Vance and I are now in the northern provinces of Salta and Jujuy. Wow! The scenery here is spectacular! Every turn of the road brings a different view of mountains sculpted by wind, rain, and time into rugged and remote pillars, reminiscent of pipe organs. Hillsides and cliffs are dotted with cactus and other spiny plants wherever they can get a foothold. After meager rains, the desert in bloom is a brief treat to behold and we are fortunate to experience it during our passing visit. While cactus flowers add sporadic yellows and fuchsias to the landscape, it is the layers of exposed sedimentary rock that provide magnificent colours to the area. The region is a world heritage site because of the small communities of Quechua people scattered throughout the mountains who maintain traditional ways of life and the Spanish colonial architecture of the more accessible towns.
Our destination of Iruya requires a 2 and a half our car ride along dry riverbeds and gravel switchback roads with steep mountain cliffs to a maximum of 4000 meters. The journey is a hair raising but the scenery is breathtaking, the coca we are chewing helps us with our nerves and altitude and occasionally there is a young by who seemed to walk out of nowhere to tell us we are on the right path and ask for money to by a bit of bread form where, I have no idea. We finally reach Iruya a gorgeous pre-Columbian village of narrow and steep cobblestone roads and rock and adobe buildings. We are welcomed by a spectacular full double rainbow that stretches across the mountain tops.
We spend the next day walking in the mountains and encounter people on their way to the weekend market. Some have been walking for 8 hours but all are friendly and willing to speak with us. The women in particular maintain a traditional dress with wide brim felt hats, colourful shawls and dresses. One old woman intrigued by my binoculars stopped to talk with me. I will always remember the life and depth in her eyes as we spoke. She seemed to transgress age and time. Her family has lived in this remote area for generations and centuries. They have experienced and survived the Inca and Spanish invasions, and now the Canadians!
Friday, November 30, 2007
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Patagonia
The adventure continues in Patagonia. Vance and I and the Somoza´s meet up in Trelew in Patagonia. My first question was what defines Patagonia? I thought this wasn´t a hard question to answer but I had asked a number of different people and aside from inciting lively discussions on geophysical, ecoregions, tourim marketing, political boundries etc, there was no clear consensus. The most likely explanation is that Patagonia is the former territory of the Patagon people, so named for their exceptionally large feet.
Patagonia is actually a very large area covering several provinces extending from the Pampas to north of Tierra del Fuego. It conjers images of glaciers, mountains, forest and other rugged landscapes but here in Penninsula Valdes, the landscape is arid, flat, dusty, covered in prickley shrubs in a landscape that goes on and on and on.. The attraction of this particular area is the Penninsula itself which juts into the Atlantic Ocean and is a world heritage site because of the abundance of wildlife.
The coastline offers spectacular views alternating between miles of sandy beaches and rocky cliffs. We went whale watching one day and were impressed by the Southern Right whales feeding just off the coast. This is the tail end of the season for whales but we werer not disappointed as only mothers and babys left to feed in the rich warm waters. Unlike the endangered Northern Right Whale of Canada's East coast who's total population is dwindling between 250 and 300, the Southern Right Whale is increasing by about 7% a year! Amazing for such a large mammal. Hunted to within about 3000 individuals the population is now aorud 15,000. Still a far cry from the historical high of 150,000 but positive non-the-less.
Not all is rosy, however. Within the last 7 years due to a high kelp gull population and decreased natural food sources, some of the gulls have developed an alternative feeding strategy. They attack the backs of the whales with their bills and cause small leisons. They continue to pick at these leisons creating wounds which they feed on, literally eating the whales alive! Astounding! This parastic behaviour has caused the whales to alter their feeding habits and some have developed postures such as arched backs as they try to evade the gulls. Biologists are studing this problem intently. They have two main questions 1) Is it only a select few gulls who have developed this strategy and are causing all the problems? If they are removed from the population will this curtail the problem? 2) Are the gulls damaging healthy skin or are they attracted to exsisting skin irritations such as small leisons, blisters or other signs of diseased skin? If this is the case there may be a larger problem for the whales. It was very interesting to see and learn about the whales.
The next day we carried on and visited the giant, stinky beach slugs otherwise known as elephant seals. The males are absolutely enourmous! The females quite a bit smaller. All were loitering on the beach rocks impervious to the fierce patagonian winds and oblivious to our gauwking and squawking. We did see a couple of young males sparing as training for later matchs to win lordship over the harims of females.
More seafood and more wine was on the menu in Patageonia. I've never had such plump, tender, tasty shrimp as here. Kingclip, ratfish, squid to rival the squid of South Africa and pulpitos, mmmm, the pulpitos were supurb! I never cared much for octopus although I have optomistically tried it many times. Always too chewy and just not to my taste, but the small octopus here are amazing! I felt a bit bad about eating so many of them. They are such charming and charismatic animals when live.
Stay tuned for photos. They are difficult to post from these internet cafe computers.
Hope all is well at home.
Lesley and Vance
Patagonia is actually a very large area covering several provinces extending from the Pampas to north of Tierra del Fuego. It conjers images of glaciers, mountains, forest and other rugged landscapes but here in Penninsula Valdes, the landscape is arid, flat, dusty, covered in prickley shrubs in a landscape that goes on and on and on.. The attraction of this particular area is the Penninsula itself which juts into the Atlantic Ocean and is a world heritage site because of the abundance of wildlife.
The coastline offers spectacular views alternating between miles of sandy beaches and rocky cliffs. We went whale watching one day and were impressed by the Southern Right whales feeding just off the coast. This is the tail end of the season for whales but we werer not disappointed as only mothers and babys left to feed in the rich warm waters. Unlike the endangered Northern Right Whale of Canada's East coast who's total population is dwindling between 250 and 300, the Southern Right Whale is increasing by about 7% a year! Amazing for such a large mammal. Hunted to within about 3000 individuals the population is now aorud 15,000. Still a far cry from the historical high of 150,000 but positive non-the-less.
Not all is rosy, however. Within the last 7 years due to a high kelp gull population and decreased natural food sources, some of the gulls have developed an alternative feeding strategy. They attack the backs of the whales with their bills and cause small leisons. They continue to pick at these leisons creating wounds which they feed on, literally eating the whales alive! Astounding! This parastic behaviour has caused the whales to alter their feeding habits and some have developed postures such as arched backs as they try to evade the gulls. Biologists are studing this problem intently. They have two main questions 1) Is it only a select few gulls who have developed this strategy and are causing all the problems? If they are removed from the population will this curtail the problem? 2) Are the gulls damaging healthy skin or are they attracted to exsisting skin irritations such as small leisons, blisters or other signs of diseased skin? If this is the case there may be a larger problem for the whales. It was very interesting to see and learn about the whales.
The next day we carried on and visited the giant, stinky beach slugs otherwise known as elephant seals. The males are absolutely enourmous! The females quite a bit smaller. All were loitering on the beach rocks impervious to the fierce patagonian winds and oblivious to our gauwking and squawking. We did see a couple of young males sparing as training for later matchs to win lordship over the harims of females.
More seafood and more wine was on the menu in Patageonia. I've never had such plump, tender, tasty shrimp as here. Kingclip, ratfish, squid to rival the squid of South Africa and pulpitos, mmmm, the pulpitos were supurb! I never cared much for octopus although I have optomistically tried it many times. Always too chewy and just not to my taste, but the small octopus here are amazing! I felt a bit bad about eating so many of them. They are such charming and charismatic animals when live.
Stay tuned for photos. They are difficult to post from these internet cafe computers.
Hope all is well at home.
Lesley and Vance
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Since arriving in Ushuia, I have been on a few excursions. The first was a canoe trip down a serpintine river to the Beagle Channel. Each bend in the river revealed new birds, Upland Geese, Creasted Ducks,South American Terns, Spectacled ducks, Chilean Swallows ... The weather was lovely and the day was grand. It was silent and calm and wonderful to be in nature. The river ran through forest, and bogs and pasture. We landed near an outlet in to the Beagle where a boat picked us up and we passed by the pingüino colony where we saw two species nesting on the island, Magellanic and Gentoo. An interesting fact about penguins is that every single one of them is photogenic.
Our boat traveled on and we landed on Gable Island where we hiked around the island. The forest here is very interesting. There are only three species of trees yet the pant life seems quite diverse otherwise with many grasses, shrubs, ferns, epiphites, mosses and fungi. We tasted the Indian bread fungus. Small, round, appricote coloured balls protrude from the diseased bols of the trees. Mostly rubbery and tasteless, I found it quite fresh and pleasent in my mouth. The local endigenous people ate them and some local people still do, but mostly you see the wooden bols fashoned into tourist souvieniers in the local gift shops.
Another night, another crab dinner. This time in a light wine sauce. The table next to me ordered a full crab in the shell. It looks delicious but I´m not envious. I don´t have to break into mine. I was not disappointed to learn that I could only order wine by the bottle here and not by the glass. I´m having such fin in Ushuia!!
Today I hiked in the National park. I already knew that Argentina had one of the best developed park systems in the world. I was impressed by this. Today I learned that all (most?) of their parks are on the boarder with Chile and were established as a sovernety strategy and not as a means to protect their natural envoronment. Although that has been a resulting benefit, I continually grow disallusioned the more I learn about politics.
Hiking in the park today I spotted 2 Magellanic Woodpeckers. Hiking through the snow, I thought of all of you at home in the november weather. I´m sure the weather is similar here. Tomorrow I have another exciting day planned. I will take a taxis out to the garbage dump. Apperently it is one of the best birding locations in the area.
On tuesday I head North to Penninsula Valdes where I will meet up with Vance. It´s closing on three weeks since I saw him last. Some honeymoon, but it keeps the marriage fresh. We will spend the next month traveling together. From what he tells me, Vance has been working hard and is deserving of a holiday. We will travel to Salta, Jujuy and Iguaszu together before returning home for Christmas.
Our boat traveled on and we landed on Gable Island where we hiked around the island. The forest here is very interesting. There are only three species of trees yet the pant life seems quite diverse otherwise with many grasses, shrubs, ferns, epiphites, mosses and fungi. We tasted the Indian bread fungus. Small, round, appricote coloured balls protrude from the diseased bols of the trees. Mostly rubbery and tasteless, I found it quite fresh and pleasent in my mouth. The local endigenous people ate them and some local people still do, but mostly you see the wooden bols fashoned into tourist souvieniers in the local gift shops.
Another night, another crab dinner. This time in a light wine sauce. The table next to me ordered a full crab in the shell. It looks delicious but I´m not envious. I don´t have to break into mine. I was not disappointed to learn that I could only order wine by the bottle here and not by the glass. I´m having such fin in Ushuia!!
Today I hiked in the National park. I already knew that Argentina had one of the best developed park systems in the world. I was impressed by this. Today I learned that all (most?) of their parks are on the boarder with Chile and were established as a sovernety strategy and not as a means to protect their natural envoronment. Although that has been a resulting benefit, I continually grow disallusioned the more I learn about politics.
Hiking in the park today I spotted 2 Magellanic Woodpeckers. Hiking through the snow, I thought of all of you at home in the november weather. I´m sure the weather is similar here. Tomorrow I have another exciting day planned. I will take a taxis out to the garbage dump. Apperently it is one of the best birding locations in the area.
On tuesday I head North to Penninsula Valdes where I will meet up with Vance. It´s closing on three weeks since I saw him last. Some honeymoon, but it keeps the marriage fresh. We will spend the next month traveling together. From what he tells me, Vance has been working hard and is deserving of a holiday. We will travel to Salta, Jujuy and Iguaszu together before returning home for Christmas.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Fin del Mundo
Ushuia, Tierra del Fuego, el fin del mundo is a blink of civilization in a vast and literal sea of wilderness. The town is beautifully set between snow and glacier covered mountains and the Beagle Channel, protected from the wild weather of Cape Horn by a multitude of islands covered in magical forests. It really is a special place. You must come.
Last night I enjoyed some of the worlds best crab in a small resturant at the southern edge of the world. As I ate my meal and looked around at the other patrons, my mind wandered to the hitchhikers guide to the galexcy and the resturant at the end of the universe. There seemed to be many similarities. Although (mostly) of the same species, there was a lot of diversity of appreacnce, demeaner and language at the various tables. One thing in common, almost all of us were eating king crab.
Last night I enjoyed some of the worlds best crab in a small resturant at the southern edge of the world. As I ate my meal and looked around at the other patrons, my mind wandered to the hitchhikers guide to the galexcy and the resturant at the end of the universe. There seemed to be many similarities. Although (mostly) of the same species, there was a lot of diversity of appreacnce, demeaner and language at the various tables. One thing in common, almost all of us were eating king crab.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Summertime in Tierra del Fuego
I can´t write about Tierra del Fuego without first mentioning the weather. The weather here is crazy, like nothing I have experienced before. The Newfoundland expression " if you don´t like the weather, wait 5 minutes" comes to mind but in Tierra del Fuego you better like weather, weather of all kinds. I have determined that rather than wait for good weather to head to the beach for field work it is better to wait for the bad weather. By the time you arrive at the beach the weather will have changed. It may begin by sweltering in the bright sunshine but just as you get your clothes adjusted, and the sunsceen slathered on it will begin to snow or hail or rain or sleet. Sometimes all at once sometimes in quick succession sometimes intersperced with sunny moments. Beautiful sunny skies with pelting rain or sleet. Any combination is acceptable and expected. The only constant is the relentles wind. Each gust brings a new weather system which create wonderfully dramatic and dynamic skies.
A classic moment was looking for birds in a snowstorm with Joaquín from Uruguay. He had never seen snow before. We had been in the sleet but it was the snow he wanted to experience. "Is this snow?! Is this snow?!". "Yes, yes look at the flakes!" I said, "it´s so white!" He was facinated and extreamly cold. Amuzing for a girl from Ottawa.
But it is the birds that bring me here, the Red Knots. I briefly wrote about their plite in my last enty. The population here in the area is about half of what it was last year and has been in steady decline for a few years now. Using a cannon net we orchastrated a catch of over 600 birds. In addition to the Knots, we also captured over 30 Hudsonian Godwits and about a dozen Sanderlings which we released unbanded. We released about half of the Knots unprocessed as well. We started processing the recaptures (previously banded and marked birds) about 120 in all from various locations and years. The oldest bird was originally banded in 1995 and is estiamated to be 14 or 15 years old. Flying back and forth from the Canadian Arctic to Tierra del Fuego that many times is the equivalent of flying to the moon and halfway back to earth. These birds are really amazing!
We then fully processed 205 Knots. Processing involves banding, attaching colour bands and an orange flag (which indicates it was banded in Argentina), bill measurements, weight, age, moult classification, a cloacal swab for Avian Influenza testing and a blood sample for sexing and disease scan. Birds are then relaesed at the point of capture. I spent the rest of the week counting flocks of Knots, the number of banded birds and recording band combinations and flags when possible. My favoite part of the day would be when the tide is coming in and the birds are concentrated in around the waterline. We, the observers would be in amunst them. They knew we were there and were cautious but we could get very close with large numbers all around us. The diversity was impressive, knots, sanderlings, white rumps, godwits, wimbril, two banded plovers, dolphin gulls, kelp gulls, brown-headed gulls, magellanic oystercatcers and every so often a group of terns or a giant petrel would fly over head.
It has been a great experience and I am really happy to have been part of such a wonderful and talented international team from Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, USA, Canada and New Zealand(well Allan Baker is from the ROM in Toronto but originally Kiwi, so this allows us an additional country). Thanks everyone for fun, music, and especially for your patience with my limited spanish. I actually understood you, Juan Pablo, when you said "Lesley entitedan nada!". ... It was a very complicated card game!
Tomorrow I am off to Ushuia, Fin del Mundo, for my next adventure. I promise to post photos from there.
A classic moment was looking for birds in a snowstorm with Joaquín from Uruguay. He had never seen snow before. We had been in the sleet but it was the snow he wanted to experience. "Is this snow?! Is this snow?!". "Yes, yes look at the flakes!" I said, "it´s so white!" He was facinated and extreamly cold. Amuzing for a girl from Ottawa.
But it is the birds that bring me here, the Red Knots. I briefly wrote about their plite in my last enty. The population here in the area is about half of what it was last year and has been in steady decline for a few years now. Using a cannon net we orchastrated a catch of over 600 birds. In addition to the Knots, we also captured over 30 Hudsonian Godwits and about a dozen Sanderlings which we released unbanded. We released about half of the Knots unprocessed as well. We started processing the recaptures (previously banded and marked birds) about 120 in all from various locations and years. The oldest bird was originally banded in 1995 and is estiamated to be 14 or 15 years old. Flying back and forth from the Canadian Arctic to Tierra del Fuego that many times is the equivalent of flying to the moon and halfway back to earth. These birds are really amazing!
We then fully processed 205 Knots. Processing involves banding, attaching colour bands and an orange flag (which indicates it was banded in Argentina), bill measurements, weight, age, moult classification, a cloacal swab for Avian Influenza testing and a blood sample for sexing and disease scan. Birds are then relaesed at the point of capture. I spent the rest of the week counting flocks of Knots, the number of banded birds and recording band combinations and flags when possible. My favoite part of the day would be when the tide is coming in and the birds are concentrated in around the waterline. We, the observers would be in amunst them. They knew we were there and were cautious but we could get very close with large numbers all around us. The diversity was impressive, knots, sanderlings, white rumps, godwits, wimbril, two banded plovers, dolphin gulls, kelp gulls, brown-headed gulls, magellanic oystercatcers and every so often a group of terns or a giant petrel would fly over head.
It has been a great experience and I am really happy to have been part of such a wonderful and talented international team from Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, USA, Canada and New Zealand(well Allan Baker is from the ROM in Toronto but originally Kiwi, so this allows us an additional country). Thanks everyone for fun, music, and especially for your patience with my limited spanish. I actually understood you, Juan Pablo, when you said "Lesley entitedan nada!". ... It was a very complicated card game!
Tomorrow I am off to Ushuia, Fin del Mundo, for my next adventure. I promise to post photos from there.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
The Ultimate South
Monday morning and I am off to Rio Grande, Tierra del Fuego. Vance is really envious. He has to stay in Chascomus and work. I tell him that I will be working too but he doesn't seem to believe that bird watching, capturing, banding and monitoring Red Knots is real work. Ahh life is good when work and pleasure are the same thing.
Although summer is approaching, the tempurature in Rio Grnade will be around 10 degrees on nice days with the nights dipping below zero.
The Red Knot is a shorebird that nests in the Canadian Arctic and winters in Tierra del Fuego Argentina. It is a long distance migrant covering almost 20,000 kms each year on a round trip. Now classified as endangered in Canada, the Red Knot population has experienced serious decline in the last few years. While reasons for the decline are not well understood, overharvest of horseshoe crab eggs as bait for the fishery in Delaware Bay is a major contributing factor.
Our work in Tierra del Feugo will monitor adults and young returning from the Arctic breeding grounds as well as sample for diseases such as Avian Influenza.
For more information on the Red Knot project check out the following link: http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2007/08/red_knot_report.html
Although summer is approaching, the tempurature in Rio Grnade will be around 10 degrees on nice days with the nights dipping below zero.
The Red Knot is a shorebird that nests in the Canadian Arctic and winters in Tierra del Fuego Argentina. It is a long distance migrant covering almost 20,000 kms each year on a round trip. Now classified as endangered in Canada, the Red Knot population has experienced serious decline in the last few years. While reasons for the decline are not well understood, overharvest of horseshoe crab eggs as bait for the fishery in Delaware Bay is a major contributing factor.
Our work in Tierra del Feugo will monitor adults and young returning from the Arctic breeding grounds as well as sample for diseases such as Avian Influenza.
For more information on the Red Knot project check out the following link: http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2007/08/red_knot_report.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)