Bamboo, continued

A closer look at one the "wraps".

Bamboo

Unwrapping of the new bamboo shoots. They could easily be used as shields.

Colors of Inga

The contrast in colors of these new inga leaves is impressive. Both red and green are new leaves, but the red is the newer of the two. In the background you can see some older green leaves. Botanist explain that the color trick is to distract leaf eating insects, which are more turned on to green. Within a few days the red leaves will be green too. By then they will have hardened up a bit.

Passion fruit flower

Wild passion fruit plants love this summer weather, which is noted for high light intensity and heat. The vines are all over the place, but not all of them bloom. The leading vine must snake its way out of the darkness of the woods to find the light. This vine is within 10 meters of the dirt road leading into Bosque Santa Lúcia, which means its not very sensitive to the dust thrown up by passing vehicles.

Flowers, continued

More of the same.

More flowers

More flowers at Dona Cecila's place, up the road from Bosque Santa Lúcia.

Neighbor's flowers

I always enjoy visiting Dona Cecilia's place because of the flowers around her house.

Insect 2024

I'm going to guess a stink bug.

Insect 73 - Net-wing beetle

Thanks to Joan at http://saphotographs.blogspot.com/ for the identification.

Another silvery marmoset

Another silvery marmoset on a tree next to the Bosque reception center. They are known to survive this time of the year (dry season) by drilling into the trunks of select trees for sap. Leftover sap quickly turns into resin, which is also appreciated by these monkey.

Silvery marmoset

The urbanization of the area around Bosque Santa Lucia has taken its toll on the monkey population. Sightenings of at least four different species was a daily occurence in years past. Now it quite common not to see one monkey in an outing of 2-4 hours. The ones we see most often are the silvery maromosets (per image). The ones we hear most often are the howlers.

Black stink bug

This stink bug looks like it came out of a sack of charcoal.

Lichen a bug

Another lichen, this one on the edge of a leaf. Check out the bug above it. The outer shell is completely transparent.

Lichens

Lichens are fond of small tree stems and leafless vines. In a world of fungi, they try to find a place of their own on the stage of the forest.

Charcoal stove

Another interesting stove used by the rural people here in the Amazon is the one you see in the attached image. Butane gas is available locally, but most people prefer their small charcoal stoves because they are much cheaper. When you live in the woods, there is no lack of wood to make charcoal. This is a two burner job, each one using about a liter of charcoal. Get the charcoal going, put the pot of beans on the top and let it go. The smell of the cooking beans will get you hungry long before lunch time. This particular stove was constructed only recently by Cleuson, our caretaker at the Bosque. You can see that only one burner has been used.

Cook out at Bosque, continued

Also joining us for barbecued fish at Bosque Santa Lucia were Nathan and Valerie, colleagues from work at Fundacao Esperanca. They both hail from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Nathan, Valerie and Cheryl didn't know that they were going to have to work for their lunch. Together they watered all my thirsty plants and young trees, more than an hour of hauling water. I didn't plan it that way, but I sure appreciated the help. We're well into our dry season and the sun is hotter than Hates. By late afternoon, there's no sign of the plants having been watered.

Cook out at Bosque, continued

Joining us for the fish lunch was Cheryl, a reporter and film maker from Toronto, Canada. She is here in Santarem this week doing some filming of the street kid program at Pastoral do Menor. Check out the fish on the barbecue pit next to Cheryl. Hum, I'm getting hungry again.

Cook out at Bosque, continued

After taking the fresh fish home, Dona Everalda marinated them in a solution of lime juice, salt and garlic. Then I stashed them in the frig for safekeeping. This morning we were off to the Bosque, where I cooked the fish on this very unique barbecue pit made from a truck hub. The thing weighs a ton and once the charcoal gets going, it heats up fast and stays hot for a long time. I cooked two portions of fish from one small bag of charcoal.

Cook out at Bosque

It's seldom that we prepare food at Bosque Santa Lucia, but it was time to try my hand at barbecuing fish. Early Saturday morning I bought these fresh fish from a small shop down the street. While the owner scaled and cleaned the fish, I overheard other customers talking about the abundance of fish this month. I wonder if it had something to do with the record flooding of the river system this year. The rivers are going down now. As a general rule of thumb, the lower the water, the greater the catch. Imagine two months from now.

Bosque reception center, continued

Picture taken from the side porch of the reception center.

Bosque reception center, continued

Looking out on an assortment of flora from the front porch of the the Bosque Santa Lucia reception center. Picture also taken at the beginning of the rainy season in February of this year. We're now into summer (dry season), which means more light intensity, less green and many trees shedding their leaves. Also much hotter!

Bosque reception center

The backside of the reception center at Bosque Santa Lucia. This picture was taken in February of this year, at the beginning of the rainy season.

Old sign, new paint

Over the years I've tried to keep record of major events at Bosque Santa Lúcia , but I guess this sign didn't make it into the files. It should have been featured because it's our only public sign and it's a real beauty. It was carved out of solid wood slabs around 1988, by David Richardson, an American artist living in Santarém at that time. Poço Branco is the name of the community, where the Bosque is located.

Flower in the dark

Actually, the sun was high up in the sky when I took this picture of a lone flower in a forested area. I was surprised that the background turned to night.

Daniel

A few days ago I posted an image of my younger son, Daniel, stretched out on a log at the Bosque Santa Lucia Reception Center. I thought it was a great shot of the log, but my friend Nathan ridiculed me for "the butt shot." So I stand corrected by adding this facial of Daniel at one of our local restaurants in Santarem. He's now back in Belem, where he works as a publicity agent.

Helpers

A little help from friends.

Caterpillar on the move

Wow! I wouldn't want to warm up to this critter in the middle of the night.

Fungi, continued

This tree seems to be a collector of fungi. A real showoff.

Fungi and lichens

Old age and a long rainy season are apparent in this composite of leaves, fungi and lichens.

Camouflaged

This mobile home is so camouflaged, it almost impossible to distinguish it from the fungi on the bark of the tree.

Treehoppers

These are the same "bugs" in an earlier stage of development. This picture was taken about 10-12 days ago. The ones below are from today. Ants seem to be part of the show here.

Treehoppers, continued

The same bugs with some perspective.

Treehoppers, continued

Another shot of the same insects.

Treehoppers

At first I thought these insects were tree hoppers, then I changed my mind. After some research I came back to my original thoughts. Click on image for an enlargement of the image. More coming.

On the log

Daniel, our younger son, visited for three days earlier this week. We spent part of one day at Bosque Santa Lucia, where he made himself comfortable on a log. Hum .....

Red fungus

A not so old leaf faces an intervention in life, fungi in the accented color of rust.

Colors of summer

New leaves are so easy on the eyes. They are so soft and smooth on the hands. They are like babies, new to the world.

Skipper

Possibly a skipper. Click on image for an enlargement.

Friendly butterfly

This friendly butterfly was checking out the virtues of wet cement vs. human sweat. It seemed to have liked both.

Bird nest, continued

When I arrived at Bosque Santa Lucia this morning, I was saddened to find an empty nest. Ants were carrying off the last pieces of the two chicks I had photographed two days before (refer to the previous post). Given the nest had been placed under a palm frond only 1.2 meters off the ground, my first thought was that some of the local dogs had found the birds. But I guess that wasn't the case, since the nest was in tact and there were some remains being removed by the ants. Who knows, maybe they starved to death.

Bird nest

Cleuson was watering the palms when he discovered this neat little bird's nest under a frond. Although I've never seen anything quite like it, he concludes that we were looking at hummingbirds. Just the slightest movement of the palm frond brought the two young birds up for a feed. Sorry folks, but we'll get out of there so that your mother will come back with the grub.

Star fungus

A star is born!

The native scouring pad

I had the pleasure of traveling with Padre Carlos from the diocese of Santarem to the Amazon River floodplain area last week. It was fairly much an all-day riverboat trip to several communities in the need for potable water. Yeah, hard to believe, but living on the largest river in the world doesn't guarantee a drop of good drinking water. As a matter of fact, it's hard to come by any time of the year. But water is another story. What caught my eye was this leaf that Padre Carlos showed us. It's called "lixa unha" (fingernail file) because seems to be a marriage between steel wool and a rough scouring pad. He tells us that the leaf is used for clean pots and pans. Sorry, no scientific name.

Beetle 2416

I assume a member of the scarab beetle family. The hands-like antennae are always interesting to see.

Horned spider

As I stumbled into the web of this horned spider, it quickly made its way over to a bamboo shoot. Interesting physique and colors. I wonder why the horns?

Jucá

The changing colors of the jucá tree (Caesalpinia ferrea) is always a show.

Bug on vase

Small and flighty. That's the best I could do in getting the picture.

Orchid bloom

The first time this orchid has produced a flower. The plant came from Manaus, a gift from Dr. Maurice at the Celso Matos Laboratory atm Maternidade Hospital.