The Sandy Logging Roads of Millsite, Guyana Week 4

Day 21

Today we head to Millsite, which is an active logging area. They do sustainable logging in a way that has proven not to have a negative effect on biodiversity. I took a separate car because it was too crammed in the big truck, so mammal Sean, Shane, Johnny, and I went in a later car. We did not see anything on the way, but we found out that the other vehicle spotted a large cat, and it was most likely a jaguar based on the description.

We got there, and it was extremely hot because the area is higher elevation, the trees have been cleared, and the soil is primarily sand. The sand is nice as it doesn't hold water, so that we can wear our regular hiking boots for once. I went for a walk with the mammal group to look for tracks that afternoon, and we found puma, agouti, paca, ocelot, and other animal tracks. It was great to see how active this place is. The site manager also said that they saw an emerald tree boa not too long ago in the area and that this is a good place for an anaconda because it has black water.

That evening I was sitting in the common kitchen area when suddenly Ritchie, one of our guides pulls up on his motorbike and tells me to grab my snake stuff. So, I rush off and grab my hook, bag, and headlamp. We race down the road and turn to the main road, where I see the manager Mikey keeping the snake on the road with a tree branch. At this point, I still have no idea what it was, but as soon I saw that beautiful iridescent rainbow glow, I knew it was a Brazilian rainbow boa! This snake was the fourth snake on my list of species to see while I was down here. They are gorgeous snakes. They have this red coloring with an orange eye-like pattern along their body with an iridescent glow. I was so excited to see this animal. I brought it back to show to the other people and process it.

Then we headed out on a survey to look for herps. We didn't find much. Saw the classic Boana geographica, but then I managed to catch a nightjar. They are a beautiful bird that flies at night and catches insects. Large whiskers on their mouth allow them to sense bugs in the air.

We checked an area that sometimes has an anaconda in it. No luck, though, so we headed back for the night.

Day 22

I went out on a hike with some staff and students to see if we could find anything. It was beautiful walking along nice wide roads and seeing the forest. One thing about this area that is so beautiful is the dark tea color of the water out here because of all the decomposing plant matter.

We saw a troop of red howler monkeys with a couple of babies, and I got my first sighting of a gold and black tegu.I photographed a giant rhinoceros beetle of some sort found by the bug team the night before. I love giant beetles. They are pretty tricky to hold due to how spiky their legs are.

That evening we went out to a pond area to look for frogs. We set off at the usual time of 7:45 pm and saw typical stuff like cane toads, Leptodactylus, and the more common Boana species. Then we got to another area and found one of my favorite frog species, the giant waxy monkey frog. It was a very relaxed night walk, and we did not see much else so I took some star photos before I went to bed.

Day 23

A new school group came in, so I held on to the rainbow boa to show them this fantastic snake. I went on a hike that evening with the forestry team. While the forestry team was doing their work, I dug through a log, seeing if I could uncover any coral snakes. While using my hook, I hook a worm-like thing, but it just didn't look like a worm to me, so I checked it out, and to my surprise, it was a Cacealian. I can't believe what I see as I have never seen one before. This species turned out to be a species of microcacealian that doesn't yet have a species name.

I went on a night hike that evening but there was not one snake all night until we arrived back at the kitchen, and there was a pipe snake. Not as big as the one we found at Sandstone but still really cool to see.

Day 24

I went out today to look for tracks with (mammal) Sean and found some cool ones. Nice jaguar, ocelot, and puma tracks. We shot a great video talking about what Sean does and why he collects this data.

That night I went back to the pond, and we found the giant waxy frogs again, but we took our time to look around and then found another species of Phyllomedusa that I could not ID because it did not look at all like the one listed with tiger stripes. The other species have only tiger stripes on their hips and lower sides, while these individuals had them throughout the sides of their bodies. I bagged the three that I could get to process them and take photos and samples.

We also found a false labarrea (another name for fer de lance), which is the snake that swam through Dan's (dung beetle scientist) legs one day when he was taking a crap. Then we headed back to base camp.

Day 25

I went out early with forestry today because I wanted to get on the trails to go hike and see some megafauna. I kept looking around in the rivers for my white whale anaconda but no luck, and went to meet up with forestry. I decided to keep walking down the road past the team to look for stuff, and no luck. Then I walked back. Everyone went into the other transect. So, I walked back leisurely to open my senses to find wildlife. Found tegus which are always cool, and then a large troop of spider monkeys talking and moving through the trees together. There were about twelve individuals. I didn't have my camera, so no photos.

That afternoon one of the loggers brought a baby yellow footed tortoise, so I took some photos of it around the site.

I relaxed and took pictures of the frogs from yesterday and then took them back to their pond. On the way, we found a beautiful yellow-footed tortoise. Then we continued and photographed the frogs. On the way back, we saw a good sized rat species and then an opossum. We found a little fer de lance right in the middle of the camp area, so I took it back to the forest.

Day 26

I was planning on heading out super early with the mammal team but was so tired and didn't get any sleep last night, so I chose not to go. Major mistake as they saw a male ocelot. Once I heard about that, I decided to go out and hike that same trail in hopes of spotting something. I drank a liter of water before I went and headed out. The first animal I spotted was a red-rumped agouti, and then after walking a little farther, I spotted a big chunky fer de lance sliding across the road. I set my camera down and took my hook out to work with it. Now, this dude has definitely been sunbathing, and it was warm and active. All the ones I have worked with to date have been very docile. This one was full of energy and kept striking and trying to get away, so I kept holding him back for a good 10 minutes. Then he calmed down a bit, so I gave him some water, and he drank right from the bottle. I took photos of this beautiful snake and set him on the side of the forest where he had been heading. One must understand that this snake was only striking because I was disturbing it. They will always flee instead of defend.

I kept moving and walking. It started to get hot, and I did not see much except for some very nice cat tracks.

I reached my turn around time, took a break in the shade on the side for ten minutes, and headed back to camp. Saw a bird that I could not identify, but it reminded me of the caracaras I saw in the United States. It turned out to be a red throated caracara, which is a super cool bird. Then I spotted a beautiful troop of red howler monkeys. I still have not gotten any good photos of them, but I did not have my big lens because I was walking so far.

I walked for a good ten kilometers that day, and because the roads were wide and were sand, the heat soaked in.

While hanging out at the millsite in the heat of the day, I noticed a group of red howlers get close to the edge of the forest and grabbed my telephoto lens, and went up to them to take photos. I was pretty stoked because I finally got some excellent pictures of these monkeys with the same color hair as me. If you look at the alpha male, he has bright white testicles. This is because, in this hot environment, the white coloring doesn't draw in heat not to bake the sperm inside. Harvard did a study that found out that the louder the howler monkey, the smaller his testicles are.

I was very keen to hit this swimming spot on the side of the main road at the end of the day that mammal Sean found. Around 3 pm, we headed to the spring and got there around 4 pm. It was beautiful clear water, and we all quickly went for a swim. I discovered a clay deposit on the side, and I am one for natural mud baths, so I quickly got covered in it. It is incredible how smooth your skin feels after a mud bath! I was thinking how awesome it would be to have a mask and snorkel out here to do some swimming in the creeks for the different fish species. We headed back to camp, and since it was the last day for the four-week students who were leaving, we all had a chill night and just chatted with everyone.