Explorer´s Inn RN Monthly Report: January 2008

RNs: Toni Aragon, Monica Moreno Brush, Anne Lieflaender, Robin McDaniel
Volunteers: Reto Nadig, Liz, Diana.

Notes:       

• Toni left on the 9th of January
• Anne arrived on the 5th of January
• Monica arrived on the 9th of January
• Monica in Puerto: 15th – 17th
• Anne Puerto: 15th – 17th  and 25th - 26th (see doctor again)
• obin McDaniel arrived on the 29th of January

TRAILS

Rain and storms have continued to bring down many trees, branches and palm leaves. Especially High Forest Loop needs maintenance with the chain saw. Tree falls (big trees only) occurred for example as well on Main Trail (2850), Laguna Chica Trail (100m), Terrace (300-350m, about 7 big trees), Big Tree (at its end). Many trails are under water and not walkable because of the constant rain. We have cleared trails ourselves or with help and checked the missing marker and started to paint new ones. Due to problems with the GPS and difficulties in communicating with the specialist we only tracked the following trails: Laguna Chica, Capirona Main, High Forest Loop, Terrace, Sunset, New Collpita, research plots and La Torre trail.

Unfortunately, High Forest Loop and Main Trail needed to be re-done as they were tracked incorrectly.  Main Trail has already been done.
             

LIBRARY

The scientific library was infrequently used by guests. We have protected the shelves against rain with plastic. Due to heavy rainfall and the leaking roof in the RN bungalow we moved the RN data to the library and some weeks after, we moved all the stuff from the library to the Discovery Center which has less humidity. All the RNs documents have been checked and are being re-organized.  

LENGUAGE TRAINING

During the month of January, the guides Christian, Dolores and Fernando have had some English lesson from Anne. The English lessons have been formal and informal. Anne also gave some German lessons to Dolores and Alexis and received help with learning Spanish. Monica has been helping Dolores translating and preparing some of her talks.
 
MEDICINAL GARDEN

The medicinal garden has been weeded almost completely. It is very overgrown and needs a lot more maintenance. Before we can think of planting new plants we must consult Elisban for help, as we are unsure as to what plants need to be added to the garden, and which plants do not belong there.  The signs have been cleaned and repainted in some cases.
 
DISCOVERY CENTRE

The Discovery Centre was completely cleaned from the top to the bottom because of a termite invasion. All objects were rearranged and some things painted anew. The floor has been brushed regularly.

CONTACT WITH TOURISTS – GUIDING, RN TALKS, etc.

Guiding
Only the volunteer and bird specialist Reto guided birdwatchers this month.

Talks
No talks were given by RNs or volunteers.

RESEARCH ASSISTANCE

• Toni and Anne collected litter for the forest production project from plot 3 and 4 for Filio on the 6th and 7th.
• Maintained walking palms and measured them on the 27th.
• At the end of the month, the RNs and one of the volunteers (Diana), helped Filio and friends with their job in plot 3 and 4 (San Blas University of Cuzco/Oxford University project).
• Observations and experiments were made for the Tangarana project (PUCP/UCS)  

NEWSLETTER

As the former RNs were so kind to write the Newsletter for February before they left, we did not need to write anything. Anne has some new ideas for articles. As Dustin suggested, we intend to augment the following newsletter (April 2008) and supplement the February/March newsletter, with more scientific data; we would like the newsletters to show more information about the research going on at lodge and its results.

OTHERS/PERSONAL PROJECTS

Unfortunately, Anne had only 4 days to learn everything from Toni, so it was a hard start for her.  Monica hasn’t started a new project because she is making some observations on the ant-plants that she is working with in her thesis.  Monica decided to not undertake another project she will only be working as an RN for one month. Since Jan’s computer has not been working, and the RN’s computer was required for setting up a new warehouse program, they could also not use the laptop (only for internet).

Monica is planning on rewriting, together with some of the guides, the Guide for the Guides and Anne the Guide for the RNs.

Condition of the RN bungalow

Unfortunately, the condition of the RN bungalow has deteriorated.  The roof is extremely leaky, especially in the front.  This makes any sort of work in the bungalow nearly impossible when there is rain.

Caimans – Cocococha
In Dec, the caiman at Cocococha were monitored on 12th , 18th and 28th.

12/01/08

• The caimans were monitored from 19:15 until 21:25 in the eastern half of the lake. The weather was clear and only a few clouds were visible at the horizon. The moon was half full.
• 6 caimans were seen.

18/01/08

• The caimans were monitored from 19:18 until 20:47 in the western half of the lake. The moon was bright (more than half moon) and with some clouds in the sky.
• 24 caimans were seen. Most of them underneath and close to the Agami Heron colony which have chicks at the moment.

28/01/08

• The caimans were monitored from 19:00 until 20:36 in the eastern half of the lake. It was a cloudy night but without wind.
• 9 caimans were seen.

Caimans-Tambopata
Caiman have been surveyed regularly from the boats going out with passengers. Because of the high river level from the middle to end of January there were only a few caimans spotted.

Otters

Cocococha
There have been 3 monitoring sheets filled out by the guides. On January, 8 otters were the maximum count.

Katicocha
Since all the trails to get to Katicocha have been flooded and the quebradas don’t have bridges, Katicocha hasn’t been visited at all in
January

Collpita
Rainfall and the lack of tourists made it impossible to do the Collpita monitoring 10 times this month. It has been done 5 times. On the 11th Monica and Anne together with Erika (one of the guides) tried to walk to the Collpita via New Collpita. It was not possible to reach the deep Quebrada (which has no bridge), because the area (at New Collpita 150m) before it was completely flooded. (see picture at the end).

INDEX:
BHPA=Blue-headed Parrot (Pionus menstruus), CFMA=Chestnut-fronted Macaw (Ara severa), DHPA=Dusky-headed Parakeet (Aratinga weddellii), MEPA=Mealy Parrot (Amazona farinosa), OCPA=Orange-cheeked Parrot (Pionopsitta barrabandi), RGMA=Red-and-green Macaw (Ara chloroptera), WEPA=White-eyed Parakeet (Aratinga leucophthalmus), and YCPA=Yellow-crowned Parrot (Amazona ochrocephala).

Species Sightings
Species recorded in January are listed in the table below.

Mammal Transects
Mammal transects will not be continued.

Weather Data
We had a lot of rain in January. Extreme rainfall occurred on the 10th which flooded the whole RN bungalow hallway, bathrooms and room No. 1. The thermometer is currently being observed (and questioned) as it has been reporting excessively high temperatures (ex. February 5th maximum temperature was 47.7°c). The outside roof of the RN bungalow fell down the 14th so we suspect that this may have somehow affected the computerized thermometer. Therefore we moved the thermometer further to the right of the roof part that still exists at the 07.02.08.