Wednesday 6th December Hmmm..How,What,Where,When,Why?
Today is a lot cooler here almost a wet September day except it is 23 degrees which is however the lowest yet. Had my first proper big girls blouse moment in camp last night. I had an early night because there was all manner of strange noises going on so I put my Mp3 on and left whatever was making the noises to it. I decided to go to sleep and something then hit and bounced off the window scared witless doesnt cover it. I eventually must have drifted off and everything was in the rightful place in the morning. My eyelid is now back to normal and wrist but I am now peeling from the getting lost episode. One thing I have noticed is I am getting bitten less at the moment. Now whether that is because they are now bored of my blood or the garlic tablets are working I dont know. The experts reckon garlic tablets or Marmite dont work but since I rediscovered the garlic tabs and have started taking them Im not being bitten as much so I beg to differ.
Oh yeah we have some new arrivals in camp 2 nests have hatched chicks a flycatcher of some sort or another.
Slid slipped and made slow progress to the lodge today the mud is really sticky and sticks everything to you that you come across. Showed everyone my Toco pics and they were all really pleased for me. Apparently the Guaranis call the Toco the weather bird because when it starts calling theres going to be a change in the weather. Shopping finally arrived today so no more Ready steady cook moments. And I finally get to have cereal in the morning ( no milk up until now!!) I'm off to the Capi area again in a bit and then off to discover the smll swamp area by camp. Not looking forward to walk back was fun enough this morning let alone with shopping in both hands.
No Tocos today but that doesnt surprise me seeing as they raided nests yesterday perhaps they visit every other day which meant I missed Sunday but perhaps tommorow? We will see.
Another thing that is getting my curiosity going is what the iron content in wild birds diets is like. In captivity another problem we have is iron storage disease. Ironic seeing as they advertise a certain drink which is supposed to be full of it. All of toucans at the castle get a low iron diet with cranberry juice, green tea and milkthistle added to it as they are all good antioxidants which help get rid of the toxins.
Here at Yacutinga the soil has a very high iron content which means the soil is red theres that much in it. So this will transfer into all the fruits in the area. So what do the toucans do to combat this? There is tea grown here for Yerba Mate because the Capis hoover up all the weeds and leave the tea. So is the Toucans diet higher in Tannins do they only eat fruit grown within this area? I think I will leave here with far more questions unanswered than answered. My transfer date has changed back to the 14th Dec which is frustrating because I was hoping to go and see this German woman Carlos wanted me to see but also cool because the Guarani children are coming to sing for us on the 12th. Cant remember if I told you about the Guarani but they have 30 families still living in the jungle. Some of the young men come and give tours like the Chico Mendez trail. Our guides father taught him the traps because thats how he used to hunt. The guides get paid for this which helps the community plus some of the others are rangers for the park.
I really hope that Yacutinga can keep the balance going between Tourism and and conservation. A certain amount of what the tourists pay goes towards conservation and research hence the biological center being built and the living quarters. Both of which have been built this year. They have some fantastic ideas and I personally want to help them as much as I can. If by writing articles and doing a talk for them gets more keepers and researchers out here to do various other in situ projects then I will (well Ive already promised an article in Ratel for them and they will write articles for ABWAKs publications). Although I do have a wish list for here but its going to be cheaper to send them the articles from England!
Right before I sign off a few messages.. Ditto Te voy a echar de menos te quiero, James they have an obsession with patting armadillos! Maria the chuppa chups have been a godsend even though I couldnt bring them all, Heather My cracker got confiscated so unfortunatly I still wont have one for Xmas, Karen Happy Birthday hon (im still a bit confused with dates n stuff so apologies if I have missed it)