Far Northern Queensland, taipans, bowerbirds and echidnas!

Possibly initially due to the late Steve Irwin and his TV wildlife series, Queensland, Australia is one of those places that I and I suspect most wildlife lovers of my generation (in the UK certainly) dream of reaching. That dream recently became a reality for me as I prepare to move to the Cairns area where I will be undertaking a masters degree in natural resource management with James Cook University. Earlier this month I had the opportunity to visit the area in order to establish my base before the big move in December. As a side to the admin, I spent a little time tracking down a lot of wildlife and achieved some great (IMHO) images. I also thoroughly enjoyed catching up with and the hospitality of Sam Davies and his partner Jasmin, Sam is a former class mate from Bangor University now living in Port Douglas, a very nice coincidence.

First up, Sam, Chris O'Dowd of Wet Tropics Education (http://www.wettropicseducation.com/) and I set out with a mission to find and photograph Coastal Taipan. The trip was a success and the image I produced was included in an article in the Port Douglas weekly newspaper.

With taipan in the bag, and after running some chores around the Cairns area, I moved inland and upwards into the Atherton tablelands in order to track down some of the areas renowned birdlife.

A female Victoria's riflebird peers inquisitively at the camera. This species is one of the birds of paradise, an exquisite family of birds numbering around 40 species in total, mostly occurring on the island of New Guinea. 

Above is the male Victoria's riflebird, his iridescent plumage details revealed in the morning light. During October and November, males of this species undertake incredible displays in order to attract mates. Unfortunately I was unable to capture this in the short amount of time I had available.

A Golden bowerbird blends in with its rainforest habitat surprisingly well considering its bright coloration.

Here a Golden bowerbird surveys his bower from an elevated perch, he is no doubt keeping an eye out for out-of-place lichen and flowers disrupting his display perch.

This bowerbird is stashing both lichen to add to his display, and also seemingly food items in the fork of this tree. Oddly, he would stash a food item, and then return several minutes later and take it too the forest floor where it would be consumed in the undergrowth.

Delicate work flower arrangement.. 

This Golden bowerbird is astride his display perch, surrounded by lichen and pale flowers, all the things he needs to attract a mate. A wonderful species, and a privilege to have been able to witness and photograph. 

A male Satin bowerbird stands to attention in his beautifully constructed bower. This species collects and displays blue objects around the bower, as can be seen in these images. Unfortunately due to the ready availability of litter, often the blue objects of choice around the modern bower consist of various types of plastic.

Maintenance work..

And a side on profile shot. The eye is what strikes me about this species. 

A more elusive female. It took several hours of waiting in a hide for her to materialise briefly in a photographable position, the bower having been constructed in fairly dense undergrowth. 

Finally a Tooth-billed bowerbird in the dappled rainforest light.

And calling to attract females. 

My readers can expect more from Australia from December, but first, more coverage and conservation content from Ecuador where I will be returning shortly. 

A outsiders glimpse into the forests of Ecuador

Whilst sat here typing in Quito airport the feelings I am left with upon departing the country are a sense of wonder and of inspiration derived from the scale and beauty of the natural world I have witnessed in Ecuador, a sense of hope having witnessed a successful community based conservation project, and finally a sense of looming despair in the knowledge that some of the cultures I have come to know and areas I have visited will likely soon be changed beyond recognition and lost to the pages of history as the ever growing drive to enhance economic prospects encroaches into the Amazonian lowlands in the form of oil extraction.

 One certainty is that after two months spent living in various forests around the country I know I will return. Ecuador is a country that biologically and geographically has it all – lowland tropical rainforest to the east of the Andes, rising up into the cloud forest of the Andean foothills, and higher into the dwarf forest, grasslands and glaciers of the high Andes. To the west of the Andes lie the Chocoan lowlands known to some as ‘the lost Amazon’ an incredibly species rich environment now sadly reduced to around 2% of its former extent through various human activities. There is then of course that famous Pacific coastline and the Galapagos Islands – an archipelago that has continued to inspire biologists and nature lovers since Darwin first drew the world’s attention to the islands all those years ago.

 During a two month expedition, I conducted herpetofauna surveys with Operation Wallacea alongside a team of researchers from Sussex University. Our broad biodiversity surveys were focused on the cloud forests of Santa Lucia and the Amazonian lowland forests inhabited by the Huaorani people to the west of the more well known Yasuni National Park.

 Santa Lucia is located in the western Andes in the province of Pichincha, firmly within the Andean biodiversity hotspot. The reserve is owned and run by 20 families within the local community whose economy was historically largely based on agricultural produce, particularly cane sugar production. In 1988 following a change in the legal status of the forest, the local people had to find alternate means of income. One way in which this is now achieved is through tourism and facilitation of scientific research in a sustainably run eco-lodge situated on a panoramic ridge at around 2000m altitude. The stunning views from the lodge give hope for the remaining forest whilst also paying homage to the large tracts of Andean cloud forest that have been lost to the ever increasing human needs for living space and agriculture.

The approximate location of Santa Lucia can be seen below.

The view to the S-SW away from the reserve reveals settlements and clearances at lower altitudes.

The image below shows the traditional method of sugar refinement from raw sugar cane. The mules provide the muscle required to operate the machinery into which raw sugar cane is fed. The mechanism then crushes the cane.

The highly concentrated sugar water crushed out of the plant stems then trickles from the machine into a container below..

The liquid can then be drank as a sugary drink, fermented into a type of rather tasty alcoholic rum or, using a set up similar to that pictured below, the liquid can be refined further. The wood burning stove here has a metal lined basin above into which the pure sugar cane juice is poured and then left to boil for several hours. This process separates the sugar from the water. 

The dominant habitat type present within the reserve is primary cloud forest, which covers around 80% of the reserve, the remaining areas being pastures or secondary forest that was previously farmed and is now reverting to its natural state. The reserve covers a wide altitudinal band from around 1500m to 2450m above sea level.

Here can be seen the view to the NW looking into the reserve.

The location of the reserve makes Santa Lucia a key area for Spectacled bears, a species classed as vulnerable by the IUCN. Santa Lucia is part of an initiative to form a ‘Bear corridor’ facilitating seasonal movement of Spectacled bears from lower cloud forest areas into the higher paramo zone. An important part of the Operation Wallacea expedition was a camera trapping project run by Dr Mika Peck, the aim being to recognise individual bears within the reserve by their facial markings, allowing population estimates to be made. A link to the IUCN page on Spectacled bears http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22066/0

                                        

 Threats to Spectacled bears include habitat degradation and direct persecution by landowners. Bears will occasionally venture into agricultural areas and feed on crops, which leads to conflict. Sadly in some areas bears are shot purely for sport. I am hopefully that the establishment of the protected movement corridor will help to alleviate human bear conflict. 18 additional species of medium to large mammal have been caught on camera within the reserve.

The staff at the lodge are passionate about the forest and wildlife of Santa Lucia, the reserve manager Noe is a particularly knowledgeable ornithologist. One particular highlight for any birder is the presence of Andean cock-of-the-rock, of all birds, perhaps the most charismatic and sought after species present in Andean cloud forest. There are also around 12 species of hummingbird present including the dramatic Booted racquet-tail and Violet-tailed Sylph.

  Whilst the birds and the large mammals are perhaps more evident and certainly more well know within the reserve, the reptiles and amphibians are certainly their equal in beauty and mystery.  They also fulfill many important roles in the ecology of the cloud forest. At Santa Lucia I identified 13 species of amphibian including the Emerald Glassfrog (Espadarana prosoblepon), the endangered Goblin Rainfrog (Pristimantis sobetes) and perhaps most significantly Eugenia’s rainfrog (Pristimantis eugenia) and the Dirty Rainfrog (Pristimantis illotus). Eugenia’s Rainfrog being a species dependent on bromeliads known from only a handful of cloud forest sites within an altitudinal range of only around 300m was a highly significant find. The Dirty Rainfrog is more common further north in Colombia but is only known from around 20 records within Ecuador, more spots on the distribution map for a highly cryptic and localized species is always welcome data.

Espadarana prosoblepon

Pristimantis sobetes

Pristimantis eugeniae

Pristimantis illotus

 The observed absence of many of the potentially present Hylidae and Centrolenidae species at the site indicates that unfortunately something is amiss in the amphibian assemblage at the site. The pristine state of large parts of the reserve would suggest that a disease such as chytridiomycosis rather than human induced stochasticity is the candidate likely responsible for ‘missing’ species. Chytridiomycosis is a pandemic fungi that infects amphibians usually during the larval stage, where it feeds upon keratin in the skin and damages the nervous system resulting in reduced respiratory capacity and changes in behavior that combine to reduce mortality and reproductive potential. Scientists first became aware of Chytridiomycosis in 1993, though it is now known to have been at large since at least the 70's. Today it is known to have negatively impacted amphibian populations in most habitats around the earth, in some cases leading to extinctions.

 I identified 13 reptile species at Santa Lucia, the highlights being the two Anolis species and three of the snake species.

Anolis gemmosus

Anolis gemmosus

Anolis aequitorialis

Dipsas elegans - a Western Ecuadorean Andes endemic species.

Dendrophidion clarkii - this individual was found above 1500m, at the extreme upper limit of the species altitudinal range.

 Atractus gigas - above and below

This final snake species was a massive herpetological highlight, the species was fist described by Myers and Schargel (2006)  and has since been found only a handful of times, as of 2009 Santa Lucia was only the second site from which this species was known. A very beautiful and lucky find!

 With continued investment from both tourists and research groups such as Operation Wallacea and Sussex University, gladly, the forests and wildlife of Santa Lucia are likely to be protected well into the future. The reserve is one of the most successful and promising examples of sustainable community based conservation that I have had the pleasure of visiting and contributing to. I thoroughly recommend a visit to Santa Lucia for anyone with a love of nature and the outdoors.

A final parting image that captures the beauty and mystery of the Santa Lucia cloud forests.

 Please contact me for more information on Santa Lucia, the Santa Lucia website can be found here http://www.santaluciaecuador.com/

 Yasuni National Park has recently received a lot of media attention due to the decision made by the Ecuadorian government to allow oil exploration and extraction to take place within the reserve, facilitated by the development of a new road. The negative environmental consequences of this new road development are all too predictable, having been seen time and again in tropical areas around the world. Having spent time with the wildlife and both the Quechua and Huaorani peoples indigenous to the area, and upon whose traditional lifestyles and cultures this decision will weigh most heavily, I feel more motivated than ever to further my involvement in conservation and natural resource management. Seeing the ‘waste’ natural gasses being burned off, and the swathe of recent deforestation and degradation along the oil road leading from Coca into Amazonian Ecuador is enough motivation to banish away any apathy. On this note, I plan to return to Ecuador in November to a rare fragment of intact Chocoan lowland forest home to the last of the critically endangered Brown-headed spider monkeys where I will aim to photograph the species and produce an article alongside Dr Mika Peck of Sussex University regarding his long term effort to conserve the species and their habitat into the future – an ongoing project with a promising future.

 Some articles concerning Ecuador’s recent oil extraction policies can be found here.

http://www.sosyasuni.org/en/index.php - sosyasuni is an Ecuadorean NGO with the aim of keeping oil companies out of Yasuni.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/may/23/ecuador-amazon-yasuni-national-park-oil-drill - Guardian article 'Ecuador signs permits for oil drilling'

 The Huaorani of Nenkepare were the people we worked closely with in the lowlands. Nenkepare is a small settlement established around 20 years ago by a forward thinking Huaorani named Nenke to prevent illegal encroachment into the legally protected Huaorani land.

Whilst the location and boundary of the Huaorani zone is clearly marked on this map I photographed at Apaica - another Huaorani village, in practice, the boundary is currently subjective as there are no markers of boundary fences on the ground. This lack of an established border has recently enabled certain industries to start ‘testing the water’. The Huaorani have encountered oil exploration within their cultural territory. I for one do not wish to see an ancient culture along with the vast assemblage of species living in sympatry descend into a maze of oil roads, pipes, toxic streams and poverty.

Two weeks of camera trapping around the Nenkepare area revealed some of the difficult to see mammal species present with such highlights as Jaguar, Tapir and again Puma.

The Huaorani regard Jaguars as their brothers, kindred spirits. They therefore do not hunt the species, making the Huaorani cultural reserve a highly important area for this charismatic and threatened large cat. 

This Tapir was captured on camera approaching a clay lick, an area of exposed clay which is frequented by many species of bird and mammal in order to gain dietary salt, a hard to come by resource in the Amazon basin. 

The Amazonian lowlands are also home a treasure trove of herpetofauna. Within 4km of our field camp, I identified close to 100 species over three weeks of surveys. Some highlights below.

 Hypsiboas boans - Gladiator treefrog

 Phyllomedusa vaillantii - White-lined monkey frog

 Pristimantis carvalhoi - English name?

Edalhorina perezi - Perez's snouted frog

                                                     Edalhorina perezi - Perez's snouted frog 

Melanosuchus niger - Black caiman

 Anolis fuscoauratus - Slender anole, seen here shedding its skin.

Atractus major - Big ground snake

Visiting the tropics and seeing first hand the profusion of life and the conservation issues we are faced with in the 21st century is a life changing experience. It is tempting to think from our living rooms in Europe and North America that all is well in the natural world when we turn on the television and watch David Attenborough. The reality is that if we want to maintain our planets wildlife and ecosystems into the future, for ourselves, for future generations, and to allow the infinite possibilities of evolution to unfold, we have to take a stance and use the power we hold as citizens of democratic political domains to petition and vote in such a way that policy makers know what is at stake, and know the importance that we as people place on the continuation of the natural ecosystems of the world. The decisions you make in everyday life, the food and coffee you buy in the supermarket, all these things have environmental implications. Everything we use is produced somewhere, by someone, in more or less environmentally friendly ways. The current oil extraction in Ecuador is in the end fuelled by the international market, and that includes you and me. I urge my readers to take a stance, shop wisely, become a voice in support of nature through your political entitlements and the lifestyle you choose to live.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you are a High school student or an undergraduate student, you may be interested in Operation Wallacea, a UK based conservation charity which runs expeditions in which students partake as research assistants to several tropical countries. Their work along with students contributions supports the work and development of young scientists such as myself. You can find their website here http://opwall.com/

Finally, thank you to Mika peck for the camera trap images, and thank you to Operation Wallacea for organising and facilitating the expedition. 

Ecuador part 1

*NOTE - written in a hurry, please forgive grammatical errors etc.. Will correct/add more when I have time. 

Four weeks, three sites and over 100 species of herps later and here I am safe and sound (though horrendously scarred with mosquito bites and chiggers) and about to fly back to Quito to rejoin my colleagues from Operation Wallacea.

 As is my way, I only spent one night in Quito at the beginning, with more to follow, and so as yet have not formed any opinions beyond judging the coffee to be good and the road traffic and exhaust fumes bad.

 Onto the important stuff, my first survey site was the cloud forest reserve of Santa Lucia, around 40km from Mindo, an area well visited by tourists from Europe and North America. Ascending to the lodge required a steep hike of around three hours through beautiful forest laden with moss and epiphytes, luckily, the community that runs the lodge use mules to help carry up gear – or else between us biologists with our kit and our fantastic group of students from Ponderosa High School (United States) we would have struggled! The lodge itself sits at around 2000m altitude. We arrived at the top in time to witness a stunning sunset over the Andean foothills.

 I had high hopes for my surveys, a large number of unique, endemic, bizarre, colorful and in many cases threatened species of herpetofauna are likely present at Santa Lucia, the reserve covers a broad altitudinal band, has large tracts of pristine primary forest along with more disturbed areas, and LOTS of streams that scream glass frog and Eyelash pitviper. Over the course of the week, my hopes were largely brushed aside by unseasonably wet and cool weather. This made for some great amphibian finds including the Emerald glass frog (Espadarana prosoblepon) and this Pinocchio rainfrog (Pristimantis appendiculatus).

Espadarana prosoblepon

Pristimantis appendiculatus

 There were a small number of reptile highlights including Elegant snail sucker (Dipsas elegans) with thanks to Maddie! The sadly endangered Occellated riama (Riama oculata), and the beautiful Equatorial anole (Anolis aequitorialis). The total number of herp species for the week was a relatively meager 14. I’m certain that this number will increase massively over the season!

Anolis aequitorialis

Riama oculata

Dipsas elegans

 As a side to my herp surveys, I have also been tasked with filming a documentary of the expedition – which enabled me to spend some time observing additional fauna. This led to some very early and wet mornings out alone in the field with my camera gear, a species I was especially successful during that first week was Andean cock-of-the-rock.. Simply put, incredible.  

Andean cock-of-the-rock

What a privilege to witness.

 The next site required a 9 hour bus journey, an overnight stay in Coca, another two hours on the bus and finally a transfer by canoe along the Shiripuno river, into land inhabited by the Waorani people. An indigenous people who largely follow a traditional lifestyle in the rainforest. On arriving, camp was swiftly established, tents, hammocks and living space allocated – during which time Neke, a Waorani community leader, informed me that there was an ‘echis’ a generic term for fer-de-lance like vipers in the area, in the long-drops. I swiftly relocated said Bothrops atrox.

Bothrops atrox

Things at this point were looking up for the reptiles! My hopes high, I wasted no time and as soon as the sun had set I was off into the forest, within 200m of camp, I located a stunning adult Bothriposis taeniata, a speckled forest pitviper! This is a bit of a dream snake.. I returned the following morning and was able to find the snake perched nearby allowing for the following photos.

Bothriopsis taeniata

Bothriopsis taeniata

Over the course of the week it became evident that the banks of the Shiripuno and adjacent oxbows and lagoons would offer some of the best herping of my life, especially for amphibians. Examples below..

Ameerga bilinguis

Dendropsophus sarayacunensis

Hemiphractus scutatus

The total herp species tally for the week on the Shiripuno was 53 – an excellent start, with many more potentially present species. A couple more of my favourites below.

Anilius scytale

Liophis typhus

Many thanks to my colleagues, and to the students and teachers from Ponderosa High School who helped make the two weeks a most enjoyable and memorable experience. Here’s hoping for a Bushmaster during the next phase..

After the two hectic weeks of set-up and initial familiarization with the survey sites, two weeks of time off ensued. I travelled with my colleagues and the students to Coca where I left them and headed along the Rio Napo in the direction of Yasuni – first stop Sani Lodge. It would have been nice to rest for a day or two at this point.. However, seeing three species of monkey on my way to the lodge ruled this out. I had to get back out into the forest with my camera. For these two weeks, my days consisted of 5.30 breakfast, a morning spent tracking down various birds and monkeys, lunch at 13.00, two hours for workout/photo processing, 15.00 back into the forest for around three hours in search of more birds/monkeys/reptiles. Return for dinner at 19.00, and then out in the forest from 20.00 until sleep became inevitable. Here are some of the results..

Woolly monkey

Squirrel monkey

hmm...

'monkey business'

Red howler monkey

For anyone that has studied monkeys or attempted to photograph them, you will appreciated the many hours of trekking through the forest these images required..

Herons are one of my favourite groups of birds, this next bird, the least bittern, had me hooked from day one,.I heard one calling and I HAD to get shots of it. A tiny and secretive heron with a poorly known distribution, these images took several afternoons to acquire. Late afternoon seemed to be the best time to go looking.

Least bittern

Striated heron

Rufescent tiger heron

American pygmy kingfisher

Purple honeycreeper

Green and rufous kingfisher

White chinned jacamar

Crested owl.. boom!

Some final herp highlights from my two week stint included rainbow boa, a beautifully colored amazon tree boa, an orange-banded coral snake, red-vine snake, Amazon dwarf iguana and three species of Caiman. I managed two all dusk to dawn sessions in this time, these were definitely the most productive. I actually found most snake activity between 00.30-3.00am, with some snakes as late as 05.00. I may well trial this at my survey sites over the coming weeks.

Enyaliodes laticeps - Male

Enyaliodes laticeps - Female

Melanosuchus niger - juvenile black caiman

Paleosuchus trigonatus - Smooth-fronted caiman

Micrurus hemprichii

                                                              Micrurus hemprichii

Epicrates cenchria

Corallus hortullanus - Next step Emerald boa!

Siphlophis compressus

I’ll be out of contact now for the next month, at the end of which I’ll try to write another post! Cheers from Ecuador.