Rainforest day 2

A Ficus Tree with vines (and me) climbing up it

My second day at Sandoval Lake started at 5 am. We got up and got out onto the lake early to see if we could catch the otters or any other wildlife. Today we did not have as much luck seeing wildlife as the day before.

We did, however, hear a lot of wildlife sounds and Nilton identified many birds by their sounds. The most interesting and haunting sound was the sound of the howler monkeys. They sound something like a howling wind and can be heard from 2 1/2 miles away. Nilton pointed out many birds including several varieties of Macaws, kingfishers, and herons. We identified a Ringed Kingfisher, Blue and Yellow Macaws, which are plentiful, a chestnut billed heron and a Striated Heron, a Gray- Necked Wood Rail, a Yellow-headed Parrot, and a Red Capped Cardinal.  I tried taking pictures of a few of them but they did not turn out too good and the Macaws were always high up and could only be seen with my binoculars.

Cicada tower - where the green cicada live underground as nymphs before emerging as adults

Cicada - about 3 inches long

As we were heading back to the lodge for breakfast we heard a sound which Nilton identfied as heavy rain coming accross the forest and said it would rain hard soon. Sure enough, shortly after returning to the lodge it was pouring rain. Nilton said our hike for 10:30 would be postponed till 3PM and hopefully it would be done raining. I went to my room and read a book, listened to the rain and took a nap till lunch.

The weather cleared up and it was still drizzling a bit but we went out for our hike at 3pm and explored the forest. We identified many species of trees including several varieties of ficus, one of which is called the strangle ficus because it uses a palm tree to climb up and surround and strangle to grow. Another, the walking palm tree can move 20 centimeters a year to gain better sunlight. It puts out new (legs)roots to the sun side and the roots on the other side die and it moves.

A "walking"palm tree

Me with a Brazil-nut and Machete

One of the largest cash crops for this area of the rainforest is the Brazil-nut tree. We found one and I immediately spotted a brazil-nut on the ground before we were anywhere close to the tree. That is because the tree can grow to a height of 150 feet with branches spreading 100 feet around. The Brazil-nuts are large, a bit smaller than a softball, but much heavier. They look and feel like a coconut with the outer husk off and usually weigh 4-5 pounds. We saw som brazil-nuts on the ground and went in to pick them up when we heard a loud crashing through the trees a few feet away and Nilton started shouting to get away. We ran back up the trail as he explained it was very dangerous to be under the tree this time of year without a hard hat on. The crashing was a 4 pound brazil-nut crashing down 100 ft. which could easily kill you if you are hit on the head and does kill more people every year in the rainforest than snakes and poison spiders together.  The brazil-nut shell is chopped open with a machete then the inner seeds need to be cracked to get out the nut.

Brazil-nuts in shells and the hard outer shell - delicious! before being dried they have the consistency of coconut meat

 

A hoatzin - one of the few birds we could see close enough, and was big enough for a good picture

During the afternoon another group of visitors arrived at the lodge.  They were Ruth and Jules, an older couple from New Zeeland and Lena, a singer/dancer from Sydney Australia. We all went together back out on the lake in the afternoon and this time had the luck to see the otters swimming in the lake but they were far away on the side of the lake where it is forbidden to go by the park service. We could see them in out binoculars swimming and playing, their heads bobbing.  We identified many more birds, including, a Green Kingfisher, Golden-collared Toucanet, Chestnut-fronted Macaw, Lineated Woodpecker, Yellow-browed Sparrow, and the Hoatzin. 

Tree Tarantula

After dinner we went out on the lake with flashlights to locate the black caimen.  They are the largest alligator species in the Amazon, growing to 16 ft. in length, and many live in the lake but are nocturnal.  We found them by their red eyes which you could see from far off glowing very brightly in the flashlight beam.  We got close to one that was about 3 ft. long. 

We also went for a night walk in the woods and saw a baby caiman.  Because the forest surrounding the lake is flooded now, they are harder to see as they stay back in the bush.  There are many spiders in the forest and we found half dozen different ones, one spinning his web and one with newly caught prey.  There are two types of tarantulas, one that lives in the palm trees, and one that lives in the ground.  the one in the trees is harmless and the ground tarantula is poisonous.  

  Ground Tarantula