Secret Forest Research Station - Part 3

September 17, 2022

Chris Ketola has a good relationship with the nearby Collpas Tambopata Inn and they allow staff, volunteers and visitors from the Secret Forest to use their canopy tower from time to time. Chris had coordinated with them and on September 17, the tower was free for us to use. 

Shortly after dawn had broke, we set off by boat upriver towards the lodge. Several Black Caracaras, our first for Peru, flew past us along the river. 

Black Caracara - Río Tambopata, Madre de Díos, Peru

The canopy tower is around 50m tall and provides a panoramic view over the forest. 

Canopy view - Collpas Tambopata Inn, Madre de Díos, Peru

By the time that we had ascended the many steps and reached the top of the canopy tower, the sun was quickly warming the landscape. Birdsong was still prevalent and we added many species of interest by voice: White-throated Tinamou, Barred Forest-Falcon, Amazonian Pygmy-Owl, Pavonine Quetzal, Western Striolated-Puffbird, White-shouldered Antshrike, Long-tailed Antshrike, five species of trogons and much more. 

Birding by sight was a bit trickier than I had anticipated. One problem was that a wide swath of the forest had been cut to allow installation of the tower. This meant that there were no trees close by, making it more difficult to identify smaller birds. Additionally, few trees in the immediate vicinity were fruiting during our visit, meaning that frugivorous birds were not concentrated near the tower. Biting flies were also an issue. They were certainly more prevalent here than any other canopy tower I had been on, and they ensured that you could not devote 100% of your focus to searching for birds. 

Greater Yellow-headed Vulture - Collpas Tambopata Inn, Madre de Díos, Peru

That being said, it was still an enjoyable few hours on the tower. We enjoyed getting Mark on a variety of birds, many of which were new species for him. Some of them provided awesome scope views including Bat Falcon, several toucans, Cream-coloured Woodpecker and Bare-necked Fruitcrow. 

Bat Falcon - Collpas Tambopata Inn, Madre de Díos, Peru

Parrot-types were well-represented and we enjoyed views of five species of macaws and several other parrots and parakeets. 

Scarlet Macaws - Collpas Tambopata Inn, Madre de Díos, Peru

Blue-and-yellow Macaws - Collpas Tambopata Inn, Madre de Díos, Peru

I added just one lifer - a distant flying Pale-rumped Swift. Some of the other species of interest included Golden-green Woodpecker, Wood Stork, Small-billed Elaenia and Lawrence's Thrush. 

Crowned Slaty Flycatcher - Collpas Tambopata Inn, Madre de Díos, Peru

We spent the rest of the day back at the research station. The friaje from earlier in the week was but a distant memory and the heat limited our exploration. I set off on my own for a few hours before lunchtime and dredged up a few sightings of interest in the forest close to the lodge. The most exciting was a vocalizing Pale-winged Trumpeter, though it unfortunately remained out of sight. Trumpeters are in Psophiidae, a unique bird family to the Amazon that is most closely related to cranes and the Limpkin. These forest dwellers are excellent runners but weak fliers, and are far more frequently heard than seen due to their skulky behaviour. I had figured that we would eventually come across a group of trumpeters along a quiet forest trail, but that was not to be. 

Doxocopa agathina - Secret Forest Research Station, Madre de Díos, Peru

Based on a tip from Chris I was able to find a single Short-tailed Pygmy-Tyrant. Dubbed one of the smallest songbirds in the world, this species lived up to its reputation. It bounced around high up in the trees and appeared no bigger than a ping-pong ball. Its nearly tailless appearance added to its cuteness. 

Short-tailed Pygmy-Tyrant - Secret Forest Research Station, Madre de Díos, Peru

The best bird action occurred just as I was near to the research station clearing. A big mixed flock at the forest edge held my focus for half an hour and provided my first views of Sclater's and Chestnut-shouldered Antwrens, as well as some Yellow-backed and Flame-crested Tanagers. 

Sclater's Antwren - Secret Forest Research Station, Madre de Díos, Peru

Yellow-backed Tanager - Secret Forest Research Station, Madre de Díos, Peru

Best of all was a single Rufous-tailed Xenops accompanying the flock. I knew that Rufous-tailed Xenops was a new species for the Secret Forest property so I went to fetch Chris. He grabbed his binoculars and went running after it, not wanting to miss another new species for the property after yesterday's Ash-coloured Cuckoo! Luckily, the xenops hung around long enough for excellent views. 

Rufous-tailed Xenops - Secret Forest Research Station, Madre de Díos, Peru

That afternoon, I set off on my own for the final hour or two of daylight. Hoping to find the trumpeters or perhaps a tinamou on the trail, I went a little deeper into the forest. This paid off with a Little Tinamou seen and my lifer Brazilian Tinamou (heard-only). I heard the trumpeters again, but for the second time they thwarted my efforts to see them. You win some, you lose some...

Black-faced Antbird - Secret Forest Research Station, Madre de Díos, Peru

For our final evening at the Secret Forest, Laura, Mark and I joined Chris and the herp team for some transect walking. 

Osteocephalus sp. - Secret Forest Research Station, Madre de Díos, Peru

We managed to find two species of snakes, a productive night! I spotted the first individual, a Tschudi's False Coral Snake (Oxyrhopus melanogenys) that was resting on the leaf litter. Despite its bright colouration, this species can be somewhat tricky to notice at the Secret Forest. It resembles a particular type of root which is an almost identical colour and shape. I almost passed this one off as just another root.

Oxyrhopus melanogenys - Secret Forest Research Station, Madre de Díos, Peru

Laura spotted the other snake, a Common Blunt-headed Treesnake (Imantodes cenchoa). This one was curled up rather photogenically, allowing a quick photoshoot before it was captured and processed. 

Imantodes cenchoa - Secret Forest Research Station, Madre de Díos, Peru

The googley-eyed expression of this species lends itself well to photography!

Imantodes cenchoa - Secret Forest Research Station, Madre de Díos, Peru

This is Phoneutria fera, the Brazilian Wandering Spider. Most species of spiders pose no harm to humans due to low venom toxicity, the inability to successfully bite humans due to the size of the mouthparts, lack of aggressive behaviour, or a combination of these factors. However, the Phoneutria species do possess medically significant venom and human deaths are occasionally reported after Phoneutria envenomation. 

Phoneutria fera - Secret Forest Research Station, Madre de Díos, Peru

Phoneutria fera - Secret Forest Research Station, Madre de Díos, Peru

We left the rest of the team early since we wanted to get back to camp at a decent time. After all, there was still a moth sheet to investigate! Several creatures distracted us on the walk back including this incredible mantis (Acanthops erosula) and a Blue-lipped Tree Lizard (Plica umbra).

Acanthops erosula - Secret Forest Research Station, Madre de Díos, Peru

Plica umbra - Secret Forest Research Station, Madre de Díos, Peru

Sadala sp. - Secret Forest Research Station, Madre de Díos, Peru

Caligo sp. - Secret Forest Research Station, Madre de Díos, Peru

Below are some of the insects that were attracted to the moth light that evening. 

Black Witch (Ascalapha odorata) - Secret Forest Research Station, Madre de Díos, Peru

Prenesta scyllalis - Secret Forest Research Station, Madre de Díos, Peru

Unidentified Erebidae moth - Secret Forest Research Station, Madre de Díos, Peru

Cnemidophyllum lineatum - Secret Forest Research Station, Madre de Díos, Peru

Ectatomma tuberculatum - Secret Forest Research Station, Madre de Díos, Peru

Edessa rufomarginata - Secret Forest Research Station, Madre de Díos, Peru

Odmalea sp. - Secret Forest Research Station, Madre de Díos, Peru

Doru taeniatum - Secret Forest Research Station, Madre de Díos, Peru

September 18, 2022

One type of regular research conducted at the Secret Forest is bird banding. Sometimes, researchers trap birds in mist-nets as part of a particular project where they are studying one species of bird, while other times, mist-netting is done as part of a general census of the birds populating an area. Once trapped, the birds have a number of parameters measured (different measurements, body weight, fat content, etc) while the birds are also aged and sexed. Each bird is outfitted with a metal band that sits freely on one leg, and these bands each have a unique number. 

Somehow, it was already our final morning at the Secret Forest. The time had flown by! Chris offered to take us out bird-banding for our final morning. He was up before dawn with one of his colleagues, Lonneke, to set up the mist nets in the dark. Laura, Mark and I joined shortly after sunrise once they were ready for the first "net run". After extracting each bird, we would put them in separate cloth bags and bring them back to our makeshift lab for processing. 

Bird banding - Secret Forest Research Station, Madre de Díos, Peru

It was an above-average morning of banding; our haul was 17 birds of 13 species in the nets. Some of these were species that we were quite familiar with, but seeing a White-flanked Antwren, Striped Woodhaunter or Elegant Woodcreeper in the hand is a much different experience than straining to view the field marks of a distant individual deep in the understory. 

White-flanked Antwren - Secret Forest Research Station, Madre de Díos, Peru

We caught several species of hummingbirds but due to their small size we were unable to band them. Chris and Lonneke still took down biometric data before they were released. 

Needle-billed Hermit - Secret Forest Research Station, Madre de Díos, Peru

The most interesting bird, in my opinion, was the Semicollared Puffbird that found its way into the net. Laura and I had really wanted to see this species but had struck out up to this point. Could we count a bird such as this on our life list? Most birders would say that species found in nets are not countable, while others are a bit looser with their life list requirements. The nice thing about your life list is that it is indeed just that: YOUR list, and your rules for determining what counts! Fortunately for us, it was a decision we would not have to grapple with for too long since we found unrestrained, "wild" Semicollared Puffbirds a few days later at Los Amigos Biological Station. 

Semicollared Puffbird - Secret Forest Research Station, Madre de Díos, Peru

Though most of our attention was focused on the bird-banding, we found a few other noteworthy species in the nearby forest in between net runs. One discovery was a White-browed Hawk that was persistently vocalizing from the canopy. We were unable to lay eyes on it, unfortunately. Another interesting encounter was with this Golden-collared Toucanet. It perched above the table for almost an hour, watching us while we processed each bird. 

Golden-collared Toucanet - Secret Forest Research Station, Madre de Díos, Peru

At one point, I asked Chris what bird he wanted to band over anything else. He mentioned that a trogon would be really cool, since he had never banded one before. Of course, luck would have it that we caught a Collared Trogon during one of the final net runs!

Collared Trogon - Secret Forest Research Station, Madre de Díos, Peru

And with that, our time at the Secret Forest had come to an end. Thank you to Chris Ketola who facilitated our visit and who went out of his way to ensure that we had a great visit with many wildlife highlights!