BLOG - July 6, 2006

On Day Four, Kiegan and Jeff ventured up a river to look for Giant River Otters. On the way up, they looked for otter evidence such as scat, tracks, and dens. Then they turned the motorboat off to float silently down river to see if any otters would come out. In the afternoon, Jeff and Kiegan walked out to a tower that overlooks our pousada to see if they could spot any otters. They didn't get to see any, but they heard a whole family of them.
Haley, Kortnee, Andrew, Luke, and Katie went out to do water testing. They waded into a very mucky baia. They proceeded with water testing they had done before, and then caught invertebrates. At the second site they went into shoulder deep piranha infested water to put out large nets to catch more invertebrates. They caught small fish, shrimp, tetras, beetles, and dragonflies. The return ride included some serious harmonizing to the score from The Lion King.
Kelsey, Anna, and Liz joined the herpetology project. They visited all the same sites the group the day before had visited. All the traps were again checked for any reptiles or amphibians. A few lizards and frogs were caught between fishing spiders and scorpions out of the traps. The best catch of the day was a lost armadillo that fell into a trap. Kelsey picked up the scared little critter, and after a few pictures he ran off. The day ended with the measuring, weighing, and classifying of the species caught in the lab.
Nick was the lone York kid on his project today. Having previously set and baited traps, today was spent actually tracking peccaries. In the morning, the group checked traps for and catches. Unfortunately, nothing had been caught but peccaries had gotten in and eaten the bait and managed to get out. Then strong readings started coming in from a peccary that had been collared. The group tracked the peccary all the way to its herd. Than afternoon two small traps were picked up and returned to the pousada, and then another attempt was made to track a peccary. After running into a fence, the group ditched the truck and went on foot. Zazu, the Master, almost stepped on a caiman and then saw a bird he had never seen in the area.
Tonight we had a traditional Brazilian square dance rehearsal for the actual dance that is coming up on Sunday. We even had a caller who called the steps… unfortunately she was calling in Portuguese! What a disaster! More rice & beans for dinner…
We're off to bed early so we can get up at 5:30 to walk to see the sunrise, lots of bug spray and cameras are mandatory. TEAM 9

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