Centipede x Millipede

Centipede out hunting. Or is it a millipede? Read Dave's comment.

Long-horned beetle

Lichen

Another shot of that lichen I posted some days ago. I was after the darker background.

Manuel Dutra visits Bosque

I was honored to have received Manuel Dutra at Bosque Santa Lúcia a few days ago. Professor Dutra is a professional journalist and author of several books on Santarém and the Amazon. Image, Dutra on the left with friends from France, Ammyvonne and Jean Yves.

Spider

Lichen a tree

Paricá

No, it's not a bird. No, it's not an insect. It's a seedpod from a paricá tree (Schizolobium sp.)

Skipper 85

Ground orchid

Leaves 5773

Orchid 758

Fungus 57

Insect 5782

Fungi 5775

Fungus 5756

Fungus 755

Leaves2010

More carnival dress.

Lichen

Lichen us 2010.

Red leaf

Some new leaves get dressed up for carnival.

Fungi 94

I wish I had taken a picture of these two or three days before. They were real showoffs from a distance.

Fungus 5589

A small and lonely mushroom among grass blades in the backyard.

Ship tours

Since I returned to work in the health field, I haven't had much time to receive visitors at Bosque Santa Lucia. Most tours are those of passengers from the cruise ships, for example, the Royal Princess. Grand Amazon in Manaus is the operator for this ship when it comes to Santarem. The owners are quite meticulous in planning and logistics, never forgetting a detail, including medical emergencies. In the attached image, two nurses contracted by the operator, along with the bus drivers.

Long horned beetle

Another long horned beetle. One of the most colorful I've seen.

Merry Christmas

Trogan nest

The remains of a black-tailed trogan egg down in the dark cavern of a termite nest. I used the flash for light.

Wasp nest

I found this wasp nest on the ground. I assume the stem to which it was attached up in a tree must have broken off in the wind. There were a lot of ants on the paper-like nest, so I assume there were still remains of some edible inside.

Ants on Capparidaceae

I posted an image of this plant with flowers and fruit recently and marked it as an unidentified tree or shrub. I thank Giovanni Signorini for identifying it as a member of the Capparidaceae family. Mostly ants on the fruit, but notice the other small insect on the bottom left.

Dryness, continued

I get the impression that this skipper is also a bit under the weather. That droopy look!

Dryness

This past week I was "shooting the bull" with some of our woodsmen under the shade of an old jack fruit tree, when I spotted José Garcia passing by with a string of horses. About fifteen minutes later he passed us again and headed off on another trail. "What's he up to?", I asked one of the woodsmen. "He looking for grass" he responded. I guess there was none around. It's been very dry in this part of the Amazon. Only one good rain in the last two months, which occurred at the end of October. Prior to that we had gone a full two months without rain. Although we got a light rain last night, the weatherman says it's going to be the middle of January before we get wet.

Wild passion fruit, continued

I've included this image to show the leaves on this wild passion fruit vine. I don't know the species, unfortunately. I know that there are at least four different ones at Bosque Santa Lúcia.

Wild passion fruit, continued

I forgot that I had taken a picture of the wild passion fruit vine from another angle. If my eyes are playing tricks on me, all three stages of development are on the same vine. Click on the image for an enlargement.

Wild passion fruit

This scene was a bit unusual. Passion fruit in three different stages of development, the bud, the flower and the fruit. All on the same vine? I thought so at the time I took the picture, but it's possible that there's more than one vine. I'll have another look.

Ground orchid

I can't find the name of this ground orchid in my files, but I remember it was given to me by a neighbor, who brought it from a tropical savanna environment near the Tapajos River. This is the first time that it's bloomed. It'll be producing better flowers in the future, I think. Dust is a major factor right now.

Fern

A closer look at the fern.

Rhizome

The Portuguese lace fern with its rhizome in the background.

Rhizome

Rhizome from a Portuguese fern snakes its way up the tree.

Bloom and fruit

Unidentified bloom and fruit in the woods.

Sloth

Last Saturday I received a busload of passengers from a cruise ship moored in Alter do Chão, some 33 kilometers from Santarém. As the bus came to a halt at the entrance to the Bosque, I heard the sounds of a guide speaking over a load speaker system, but at a higher pitch than normal. Suddenly, Nelis, the English speaking guide, jumped off the bus with his 16 passengers and they all headed across the road, a route never taken on our tours. From a distance I saw everyone looking up into the trees. "Hum, monkeys", I thought. As it turned out, Nelis had spotted a sloth, right from the bus. Some of the woodsmen took the animal from the tree and brought it over to the reception center, as seen in the image. A beautiful sloth. Look at those nails!

Young parrot, continued

Here's another look at our young friend. She's standing on a barbecue pit next to the back porch of the Bosque reception center. Later she climbed down and then up a relatively high hibiscus plant. At some point I looked over in that direction to see the parrot being dive-bombed by a family of social flycatchers. It was quite a show and I'm sorry to say that I didn't get a picture of the event. The poor parrot didn't stand a chance, so she flew down to brush some meters away.

Young parrot

One of our neighbor's kids brought his new pet over for me to see yesterday, a young parrot. At first I thought it might be a festive parrot, but now I have my doubts. I'll have to do some research. Interesting that the kid's nickname is "Pagagaio", which means parrot. He came by that name because when he was younger he was never much for talking, but he was attentive like a parrot, moving his head from side to side as he watched others. That's Papagaio in the background.

Brazil nuts, continued

A closer view of Carlos opening a Brazil nut. That's the pod next to his shoe.

Brazil nuts

That's Paulinho, one of the local guides assigned to the cruise ship, showing off Brazil nuts. Down below in the red shirt with a machete is Carlos, one of our woodsmen. Hew doesn't talk much, but it's not an easy job opening those pods.

Visitors

Visitors from a cruise ship following their guide over to my "getaway house" to see some young tarantulas which have made their home behind a painting.

Flies

Robber flies, I would assume.

Frog on painting

On this past Saturday, I turned an oil painting over to see how my spider farm was coming along. Not to my surprise, there was more than spiders. There was this little frog, plus a large gecko, which quickly disappeared. There was only time to get this image of the frog.

Iguanas, continued

And here's an older iguana munching on a ripe mango fruit. When not down on the ground after fallen fruit, they stay up in the mango trees. They're fun seeing as they climb up into the branches.

Iguanas, continued

Here's a young iguana with its very long tail. When they move about on the ground, the tail leaves a very distinguished mark in the dust. Click on image for an enlargement.

Iguana

The choice of a parking lot for waiting for my wife at the Maternidade Hospital in Santarem is in the back lot, where some old mango trees provide some shade from the very hot sun. The trees also provide food for families of iguanas living there. Last week I took several pictures of the animals lunching on ripe mango fruit. What caught my attention was the tail on this iguana. I've never seen one of these before, but I would assume that it is a regenerated tail.

Thorn on orange tree

Grafted orange trees just can't compete with the beauty of the old stock.

Passion fruit tendrils

An image of the passion fruit vine attaching itself to the wire that Cleuson strung up to support it. Those tendrils are something else. They run ahead of the plant itself, attaching themselves to whatever they encounter. By the time those large leaves get there, they are secure from winds blowing them all over the place.