Highlights from Piedras Biodiversity Station

Our 2 weeks at Piedras Biodiversity Station brought about a lot of new experiences. The station was absolutely beautiful; it had a main area, a kitchen, 2 sets of 5 double bedrooms, and a washroom building. The areas of the main lodge are connected by boardwalks. The lodge is surrounded by gardens with tropical plants and ground cover plants instead of grass. There is a trail system through the forest. Closer to the river there is a farm where they grow pineapple, limes, papaya, sugar cane, and other tropical plants. The boat drivers have a hut at the farm.

Our main role at PBS was to help with 2 ongoing biodiversity studies on the site. The first one was observing the macaws feeding on the nearby colpa (clay lick) along the river. Macaws feed at these licks for numerous reasons: they uptake minerals and nutrients from the clay itself, the clay neutralizes toxins they pick up in their diet, and they feed clay to the young in the breeding season. We were observing the effects of boat traffic along the river on the feeding macaws. We recorded the weather conditions and the number of birds feeding at the colpa every 5 minutes. We also recorded the amount of birds that flushed from the colpa when a boat went by, as well as other details such as species of macaws (scarlet or red-and-green) and boat details including type of motor used and direction traveled. This data collection required us to take a boat to the other side of the river and hike a trail to our lookout point. We set up a bug net tent and watched the macaws for 3 hour intervals in the mornings. It was very relaxing actually, the macaws take a long time to approach the colpa so we were able to keep an eye out for other wildlife (particularly saddle-backed tamarins, brown capuchins and dusky titi monkeys).

The second study we were helping with was collecting data on how well mammal populations in the area are doing since selective logging had been stopped recently. This required us to slowly walk 4-km long transects through the rainforest and record information on any mammal or group of mammal we saw. We collected data on species, age (if possible), group size, activity, and location. Transects were walked from the 0 metre mark to the 4000 metre mark on some mornings, and from the 4000 metre mark to the 0 metre mark on other mornings. Two transects were being used at the time (a 3rd one was not being used for this study while we were there). The transects were started at sunrise, usually around 5:30 am. This means that when starting at the 0 metre mark, we had to leave the station around 5:15 to reach the start. When we needed to start at the 4000 metre mark, we had to leave the station at 4 am, hike through the dark jungle at a fast pace to reach the end of the transect by the time the sun was coming up. Mammals we saw while on these hikes included Southern Amazonian Red Squirrel, Green Acouchy, Brown Agouti, Saddle-backed Tamarin, Brown Capuchin Monkey, Dusky Titi Monkey, Red Howler Monkey, Saki Monkey, Squirrel Monkey, Black Spider Monkey, Collared Peccary and White-lipped Peccary. We were also recording sightings of 4 species of birds on these transects: Blue-throated Piping-Guan, Spix's Guan, Razor-billed Currasow, and Pale-winged Trumpeter.

We did data collection every morning, and the afternoons were spent lounging around the station, taking siestas, reading, playing games and whatever else we could figure out to do. We could venture into the jungle for a hike, head out to the mammal colpa (2.5 km into the forest), visit a viewing platform off one of the trails, swimming in the river, fishing for piranha, playing badminton on the farm, and birdwatching.

On one of our days off from data collection we, as a group, got strapped up and belayed up 27 metres to a platform in the top of a canopy tree. Being afraid of heights it was a little intimidating, but I made it up there anyways. In fact I enjoyed the trip up and down, and felt safe. From the platform you could see the top of the canopy for miles. As soon as I made it up there a pair of macaws landed in the same tree. We could see a spider monkey sitting in a canopy tree in the distance. It was gorgeous. The most dangerous part of getting up the tree was the Bullet Ants that tend to hang out on that particular tree. Bullet ants are huge; they have massive jaws and their bite is not only extremely painful but is also capable of killing humans. We had to keep an eye out for them. We had a massive thunderstorm just as we were finishing at the tree, and ended up running back to the station, completely soaked by the time we got there.

We had a few fun night excursions as well. The first was a tromp through the swamp near the station (chest deep in the swamp) to look for clown treefrogs. It was hilarious, we didn't know what to expect and we just kind of went with it. Saw lots of frogs, turtles and there was even a caiman in the swamp at the same time. I don't think I've laughed so hard in my entire life. One night we went for a hike to look for night creatures, but didn't see many because we had also had a few drinks before going out and were a little drunk. One night we went looking for caimans and other river creatures with a large spotlight. We took out the smaller canoe, pulled it upstream with the bigger boat and coasted it back to the station. We had a great experience that night with a couple capybara as well, nice close looks, one of them barked then jumped into the water and swam under our boat.

We took turns helping with lunches and dinners. Considering we had no electricity, our meals were great. It was mainly vegetarian since we had no refrigeration abilities, but that was quite alright. We ate a lot of rice, lentils and other grains, pasta, squash, papaya, cabbage salads (cabbage lasts longer than regular lettuce), pancakes, donuts (homemade) and other meals. We even made pizza one night (which a possum ended up getting to in the end). The only meat we had was piranha after we caught it in the river. It was delicious, ask any of us.

Wildlife viewing was important to Michelle and myself, coming from an animal/biology background. We saw some great mammals, birds and insects while at the station. Our highlight, however, was probably taking care of Lulu, a young (probably about 5 months old) orphaned Giant Anteater. She was hilarious - she would visit a few times a day, receive her feeding, and often stick around for a nap in the hammock. She would also follow us down to the farm to play badminton, and try to crawl into our beds for a nap. Occasionally she would unleash quite a temper which was amusing as well.

On the last day we left the station early and headed down the river back to town. This river trip was also relaxing, as we slept in the boat a majority of the way. I think I had a bit of heat stroke so sleeping was the best way to relieve it. The only important thing I learned from the boat trip home was that if you stop on a beach to go to the bathroom, be careful where you squat, I encountered a plant that actually stung me, similar to stinging nettle, ouch.

Our stay at PBS was awesome. I have a new respect for volunteer tourism and completely fell in love with the area. I would recommend it to anyone, providing you can stand the heat and bugs.