Don’t Let Go of That Rope!
3:55AM found me being awakened by my alarm, but after a very good night’s sleep. Having fallen off the coffee wagon after I arrived in Peru, I had not been avoiding coffee in the afternoons. Thinking that it was affecting my sleep, I passed on it yesterday.
Monitoring the clay lick was superb from the “normal” location on the island, and I found I wasn’t quite so baffled by the sightings and calls as I had been yesterday. And the CD of psittacine calls that Karina made for me is working well.
After returning to the TRC at 7AM for breakfast, Jerome and I prepared for another morning of climbing, but today it was to be only twice, with each of us climbing one nest. I would climb the first tree which contained an artificial nest box, and Jerome would do the second, named “Vaginito” for its suggestive shape!
My climb would be a little more involved than yesterday’s as I would have to carry a bucket up with me, transfer any chicks from the nest to the bucket, and lower the bucket down for Jerome to weigh and measure. Everything went nearly as planned during the climb, the measuring and the descent, save for the fact that I had twice to scare the parents away as they returned to defend their nest and its contents from the “predator.” For this purpose, when climbing we carry a stuffed glove on the end of a long stick.
¨The Hand¨
After the successful descent, and while I was removing the climbing gear, Jerome began the tedious process of returning the climbing rope to the backpack. The small nylon line which is used to tie haul the climbing rope up over the branch at the level of the nest had been removed as we had needed the nylon line to haul up the bucket. Unfortunately, we (okay, Jerome) had forgotten this fact, and the free end had been pulled beyond our reach, perhaps twelve feet up, before we realized it! Petrified at what Karina would say when she would find out that we would have to replace a new nylon line, we wracked our brains to figure out how to pull the free end back down. The first effort involved having Jerome sit on my shoulders – we were short by perhaps 2-3 feet. Next we tried having Jerome stand on my shoulders. Balance was difficult and he was still shy a bit. Noticing a slender, tall tree nearby, and using the photographic tripod first as a brace and then to step on with his left foot while his right foot was planted on my shoulder, Jerome was finally able to save the day! While we were congratulating ourselves at our save, we hadn’t noticed the gathering swarm of bees in the air and voracious, large ants on the ground, who soon proceeded to vent some of their confusion or anger on us. We hightailed it out of their as fast as we could, Jerome deciding that we would keep mum for the time being about our little mishap with the line.
Jerome With the ¨Tool¨ That Saved Us
Monitoring the clay lick was superb from the “normal” location on the island, and I found I wasn’t quite so baffled by the sightings and calls as I had been yesterday. And the CD of psittacine calls that Karina made for me is working well.
After returning to the TRC at 7AM for breakfast, Jerome and I prepared for another morning of climbing, but today it was to be only twice, with each of us climbing one nest. I would climb the first tree which contained an artificial nest box, and Jerome would do the second, named “Vaginito” for its suggestive shape!
My climb would be a little more involved than yesterday’s as I would have to carry a bucket up with me, transfer any chicks from the nest to the bucket, and lower the bucket down for Jerome to weigh and measure. Everything went nearly as planned during the climb, the measuring and the descent, save for the fact that I had twice to scare the parents away as they returned to defend their nest and its contents from the “predator.” For this purpose, when climbing we carry a stuffed glove on the end of a long stick.
¨The Hand¨
After the successful descent, and while I was removing the climbing gear, Jerome began the tedious process of returning the climbing rope to the backpack. The small nylon line which is used to tie haul the climbing rope up over the branch at the level of the nest had been removed as we had needed the nylon line to haul up the bucket. Unfortunately, we (okay, Jerome) had forgotten this fact, and the free end had been pulled beyond our reach, perhaps twelve feet up, before we realized it! Petrified at what Karina would say when she would find out that we would have to replace a new nylon line, we wracked our brains to figure out how to pull the free end back down. The first effort involved having Jerome sit on my shoulders – we were short by perhaps 2-3 feet. Next we tried having Jerome stand on my shoulders. Balance was difficult and he was still shy a bit. Noticing a slender, tall tree nearby, and using the photographic tripod first as a brace and then to step on with his left foot while his right foot was planted on my shoulder, Jerome was finally able to save the day! While we were congratulating ourselves at our save, we hadn’t noticed the gathering swarm of bees in the air and voracious, large ants on the ground, who soon proceeded to vent some of their confusion or anger on us. We hightailed it out of their as fast as we could, Jerome deciding that we would keep mum for the time being about our little mishap with the line.
Jerome With the ¨Tool¨ That Saved Us
posted by Christian Hellwig at 3:08 PM
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