We have just gotten back from the Pantanal, after a field trip full of exciting findings and setbacks to our research. The exciting findings from this trip were mostly related to the rainy season in Pantanal, which is when farms become flooded and the wild life rejuvenates with the return of the rains.

A tipical “Pantaneiro” and his horse, during the rainy season in the Pantanal

Also, the beautiful nestlings of black-hooded parakeet (Nandayus nenday), sharp-tailed conure (Aratinga acuticaudata), and white-eyed conure (Aratinga leucophthalma) that were monitored were beneficial to our research as well.

A black-hooded parakeet mom with its nestling and one egg.

Glaucia holds 2 young white-eyed conures

Vandir holds a young sharp-tailed conure

However, during this trip (and the past two), we experienced several setbacks to our research…The worst of all was the loss of ALL our biometry and banding materials and equipment. This equipment and materials are valued at US$600 all together. The scale (worth US$200), leg bands and pliers (worth US$300), and caliper (worth US$100) were all lost. The loss of this equipment was due to another problem with our car – a broken trunk door, which opened during the trip, allowing the bag with the equipment to fall off!!! We only realized that this equipment had been lost during our travels the following day, when we were about to start measuring the nestlings! We retraced our route along the road in an attempt to find our equipment, but we were unsuccessful…:-(

Besides all the equipment that was lost, we are in desperate need of a new vehicle that costs about UD$50,000, because our current vehicle is too old (too old means 14 years old) to perform field work, and is in need of being replaced. We are spending lots of money on maintaining this car, and it is cheaper to buy a new one than to keep paying to maintain the old one…and buy new equipment that falls out of the back door!

Our actual vehicle, crossing a flood area

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