Brazil nut

A Brazil nut pod. Bertholetia excelsa

Wasp

Fungus 131

Ink Cap

Help. I can't remember the name of these little beauties. I used to call them fungi, but then someone corrected me. Sorry, I lost the response. Later: See Joan's comment.

Thrush

Few can sing as well as a thrush.

Frog x Snake x Me

A strange noise coming from the woods next to my office at the Arboretum; the dog that hangs out there was whimpering and showed reluctance to get any closer to the source of the disturbance. "Sounds like a cat in distress", I thought to myself. After hearing the sounds for a few minutes, I decided to have a closer look. To my surprise, I discovered a "papo-ovo" snake latched on to a rather large frog. The attack may have been going on for some time because the frog's right hind leg was swollen up and the anus of the frog bloody. Click on the images for enlargements. I decided to come to the frog's rescue by nudging it gently with my boot. It immediately released the frog and went for me. Third image. The frog remained put for a few seconds and then quickly jumped away to disappear into the woods nearby. I was impressed how fast the snake ran after it. It had no intention of losing lunch. I would like to think that the frog escaped, but I think it was much to crippled to to do so. The situation wasn't really any of my business, but I felt sorry for the frog.

Guaraná

Guaraná (Paullina cupana)

Got you

Egg shell

Broken egg from a bird nest up in a tree,

Lacre, leaf

Lacre (Vismia sp.  Hypericaceae)

Fungi on log

TEMA group visits the Bosque

It was great to see Sr. Hagen, tour coordinator for TEMA, a few days ago. TEMA is a prominent eco-tourism company out of Sweden. Most of their clients are from the Scandinavian countries. They present an Amazonian tour at least four times per year. Bosque Santa Lúcia is one of their stops out of Santarém. Image, Hagen with his favorite pet, the Amazonian pink dolphin.

Muiratinga

Muiratinga (Maquira sp), the "penis tree".

Melastomataceae

Miconia sp

Geniparana

Geniparana flower (Gustavia augusta)

Cecropia

A young cecropia tree.