Wednesday, February 16, 2011

¿Donde estan los condoritos?

Morgan and I sat in the shade, camouflaged by the leaves of a cipres tree. Most of the time we sat, staring out at the rocky cliffs in front of us or way up in the sky, hoping to see the 3m long wingspan of the great condor. But alas, we saw none. We sat, we stretched, read the Tao Te Ching book by William Martin, and fed some nearby ants the flies we killed. We eventually got so bored and killed so many flies that we focused our attention on how the ants were controlling the wrestling strength of the flies legs. It was amazing! There were ants that took pieces of dirt outfrom under the fly, ants that brought sticks over to lay on top of the fly, and ants that bit and tortured the fly. We didnt find the condors but we did find the wonderous life of an ant. Our goal was to try and find the nest of a pair of condors in an area within Nahuel Huapi. With the help of Sergio we buskwacked our way through thick bamboo and spiky plants that pierce the skin and clothing easily. On top of that, it rained the first few days. By GPS we made our way on top of a hill that looked into a 1km long valley with rocky cliffs on the opposite end. We learned a good lesson, the glorious life of a biologist is few and far between reality. Orlando thinks the pichon might have died. It will be furthur investigated. Off again soon to another nest location in Nahuel Huapi. In the meantime, anyone have any questions they would like to know about condors?

UPDATE:

I forgot to mention a few interesting experiences while we were out there. The second day it rained pretty good and our tent was dripping water from the top, down into the middle on our stuff. As it continued to rain we had to figure a way to stop the water coming in. We used two of our foam pads, brought so we could sit on the ground comfortably. There was a gap letting rain through between these foam pads so we cut a plastic bottle in half and set it there. We had a plethora of plastic bottles because the area we were in had no water resources so we had to rely on what water we brought. In the end our set up worked perfectly. The next morning the birds welcomed us to a new sunny and clear day. Birds such as the curious Chucao came as close to landing on top of our tent briefly with a loud chhuuuuuuuuuuucao. Skipping ahead now. At the end of our trip, Orlando, Morgan and I were hiking out and came upon three horses silently resting under the bright moonlight. We talked to them for a bit and one by one more horses arrived. It was getting dark so we left with a trail of horses behind us. As we walked on the sendero de los caballos, trail of the horses, under the guidance of la luna brillante, the bright moon, I had one horse behind me bump into me with its head. Morgan was following another horse when it decided to take a crapp. When we got the end of the trail only two horses remained and as we left, one horse gave us one last farewell.

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