Palm scouting

[amazondk]

Here are a few shots from Balbina Lake some 170 kms north of Manaus.  I took my son who lives in Fort Lauderdale, and my wife's son from here out to catch from Peacock Bass yesterday.  Balbina Lake is an enormous reservoir that was formed by the damming of the Uatuamã River in the 1970's.  The project was sort of an ecological disaster as the hydroelectric potential was minimal when compared to the cost and the impacts on the enviroment.   In 1997 there was a problem with the turbines and the lake was basically drained.  This happened to be a very dry year and many fires started which burned for several months all over the lake bed.  This is why many of the dead trees in the middle of the lake show burn marks.  In spite of all this it has turned out to be a great place.  The high parts have beome islands and there is a rich fauna and flora.  A new eocosystem has been created and I have seen changes even in the 6 years I have been going there.  There are a lot of macaws and other birds.  Not to mention all the howler monkeys soundling off.  The fishing is pretty good too.

As to palms there are lots of palms, and I have attached a few pictures.  The M. flexuosa is recolonizing the area as many natural habitats where submerged.  The area has become a Bio Reserve, called REBIO Uatuamã.  The local power company Manaus Energia is responsible for the area.  The east side of the lake has been totally closed off to fishing or other uses as a mechanism for regenerating the fish population.  I have been camping a few times there as well.  It is real wilderness.  Yesterday during the whole day we only saw 2 other boats on the lake, one fishing and the other the REBIO folks.

One of the great things at Balbina is that you are immediately at Terra Firme forest from the water.  Which is different in areas of natural lakes where normally you have an area of igapoo.  

dk

Dead tree forest from the middle of the lake, sort of a surreal scene.

M. flexuosa recolonizing the lake shore.

M. flexuosa in bloom - a great sight.

[amazondk]

Here are some more shots from Balbina.

Socratea exorrhiza on the lake shore.

What they call the toucan beak heleconia - I dug one up to put in the garden.

Oenocarpus bacaba with fruit

[amazondk]

More Balbina pictures

Lake shore palms

Coata area of lake, old hill tops now lake islands, primary forest.

Eutrepe precatoria

[amazondk]

More Balbina

How would you like this in your garden?

Oenocarpus minor - I think.

End of the day - Sunset over Amazonia - Always a great sight!!!

[Greg in Lake Forest CA]

Hello Don,

Great photo's.    Thanks

[chris78]

Hi Don

More of your great photos....love them

[Zac in NC]

Love all of the pics, espacially that giant aroid in the water. I can't think of the name off the top of my head, but I recognize it.

Zac

[chris78]

Is it Montrichardia arborescens??

[amazondk]

Chris,

I was looking through a book I have here on local flora, and that looks like what it is, montichardia aboresescens.  The habitat also matches, although this is now a lake the plant is common along larger streams and rivers.

dk

[Gileno Machado]

Hey fisherman, high class photography of yours...

I didn't know Balbina had such an impact on the environment...but the dam reservoir/soroundings shure make a wonderful scenary.

[Exotic Life]

Really nice picture's to see

[Kris]

Dear Don  

i fully agree with our members regarding their observation on those terrefic photos of yours.and your are good in fishing that proof was sufficient.

while all these years i was only attracted to lush vegitation & greenery but seeing the pictures of those dead trees in water,i dont have words to explain_since indian hindu mythology explains or compares ones old age with dead trees in water(vedas,puranas & upanishads)speaks volume of such locations.Iam seeing and also realizing the fact_lovely !

Love,

Kris.

[Zac in NC]

(chris78 @ Aug. 07 2006,13:48)

QUOTE

Is it Montrichardia arborescens??

Yep, thats the name I had in my noggin, but I couldn't pull that out at the moment I was posting. Thanks for that help.

Zac

[Dave Butler]

Looks like a great place to visit, But live there might be tough. Great pictures

[RainForestt Robert]

Amazondk, really nice pictures.  I find that Mauritia flexuosa in habitat is one of the most impressive sights.  Really awesome!

Robert

[amazondk]

Here are a few non palm shots from Sunday's trip on the lake.

A common orchid around here.

Bromeliads and ferns.

Japiin bird nest.  This is a beautiful yellow and black bird that makes a real racket.  The nest are always close to hornet colonies, they have some sort of symbiotic relationship.

[amazondk]

Dave,

Amazonia is a great place to visit!!  Like anywhere living there is a different story.  Personally I would find it hard to live elsewhere today.  Here you get most of the best of Brazil without a lot of the worst (urban violence in particular).  I moved back to Fort Lauderdale from 1995 to 2000 and really did not adjust well.  But, I am sure I am the exception to the rule, not the norm.   Life in the States is just too organized for my tropicalized and latinized mind.  There is a saying in Brazil - cada macaco no seu galho, or every monkey on his own branch.  My branch just happens to be hanging out along the rivers in Amazonia.

As a plant lover I would highly recommend visiting.  Just 5 hours from MIA via TAM airlines, daily.

dk

[Dave Butler]

Be honest, tell about the bugs there has to alot

[amazondk]

Dave,

As long as you stay on the black, green, or blue water rivers the bugs are not a problem at all for the most part.  I frequently sleep out in the open forest areas in a hammock with no problem at all, that is no tent, no mosquito net, no screens.  Now, if you are on the muddy water rivers, Amazonas, Solimoes, Purus, or Madeira that is another matter, the bugs drive you nuts. But, then I don't hang out there.  If you compare Manaus to South Florida they are a lot more of a problem there.  I leave the windows in our house open all the time, we have no screens, and most of the time have no bug problems at all.  The dark water rivers are too acid to breed mosquitos in quantity.  That does not mean that they are not a nuisance at all, just minor localized bothers.  

I think one thing about the tropical forest is that life is so diverse that there is not a big concentration of anything, including bugs.

Here is an expample of the kind of place I frequently spend the night out in the forest areas while scouting out the woods for tree composition.  This night was great for sleep, cool humid breeze, full moon, and no bugs.  Now, there is always the threat that a hungry jaguar could come along and want a night time snack, but compared with freeway driving that is a minimal risk.  There is enough game around that they are normally not too hungry for humans.

[Robert Lee Riffle]

Fwiw, I'm not at all sure that's a Montrichardia sp., arborescens orotherwise.  The species under discussion has an obvious and thick (pachycaul) trunk and I can see no trunk in the posted photo.  

I think what it really is is a large and agressively growing epiphytic Philodendron species, growing atop one of the dead tree trunks.  The vertical mass of roots look exactly like the ones in live trees.

I know why the genus is being quoted: Don posted in the old forum a photo that incidentally included a grove of M. arborescens (on land and with very thick trunks) which I identified as M.a.  I can't find that photo now as it seems to have been somehow deleted in the chaotic "corruption" suffered in that forum.

[Zac in NC]

I think you are right RLR. On second look, it does look Phildendron ish now.

Zac

[Robert Lee Riffle]

>>> I find that Mauritia flexuosa in habitat is one of the most impressive sights.  Really awesome! <<<

Robert, I couldn't agreeMORE: NOTHING in nature is more spectacular.

[amazondk]

I am in firm agreement with both of you.  It is my favorite palm tree and a tree symbol of the area around Manaus.  I am going to go out and take a bunch of pictures around Manaus and the nearby country of palms.  We have them scattered all over the city in vacant lots, forest remnants.  But, nothing is better than seeing them in their true wild environments.  What I find very interesting about Balbina is the M. flexuosa is colonizing the areas around the islands.  Previous to the flooding of the reservoir there were a lot of native M. flexuosa groves in the forest low land.  These died as they either were totally flooded or had too much water on the roots.  Around the lake you still see the skeleton remains of these groves.  In the six years I have been going there I have started to see a lot more of the trees growing, which are reflected in the pictures.  The lake level rises and falls maybe up to 5 meters or so.  So, they get a chance to have dry roots during part of the year.    The other striking feature around the lake is the concentration of O. bacaba.  I think this a great tree.   In the 30 years or so since the area was flooded a new ecosystem has been created, both aquatic and terrestrial.  It is still pretty much wilderness though.  I have never seen so many macaws anywhere.  To me they are the true symbol of the tropical wilderness.  Not to mention the great quantity of hawks around the area.  I have not seen a harpy eagle yet, but I understand that some are around as well.  

dk

[amazondk]

Here is a Google Earth image that shows the size of Balbina Lake.  It is approximately 120 KMS from Manaus to the closest point of the lake.  The lake is the big body of water above Manaus.  The image could be better, but it gives an idea.  The Negro River goes up NW from Manaus, the Solimoes comes from the East, and the Amazon is formed where the Solimoes meets the Negro.  That is in Brazilian geography.  Other people call the river the Amazon from Peru, but here it is the Solimoes up to Manaus.

dk

[amazondk]

Robert,

Is this the picture you are talking about?

[palmazon]

Don, you have an interesting life there - thanks for taking us along

[bgl]

Don,

Truly a fascinating and unique place! Great pictures, and those M. flexuosa are spectacular!

Bo-Göran

[Robert Lee Riffle]

That isIT, Don.  That is, indeed the photo.

Thanks for saving it.  It's possibly the best I've ever seen of the species.

And it should now be readily apparent that the leaf structure in no way matches what I think is a large Philodendron species.

[TooShort]

Don,

I bet there are alot of unidentified`s hiding waiting to be found.

Possible new species of tropicals love to go on the hunt there.

Joe C.

[Zac in NC]

Shot it with an arrow. Wow that takes some skill. I love all of your pictures.

Zac

[Alan_Tampa]

The ones released for sport in South Florida are one of the smaller species of "Peacock" bass.  I think the monster fish you posted is what is known in zoos and aquarium as the arapaima.  I had some red-tailed and tiger catfish way back when....

Alan

[amazondk]

Alan,

From what I understand the large peacocks, the Açu (the ones with humps)  as known here and the paca (spotted) can not take the cold spells in South Florida.  In fact I don't believe they will make it north of Boca.  There are I believe 3 other species of peacocks native to our area as well.

Zac, you should come visit, the real thing is much better than the pictures.

dk