By Warren Stortroen
The next Earthwatch Institute Brazil adventure was in the Pantanal. This is a huge wetlands area in southwestern Brazil and parts of Bolivia and Paraguay that is so flat it takes water four months to flow from the north to the south! It floods half of the year and dries out the second half. It is a wildlife paradise and one of the world’s “Great Places”! This Earthwatch Institute expedition was CONSERVING THE PANTANAL – BIRDS with research scientist Reginaldo Donitelli. We rendezvoused at the city of Campo Grande and then flew by small planes to the grass airstrip at Fazenda Rio Negro, a working ranch converted to a research station and guest ranch. This was a partnership with Conservation International who ran the ranch and assisted the Earthwatch scientists with the wildlife research.
It was January and the flood season so the water was backed up almost to the ranch house and we saw capybaras, rheas, herons, ibis, giant river otters and other wildlife right in our backyard! If we weren’t up early for the bird census we were awakened by the raucous cries of the buff-necked ibis or the chattering of parrots, parakeets or macaws! Our typical research day was bird census in the early morning – by jeep on the accessible trails, by tractor and trailer, on horseback or by boat on the river. Then, we did data entry, had lunch and relaxed until evening mist-netting. All meals were served at the fazenda and beer, wine and the national drink Caipirhina were available before dinner on the patio, sometimes with entertainment by the ranch hands!
Each volunteer spent one morning following and profiling a particular bird. I picked the ovenbird and since they all look alike had to do a composite report on several, recording the amount of time spent foraging, preening, socializing, roosting, flying, etc. This is a wonderful bird area, so during our census we saw many others such as hyacinth and other macaws, parrots, parakeets, jabiru and wood storks, herons, egrets, ibis, terns, kingfishers, jacanas, vultures, hawks, caracaras and many of the smaller migratory and local birds!
On our day off our recreation was limited to the fazenda area, so some went horseback riding, but the rest of us took a boat downstream to the big sand bar and went swimming with piranhas! We learned that they are not a problem in a free-flowing river, but only in a confined area like an ox-bow lake that is cut off from the river!
Reginaldo, his staff and the other volunteers were great to work with so this was another memorable expedition! After the project, I took three extra days to fly to Iguasu Falls on the Brazil/Argentine border. The falls, featured in the movie “The Mission” are one of the most spectacular in the world! I stayed in a very nice hotel right above the falls on the Brazil side, but also toured the Argentine side for different, equally spectacular views!