Monday, October 7, 2013
Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl
Excerpts of the Puuc Jaguar Conservation Newsletter 1-3.
Jaguars of the Puuc Region of Yucatán
The first pictures
It is late July. The team of Puuc Jaguar Conservation is back in the field. The sun stings and the humidity converts the air into a dense, heavy blanket seemingly squeezing the air out of the lungs of anyone foolish enough to brave the elements. Finally, the group of Millsaps College students, staff, and director of the project, reaches camera trap C6.2.
This station is located in the eastern portion of the Kaxil Kiuic Biocultural Reserve in mature forest and on an old trail. I ask Don Evelio just how old the trail is. To my surprise he estimates that this trail was the main path to Oxkutzcab for at least 100 years! I check the camera on the north side of the trail. A few pictures of bunnies and coatimundies is all we have caught. Without great expectations, I check the pictures on the other southern camera. A picture of a puma! Great! Wait…what…A JAGUAR!!! Goosebumps form on my skin and a cold shudder runs down my spine which, given the heat and humidity, is strangely invigorating.
The jaguar appears to be a young individual running through the forest in the early evening. The image is somewhat blurry due to the optical limitations of the infrared flash and a heavy tropical downpour. Driven by the uncomfortable conditions, the jaguar seems to be looking for refuge. This jaguar is different from an individual we captured on camera a couple of weeks earlier. This majestic feline has the marked squarish head of a powerful male. The jaws are imposing, terrifying: adjusting for smaller body size, the jaguar has the strongest bite of all felines. Large turtles and even six-foot caimans are not safe from this true “king of the jungle.”
We had several surprises during this field season. About 75% of all camera stations had pumas. No other researchers on the peninsula we have talked to have ever had that many puma pictures! In addition, we had at least four ocelots, one with offspring! We were able to capture two yaguaroundis, small primarily arboreal cats that are most closely related to pumas. These small felines come in at least two color morphs: a dark, nearly black one and a reddish brown one. We have pictures of both! Last, but not least, we got a single margay, a spotted feline the size of a house cat. It is not surprising to have few pictures of margays, for they, like yaguaroundies, are mostly arboreal. To our delight, we have pictures of all Yucatecan wild cats!
We are still studying hundreds of pictures from this first field season. We have pictures and videos of many of the jaguar’s prey species and other interesting animals: anteaters, armadillos, eastern cottontails, pecaris, brocket deer, white-tailed deer, Ocellated Turkies, Thicket Tinamous, black iguanas, Carribean Doves, a rainbow ameiva (a lizard), and many more.
Do you want to see the rest of the newsletter and the first two newsletters? Please send an e-mail to puucjaguar@gmail.com.
The first pictures
It is late July. The team of Puuc Jaguar Conservation is back in the field. The sun stings and the humidity converts the air into a dense, heavy blanket seemingly squeezing the air out of the lungs of anyone foolish enough to brave the elements. Finally, the group of Millsaps College students, staff, and director of the project, reaches camera trap C6.2.
This station is located in the eastern portion of the Kaxil Kiuic Biocultural Reserve in mature forest and on an old trail. I ask Don Evelio just how old the trail is. To my surprise he estimates that this trail was the main path to Oxkutzcab for at least 100 years! I check the camera on the north side of the trail. A few pictures of bunnies and coatimundies is all we have caught. Without great expectations, I check the pictures on the other southern camera. A picture of a puma! Great! Wait…what…A JAGUAR!!! Goosebumps form on my skin and a cold shudder runs down my spine which, given the heat and humidity, is strangely invigorating.
The jaguar appears to be a young individual running through the forest in the early evening. The image is somewhat blurry due to the optical limitations of the infrared flash and a heavy tropical downpour. Driven by the uncomfortable conditions, the jaguar seems to be looking for refuge. This jaguar is different from an individual we captured on camera a couple of weeks earlier. This majestic feline has the marked squarish head of a powerful male. The jaws are imposing, terrifying: adjusting for smaller body size, the jaguar has the strongest bite of all felines. Large turtles and even six-foot caimans are not safe from this true “king of the jungle.”
We had several surprises during this field season. About 75% of all camera stations had pumas. No other researchers on the peninsula we have talked to have ever had that many puma pictures! In addition, we had at least four ocelots, one with offspring! We were able to capture two yaguaroundis, small primarily arboreal cats that are most closely related to pumas. These small felines come in at least two color morphs: a dark, nearly black one and a reddish brown one. We have pictures of both! Last, but not least, we got a single margay, a spotted feline the size of a house cat. It is not surprising to have few pictures of margays, for they, like yaguaroundies, are mostly arboreal. To our delight, we have pictures of all Yucatecan wild cats!
We are still studying hundreds of pictures from this first field season. We have pictures and videos of many of the jaguar’s prey species and other interesting animals: anteaters, armadillos, eastern cottontails, pecaris, brocket deer, white-tailed deer, Ocellated Turkies, Thicket Tinamous, black iguanas, Carribean Doves, a rainbow ameiva (a lizard), and many more.
Do you want to see the rest of the newsletter and the first two newsletters? Please send an e-mail to puucjaguar@gmail.com.
Studying bats.
Davy's naked-backed bat
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Black-necked Stilt
Monday, September 30, 2013
Puuc Jaguar Conservation First Field Season
While in Yucatan, my students Casey Brown, Faryen Mays, John Guice, and Zach Cuda, Kaxil Kiuic Reserve manager James Callaghan, field biologist Ricardo Pasos, field assistants Evelio Uc and Santos Uc, volunteers Stephen Dennstedt and John Hurd, and I set up trail camera stations to study the local population of jaguars. The hard work under very hot and mucky conditions paid off: among pictures of all wild cats of the Yucatan, we also captured two jaguars, one of which was photographed on the reserve.
You can find accounts of the first field season here: http://dennstedt.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/el-jaguar-and-the-puuc/.
Steve Dennstedt was one of the volunteers on the first trip. He also is a gifted photographer who has taken many great pictures during the field outing. Check out his bird pictures, also on his blog, at http://dennstedt.wordpress.com/2013/05/20/birds-of-kaxil-kiuic/.
You can find accounts of the first field season here: http://dennstedt.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/el-jaguar-and-the-puuc/.
Steve Dennstedt was one of the volunteers on the first trip. He also is a gifted photographer who has taken many great pictures during the field outing. Check out his bird pictures, also on his blog, at http://dennstedt.wordpress.com/2013/05/20/birds-of-kaxil-kiuic/.
Yucatan Ornithology May 2013
In May 2013 I traveled with a small class of three students through the Yucatan peninsula. We had a great time visiting the Kaxil Kiuic Biocultural Reserve, the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, Laguna Bacalar, Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve, and Ria Lagartos Biosphere Reserve. The climate was hot, but dry with breezy and cool nights. We hit 40 degrees Celsius quite a few times. It turns out that the dry season was unusually long. Perhaps because of the continuing drought bird activity was relatively low and birds did not sing as much as usual for this time of the year.
We were able to see and hear 154 species of birds. Ria Lagartos was by far the most productive place.
Thicket Tinamou
Blue-winged Teal
Plain Chachalaca
Crested Guan
Great Curassow
Black-throated Bobwhite
Singing Quail
Ocellated Turkey
American Flamingo
Magnificent Frigatebird
Neotropic Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Anhinga
American White Pelican
Brown Pelican
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Tricolored Heron
Reddish Egret
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
Boat-billed Heron
White Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture
Osprey
White-tailed Kite
Ornate Hawk-Eagle
Crane Hawk
Common Black-Hawk
Great Black-Hawk
Roadside Hawk
Gray Hawk
Swainson's Hawk
Clapper Rail
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Black-bellied Plover
Northern Jacana
Whimbrel
Ruddy Turnstone
Western Sandpiper
Laughing Gull
Least Tern
Gull-billed Tern
Royal Tern
Sandwich Tern
Red-billed Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
White-winged Dove
Zenaida Dove
Common Ground-Dove
Ruddy Ground-Dove
Blue Ground-Dove
White-tipped Dove
Caribbean Dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Pheasant Cuckoo
Groove-billed Ani
Vermiculated Screech-Owl
Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl
Lesser Nighthawk
Common Pauraque
Vaux's Swift
Green-breasted Mango
Mexican Sheartail
White-bellied Emerald
Buff-bellied Hummingbird
Cinnamon Hummingbird
Black-headed Trogon
Gartered Trogon
Blue-crowned Motmot
Turquoise-browed Motmot
American Pygmy Kingfisher
Collared Aracari
Keel-billed Toucan
Yucatan Woodpecker
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Golden-olive Woodpecker
Lineated Woodpecker
Pale-billed Woodpecker
Collared Forest-Falcon
Bat Falcon
Olive-throated Parakeet
White-fronted Parrot
Yellow-lored Parrot
Barred Antshrike
Olivaceous Woodcreeper
Ruddy Woodcreeper
Northern Barred-Woodcreeper
Ivory-billed Woodcreeper
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet
Northern Bentbill
Eye-ringed Flatbill
Royal Flycatcher
Bright-rumped Attila
Yucatan Flycatcher
Dusky-capped Flycatcher
Brown-crested Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
Social Flycatcher
Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher
Tropical Kingbird
Masked Tityra
Rose-throated Becard
Mangrove Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Yellow-green Vireo
Lesser Greenlet
Rufous-browed Peppershrike
Brown Jay
Green Jay
Yucatan Jay
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Gray-breasted Martin
Mangrove Swallow
Carolina Wren
Yucatan Wren
Spot-breasted Wren
White-bellied Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Clay-colored Thrush
Black Catbird
Tropical Mockingbird
Northern Waterthrush
Yellow Warbler
Gray-headed Tanager
Blue-gray Tanager
Red-legged Honeycreeper
Blue-black Grassquit
White-collared Seedeater
Yellow-faced Grassquit
Grayish Saltator
Black-headed Saltator
Olive Sparrow
Rose-throated Tanager
Red-throated Ant-Tanager
Northern Cardinal
Gray-throated Chat
Blue Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Melodious Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
Bronzed Cowbird
Hooded Oriole
Orange Oriole
Altamira Oriole
Scrub Euphonia
We were able to see and hear 154 species of birds. Ria Lagartos was by far the most productive place.
Thicket Tinamou
Blue-winged Teal
Plain Chachalaca
Crested Guan
Great Curassow
Black-throated Bobwhite
Singing Quail
Ocellated Turkey
American Flamingo
Magnificent Frigatebird
Neotropic Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Anhinga
American White Pelican
Brown Pelican
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Tricolored Heron
Reddish Egret
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
Boat-billed Heron
White Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture
Osprey
White-tailed Kite
Ornate Hawk-Eagle
Crane Hawk
Common Black-Hawk
Great Black-Hawk
Roadside Hawk
Gray Hawk
Swainson's Hawk
Clapper Rail
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Black-bellied Plover
Northern Jacana
Whimbrel
Ruddy Turnstone
Western Sandpiper
Laughing Gull
Least Tern
Gull-billed Tern
Royal Tern
Sandwich Tern
Red-billed Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
White-winged Dove
Zenaida Dove
Common Ground-Dove
Ruddy Ground-Dove
Blue Ground-Dove
White-tipped Dove
Caribbean Dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Pheasant Cuckoo
Groove-billed Ani
Vermiculated Screech-Owl
Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl
Lesser Nighthawk
Common Pauraque
Vaux's Swift
Green-breasted Mango
Mexican Sheartail
White-bellied Emerald
Buff-bellied Hummingbird
Cinnamon Hummingbird
Black-headed Trogon
Gartered Trogon
Blue-crowned Motmot
Turquoise-browed Motmot
American Pygmy Kingfisher
Collared Aracari
Keel-billed Toucan
Yucatan Woodpecker
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Golden-olive Woodpecker
Lineated Woodpecker
Pale-billed Woodpecker
Collared Forest-Falcon
Bat Falcon
Olive-throated Parakeet
White-fronted Parrot
Yellow-lored Parrot
Barred Antshrike
Olivaceous Woodcreeper
Ruddy Woodcreeper
Northern Barred-Woodcreeper
Ivory-billed Woodcreeper
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet
Northern Bentbill
Eye-ringed Flatbill
Royal Flycatcher
Bright-rumped Attila
Yucatan Flycatcher
Dusky-capped Flycatcher
Brown-crested Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
Social Flycatcher
Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher
Tropical Kingbird
Masked Tityra
Rose-throated Becard
Mangrove Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Yellow-green Vireo
Lesser Greenlet
Rufous-browed Peppershrike
Brown Jay
Green Jay
Yucatan Jay
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Gray-breasted Martin
Mangrove Swallow
Carolina Wren
Yucatan Wren
Spot-breasted Wren
White-bellied Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Clay-colored Thrush
Black Catbird
Tropical Mockingbird
Northern Waterthrush
Yellow Warbler
Gray-headed Tanager
Blue-gray Tanager
Red-legged Honeycreeper
Blue-black Grassquit
White-collared Seedeater
Yellow-faced Grassquit
Grayish Saltator
Black-headed Saltator
Olive Sparrow
Rose-throated Tanager
Red-throated Ant-Tanager
Northern Cardinal
Gray-throated Chat
Blue Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Melodious Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
Bronzed Cowbird
Hooded Oriole
Orange Oriole
Altamira Oriole
Scrub Euphonia
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