January

If you are one of those who love herps, the months of January and February are among the best for finding this kind of wildlife. The numerous ponds formed by the rain are the best places to look for frogs and toads. We will visit some of these ponds during our night walks. With luck we might spot the aquatic and elusive Suriname toad (Pipa pipa) that camouflages well with the ground of the ponds it lives in. More common will be encounters with members of the Hyla and Phyllomedusa families. But amphibian live is not only restricted to ponds and the nearby forest. The diurnal biolat poison dart frog (Dendrobates biolat) is associated to bamboo, where this species leaves its tadpoles.
Among reptiles, snakes and boas are the least encountered. Although more than 40 species have been identified for our Tambopata lodges, they are very rarely seen by our guests. Of the almost 100 species of reptiles described for the Tambopata National Reserve, the spectacled caiman (Caiman crocodylus) and the black caiman (Melanosuchus niger) are the most commonly observed species. Among turtles the side neck turtle (Podocnemis unifillis) is the most common, whereas tortoises are more difficult to find.

Green - that is the color most people associate with the Amazon rainforest. This is only partly true. Estimates on plant diversity vary, but most estimates say that there are around 20.000 species of flowering plants (Angiospermae) in the Peruvian Amazon. One of the keys to identify a plant and to learn more about it is by looking at the fruits! But fruits are not available year-round. The wet season is known as the “season of abundance”. This time of the year, the monkeys are well-fed and even the locals seem to gain some weight….
Some of the fruits may be tasted…they are sweet or sour, whereas some of them are better just left on the floor as they might be poisonous. Just like with flowers or fungus, their many colors and smells attract a variety of animals. Some are seed dispersers such as monkeys, peccaries, deer or tapirs whereas others are seed predators as parrots. As a consequence, fresh mammal tracks on the forest floor near these trees, is a common thing during the fruit season.

Studies carried out with macaws at the Tambopata Research Center have shown that on certain weeks chicks are fed clay by their rearing parents. As a consequence the number of macaws visiting the clay lick for the daily portion is still high in January and part of February. It starts dropping, when chicks start loosing weight at the same time that they start training their wings. You can recognize these breeding macaw pairs by their shorter tail feathers, as they have to climb in and out of their nest. Macaws breed in holes where space often is a luxury.