Explorer´s Inn RN Monthly Report: April 2009

RNs: Yasmin Lee, Jack Brodie, Georgia Kirkpatrick

Volunteers: None

Notes:

• 1st-5th Georgia in Puerto Maldonado
• 2nd-3rd Yasmin and Jack at Collpa Chuncho
• 5th-6th Yasmin and Jack in Puerto Maldonado to print EI Newsletter
• 12th Georgia in Puerto Maldonado
• 15th Georgia left EI
• 19th-21st Yasmin and Jack in Puerto Maldonado
• 30th Shelley and George arrived at EI

TRAILS & HIDES

All trails have been walked and cleared this month although some heavy wind and rain has resulted in a lot of new tree falls.  Capirona, Laguna Chica, Tapir and Main trails have been cleared with a chainsaw by Elisban and Waldo.  Missing Markers have been noted for Katicocha and part of Heliconia whilst High forest loop and Quebrada trails have been completely remarked and signs has been replaced on the Sunset point-La Torre Junction and on Big tree trail. 

DISCOVERY CENTER AND SCIENTIFIC LIBRARY

• The Discovery Centre is regularly swept and dusted and the floor has been treated with diesel.  
• The tourists regularly visit the discovery centre and have been encouraged to take out books as.
• The new entomology book has been brought from the United States by Georgia’s mother and a new copy of 'Neotropical Rainforest Mammals' purchased with the RN fund has arrived
• Two books ‘A Neotropical Companion’ and ‘Animal Behaviour’ have been donated by Georgia and a member of the OET group who donated ‘Gosha Girukota Chine’ a WWF report on work in Parque National Alto-Purus.
• All new books have been covered and registered in the scientific library.
• The scientific library has had a lot of use this month due to visits from the OET and the Jacamar Bird Club course groups.
• A new inventory has been conducted of the scientific library and unfortunately despite the new stricter measures, three books have gone missing from the library in the last two months, ‘Birds of Tambopata, a checklist’, ‘Como Reconocer las Setas’ and ‘Para Conocer los Remedios del Monte’.
• One book has been damaged by a guide and the RNs are in discussion with the management about the appropriate action to be taken
• he Library rules have been translated from English into Spanish and will be put on the wall of the Discovery centre next month.

RN BUNGALOW

The RN bungalow is now completely full and Elizabeth is sharing her room as well.  It is regularly cleaned and is well looked after.

LANGUAGE TRAINING

• Jack, Yasmin, and Georgia have all continued to give support and conversation practice to staff and guides of Explorer’s Inn
• This month all RNs have given formal English classes to guides and staff
• Attendees to English classes include: Sammy, Fernando, Filio, Elizabeth, Edil, Paul, Alexis, Jaime and Yorvi
• Yasmin gave her students a test on conjugating regular verbs in English.  Everyone did very well.

MEDICINAL GARDEN

The Medicinal Garden has been regularly visited by guests and a large tree fall has been cleared.

INTERACTION WITH TOURISTS

• Yasmin, Jack and Georgia have interacted with tourists regularly during main meals and they provided them information about lodge, nature, and RNs work. 
• Yasmin and Jack guided some older guests around some of the easier trails whilst the rest of their Toucan group went to Cocococha and also members of an Intrepid group in search of a Jaguarundi and to watch birds. Yasmin also guided one of the OET group members to Cocococha.
• Yasmin and Jack gave a presentation about the RN program to the Jacamar bird club course group

RESEARCH ASISTANCE

• April 6th: Georgia collected leaves for Filio in Plots 3 and 4
• April 6th and 18th: Jack and Yasmin collected malaise trap samples for the San Marcos University entomologists.
• April 11th: All RNs had a meeting with the managers and AIDER to discuss future plans for the RN program in conjunction with AIDER
• April 16th, 17th, 18th, 29th, 30th: Yasmin and Jack Filio measuring dendrometers at Plots 3 and 4.

OTHER / PERSONAL PROJECTS

• 16th April: Jack monitored the mammal collpa near the collpita
• 18th April: Jack accompanied Elisban to the Cocococha mammal collpas and marked the route there to enable future monitoring.
• ack and Yasmin abandoned the light trap experiment after further failed attempts to attract anything other than mosquitoes.

MONITORING PROJECTS

Colpita

Observations from the collpita were recorded in the format required by Alan Lee for the Tambopata Macaw Project (TMP) which includes parrot species detected including the number of individuals of each species, parrot species that fed on the clay, weather, and details of disturbances such as passing boats and predators.  The table below describes species presence and feeding trends for the dates of data collection for April 2009.  The Tambopata Macaw Project has been provided with current and past data for the collpita and Alan Lee is being further contacted to secure appropriate credit to EI for the data which the RNs provide.

Abreviations:

Abbreviations: RGMA = red-and-green macaw (Ara chloroptera), SCMA = scarlet macaw (), CFMA = chestnut-fronted macaw (Ara severa), MEPA =  mealy parrot (Amazona farinosa), YCPA = yellow-crowned parrot (Amazona ochrocephala), BHPA = blue-headed parrot (Pionus menstruus), OCPA = orange-cheeked parrot (Pionopsitta barrabandi), DHPA = dusky-headed parakeet (Aratinga weddellii), WEPA = white-eyed parakeet (Aratinga leucophthalmus), BCPA =rock parakeet/black-capped parakeet (Phyrrhura rupicola), RS = southern Amazon red squirrel (Sciurus spadiceus)

Caimans-Cocococha

Yasmin and Jack monitored the East side of Cocococha this month.

Caimans-Tambopata

Caimans- Cocococha

Yasmin and Jack monitored the East side of Cocococha this month.

Rare species sightings

The following rare species were seen in the month of April:

Otters

Otters were sighted on 10 occasions on 9 days by guides and tourists or RNs.  The Frankfurt Zoological Society has been contacted and the RNs are once again working with them to provide them with the otter data on a monthly basis.  Aprropriate credit to the Lodge for this data will also be negotiated.

Agami herons

Yasmin and Jack have monitored the Agami herons on the 23rd and 28th of April most of the Adults have left but many fledglings remain.  The data has been sent to Vikki Thompson de Salas.

Camera Traps

The RNs have continued to use the camera traps but have not captured many species despite giving them plenty of use.

 Weather data

Data were collected for 28 out of 30 days in April.  The humidity readings continued to be unreliable but at the time of writing (May) Eric Cosio and colleagues have generously lent a temperature and humidity meter to the RNs which will be used from now on.  The old thermometer will continue to be read for a while until it can be established whether any correct humidity data can be gleaned from the old inaccurate readings.