards (Tropidorus). We could not venture into the cerrado without seeing a flash of green as a Cnemidophorus dashed past us and into a burrow or spying Mabuya as it squeezed tightly between the bark of a fallen tree. On numerous occasions tree trunks seemed to riggle until on closer inspection you could see a Tropidorus running up the tree and stopping every few paces to bop its head warning everything that “hey I’m a big fella and this is my tree!.”
The Paraguayans who live on site and work for the tourist part of the reserve are interested in all aspects of our work and I think sometimes believe us to be a little loca when it comes to our excitement on spotting a snake, lizard or amphibian. But they are very helpful and more than once they have told us of a reptile sighting, this being mainly snakes as they have a fear over them and want them to be removed, which Johnny and I where more than happy to do. One beautiful snake which was found near their house was a Xenodon (false lance head viper snake), this snake has the most stunning patterns and colours and has some smarts too as it mimics the deadly bothrops (lance head viper snake) it does this so well that the locals even believed it to be venomous (which it is not). Just last night we got a call to say that they had a young neotropical rattlesnake (Crotalus). Now this snake is as deadly as they come and is one not to be messed with (as with all snakes) so they were quick to kill it as not to risk it harming anybody. This is the second time we have come across this remarkable snake. Just a few weeks ago we were clearing a path in the atlantic forest and this little beautie was coiled up in amongst the low dense vegetation. Phew, my heart stepped it up a few beats!
The end of October brought us intern Alex. His aim was to understand the daylight time expenditure of two group living species of birds found at Laguna Blanca. After spending a week or so stalking a range of birds he decided to study the smooth-billed anni (Crotophaga ani) and the guira cuckoo (Guira guira). Alex spends his days finding, observing and following (they definitely make him work for his study!) his birds and noting their behaviour, such as grooming, feeding, courtship displays and resting (which seems to be the anni’s favourite past time much to Alex’s frustration!!). This project is fascinating as it details the activity levels of these birds, where they spend their time during the day and their general behaviours. This project is still on-going and continues to show some very encouraging results.
Two interns from Germany and the Netherlands have recently joined us too and their small mammal project has brought us to both the atlantic and dry forest. Apart from a very interesting study it is also very exciting for us because up until now we have carried out little work in the atlantic forest. Intern Jip and Jakob are focusing their study on these two very different habitats in order to clarify the species diversity found within these forests. They are doing this by separating the forest into layers, ground, arboreal and canopy, this will aid in determining what small mammal species are found in which layers and because the study is based around the lunar cycle it will also indicate whether this affects the activity of small mammals. To date they have gathered some very exciting data on small mammals such the mouse opossum arboreal rat and woolly mouse opossum (Micoureus). Every day into these forests brings new adventures, whether it be stumbling across a caterpillar which looks like it belongs in the Alien vs Predators movie to spotting a black tegu (large lizard) ambling through the undergrowth on the hunt for its lunch. But the most exciting and thrilling natural event we witnessed was the hour long wrestle between a 4 foot long parrot snake (Leptophis ahaetulla) and a large mug sized tree frog (Trachycephalus). At first I thought I could hear a small baby crying but then I spotted this stunning snake latching onto the hind leg of this crying tree frog that was desperately trying to claw its way away from the slender coils of the snake. Everybody gathered around this amazing battle that you would only ever imagine seeing on a David Attenborough program. The snake won!
As PLT also welcome volunteers, we were joined by three volunteers who decided to stop by for a week or two as they travelled across South America. Alesha from New Zealand took part in helping establish the small mammal project and since she has a background in GIS she had a look through our data and brought us up to date which was an enormous help. Jon from France and Sophie from Wales dipped in and out of most projects. Our grasshopper inventory definitely increased during their stay! This project is still in its early days but we hope to have a clearer picture on the grasshoppers found at Laguna Blanca as they are literally everywhere. Splashes of colour can be seen flashing from one bush to the next particularly in the cerrado. Large gatherings tend to hangout on a single plant and fall to the ground like rain when disturbed.
We all took a well deserved break for Christmas and New Years and spent the time lounging by the lake, catching up with people back home, bird watching and playing some volleyball and football on the beach. Christmas weekend brought some very delicious foods, fresh lime infused chicken and pork, sopa paraguya, roasted vegetables, mashed spuds with squash, Christmas fruit cake and home made cookies. We brought New Years in sitting under a perfect star filled sky by the lake with the local people. It was a far cry from the New Years parties most of us are used to back home, so it made the night that bit more special.
2011 has brought us interns Joe from England, Raph from the US and volunteers Shane and Erika also both from the US and John from the Netherlands. Intern Joe is here to do an epidemiological study for his research Masters. He is investigating the endoparasite communities of small mammals in recently burnt and unburnt forests. This study has been very exciting thus far as no previous work has been done in this area before. Joe’s work in collecting helminths from small mammals is critical for conservation purposes and for establishing the health of the forested ecosystems. Although at times I think he takes a double look at his food especially after spending hours staring into a microscope at tiny nematodes and what not.
Raph has come to us during his college break, and is interested at the diversity of bats at Laguna Blanca. To date we have gathered a small inventory of the bats living here but Raph hopes to extend this. As Laguna Blanca is a mosaic of different habitats, atlantic forest, dry forest, cerrado and lake, intern Raph is aiming to sample them all. The fun part of this study are the very late nights. In order to gather as much information as possible two bats nets are set up at each site and remain open from 8pm until 5am. As you could guess our stores of coffee have decreased some what!
It is volunteer Shane’s second visit to Laguna Blanca in less than a year. He volunteered with us the winter of last year and has returned again to gain valuable field experience, particularly in the small mammal projects. He has also taken an interest in the cerrado flora. The warm weather has produced an array of stunning flowers which Shane did not witness during the winter months. Shortly after arriving he constructed a flower press and now spends his days trekking the cerrado in search of some beautiful plants and flowers.
As volunteers here at PLT have the opportunity to dip in and out of on going projects they have the chance to gain a vast knowledge on a wide range of animals, from mammals and birds to reptiles and insects. Volunteer Erika joined us initially with an interest in birds but since being here she has learnt an array of new skills from sampling small mammals and endoparasites to pinning and identifying butterflies and moths. Erika’s previous experience in birding has resulted in her gathering baseline data on the behaviour of burrowing owls found throughout the cerrado. As intern Emma’s bird project has moved onto its next stage (this involves mist netting the species of birds found feeding on the study fruit and taking relevant measurements such as weight and gape) this allowed Erika to make good use of Emma’s bird hide which had been her home for the past two months. Similar to Emma, Erika has spent hours braving the cerrado heat in the little hide watching not only the burrowing owls daily routines but also witnessing some other very interesting birds one of which is still a mystery and is yet to be identified. This work is still on going so I will keep you posted.
John is an expert in flies and has shown many of us a new side to these sometimes frustrating little creatures. I think sometimes people don’t think to stop and take a second look at these tiny animals before they swat them. After taking a closer look at some of the vibrant eye colourations and fascinating wing patterns I know I will definitely have a second thought before flicking a fly from me.
Mist netting last night and this morning has proven to be very success. Four species of bat were found not far from the house, one of which is the first time found in our mist nets, much to Raph’s delight. He has a busy day ahead of him taking measurements and photographing each individual. Alex, John, Emma, Erika and I were up before the birds this morning, 430am to be exact, setting up metres upon metres of mist nets. It is lunch time and so far we have managed to remove, two adults and one juvenile Chopi blackbird (Gnorimopsar chopi), two adult Rufus, one Southern Sparrow house wren and one tanager. To see these birds cruising the skies and hopping from bush to bush everyday is a joy but to see them up close and personal really adds to the experience. One can truly appreciate the colours and textures of each individual, even the single black tone of the Choppi blackbird.
Hasta la Proxima!
Loraine Grant: MSc, BSc
miércoles, 20 de octubre de 2010
Tracking Ourselves!
For a second I thought to say “Oh I hope the weather is good for Sundays BBQ” but then decided, nah sure we are in Paraguay not Ireland any more of course it will be a beautiful day! But no......why when things are planned does something go awry, I have woken up this morning with the rain pounding on the roof and the front garden turning into a second lake. But on the up side I can now get some serious work done on my tadpole project and of course the frogs are going to be out in force later tonight. It is definitely true that whenever something doesn’t work something else good will come from it so I can’t really complain!
Our volunteer Stuart has joined us now. So we figured it would be cool to introduce him to the joys of searching for butterflies! The plan was to stay relatively close to the back of the house but the butterflies didn’t follow our plan and in the excitement of the chase (oh yes you may laugh now but wait until you try it and the little guys keep taunting you fluttering by your face) we went way off track and got very disorientated in the grass and tree’s of the cerrado. We tried to do a Ray Mears and track our footsteps back to the track but after seeing the same tree for the second time we figured we’d been tracking our footsteps in a nice big circle. (Maybe we should have been paying more close attention rather than chatting about caterpillars). With the sun setting I looked to the sky! No not to pray.......but figured I could use the position of the setting sun to get a grasp on the direction of the house and it worked, we were back at the house in jig time! I recon Mr. Mears would be impressed!
The intern’s projects are at the fun stages where they are really settling into the field work and getting some awesome work done. The brain cells are definitely in over drive!
We “harvested” our first home grown squash from our vegetable patch last night......chicken and squash soup. It’s nice to eat something that you helped grow....even if it wasn’t as ripe as it should have been......well it was green, but it still tasted good!! Next step is to collect some horse manure to mix with the compost we are making and get some melons growing!
Hasta la Proxima!
Loraine Grant: MSc, BSc
Our volunteer Stuart has joined us now. So we figured it would be cool to introduce him to the joys of searching for butterflies! The plan was to stay relatively close to the back of the house but the butterflies didn’t follow our plan and in the excitement of the chase (oh yes you may laugh now but wait until you try it and the little guys keep taunting you fluttering by your face) we went way off track and got very disorientated in the grass and tree’s of the cerrado. We tried to do a Ray Mears and track our footsteps back to the track but after seeing the same tree for the second time we figured we’d been tracking our footsteps in a nice big circle. (Maybe we should have been paying more close attention rather than chatting about caterpillars). With the sun setting I looked to the sky! No not to pray.......but figured I could use the position of the setting sun to get a grasp on the direction of the house and it worked, we were back at the house in jig time! I recon Mr. Mears would be impressed!
The intern’s projects are at the fun stages where they are really settling into the field work and getting some awesome work done. The brain cells are definitely in over drive!
We “harvested” our first home grown squash from our vegetable patch last night......chicken and squash soup. It’s nice to eat something that you helped grow....even if it wasn’t as ripe as it should have been......well it was green, but it still tasted good!! Next step is to collect some horse manure to mix with the compost we are making and get some melons growing!
Hasta la Proxima!
Loraine Grant: MSc, BSc
jueves, 14 de octubre de 2010
180
Hmn to continue where I left off last time......Phew its hot!!!!! All of a sudden the temperature has done a complete 180 and is now 37°C. There is no such thing as a gradual change in temperature, oh no sure why would it do that! But I do prefer the hot to the cold without a doubt, even if it means all I have wanted to do today is sit in the bathroom since it seems to be the coolest place I can find, but some how I think people might begin to worry for my sanity!
We took a well deserved break in Asuncion this weekend. I didn’t get the chance to do the tourist type things when I first got here, so it was great to kick back and see a bit more of the country, or well the city at least. The bus ride from Santa Rosa to Asuncion was pure luxury....double decker, air con, snacks and coffee. Although I would caution any one who drinks the coffee on the buses here unless you like coffee with your sugar! The five hour journey across the flat vast country side doesn’t actually seem to take as long as it sounds but I suppose it does help when you have miles upon miles of beautiful scenery to admire. There are not many roads in Paraguay in fact there is pretty much one straight main road that goes through the country with the odd turn off’s here and there bringing you to main towns like Conception and Pedro Juan Caballero. On entering the city of Asuncion gone are the beautiful open fields filled with crops and birds, instead there is a concrete jungle with horns beeping and people juggling at traffic lights for some spare change. The taxi ride’s are always an experience, they are always in such a rush and seem to negotiate their way through the organised chaos of the streets. The roads have little or no markings and pedestrians beware because even though there may be zebra crossings it does not in any way mean that you have the right of way. I am not sure I even entirely trust the traffic lights and the meaning of red! It took me a little while to get used to the loud noises of the city, from the constant buzz of people chatting and cars whizzing past to the brass band and fire trucks that had some sort of display on in the park across the road from our hotel! We wondered the streets of Mcal, Estigrribia and Palma where all sorts from CD’s and hand made crafts to clothes and jewellery (I got roped into buying a pair of earrings, although they are very pretty). Some of the crafts, particularly the wood carvings, are stunning and you could only imagine the time and effort gone into each single piece. We made our way to the palace and then onto a tug boat across Asuncion bay. This cost about 2mil and took maybe half an hour. It was actually really cool, it allowed us to take a step back and view the city from a completely different angle. We putted and tutted across the bay in this little gas run water boat looking out at the people who live off of the land, water birds, small fishing boats which looked like they belonged in the Amazon, a massive rusted old ship wreck and an old fashioned cruise boat. All the high rise buildings of the city were the complete opposite of the piece of land we were left on, which consisted of a church, some houses and a rusty old tractor. We chillaxed at the waters edge with our bottle of coca-cola.....no matter where in the world you are a bottle of coca-cola will always be close to hand!
The rest of the day was spent trying to a pair of trousers that weren’t jeans or some stylish legging, as I have ripped my way through most of my trousers, but I have had to resort to asking my parents to post some out to me, since my patch work is not too great! So I foreworn everyone to bring plenty of trousers! We do a lot of walking, running, diving, jumping, climbing....the lot!
We have a new intern with us who is doing work on the different species of reptiles found in varying habitats. I am particularly excited with this since reptiles are my speciality! A new volunteer is joining us tomorrow. It is always exciting when a new person joins us, hearing their different stories and interests.
Just in from a kayak across the lake and it’s just in time by the sound of sound of the rumbling in the sky we will be having a whopper of a storm tonight!
Hasta la Proxima!
Loraine Grant: M.Sc., B.Sc.
We took a well deserved break in Asuncion this weekend. I didn’t get the chance to do the tourist type things when I first got here, so it was great to kick back and see a bit more of the country, or well the city at least. The bus ride from Santa Rosa to Asuncion was pure luxury....double decker, air con, snacks and coffee. Although I would caution any one who drinks the coffee on the buses here unless you like coffee with your sugar! The five hour journey across the flat vast country side doesn’t actually seem to take as long as it sounds but I suppose it does help when you have miles upon miles of beautiful scenery to admire. There are not many roads in Paraguay in fact there is pretty much one straight main road that goes through the country with the odd turn off’s here and there bringing you to main towns like Conception and Pedro Juan Caballero. On entering the city of Asuncion gone are the beautiful open fields filled with crops and birds, instead there is a concrete jungle with horns beeping and people juggling at traffic lights for some spare change. The taxi ride’s are always an experience, they are always in such a rush and seem to negotiate their way through the organised chaos of the streets. The roads have little or no markings and pedestrians beware because even though there may be zebra crossings it does not in any way mean that you have the right of way. I am not sure I even entirely trust the traffic lights and the meaning of red! It took me a little while to get used to the loud noises of the city, from the constant buzz of people chatting and cars whizzing past to the brass band and fire trucks that had some sort of display on in the park across the road from our hotel! We wondered the streets of Mcal, Estigrribia and Palma where all sorts from CD’s and hand made crafts to clothes and jewellery (I got roped into buying a pair of earrings, although they are very pretty). Some of the crafts, particularly the wood carvings, are stunning and you could only imagine the time and effort gone into each single piece. We made our way to the palace and then onto a tug boat across Asuncion bay. This cost about 2mil and took maybe half an hour. It was actually really cool, it allowed us to take a step back and view the city from a completely different angle. We putted and tutted across the bay in this little gas run water boat looking out at the people who live off of the land, water birds, small fishing boats which looked like they belonged in the Amazon, a massive rusted old ship wreck and an old fashioned cruise boat. All the high rise buildings of the city were the complete opposite of the piece of land we were left on, which consisted of a church, some houses and a rusty old tractor. We chillaxed at the waters edge with our bottle of coca-cola.....no matter where in the world you are a bottle of coca-cola will always be close to hand!
The rest of the day was spent trying to a pair of trousers that weren’t jeans or some stylish legging, as I have ripped my way through most of my trousers, but I have had to resort to asking my parents to post some out to me, since my patch work is not too great! So I foreworn everyone to bring plenty of trousers! We do a lot of walking, running, diving, jumping, climbing....the lot!
We have a new intern with us who is doing work on the different species of reptiles found in varying habitats. I am particularly excited with this since reptiles are my speciality! A new volunteer is joining us tomorrow. It is always exciting when a new person joins us, hearing their different stories and interests.
Just in from a kayak across the lake and it’s just in time by the sound of sound of the rumbling in the sky we will be having a whopper of a storm tonight!
Hasta la Proxima!
Loraine Grant: M.Sc., B.Sc.
lunes, 4 de octubre de 2010
Discovering & Recovering
It has been a cracker of a week!! The team here at Laguna Blanca have been discovering and recovering species left right and centre! The week kicked off with a new species of frog being discovered in the reed beds of the lake, not only that but a few day’s later two juveniles were found in the reeds right outside our house!!! I can’t tell you the excitement that zipped through our veins! This little guy has been living in secret and now he can finally be exposed to the scientific world! Amazing! But the excitement does not stop there, oh no!! Just 4 nights ago we were sitting on the porch having a chat with some tourists and flying around our heads was this pretty little yellow/light lime green moth.....nothing too amazing you might think but you couldn’t be more wrong as it’s none other than Catharisa cerina a moth that has not been seen since the 1930’s! Once in 2005 it was briefly spotted in Laguna Blanca but that is it. And to our absolute amazement we have seen them every night since fluttering around the moth light out the back of the house.....4 in total! This is a very special find not only because it has not been seen in all these years but there has only ever been 7 documented. We know nothing about its life cycle, habitat preferences (just to add to the confusion we have found them close to both the cerrado and Atlantic forest), its reproduction or what the male looks like! Nothing!!! Then just to round things off, another female moth, Titaea orsinome, was found last night, it has only been documented twice before in Paraguay and both were males. This is a beautiful and rare emperor moth of the cerrado....what U-turn that has been since starting my week with a scorpion taking a piece out of me!
A few days have passed since I began writing this blog and of course things have only got more exciting!!! I came back from frogging in a little spot we like to call frog paradise just 3 nights ago to find everyone surrounding the Catharisa cerina........they were laying eggs......I grabbed my camera super fast and got some cool footage of this amazing moment!! Fabulous! Nothing of this sort has ever been witnessed before; it is a special moment in history! We are now keeping a daily tabs on everything they are doing. The scientists of the moth world have been ecstatic and the internet and telephone lines have been hopping non-stop!
In just a few weeks the amount of different species of moths and frogs that have been found has almost surpassed what was found all winter, I guess spring is definitely the time everything comes to life! Discoveries and recoveries can only go up from here as we have more hands and eyes from the volunteers and interns joining us. This is by far the best place to be if you want to make a difference to science whether it be with moths, frogs, lizards, birds....what ever it all seems to be coming to life now!
To change topic.....it is freezing here at the moment! Being from Ireland I never thought I would say that 16°C is freezing since that’s considered a beautiful summer’s day back home. I’m wrapped up with so many layers that I can hardly sit down or stand up properly. Add that to the torrential rain that comes out of nowhere and sometimes I have to remember that it actually is spring here. Positive thing I guess is we don’t have to remember to water our vegetable garden and the regeneration in the cerrado and dry forest from the fires is increasing ten fold which is brilliant to see.
Hasta la Proxima!
A few days have passed since I began writing this blog and of course things have only got more exciting!!! I came back from frogging in a little spot we like to call frog paradise just 3 nights ago to find everyone surrounding the Catharisa cerina........they were laying eggs......I grabbed my camera super fast and got some cool footage of this amazing moment!! Fabulous! Nothing of this sort has ever been witnessed before; it is a special moment in history! We are now keeping a daily tabs on everything they are doing. The scientists of the moth world have been ecstatic and the internet and telephone lines have been hopping non-stop!
In just a few weeks the amount of different species of moths and frogs that have been found has almost surpassed what was found all winter, I guess spring is definitely the time everything comes to life! Discoveries and recoveries can only go up from here as we have more hands and eyes from the volunteers and interns joining us. This is by far the best place to be if you want to make a difference to science whether it be with moths, frogs, lizards, birds....what ever it all seems to be coming to life now!
To change topic.....it is freezing here at the moment! Being from Ireland I never thought I would say that 16°C is freezing since that’s considered a beautiful summer’s day back home. I’m wrapped up with so many layers that I can hardly sit down or stand up properly. Add that to the torrential rain that comes out of nowhere and sometimes I have to remember that it actually is spring here. Positive thing I guess is we don’t have to remember to water our vegetable garden and the regeneration in the cerrado and dry forest from the fires is increasing ten fold which is brilliant to see.
Hasta la Proxima!
viernes, 1 de octubre de 2010
Wake up call by a Scorpion!
Most people wake up to their alarm clocks buzzing but not for me....on this raining Sunday morning I had the pleasure of waking up to a scorpion nabbing me on my leg! Feeling the sudden sting and crazy intense burning I knew straight away what it was but prayed for the first time that it was a bug or mozzie or just anything else biting me! After shouting like a lunatic and waking everybody in the house we phoned Rosario (the guy who takes care of the reserve) who came to my rescue with cotton wool and ammonium to draw the venom out. The burning spread around the site with a type of rash and man did it burn! As you can imagine there were plenty of choose words said! Thank god Rosario didn’t seem to be too worried about it so I have just spent the day dabbing ammonium on this hole in my leg which has now come up into some lovely blisters! Ahh what a fantastic start to the week! As I have said before there is never a dull moment at Laguna Blanca!!! We haven’t seen this type of scorpion around the place so it’s in a bottle for the time being until we can put a name to it but personally I hope it stays there.....for a very long time! I suppose the good thing that came out of this is we have now swept the place top to bottom and I know for sure I’m going to swat up on scorpions because not knowing what it is that’s just injected you with god knows what is not very fun.
We are still experiencing the joys of living in a country which has frequent thunder and lightening storms cutting off the electricity sometimes for hours and sometimes just a few minutes....keeps you on your toes and I think my night vision is getting better, I only say that because I haven’t walked into any doors....yet! But it is definitely great weather for frogs! They love it; you can hear new frogs calling now, one which gives me the creeps, it reminds me of a screaming banshee! A little bit unsettling especially when you are in the middle of a reed bed with all sorts of spiders and snakes around you and there’s this banshee screaming from every direction! We have found some really interesting frogs, some with the most spectacular markings you have ever seen, just beautiful!
We had another visitor during the night the other night. Karina woke me at about 1am to tell me there was an owl in her room, ordinarily I would have thought she was going crazy but living here I have come to accept the weirdest of things. The burrowing owl that lives in front of the horse corral had some how got into our rafters. It swooped down at us so we were able to catch it at the end of the bed. It’s now back on its mound in front of the corral bombing Peluza (our dog) every time she comes to close! Very funny stuff!
Hasta la Proxima!
We are still experiencing the joys of living in a country which has frequent thunder and lightening storms cutting off the electricity sometimes for hours and sometimes just a few minutes....keeps you on your toes and I think my night vision is getting better, I only say that because I haven’t walked into any doors....yet! But it is definitely great weather for frogs! They love it; you can hear new frogs calling now, one which gives me the creeps, it reminds me of a screaming banshee! A little bit unsettling especially when you are in the middle of a reed bed with all sorts of spiders and snakes around you and there’s this banshee screaming from every direction! We have found some really interesting frogs, some with the most spectacular markings you have ever seen, just beautiful!
We had another visitor during the night the other night. Karina woke me at about 1am to tell me there was an owl in her room, ordinarily I would have thought she was going crazy but living here I have come to accept the weirdest of things. The burrowing owl that lives in front of the horse corral had some how got into our rafters. It swooped down at us so we were able to catch it at the end of the bed. It’s now back on its mound in front of the corral bombing Peluza (our dog) every time she comes to close! Very funny stuff!
Hasta la Proxima!
Suscribirse a:
Entradas (Atom)