A Little Walk Through the Forest

[amazondk]

Yesterday I went for a little hike in the Ducke Forest Reserve which is actually a part of the city of Manaus. I am not sure if this is the largest tropical forest within the city limits of a city in the world or not. But, at 10,000 hectares I beleive that it is. The city of Rio de Janeiro states that the Tijuca Forest is the largest urban tropical forest. I do not think that they have taken the Ducke Reserve into account though. The Tijuca forest has 3,200 hectares which is a lot of land for a city. But, it is only one third the size of Ducke. The reserve is administered by INPA (Institute of Amazonian Research) as a study area of tropical forests. The city of Manaus takes care of the entrance and has an area of trails of 2,500 meters. The forest is mostly Terra Firme primary forest which is the high ground. The forest of Manaus is one of the richest areas in Amazonia as to species variation. There are around 300 species of trees per hectare in the forests around Manaus. The Reserve has a poor infrastructure. The trails are well kept up but are not marked. The only way you can go into the forest for a hike is with one of the guides that work in the park. They work on tips. One thing this not wise the forest here is go in without someone that knows where they are going. Even in this area it is easy to get lost. And, 10,000 hectares is enough of an area to get lost for a long time. There have been cases where researchers from INPA have gotten lost. The area has a complete wildlife population including jaguars.

I decided to try out the Picasa web pictures to put together a slide show. Just follow this link,Reserva Adolfo Ducke, and click on slideshow. I think that I got the palms more or less correctly identified, but I could have gotten a few wrong. The primary forest is not the dark gloomy place many people think of. In fact it is quite open for the most part. I am also going to do a segment of my Palmpedia personal page about Ducke. If you click on the map to the right side of the page and go to the satillite image you can see how clearly the square of the Ducke Reserve is marked. Also, to the right of Ducke and the city is a large area of forest which is also untouched. This the Brazilian Army Jungle Warfare training ground known as CIGS.

Palms are a key element to our forests. There are 43 species of palms inventoried so far at the Ducke Reserve. The Picasa page may come up in Portugues which is what mine is set to. But, I think that it is self explanatory enough.

dk

[updog]

Beautiful, Thanks for the tour. Looks like a nice spot

[ariscott]

Very nice place, Don... Did you see weird trees too?

Regards, Ari

[Tyrone]

I really enjoyed that Don. Thanks for that. It's amazing how many different species are in that one area. Also it is quite bright. I wish my E precatoria's looked as nice as those. Even in my tunnel that took winter badly. The E edulis orange crownshaft stayed deep green.

Best regards

Tyrone

[amazondk]

Ari,

What kind of trees are you thinkg about. In the area of the Ducke reserve there are over 1,000 varieties of trees inventoried. So, I guess that some of them would be a bit weird.

Tyrone,

I am glad you enjoyed the stroll. It was a very sunny day, so the forest is pretty illuminated. I guess the forest floor would be about 50 percent shade. In the rainy season it can get pretty gloomy. The primary forest does not have as dense a shade as secondary forest areas do. There are also small clearings where trees have fallen which allow more light to penetrate. I am working with Dean on putting together some Palmpedia slide shows as I mentioned. The Ducke Reserve is a great place for a subject. Many people expect the forest to be a noisy place like the movies. But, for the most part it is quite silent. You have to sit still for a while and not make any noise for the animals and birds to become more active. Since many of the animals are noctural they are also sleeping in the daytime.

dk

[Moose]

Don - perhaps a presentation for the Biennel?

Ron.

[amazondk]

Ron,

I guess that could be a good project.

dk

[Moose]

Don - I feel that such a presentation would be well recieved by the Biennel attendees. Just a suggestion since so many will be comming to your neck of the woods. Logistics would not allow it to be part of the tour, a presentation would be the next best thing. Kim would be a person to reach out to for a contact for your presentation proposal.

Best regards,

Ron.

[amazondk]

Ron,

I think that may be interesting. Dean put together a little prototype slide presentation yesterday which is quite nice. We used some of the same pictures I posted on this thread through picasa. As I mentioned I am going to use some slide shows embedded in my Palmpedia web page. Although a few people will come to Manaus and the Negro River for the pre bieniel trip, undoubtedly most will not. So, a presentation of the different biomes and their palms in my area might be interesting. I am pretty much an amature as to palms are concerned. But, I am learning. I also look at working on such things as a way to understand where I live better. I will think about this more. But, it is a good idea.

dk

[ariscott]

Don,

I like weird trees... like weird flowers, weird leaves... and weird anything at all

Regards, Ari

[amazondk]

Ari,

I think you would like Brazil then. There is all kinds of weird stuff.

dk

[Palmreader]

Awesome,wish i was there. The terracotta color on one of those tree trunks was amasing. Actually,it reminded me of the film "Medicine man" with Sean Connery.

[amazondk]

Awesome,wish i was there. The terracotta color on one of those tree trunks was amasing. Actually,it reminded me of the film "Medicine man" with Sean Connery.

Kevin that tree, called escorrega macaco here, monkey slide tree, is one of my favorites. I would like to find one to put on my place in the country. One of the nice features of this area of forest is the large population of Attalea attaloides, a non trunking Attalea. This palm is known as palha branca here and is a favorite source of tatching. I am going to get a few of these as well to put in at my place.

dk

[Al in Kona]

Thanks Don. I'd love to walk that trail and see the tremendous variety of plants there, including the palms in particular.

[Dypsisdean]

For anyone interested in the automated slideshow, complete with natural bird sounds in stereo and Hi-Def photos, you can click HERE It's still experimental, but I thought you may like to take it for a test drive. Don and I are hoping to add dialogue to some of these as well. This one's about 4 1/2 minutes long.

[Palmreader]

That was awesome ! I felt i was there !

Ive heard differant answers,so,is there more animal noises at night or day..or just differant animals ?

Kevin

[Dypsisdean]

I'll let Don answer that. But I can add that the birds you hear in that slideshow are the Spectacled Owl (Pulsatrix perspicillata), the Screaming Piha (Lipaugus vociferans), and the Toucan. The sound you hear is a mix, and probably not very realistic, as the owl most likely is a night sound, and the others would be day sounds.

[amazondk]

Kevin,

The answer to your question relating to the forests around here anyway is that the overwhelming sound in the forest is silence. The exception in many cases is the bird listed as the screaming phia, which is called a mateiro here locally. This is a little bird with a very loud call more like a shreak. You only here this bird in wilderness type locations, virtually never near any human population. Howler monkeys also make a racket that can be heard for kilometers. But, you have to be in the location of a band of them. As to the animals there are more animals out at night than in the daytime. But, I don´t think they make much noise normally. A band of peccaries coming through the forest make a lot of noise. It just sort of all depends on where you are. And, also how still and quiet you are. If you sit real still for a while more and more sounds will appear. I think the overwhelming thing about nature in our forests here is how subtle everything is. Life is so diverse and there are thousands of species. But, rarely is there a concentration of anything. I was at my place in the country Sunday and the first thing I noticed in the secondary forest was this loud buzzing sound of bees. I have never heard this there before. Then I looked up and some of the larger trees on the place were loaded with flowers which were being worked by the bees.

dk

[mike in kurtistown]

Fascinating enough to make me delay breakfast for half an hour. Thanks Don.

[amazondk]

Mike,

I am glad that you enjoyed the hike. I hope to be able to get some interesting things done with Dean´s help. It is amazing what one can do these days without going anywhere.

dk

[Palmreader]

Kevin,

The answer to your question relating to the forests around here anyway is that the overwhelming sound in the forest is silence. The exception in many cases is the bird listed as the screaming phia, which is called a mateiro here locally. This is a little bird with a very loud call more like a shreak. You only here this bird in wilderness type locations, virtually never near any human population. Howler monkeys also make a racket that can be heard for kilometers. But, you have to be in the location of a band of them. As to the animals there are more animals out at night than in the daytime. But, I don´t think they make much noise normally. A band of peccaries coming through the forest make a lot of noise. It just sort of all depends on where you are. And, also how still and quiet you are. If you sit real still for a while more and more sounds will appear. I think the overwhelming thing about nature in our forests here is how subtle everything is. Life is so diverse and there are thousands of species. But, rarely is there a concentration of anything. I was at my place in the country Sunday and the first thing I noticed in the secondary forest was this loud buzzing sound of bees. I have never heard this there before. Then I looked up and some of the larger trees on the place were loaded with flowers which were being worked by the bees.

dk

Hi Don,

I ask because of the sounds on the link,but also because I have been contaminated by childhood memories from the early Tarzan movies. The Jungles there had so many sounds of animals,which they said where natural and didnt need doctoring. this includes the film "African Queen" LOL..Im a "classic film" tragic,but i wanted to know how it really is over there.

You say there were bees...does anyone keep bees over there and harvest the honey ?

Cheers !

[amazondk]

Kevin,

I used to think that those sounds were natural. But, I doubt they are even in Africa. Yes bee keeping is fairly widespread. So is collecting native honey from the forests.

dk